KCW: Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, there was a little girl....

whose mother sewed her a dress using Liberty of London Carnaby jersey knit,

and she lived happily ever after.

The End.

Pattern: Make It Perfect Little Joey
Size 4 - no modifications
Fabric: Liberty Of London Carnaby jersey and navy ribbing

The other KCW news is a secret polo shirt for P that I can't share fully yet...

and a completely insane work in progress.....

Does anyone else do this kind of thing? Tuesday is Italian day at P's school. We have everything we need for a great Venetian gondolier costume, except the straw boater hat.

I'm here to tell you that you can buy a fedora, a trilby, a cowboy hat, all sorts of hats for kids. But not straw boaters. So I'm making one. Never done it before, but that kind of thing doesn't stop me! Follow my progress on Facebook or Flickr. It's one enormous task!

KCW: Knight Hoodie

When there's a million other things to do, and then Kid's Clothes Week rolls around, that there is the perfect excuse to stop and sew!

I'm working on one or two things which I may not be able to show you before the week is out, so I thought it was the perfect time to share something I'd made earlier.

 I fell hard for this pattern when I saw Sophie sew it up during a KCW past, and I knew P would adore it. It's costume-y enough that grown ups can't help but smile when they see it, yet a 6 year old thinks it's perfect as an everyday hoodie.



I found a lovely, soft sweater fleece and then just happened to have exactly the right dark grey ribbing from when I stocked up on ribbings from the Ottobre Etsy shop. The 2x2 ribbing is the perfect weight for a jacket or pullover. The buttons and metallic silver (plastic) zip were an easy find from Spotlight.

The Charming Doodle pattern comes as a PDF which tiles together nicely and is well illustrated with clear instructions. I'm a stickler for finishes so I was a bit baffled to find no mention of finishing any seams. I know knits don't fray but it just doesn't feel right to leave them alone.

I sewed the hoodie on the sewing machine, but finished all seam allowances with the overlocker. The only spot this was slightly tricky was the hood seam where the armour is. Tricky, but still worth doing, especially as when the hood is down this seam will be somewhat visible.

The other part that had me wondering if I should deviate from the pattern was the lack of any facing or zipper shield. As I was sewing I was thinking that the quality of the finish was definitely going to fall into the category of "costume". I really needn't have worried as it doesn't look bad at all. There is now a teen and adult sized pattern and I'm pleased to see that a zipper and hood facing is used to finish the front.

Obviously, P loves it. I sewed a straight size 6 and the fit is perfect. Leaving off all the armour, this could also be a great pattern for an everyday windproof fleece hoodie. The muffler style raised front collar would be ideal for cold, winter walks to school.

 

But with the armour, I guess it's a little bit on theme with Kid's Clothes Week storybook theme...

I'm amazed, and a little disappointed, that I haven't found the time to really embrace the theme for this season. I am nuts for books, and adore throwing some literary references into my sewing. I've had plenty of ideas and really enjoyed imagining some book themed clothes. They just aren't going to get made this week.

 

Perhaps the best thing about the Knight Hoodie is this: Even a bit-of-a-hippie mum who won't normally buy any weapon toys is prepared to bend the rules when it comes to a blogpost featuring the Knight Hoodie. It's just too much fun not to co-ordinate with a sword!

... and a Metro T for me

When I was busy making Flipper's Father's day T-shirt, I figured with the pattern instructions out and the overlocker threaded with grey, it was probably the right time to make the Liesl & Co Women's Metro t-shirt for me!

Mine's a straight XL (oh that hurts to type, but it's the truth). I measured between the L and XL and followed the pattern's advice to size up a little. Also, this fabric is a pretty thin viscose jersey and would be very underwear ugly if it was too clingy.

The size turned out perfect. the shoulders sit right, the armholes and sleeves are not too big, but there's plenty of freedom and swing throughout the T-shirt to avoid any tightness or lumpy bits.

Just showing off my side seam matching, but also having a laugh as the written words make as much sense when you read over the seam as anywhere else. I have to admit to ignorance and say I don't know if it's a famous poem or just a fairly random collection of words. There's a reference to Baudelaire thrown in, just below my neckband are the words "empty womb" and my left breast bears the word "ennui". All sounds about right!

