KCW: P's turn and the final day

I did manage to limit myself to slowly sewing on some buttons and tacking up some sleeve hems today, so my Kid's Clothes Week is officially over.

Let's let P close the show:

His T-shirt is the Figgy's Banyan T in the boy's T-shirt style. I picked up the Lisette knit at Spotlight in the discount rack, and I've just today spotted the pink colourway marked down. I might have to go back for that.

A T-shirt is a t-shirt when it comes to construction, but I always like to give a pattern it's fair chance to influence how I sew, so I followed the instructions. The pattern has you attach the neckband and then close the second shoulder. That's not my favourite way of doing things as I find it hard to get that narrow neckband to match perfectly - probably cause I'm using the overlocker to sew.

The neckband is cut on the bias which I don't think makes any real difference to how it stretches and fits, but is perhaps designed for using stripes? Mine wasn't behaving all that nicely until I topstitched it down with the double needle. Now it's lovely. As an aside, if you're ever struggling with knit neckbands I would NOT recommend using the self fabric with a stable interlock like this. Reach for a good quality ribbing and you'll get a better result more easily. My other advice is usually to iron the beejezus out of it, but you saw where that got me yesterday!

The T-shirt is size 8/9 which is the largest size this pattern goes to. I thought it was looking short and boxy wile I was making it, but I'm happy with how it looks on.

I'm in a happy, happy place when it comes to pants sewing this week. I'm as delighted with these shorts as I have been with A's two pair of pants. The pattern is "shorts with rolled cuff" from Happy Homemade Vol II (also now known as Sew Chic Kids)

I was worried he'd complain they were scratchy as the fabric is a fairly lightweight linen which I picked up as a remnant from The Fabric Store. It's got that 100% linen feel which can be a bit harsh, but it also has the most lovely olive colour and a slight sheen - almost a metallic surface look. I suspect I'd bought it for me but these shorts had to be made in a khaki type colour and in linen. Natch.

Normally I'd back my sewing machine in any buttonhole challenge. Knit fabrics, thick fabrics, close to the edge of the fabric, bring it on! But the thick end of these narrow tabs that are only 1cm wide proved to be an impossible place to create a buttonhole. Fair enough, I can't fault her for finding that a bit too much of an ask. So the buttons are just stitched on.

The faux fly construction was a new technique for me and I loved the way it came together. A few more steps than when the faux fly is incorporated into the front pants piece, but the finish is great. With all the edge and topstitching this was the slowest garment of the week, but I'd make another pair straight away I'm so happy with how they look on him.

And apparently they feel great too. So good in fact, P wanted to close out the photo shoot with a few push ups (?!)

As at the end of every other KCW I'm now ready for bed and then to spend a few evenings just browsing the Project Pool and looking at everyone's wonderful creations. 'Til next time!

KCW continues...

I've had far too many late nights this week, but when you only get to sew after dark and when there are just too many things to sew, that's how it goes. Right?!

More for A. First up the Figgy's Banyan tunic and a tale of woe and caution with regards to ironing synthetic knits...

I was planning on keeping this top simple and making it all in the flower print. I added the tiny chest pocket, which was barely visible, stitching it on with purple thread.

But then, after attaching the sleeves and neck band I must have accidentally turned up the iron settings 'cause I burnt the heck out of one shoulder.

The colour ran, the fabric lost it's elasticity and it became somewhat see through. This was not the kind of ironing mistake that would disappear with a wash. This top was toasted. :(

All was not lost, as I recalled a gorgeous tunic that Shino made (Flickr link) which I'd been meaning to copy for so long. Now was my moment!

I gathered up a couple of long strips of raw edged fabric and created a kind of rosette over the singed area. It continues across the front neckline, and so I removed the tiny pocket as it looked a bit weird.

Shino's tunic is perfection with it's solid fabric. My ruffle-y rosette is a bit lost in the print and very hard to photograph, but in real life it's lovely. I'm kind of glad I burnt the fabric as I can't imagine the top without this shoulder detail now!

The tunic would definitely look better in a double sided knit as the handkerchief corners don't look so great when the un-printed underside of the fabric shows. I made the size 4/5 and it's a touch too small around the chest. Given that the cooked fabric may fall apart over the period of one summer I'm not sweating on the lack of growing room. :)

Next up, another pair of pedal pushers from a Japanese sewing book. I was nervous about the length of these. I mean, if the shorts were calf length, where would the calf length pants end up? Well, just right is the answer and in hindsight I'm pretty certain I traced the wrong length line for my previous "shorts"

The pattern is "g" from Girl's Sweet Clothes. I made the 120cm size and this book has pattern sizes  from 100-140cm.

