Faux Tie & Linen Shorts

When we started discussing wedding attire, O was adamant than he wanted to wear a long-sleeved button-down with a tie. Since it was going to be an outside wedding on a hot and humid day, I tried to persuade him to wear a polo or a short-sleeved shirt, but he apparently has strong opinions about appropriate clothing for nuptials. 

Initially he wanted a tie from the Star Wars fabric, but there wasn't enough left and he wasn't going for the bow tie idea. We then went fabric shopping together, but nothing caught his eye (there wasn't any more of that comic print at Joann's), so he decided on the scale-esque print he'd chosen for his teacher's gift. He ended up coordinating with the wedding party too! The boy has good taste.

I used this pattern, but changed it so that there was no hand sewing involved. Woo-hoo! (I did take pictures of the process, so if anyone would be interested in a tutorial, let me know.)

Next time I would also have a tube of fabric covering the elastic for a few inches on either side of the "knot." Once he had it on, the elastic showed. Not a huge deal for a seven-year-old, but I'd prefer it to look more like a real tie. He didn't have the top button done up, though, which may have affected the fit, or I may have cut the elastic a bit too long.

I had free reign over the pants decision and decided to make longer shorts out of some linen blend that I had in my stash from the Jedi costume.  Love stash-busting!

Since I already had the Hot Scott pattern traced, I used it again, but with the recommended 5/8" seam allowance.  That helped the fit of the 5T pattern for my 7X boy.  Much better, though still generous.  To make the shorts a bit dressier, I left off the cargo pockets and replaced the back pockets with the flaps from the Linus Shorts in Ottobre 3/08. Then I agonized over the buttons, which was pointless, since his shirt was untucked the whole time.

Post-wedding wrinkles! 

"What, this old thing?"

He received many, many compliments, which he seemed to enjoy immensely.  He did, however, turn down all dance requests from the ladies.  Except Mom.

Rosy Posy Dress & Pantalets

Ray's cousin got married in the end of July, which seems so long ago now. It was crazy hot, so I tried to come up with lightweight clothes for the kids.

For E, I made the Rosy Posy dress from Ottobre 3/11 (size 98 width, 104 length). It's more of a classic little girl look than I usually go for, but I fell in love with the little puffed sleeves.

Imagine my surprise when I sewed them up and they were longer and not the least bit puffed.  Turns out I had accidentally traced the sleeve from the Sunny Sailor dress in the same issue.  Ooops!  I had just barely enough fabric left to trace the correct sleeve piece, although one had to be slightly off grain.

One of my friends made E a dress from this same print for her first birthday!

Once that debacle was taken care of, the rest of the dress was easy. I was very proud of my pattern matching in the back.

Just don't look too closely at how the left side is slightly shorter than the right.

This was my first attempt at thread belt loops. I used this technique and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. It just looked too easy, but it really was.

I also made the Pantalets from Ottobre 2/03 for under E's dress.  I sewed her a pair two summers ago, too, and she wore them a lot. I love how lightweight they are when made from muslin. I managed to screw up tracing this pattern too, and originally made the longer version. I didn't realize my mistake until I had already sewn the trim on. I didn't have any extra -- or time to get more, since I was working at the last minute, as usual -- so I picked out the stitches, cut them shorter, re-hemmed, and re-sewed the trim.  Worth the effort, I think.

This is why the girl needs something under dresses. I'm fairly certain she enjoys showing off her contortionist abilities.

Coming up tomorrow: O's wedding outfit.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge: Fall 2012

One week until the next round of KCWC begins!  Time to catch up on my blogging. I haven't sewn a whole lot since my last post, but I do have a few things to share -- including the kids' outfits from a wedding.  In July.  Eek. 

Will you be sewing along? 

 

 

Summer Quilt Blocks

I've been participating in a quilt block exchange in one of my Facebook groups.  We started in June, and the "queen bee" for that month requested a log cabin or wonky log cabin block in bright colors.  I went with wonky.  I think I would make some of the strips a bit wonkier if I were to do it again, but it was big enough that she can wonkify (spell check doesn't approve of that made-up word!) it more if she wants when she squares it up.