I think there might be enough leftover to make a T-shirt for one of the kids, which would put me on theme with the upcoming Kid's Clothes Week.

I kind of like the idea as the print itself seems somewhat inappropriate for a little kid, but is in a very appropriate storybook style font! It reminds me of a book of poetry that I have which includes some translations of Villon, a very ribald poet. How my son would love a T-shirt with a quote about  "a fart such as no toxic beetle ever puffed forth".

What does the theme Storybook suggest to you?

KCW: PixCell Red Deer Pullover

If you're one of my half a dozen Facebook friends (who I love because my Facebook page is completely anonymous and I think it's sweet that they still want to "friend" me without knowing who I am), then you might have seen what I've been up to this week...

It all started with this inspiration:

PicCell Red Deer, 2012, Kohei NAWA

In one of my moments of madness I decided I could make a deer like that. I had my beading lesson on Tuesday, and I've been sewing on beads in every spare minute since.

Before I got started on the beading I made a pullover out of cream, merino fleece. The pattern is from Girl's Sassy Clothes by Yuki Araki. I made the short sleeved dress version way back here and I adore that dress although it's getting a bit small.

The pullover is size 100cm, and while it's the perfect fit for now I don't anticipate it being big enough next winter.  Mary at the beading shop had suggested I sew my beads onto fabric, then back it with Vilene fusible web and another piece of fabric so that the threads would be secure, and so that it could be taken off and sewn onto something else later on. Once A tried this sweater on I was glad of Mary's idea. 

These gorgeous round, brown buttons came from Buttonmania, which is another of the great shops in the Nicholas Building.

 

So with the sweater ready, I was beading away...

I started with the t-shirt transfer image, then sewed a single layer of small clear beads over the top.

 



On top of those went some medium sized clear and amber beads, then a few much bigger ones as well. Having started beading at my lesson in the city on Tuesday, I finished this evening. Not bad for a first timer!

There were a couple of really fortunate decisions along the way, more by luck than planning. Firstly, I was going to draw the outline of the deer only then bead over a darker brown fabric. The photo, however has given some much needed depth and reality and I'm so grateful to Mary for that suggestion. Also, had I used darker brown fabric as I'd originally intended, the space between the antlers would have looked terrible. Obvious now, but I hadn't thought of it, and only chose the cream so that the t-shirt transfer picture would show up well.

Then the terrifying task of trimming around the beaded fabric trying not to snip a thread and lose it all.

I cut around the beading before fusing it to the web, so that I could clearly see where the threads were on the back. Once it was cut out, I fused some fusible web to some more of the same cream cotton, then traced around the deer and cut out the same shape from the fused cotton.

.... then ironed the two layers together so that all those threads are safely enclosed.

Finally, to keep it neat I did a tiny blanket stitch around the perimeter. That's held the two layers together very nicely and has hidden a bit more of the cotton fabric from view. This was the second bit of good advice I got from Mary, Sure enough after all this work, I'm very fond of this deer, and I'm super happy with how transferable it will be.

Thank goodness for Le Tour being on TV as it's been a lot of late nights, but finally, I tacked the little deer onto the front of the pullover. No modelled photos tonight as it's way past everyone's bedtime, but if you'll forgive me a flash-lit photograph on the coathanger, taken after midnight, here's my final instalment for Kid's Clothes Week.

It's now on the floor at the foot of A's bed. I think she'll be pretty happy when she sees it!

KCW: Mid week report

Kid's Clothes Week: I am having such fun sewing. I've done what I always do and become carried away with projects. It will take until the end of the week before I come up for air and get to see what everyone else has made.

First up, I made a simple turtleneck sweater for A.

The fabric is a gorgeously soft merino fleece that I bought at the recent sale at The Fabric Store. While I was shopping there I bumped into Jorth and Nikkishell of Handmaker's Factory fame! Of course it was the one day of the week that I wasn't wearing my Carnaby Cape. I think that would have been one of very few opportunities to meet a pattern designer while wearing their pattern. Rats.

And, of course, the cream merino fleece that was exactly what I wanted was one of the few fabrics that wasn't on sale. Never fear, they were carrying plenty of bags and I was about to fill mine, so it was a very happy shopping experience and rendezvous for all!