They're a quick, easy sew with front pockets and a simple elastic waist. The cute detail is the ribbon bows around the lower cuffs.

The ribbon is a France Duval-Stalla ribbon which I was sent as part of a lovely package from Helena (Dubhels2003) after I'd posted an outgrown dress to her. It's just what these grey pants needed to get them over the line and girl approved! Thanks Helena.
 

The fabric, from memory, is a shot weave quilting cotton from Spotlight. For simple pants I love the fit of these. The front rise might be a bit generous and roomy but how cute is the back?!

I need to buy some buttons tomorrow and then all that's left of my Kid's Clothes Week sewing is to sew on four buttons. I'll need to go slowly so I can take my one hour of sewing to do just that. I really can't, for the love of sleep, start something else tomorrow.

G'night!

Green Banyan Jeans

Since it's been school holidays and P has been conscientiously NOT wearing navy pants, it became apparent he had almost no other pants that still fit.

It turns out I've sewn six pairs of navy pants and four pairs of navy shorts and no other bottoms for him all year. Time to rectify that and revisit (first pair here) the Figgy's Banyan Pants

I'd liked the baggy up top jodhphur-esque fit of the Banyan's, although I'm not as convinced that denim is the right fabric. The pattern is begging to be sewn in linen I think.

Anyway, green denim was at hand, and my current way of thinking is that denim always needs topstitching to look right. So I went a bit mental....

I used a bronze-y coloured shiny thread leftover from this dress and a more subtle mushroomy grey thread which you can just see on the pockets and as a little detail around the fly and between the pleats on one side.

I used two strands of thread to get enough visibility and I think it's a nice balance of subtle colours with a bit of detailing to make 'em look pro.

For more oomph on the back pockets I used that stitch on the sewing machine that goes forwards and backwards over the same stitch a few times.

I love playing around with back pockets. It seems that as long as they're symmetrical then any pattern can look good. I need to start a little gallery for myself (should probably use that Pinterest thingy) to remember pocket patterns that I've seen that I want to copy. Just need to work out how to subtly photograph people's butts.

For these non school issue pants I used the little clothing label that came with the pattern (love that).

It's a curious mix of jeans sewing with a naval shore leave kind of pattern vibe. He loves them

And how cute is the top that my mother in law brought back from a recent Mediterranean cruise?! My kids wardrobes are now almost entirely sewn by me with the exception of the T-shirts from around the world. On any given day the kids could be wearing a T-shirt from Madagascar or Syria or Canada... I really wish I'd started a checklist of countries at the beginning!

I'm pleased to say that second time around the zip fly was a breeze. I think I came to zipper sewing from the wrong end. The first zipper I ever installed was an invisible zip and so I thought it was all about sewing as close as possible to the zipper teeth. Turns out with fly zips a more casual and less uptight approach works best.

Just the way these laid back pants like to rock too.

Back to school next week and I'll miss the colour this kid brings to my day. He's good fun to have around.

Pants, pants, pants, pants.....

Catching up a bit here by dropping no less than four pair of pants on the blog in one hit!

 

First up, three more pairs of navy (read: hard to photograph) school pants for P.

These first ones are the tried and true Oliver + S Field Trip Cargo pants.

 

 

I did all the edgestitching and topstitching, but since it's all navy, it's subtle. Nothing like those Team Australia (Oh, don't get me started on Tony again) pants that P's friend is wearing.

 

For a bit of something extra, I'm loving these iron-on faux rivets from Jimmy's buttons. They really look the business, but no complaints about scratchy metal bits on the inside.

 

Not only are there no scratchy bits, but the insides of these pants are so lovely to touch...

 

 

The fabric is a moleskin, which is undoubtedly meant to have this soft, brushed face on the outside. I talked it through with P and he definitely wanted the softness on the inside, and the more standard issue navy drill side on the outside. These super snuggly pants are his own little school uniform secret!

For the record, these are size 5, with about 3/4" length added at the bottom hem and the cargo pockets left off. No other mods and they fit perfectly.

The second pair of school pants is another pair of Sandbox pants in some more of the thick terry knit. I saved myself some trouble by not trying to flat fell every seam. The side seams are finished together and edge and topstitched and only the crotch seam is flat felled. So they look pretty much identical to the first pair but took half the time.

