KCWC - Day 4

There wasn't much to see here from Day 4 of KCWC - I traced a pattern out - that's pretty much it, oh and I read the pattern...

I plan to make up for it over the weekend, but I think I might even be skipping my hour today Day 5.

So instead I thought I'd show you the pattern I am making next and also the fabric I am making it in.

Oliver + S croquet dress and some bright spots!

I'm debating whether to try this cute sleeve application...

What do you think?
Will the detail be lost in the 'busyness' of the fabric or should I give it a go??

How's your KCWC coming along?

KCWC - Day 3

Let's call this one, the day when things didn't quite go to plan...

The plan was to trace and cut the beautiful Croquet dress by Oliver + S. 

The reality was, after school the girls mentioned something about the Sea/Hawaiian themed school disco being on tomorrow night, not next Thursday as I had firmly fixed in my head....

Strips of silver lycra on elastic and a Brooklyn tank ready for the disco

The girls had previously asked if they could wear the mermaid costumes I made for their fifth birthday, which was fine by me.
They have grown taller but not wider, so the issue was the tops were not really appropriate to wear out in public and also they needed bather bottoms to go under the scant skirts.

I had already calculated that Miss L's new two piece bathers were ready to go - but Miss A needed a new top (she's going to wear L's blue bather bottoms under her pink skirt - shock horror!).

And so the reality tonight became cutting and sewing up another little lycra singlet top and also creating the six silver sparkly arm bands they requested to go around their wrists "for when we are dancing".

And yes I said six - because of course the smallest kid (who's not going to the disco) had to have a pair too.

The catalyst for such armwear?? The 'big' grade six girls wore them in black recently for the school concert when they were dancing.
Obviously they made an impression, I hope these ones do too!

How was your day today - did everything go to plan or not so much??

No new patterns in this lot (no I am not going to count the armbands!) so I still have to bust out at least one new pattern for the month.

KCWC - Day 2

Day two of KCWC saw me make up this little jacket - for Miss L to throw on over her new dress when  the weather is a little cool.

This still needs a press-stud at the neck on the binding - but that's pretty close to a finish I think!

She's pretty pleased, even though the poor kid was freezing!

This is also from the Summer 3/2012 edition and this jacket is design number 31 and it is called 'Lime Juice'.
I made the same size as the dress, 134cm. The sleeves are a little long and I told her I'd shorten them but she asked me not to, so when she raises her arms they don't pull halfway up to her elbows.

Using a twin needle makes for a neat and tidy finish.

It was incredibly easy to make and the only changes I made were to omit buttons and buttonholes as I doubt she will ever wear it buttoned up anyway, and also to do the neck binding in a woven fabric the same as the shoulder straps and waistband on her dress, rather than the prescribed knit.

I did all the internal seams on my overlocker, with cuffs, hems and the button placket top-stitched using a twin needle because I like the finish it provides.

Incredibly I had this knit in my stash - I can't believe how well it matches the dress colour.

Of course if I was clever with the needles like Rachel or Kylie I could knit a cute shrug or cardigan which would look even better... (might take you up on that swap Kylie!)....

Day three of KCWC will involve the tracing and cutting of the croquet dress that I was supposed to do yesterday - until the jacket caught my attention!

This is another never used before pattern so that's two patterns busted out of my stash and two garments in two days.

I'm on a roll...

KCWC - Day 1

Well I am covering three categories with this post; it is Day one for KCWC, Day 9 of Blogtoberfest and pattern one of my pattern stash-busting

I spent the first hour of KCWC putting the finishing touches to this little summer dress for Miss L.

It's none of the patterns I showed you on the stash-busting post though - it comes from one of my beloved Ottobre magazines. So it still counts, as it's a pattern I have never used and was even from a magazine I have never used.

These colours make me feel summery, even if the temperature is not yet!

This is made from some Paula Prass Flights of Fancy fabric that I have been hoarding for ages, waiting for just the right project.