Google images came to the rescue with an image of a red deer. I added those dodgy looking hooves myself with paint.net as every deer photo that was posed well had the deer standing either in long grass or in snow. Those critters sure don't show their feet off!

I packed my lovely Noodlehead pouch (thanks Suzy!) and headed into town for a lesson in how to sew beads.

In a beautiful building in town, (The Nicholas Building) is a shop I'm embarrassed to admit I'd never been into before: Maria's Beads and Trims. Here I found jar after jar after jar of the most perfect beads. Even better, I found a very helpful Mary, who was interested in my project and perhaps quite bemused by this very enthusiastic, complete novice who'd wandered in off the street. She invited me to come back to be shown how to sew beads. And so yesterday I did.

Every year when Le Tour comes around I seem to unconsciously pick some involved hand sewing project, and it just works perfectly! If you can't ride in France, then sit on the couch and sew, and dream about riding in France.

I've been making steady progress, and am well beyond this last progress photo...

However, I hadn't been home long past my sewing lesson, when I managed to snap the only beading needle I'd bought. So the beading project was laid aside for a while and I hit the machines.

I had previously bought a remnant of the same gorgeous merino fleece in a deep red colour, so I figured it was time to make the Issey Miyake inspired peplum top:

Keen to try another kid's T-shirt pattern I printed off the Oliver + S School Bus T-shirt. I chose the size 3, then, for no real reason, added 3/4" to the sleeve length. Then I lopped of about 4" from the bottom and drafted a pattern piece for a peplum. The Oliver + S tutorial site suggested 150-200% the width of the t-shirt. I went for 175% and it was just the right amount of gathered!



I didn't have ribbing of the right colour for the neck, so I did a bound neck finish using the same wool. Before I'd done that it was clear that the wool had a bit less stretch than would be required and the neckhole looked mighty small. I deepened it at the front by about 3/4" tapering that to the shoulders. Then tried to finish it without losing any stretch. It was ludicrously difficult to get on (and off again at the end of the day) so I'll have to go back another day and chop off the binding, making the neckhole bigger and then bind it again.

I bought a new beading needle, and a bag of necklace beads hoping I could keep A entertained while I did some more beading....

She concentrated fiercely, but did end up pricking herself with the darning needle, threw a wobbly and I had to finish her necklace for her after all.

And then we picked up P from school and he drew a vampire which is going to go on a T-shirt. He drew with a transfer pencil and then I ironed the image onto the fabric. Now I've painted over it with puff paint (he couldn't have all the fun!) and once it's dry I'll sew up his School Bus t-shirt.

And the cream turtleneck sweater got it's buttons and buttonholes, and there's one more garment in the works.
Phew.
How's your KCW going? You don't have to answer til Sunday as I may not resurface again until then either. Happy sewing!

Pants to the rescue and KCW inspiration: lots of paint

I received an SOS from a friend during the recent school holidays. Her son needed new pants, and she was finding it increasingly difficult to find trousers he would wear. After witnessing firsthand the meltdown that getting dressed in the morning was resulting in, I offered to make him some new trousers.

After trying on a few pairs of P's pants, it was the pattern mash pants that he liked the fit of best.

These pants were the prototype for my Kenzo jeans. It's a mash-up of the Oliver + S Field Trip cargos on the front with the Oliver + S After School pants on the back. My own addition was the split front with the extra panel at the inside leg.

 

Having picked the pattern we talked fabrics, pockets, fit etc etc. Then I took P and his friend to the fabric shop. I had no further instruction from my friend, other than that she always liked what my kids were wearing, and she just wanted pants her son would wear happily. So, his choice of fabric....

 

The first thing he found that he liked was a bright red, tie-die linen cotton mix. I was initially aghast but then thought, that really could work, and he's the kind of kid who could wear pants like that.

 

 

I had bought a red button, but the pants were looking pretty out-there so I opted instead for a brass jeans button and some iron-on faux rivets for the pocket detail. The linen/cotton blend was lovely to sew and I think these will prove to be very comfortable pants. Not my usual style (?!) but I grew to really like them as I was sewing along.

 

 

At the fabric shop, with the kid holding tightly to this bolt of red tie-die fabric, I steered him towards the plain cotton drill to choose some fabric for a second pair which, I suggested, might be a bit less exciting. He pointed to a canary yellow and then I had to put my foot down. Sorry, I said, that will hurt my eyes too much to sew.