...and I used the genius suggestion from my blog commenter Rootaberger to use "one of those little plastic things that hold the string. You know, the ones you push down to loosen or tighten".

Well, I don't know if they have a name either (I'd guess at toggles) but I happened to have two on hand. I put one onto the original sandbox pants, and that definitely helps, but with these pants I went one step further: The elastic waistband on these ones goes all the way around and is fixed in length. The ties are stitched onto the elastic near the buttonhole outlets and thus are purely for decoration.

To make the navy pants production line a bit more interesting I busted out a new pattern for my third pair of pants:

 

These are the Figgy Banyan pants and it was my first ever time sewing a real zip fly. You know I took another photo of the pants as above, but slightly from the right, which hid that sticky out zip pull perfectly but was just a touch out of focus.

 

A close up from a better angle makes it look alright...

 

 



I found the pattern instructions were somewhat lacking when it came to the zipper insertion. I think there is a Figgy's photo tutorial and I know there are plenty of other tutorials on sewing blogs as to how to do this step well. But, when I'm using a pattern for the first time I like to follow just the pattern, as given in the package that I bought. It may seem perverse, but I feel like that should be sufficient.

Just checked: there is a Figgy's tutorial, but it doesn't address the main problem I had, which was quite where exactly to line up the zipper so that it's not completely exposed. The first time I sewed it on it was 100% visible. I unpicked it and chose some arbitrary distance to set it back and it is well covered by the fly flap, except that I chose a zip with a hefty pull, so that part does stick out a bit.

There was also no mention made of shortening the zipper. I'm sure mine was the recommended length but I had to trim a considerable amount off or it would have dangled down inside the pants a long way. Now I would have no concerns doing this again, but if it's your first time and you're a bit more timid and less slapdash, you may want to check out Cindy's awesome tutorial.

Anyway, there it is, and it works! I managed to sew the curve of the fly shield the wrong way so it's curved where it attaches to the pants and right angled at the free edge where it should be curved. Oops. Oh, and I got completely bamboozled with how the waistband attached. The pattern may not be to blame there as it was getting late at night and I was starting to do things the autopilot (Oliver + S) way.

 

Once I'd finished, and P was wearing them I was itching to make another pair straight away. Partly to correct my mistakes, but also cause they are such a great pair of trousers. I love the slightly jodhpur-esque shape and they look really trendy on. I have some green denim that I think will be awesome for this pattern.

 

These pants were the last cut out of the 3m of navy drill that I bought when P started school. From that I've made 2 pair of shorts and 3 pair of trousers!

 

Then, on to she-who-will-never-wear-pants. The only time I can convince A to wear pants is when we're taking the bikes down to the BMX track. She is of the opinion that princesses and ballerinas wear dresses all the time, except when they're working laps of the pump track!

 



But as you can see her pants are getting too short. Not surprising as they're over a year old now. The one pair of pants that do still fit her really well, are completely unsuited to mucking around in the dirt, and those are her Moschino knock off trousers.

My challenge was to make another pair of those pants, that were suitable for outside play, but princess-y enough to perhaps get worn...

The pants are a lengthened version of the Oliver + S Sketchbook shorts. The size is only 18-24 months but fits my 3.5 year old perfectly. I guess they're roomy shorts, and probably in that size there's some nappy room which is not needed anymore. My Moschino pants had a very straight leg and I tapered these ones slightly and kept the cuff, as a result they've ended up looking a lot like another pair of Banyans!

 

The princess appeal came via some metallic silver topstitching on the back pockets

Edit: Forgot to mention. The Sketchbook pattern does not have back pockets. These are size 4 pockets from the After School pants pattern.

 



...and some more iron on faux rivets, but this time, with diamantes (can't believe I just typed diamantes on my blog, ugh the things we do huh)

 

I doubled the metallic thread and the sewing machine coped fine with the straight stitches, but the decorative stitch did skip a bit. I probably needed to loosen off the needle thread tension as the metallic thread does seem very grab-by.

 

 

I'm happy with these pants for so many reasons. It was a small remnant of high quality denim that was just enough for this length and no more. I didn't need to draft a new pattern size. They were dirt cheap to make and I think they look pretty cool.

 

 

She's happy with them for those moments when a girl just has to wear pants, no buts about it.

 

 

 

P.S that blue top is the Oliver + S 2+2 Blouse and is one of the first bits of knit (merino jersey) sewing I did!