The dress has lots of lovely details that made it fun to make, pleats, invisible zip, piping on the princess-line seams and cute little gathered shoulder straps.

Flat piping highlights the princess-line seams of the bodice

I enjoy having a challenging project on the go - it makes me feel like I am really making something special for my little girl.

I chose to do the straps and waistband in contrast, so I omitted the piping from above the waistband as I felt it would have been lost, given they would have been made in the same fabric.

Now that invisible zip is perhaps the most invisible one yet.

I don't want to get ahead of myself but after procrastinating a bit about the zip I went ahead and did it and it went in perfectly on the first attempt. Phew!!
Could it be that I am getting the hang of them at last...

Here is the design in the Ottobre magazine

The dress is design 30 'Trumpet Flower" from the Summer 3/2012 edition of Ottobre. See this post for details of how I store my Ottobre patterns once I have traced them out.

I made the 134cm as Miss L is 131cm tall , but then I took a total of 4cm out of the bodice to get it to fit her! I should have made a smaller size and lengthened it but luckily it was relatively easy to alter.

Lining gives the dress nice body and adds to the twirl factor

I used a very boring white waffle for the lining.
It's not something you would traditionally use for a lining as it's a little heavy but I had it on hand and I wanted to be sure the dress would not be see-through.

It does provide the dress with a lovely fullness and it's nice and soft against her skin.

Here's the edition so you know what you are looking for!

Today I am planning to trace the next dress out - a Croquet dress, and also cut a cute little jacket to go with this dress.
The fabric for the jacket is what I used for the background in the dress shots, so I know it is going to match really well.

The girls are back at school today after our term break so I will try to get some action shots at some point...

How'd you go on Day 1 of KCWC, get much done??

KCWC - it's on again!

I got such a lot done in the last KCWC in April by dedicating as little as an hour a day to sewing that I have decided to join in again, though not for Fall sewing - but some summer dress sewing.

It's a simple premise, spend one hour a day for seven days tracing, cutting or sewing garments for your child or children, and by the end of the week you will find you have got a lot done.

On the Elsie Marley blog you will find heaps of inspiration and there is a Flickr group of everyone's creations to inspire you if you find yourself in a rut.

It starts on Monday - aaah tomorrow - so jump in at the deep end with me and give it a go.
Tomorrow you could plan what you want to sew and then Tuesday you could get stuck into it.

How about it??
Are you in?

Click here for more details.

KCWC - Day Five

Hooray - a good sewing day.

I have to say that KCWC has really got me inspired to sew again - and trying out some new patterns too, as well as a couple of old favourites.

It has reminded me to get my Otto's out and have a flick through them when I want to make something as there are patterns for many, many garments in there.

A versatile little piece to add to her wardrobe

This is the perfect example - a simple but sweet skirt that could be made in stretch or woven, in winter or summer weight fabric.

I've gone with a lightweight denim and pink trim. I chose to use one colour binding rather than the two shades of one colour shown in the magazine.
I also omitted the extra embellishments as I sometimes find too much like that limits how the item can be worn, so I kept it simple.

A bit out of focus but you get the picture!

This was very easy to make - you start with six rectangles and just bind the edges of two of them then gather them onto the other, waistband, piece.

As Miss G would (and frequently does) say "Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy".

I think there will be a bit of 'skirt as a gift' sewing coming up for Day Six.
Stay tuned!

KCWC - Day Four

Day Four = Epic Fail!!

Day four resulted in me not having even a tiny slice of time to sit at the machine or to cut or even unpick...

So rather than dwell on it I'm going to show you what I plan to get up to today, Day Five.

Cute Ottobre skirt I cut out a few nights back.

It looks like this one will be nice and easy to make, and a bit fun too.

Some of my favourite Patty Young for the bias edging

And on a more practical note - pants for PE (Physical Education) at school.
I couldn't bring myself to buy the terrible ones available in the uniform shop.

