KCW Wrap-up

This was the first KCW I've been able to participate in. It was productive! Most days I spent much more than an hour, but a couple days I just spent an hour. It was a bit disheartening at first because 4 of the 5 pairs of pants had issues. But they were worked out and lessons learned for next time.

The theme this season was "traveling". The only way I followed it was by sewing only comfy clothes!

Days 1 and 2: Cut out and sewed five pairs pants. Three Go To Leggings (shorties in same fabric as capris not pictured), capri length and modified shorts Ananda Pants.

Capri length with calf cut out option in size 4T. The cut-outs would not be even! I have some running capris out of the same fabric and Stella has been asking for some so I was happy to oblige.

Full length leggings in size 12 mo width, 2T length (with even more width taken out for my skinny legged girl).

 

Capri length Ananda pants in size 4T. (This is the 4th pair of these pants I've made, and I love them! I got the pattern as part of a bundle and it's wonderful.)

Ananda pants cut in shorts length with regular waistband (next time I make this modification I need to remember to trim down the height of the shorts by an inch or so as they ended up quite high-waisted). I'm still deciding whether I'll hem them or not.

          
Fabric: Black ponte de roma from Urban Sew, pink tonal jersey and teal ponte de roma from Girl Charlee (not there anymore), heathered teal performance knit from Jo-Ann's, purple ribbing from    Jo-Ann's

(Side  note: I love Urban Sew! I emailed them to ask about the quality of their ponte because I was so disappointed by the quality of the stuff I got from Girl Charlee, and they offered to send me swatches for free. I got the charcoal, black and white and washed and dried them with every load of laundry for a couple weeks and they were great! They aren't quite as soft as the pontes from Girl Charlee, but they didn't pill at all. Consequently, I ordered 5 yards of the black and 3 of the charcoal along with other goodies. Plus, they donate a buck from every purchase to help out foster kids.)

Day 3: Cut out pattern and fabric for Oliver + s Ruffled Halter.

Day 4: Worked on halter

Day 5: Finished halter and cut out Uptown/Downtown Dress

The ruffled halter is full of cuteness! (Between size small and medium.)

Fabric: Blue gingham upcycled from curtains from my old kitchen (from Walmart originally), and stolen from my mom's stash (I'm pretty sure). It ironed like it had polyester in it so I'm hoping it won't wrinkle very much.

Day 6: Finished Oliver + s Lullaby Layette Bodysuit for a friend. Size 6-12 months and my own version of flutter sleeves. They were 75% completed before KCW. There should be an unfinished project KCW!

I couldn't decide what color so I did three!

Fabric: Lisette poplin from Joann's red tag section

Day 7: Finished Uptown/Downtown Dress. It was a pretty slinky sweater knit, and the neckline is a bit to low to wear in public until Stella's a little bigger. I made a 5T according to her measurements. It'll work for a nightgown for now! Other than the neckline it fits well, so I've already cut out a modified version.

Fabric: Sweater knit from Girl Charlee (not there anymore)

First dress for me!

Pattern: Myrtle dress by Colette Patterns

Sizing: I sewed an x-large and it fit like it was supposed to.

On our kid-free trip to Olympic Peninsula and Victoria.

 Material used: Jersey (maybe with rayon in it?) from Girl Charlee Fabrics (looks like it's finally gone!). It was slightly flawed and I got three yards for $3/yard. Since I made both girls skirts from the leftovers, that means I got a dress for me and two little girls skirts for $9 plus the cost of the pattern which was on sale for 30% off.

Notions needed: Elastic for the waist. I used 1/2" elastic instead of the recommended 1" elastic and like the look better.

Appropriately rated: Yes. Rated beginner.

Time spent: It was actually pretty quick. Just a couple hours, then I waited until the day I wanted to wear it to hem and finish it. It just wasn't exciting enough to have it ready to go.

Modifications: Used 1/2" elastic instead of 1" elastic in waistband. I didn't make a muslin, but next time I will try to prevent the upper back from gapping by taking out a wedge, and try to make the shoulders more narrow.

Comments: I had a completely different idea of what this dress would look like. It was pretty disappointing when I initially tried on the bodice, I thought it would be more form fitting! So I went back and looked at the pictures better on the Colette website and the blogosphere and the idea I had in my head was totally wrong. After it was all done and my idea had adjusted, I liked how it looked.

 

Totally tried for some subtle waist-whittling with switching the directions of the triangles.
I think eating less ice cream would work better.

 

And those are all the photos I got! Maybe after a couple more articles of clothing I'll become more comfortable with modeling :)

 

 

Pattern review: Oliver + s class picnic blouse

So this isn't a KCW post...it was actually sewn in May. I'm just now getting it posted, though, because I'm bad at posting stuff.

(About KCW where you sew an hour a day for your kids for a week - I'm actually participating this time! I'll do a wrap up post at the end of the week.)

I can't believe it took me this long to sew this pattern! Thankfully, the sizing is generous so I should be able to squeeze a year (or two) out of it for Stella. (More about the shorts here.)

pardon the wrinkles

Partners in crime.

Just catching butterflies...or Marvin the cat

Both the shorts and blouse were nice happy sews that didn't require too much thinking or learning any new skills. The blouse especially would be good for beginners. However, I wouldn't recommend sewing it up with this fabric combo for beginners. It made me swear a lot. (Although, since I sewed the bulk of it when the girls were awake, the swearing was unfortunately silent.) Shifty little....

After I finished it up on Memorial Day, Stella and I went on an adventure to a nursery and got some veggie starts and smelled all the roses, then we went to the grocery store and got supplies for a (just our little) family BBQ. It's fun to have unhurried adventures with one daughter at a time!



She picked snapdragons for her plot in the garden.

Unfortunately, while I was planting the veggie starts, I looked up to this:

Dirt angels and dirtcastles in case you were wondering. 

Amazingly, I didn't freak out, just reminded her she should also take off her new shorts. I still haven't washed them yet, they're sprayed with oxy-clean and I'm a little scared. Why must she immediately ruin clothing? Oh yes, because she's three. I keep reminding myself that being clean is not a high priority right now, and she keeps reminding me that she's my daughter. (I do remember a fun afternoon spent sliding between muddy rows of green beans when my dad questioned why we kept our clothes and rubber boots on and we had to be sprayed off with a hose outside. Oh, it was fun when the irrigation was close to the house.)


Pattern: Oliver + s Class Picnic Blouse and Shorts

Sizing: The shorts were spot on and the fit of the blouse was generous. I added an inch or so to it, but it didn't need it. (I sewed a 3T in the shorts and 4T in the blouse because Stella has a long torso and a little butt.)

Material used: Lawn (maybe?) and voile from a Lisette line at Joann's a couple years ago for the blouse and chambray from Joann's for the shorts.

Notions needed: 1/4" elastic for the top, 3/4" elastic for the shorts

Appropriately rated: Yes. Rated advanced beginner (although I think the blouse is beginner appropriate).

Time spent: Shorts were a two evening job, blouse a one evening project.

Modifications: None

Comments: Such a nice pattern! The shorts are worth the extra effort for the facings. The fit of the blouse was generous. It's a wonderful summertime outfit!

And now for some pictures of Charlotte since she gets pretty jipped as the receiver of hand-me-downs.

So full of spunk

 

Did you know this was a Carhartt ad? I wish.



Up, please! All. the. time. But she's so very cute...

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