 

But I pointed out that P was wearing pants with yellow topstitching and he could have yellow stitching, just not yellow fabric. Choose another one, said I, willing him to pick the dark grey, or maybe navy. He settled on a dark green.

 

 

Well, my only instruction had been to make pants the kid would wear... And, should he be invited to march alongside the athletes at the next Commonwealth games he would have the perfect pair of pants to do it in!

 



The green and gold is a bit hard to take, and his mum was somewhat horrified by these ones as her school uniform had been this alarming colour combination. Bad memories for mum, but happy pants for her son.

Her shock at the green and gold did mean that in comparison she was more accepting of the red tie-die, so that was a win! The good news is that the recipient of the two pair of trousers loves them both. he gets up in the morning and happily puts on whichever pair is in the wardrobe. McStitch to the rescue!

 

On to what is happening next... There's only a day and a half until Kid's Clothes Week kicks off. The blog has been alive with giveaways, I'm planning to dive into the world of instagram and hashtags (#kidsclothesweek for those who know how to use it) to cheer everyone along. But I'll also be sewing (and beading - aaaargh!) like a woman possessed. Are you signed up yet?

 

In keeping with the theme of Kid Art, I made a round up of all the things I've made thus far that have involved fabric paint. I love paint,.

 

 

No paint for me this week, but I'll be going with my inspirations from visiting the NGV with the kids a few weeks ago. I may well have been a bit overly ambitious with my plans..... again. :)





Kid's Clothes Week: inspiration from art

Have any of you ever wondered where I get my ideas and inspiration from?......

No?......

I flatter myself huh?

Well, I'm over at the Kid's Clothes Week blog talking about art as inspiration for sewing kid's clothes. The next KCW season (summer for those in the northern hemisphere) is 21-27 July and has the theme KID ART.

You can interpret the theme however you like (or ignore it), although I'm guessing anything Rolf Harris inspired will be out this year. Anyway, come and read my ramblings on art and sewing inspiration.

Or, if you prefer, you can watch this video of people blowing themselves up*. The kids loved it at the gallery but it didn't make it into the KCW blog post.

* Not suitable for people who are scared of balloons popping!


The Ability to Blow Themselves Up from Simon Bowden on Vimeo.

Kid's Clothes Week: It's a wrap.

I'm very pleased to say that with the exception of the purple cardigan everything I sewed last week has already been worn, washed and dried and even worn again. Score!

I only really get to sew after kid's bedtime in the evenings (although I did sneak in a bit of lunchtime sewing on Wednesday and Sunday). So I knew I'd have to be organised to get through the challenge I'd set myself.

I had everything prewashed, patterns traced and fabric cut before the week started.

I'm normally one to sew a single garment from start to finish but for the sake of speed I decided to sew in colour batches and to try and minimise the number of times I had to switch to the loose bobbin, walking foot and double needle on the sewing machine, or swap thread colours on the overlocker.

I started with grey overlocking (yellow and grey tights) then moved to dark pink (jacket, pink tights and Field Trip dress) then did some finishing of the jacket and Field Trip pocket before switching to hemming mode and double needle-ing everything.

Next,  brown thread in the overlocker (Flashback Skinny T and last pair of leggings) and hemmed before changing back to regular sewing machine sewing and making the Japanese dress.

Then the Sailboat, Playtime and Apple Picking dress were just sewn one after the other in kind-a normal fashion, albeit with some pretty late nights.

I had a pretty solid Autumn theme to my colours and I hope I balanced my love of brown with my daughters need for a bit of pink or purple. Now that I've finally got around to doing some ironing, and caught up with the backlog there, her wardrobe is looking very full!

Surprisingly there was only one hiccup for the week which was when I drove the needle through one of the ten buttons on the Apple Picking dress and cracked it. Thankfully only 5 of them have to be functioning buttons, so the one that has been superglued back together will hopefully be OK as a decorative button. (I claim I was distracted by my son who managed to get his rear end stuck through the ladder of the trampoline and was screaming from the garden. Normally I would have ignored him awhile and finished sewing the button with full concentration but he was yelling pretty loudly! - we eventually got him unstuck without the need for the fire brigade. twit.)