And at least I know theses will fit properly.

The fabric is in the wash now so hopefully these will be on the machine tonight.

I wouldn't mind some of these in my size!

Ok - so off I go to slot in thirty minutes now.

Happy sewing!

KCWC - Day Three

Buongiorno!

It's Italian Day!

Dana's circle skirt was perfect for these skirts - quick and easy.

The girls have been learning Italian at school and there is a whole school celebration today that includes dressing up with an Italian theme, a parade and a special Italian lunch of pizza and gelato (which is the bit I think they are most excited about).

These simple skirts have a black elastic waistband and are very fully and twirly, which gives them a 'thumbs up' from the girls.

The circumference of them is huge - they are each 3 metres around the bottom!

They were wearing them with a simple white cotton broderie anglais 'Olivia' shirt by Pink Fig, until the weather turned cold.

Any excuse to do cute hair-do's right??!!

So my KCWC sewing for yesterday was to pull out, trace, cut and sew up these little jackets to give them a bit more warmth over their blouses.

The pattern is design 22 from Ottobre 4/2010.

The actual pattern is lined and has a ribbon at the neck - it's much fancier than these.

I just wanted something that would match their outfits and give them an extra layer so I made them up in white knit (interlock), and going on an idea used in this Noodlehead tutorial, I used pre-made bias binding (that I had on hand) for the neck ties.

In the Noodlehead tutorial they leave all the edges unfinished but I couldn't bring myself to do that, so the sleeve and bottom hems are rolled on the overlocker, there's elastic at the wrists to give it a frill and the front edge was sewn with a twin stretch needle.

The accessorised with cute hair ribbons on plaits and buns and a tambourine with matching ribbons.

So what does day four hold....

Ciao!

KCWC - Day one

Well here in Australia it is technically day two - but I thought I'd show you what I got up to on day one first.

I had to break the time down into small 'bites' but in the end had more than an hour to sew - because I am a night owl!

So here's what I got up to...

Oops - needs ironing again, it was shoved in a bag so I could unpick poolside!!

This is a Big Basic Tee from Make It Perfect, it's view A - the slim fit top, done with contrasting sleeves and neck binding.

You can see that I have unpicked the hem - I wasn't happy with it.

I realised as I went to sew the sleeve hems and body hem that I had broken my last twin stretch needle, so chose a stretch zig zag stitch on my machine instead to complete them.

But the stretch stitch warped the shape of the lower hem - making it a little wobbly and it was going to annoy me, so I unpicked it and will re-sew it tonight.

The mushroom is an iron-on velour from Crafty Mama's.
These are dead-easy to put on, give a professional look to a simple garment and Lisa is expanding the range all the time so there are always great things to choose from - for girls or boys.

They are as varied as a retro camera, geckos, truck tyre tracks, deer, stars, jungle animals, crowns, hearts, birds and cute little hedgehogs.

Today has been tough for fitting in sewing.
I've managed the unpicking (no fun!!) - and that might be it for today.

Tomorrow is a public holiday - so despite family plans I hope to get at least an hour in.
Wish me luck!

PS - if you are looking at this on a reader pop over and check out my new header and blog design, with a new font, clean, fresh and simple.

Jumping the gun

I'm jumping the gun a little on the Elsie Marley KCWC.

I got this easy little number cut out and ready to go last night, so just had to put it together.

Of course Pepsi had to be in on the action...

Miss G is nightie mad and rather than have a war with her each night to get her to wear PJ's, I decided to make her a few new nighties that I actually don't mind putting on her!

Taking modelling tips from her 16 year old cousin

She's currently been wearing old versions of this pattern I made for her sisters about 3 years ago so I knew the size would be spot on.

It's a very basic pattern - New Look 6641- nightie with the sleeve from the PJ's of view D - she likes a puffed sleeve.

Made with some of my very lovely stretch fabric - which I intend to use for tops too - it's too nice just for sleepwear.