July's recipient requested an Eccentric Star block in rainbow colors.  O. helped me pick out the stripe, and I added the yellow print to echo the star motif.  I completely lost track of July and didn't finish this block until today.  *hangs head in shame*

I went ahead and sewed the August block today too, a Wonky Pinwheel in orange and white.  This one was quick!

I've done very little quilting -- just baby quilts for some of my nieces and nephews when I was high school and college -- so this has been fun. We still have seven more, plus my month, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the other participants choose. Maybe it'll give me the motivation to actually make quilts for our bed and for the kids!

His & Hers Aprons

We've been so busy this summer than I'm way behind on the blogging front. I made this pair of aprons for a bridal shower over a month ago. Yikes.

I've had the Emmeline Apron pattern for years, but finally had a good reason to sew it up. It only took about four hours including cutting, so I think there's one in my near future as well. I probably agonized over the fabric choices for longer than that...

I don't remember much about the construction -- another drawback of putting off posting for so long! -- so I assume it went together pretty easily.

This is my nonchalant fashion blogger pose. Ha ha ha. I think I'll stick with the sewing blog.

I did not do the hand sewing as recommended in the pattern, and if I make it as a gift again, I would. You can see the wonky machine stitching in the above photo where the waistband meets the side binding.

I love that it's reversible -- I'm a messy cook!

 

I wanted to make something for the groom also, since the bride usually gets most of the goodies at showers. He's a big Badger fan, so I used a blank apron from Hobby Lobby and appliqued on the Wisconsin W.

 

Ray poses with a bit more enthusiasm than I do.

Teacher Gifts Part 2: Roll-up Tote Bag & Coffee Cozy

O. didn't really have any ideas about what he wanted to give his teacher, so I suggested this roll-up tote bag along with a coffee cozy.  He came along to the fabric store with me and immediate picked out a grey and yellow print, which I loved.  Well done, O!  It was conveniently grouped with other coordinates, so he chose a yellow to go with it and we found a matching polka dot in the remnant bin.  He also chose a yellow flower button for the cozy.

Construction of the bag was pretty standard.  If/when I make another one, I'll probably use a slightly longer piece of elastic cord.  This one seemed to be stretched to the limit when the bag was rolled up.

Teacher Gifts Part 1: Aprons & Coffee Cozies

School ended last Tuesday, so as one would expect, I spent most of Monday desperately sewing.  I had decided a while ago to make E's teacher and para each an apron after they raved about the raffle apron, but I was waffling about her therapists and O's teacher (whose gift will comprise of Part 2).  I don't think I came to a final decision until Sunday afternoon, and then I had a fabric crisis when one of the pieces I bought had a big flaw that I couldn't work around, so I had to make a mad dash back to Joann's before they closed Sunday night.  Clearly, I'm never going to learn to do things ahead of time.

E's teacher and para both commented about how they liked that the neckline of the earlier apron I'd made wasn't straight across like so many are.  That was from a pre-printed panel, though, so I looked around for quite a bit trying to find one with a similar neckline.  I ended up buying the Urban Wrap pattern, which has the added bonus of being very adjustable size-wise.

They sewed up quickly, probably took me just a bit longer than an hour for each one. The instructions were thorough, and she also included a handy one-page quick reference.  I think there was only one step that I needed to refer to the more in-depth instructions. 

This is the first one I made, for E's para.

I  made her teacher's red, since she wears a lot of red.  I'm hoping it's because she really likes it and not just because it's the school color.  Ha.

I'm starting to look a little crazed in this one, as I still had loads of sewing to do and it was getting late!  Plus, I feel like a dork posing, but I always like to see things on a person.

I also made them matching coffee cozies and one for each of the therapists as well.

They were quick too, and fun to sew up. I used Insul-Bright instead of batting.

When I was buying gift cards, I asked the woman for empty cups to put them in, but I didn't notice until I got home that they were smaller than the Tall, so the cozies are a bit large on them.