Thanks to everyone who dropped by throughout the week to say something nice. It was like having a cheerleading team and I was regularly checking my blog while I was sewing!

KCW Spring (Autumn!) 2014: Day 7

Here we are at the end of the week and I'm delighted to say I managed some daylight sewing today (for only the second time this week) and finished off my last project....

 

...which is brought to us courtesy of my stalker! Somehow she has found out where I live (oh that's right I gave her my address to post the Japanese pattern book to) and has studied me enough to know what kind of fabric I'd take home from a Clear It store. So, being the lovely stalker that she is, she posted me a package of fabric!

 

And I made an Apple Picking Dress, a Flashback Skinny T and another, final pair of Playtime leggings.

 

The dress fabric is a thin, synthetic woven with a tiny self rib almost like rip-stop nylon. I've no idea what it is, but even a brand new, sharp needle had to punch through to make a hole. It was also insanely resistant to pins which is less surprising as my pins are all appallingly old, bent and abused. While it appears to be a flimsy, pretty dress I am happy in the knowledge that my daughter will be very well protected by any attacks from rampaging porcupines!

 

Because it was thin (albeit tough) fabric I decided on full undergarments using the mystery brown knit fabric that was also in the package.

 

 

The knit is quite thin compared to my cotton lycra, has a slightly shiny underside, but is wonderfully soft, super stretchy and deliciously brown. Thanks J Wo for both fabrics, I love them!

 

That was the end to today's photo shoot, as the native grass she's holding is known, at our house, as tickle grass and there was a big brother to chase after and tickle.

 

tickle grass securely attached to handlebars and off she goes!

And the end of my Kid's Clothes Week. I'll take a few on-the-hanger pictures and do a round up post in a day or two. We played "favourites" this evening at the dinner table. A declared her favourite was the brown leaf dress, P's favourite was the Playtime dress "cause it was so funny that she couldn't find the pockets for ages and ages", Flipper looked blankly and said nothing, and I think this one might be my favourite.

 

So now that my favourite little girl is well dressed I'll have to do something about my favourite little boy. But not for a week or two perhaps!

 

 



KCW Spring (Autumn!) 2014: Days 5&6

After making so many pairs of Playtime leggings it was time to make the dress!

I'd read in the Oliver + S forums that the dress tends to run a bit large, so I chose a size 2 width with size 3 length. The fabric is a stretch cotton poplin from The Fabric Store.

The dress has a really cute faux collar done with topstitching. I used Heidi's trick (seen here) and used two threads through the same needle to get enough oomph for the topstitching.

The topstitching continues around the back and down the placket:

And the in-seam pockets are also outlined with topstitching.

What pockets Mum? I can't find them!

Oh, there they are!

Found them!! Look mum!

Perhaps inseam pockets on a three-year-old's dress aren't such a good idea after all!

My casual approach to fabric cutting has continued (those Weekend Getaway blouses bled me of all cutting patience) and I realised after cutting this dress that the little flowers are probably upside down. Unless of course they're hanging from a vine. That would do as an answer should the kids pick up on my error.

Odd that the only dress this week not to get a matching pair of Playtime leggings was the Playtime dress itself. But it does get a matching cardigan:

This is pattern "j" from Let's Go Out Girl's Clothes. I found the fabric by chance as I walked past a big, city fabric store that was closing down and everything was half price. I didn't know what the fabric was and it was a bit thin for this jacket. It was priced at $30/metre and felt like wool, I guessed the price probably suggested wool. I bought one metre for $15 and then went home and threw it in the wash. That confirmed it was definitely wool as it came out of the wash half the size and twice as thick! It wasn't intentional, I'm just a very lazy laundry person and so I pre-treat fabrics as I intend to treat them for the rest of their lives (which can be very short obviously!). Anyway, now it was perfectly thick for a little jacket!

The pattern is super simple; a set in sleeve, and then the binding around the neckline that becomes the ties. The pattern showed a neat illustration for sewing a gathering stitch inside the front curved seam allowance to help turn the hem nicely. This could be my first "miss' of the week as it was worn happily for pictures but then taken off. The dress however, was declared to be "perfect for a ballet mum to take her ballet kids to ballet school"

...and off she went with a Puffin and a Pig in a pram!