Mini City Stroll Wrap Skirt

As I was getting dressed or undressed, I forget which, in one of my City Stroll Wrap Skirts, my daughter was watching me.* She was fascinated by how my skirt unwrapped and became a flat piece of fabric.

"I want a skirt that goes flat like yours Mummy" she declared. And that got me thinking....

* Please assure me there will come a time when I can get dressed or undressed in private again!

The girl needed a Mini City Stroll Wrap Skirt! I had a think about what skirt pattern would be the right base for the alteration. The Sunday Brunch skirt by Oliver + S ticked all the right boxes. Small angled pockets, flat front with elastic back and a narrow A-line shape. Yep, this just might work, I thought, and quickly made the Barbie skirt as a test run.

 

I traced the skirt off again and this time traced the front pattern piece double. On my tracing I marked a vertical line half an inch beyond the point where the pocket meets the waistband. On that line I marked a point about half way down and then drew a curve from there down to the hemline at a point about two inches past the midline.

 

That created the front pattern piece. The back pattern piece is almost identical to the Sunday Brunch  except that I folded the kick pleat bit out of the way and cut the skirt directly on the fold. The only other change was to adapt the pocket pieces a little to turn them into two separate pockets rather than one that crosses the centre midline.

 



The construction was then closest to the City Stroll Wrap Skirt, just minus any darts and with an elasticised back waistband. I added some piping to my pockets.

As well as piping the pockets I used the same thin floral fabric for the facing, which, in hindsight I think I cut way too wide. There was just enough of the pale green lining fabric left over from my plaid City Stroll skirt to line this one too.

The facing was attached with a half inch seam, and since the Sunday Brunch skirt has a one an a half inch hem allowance this skirt is consequently one inch longer than the Sunday Brunch. I hadn't really planned that, but I think the slightly longer length makes it look more like a mini version of my skirt.

The dark blue snaps aren't quite the perfect colour match, but they're close enough and since she can do snaps up herself with ease, they're perfect after all!

This little skirt has gone through all the same rigorous testing as my big version. It's performed very well for bike riding, jumping, skipping about and all manner of four year old girl activities.

If you've got to the end of the blog post and you're thinking: "Where's the link to Oliver + S blog where she shows us exactly how to modify the pattern?"... Well, there isn't one. Seems we weren't the only ones thinking little girls need wrap skirts and there may be a pattern in the future. Which would save you the hassle of altering one you've already got! - and save me having to do it all over again when I need to size up.

Happily redundant pattern modification!

Have you seen the new Oliver + S patterns?

I'm happy to say that there's a fabulous polo shirt pattern (Parachute Polo and Sweatpants) that makes my previous pattern modification completely redundant.

But I didn't know it was coming, and sewed this polo up about a month ago. This is a long sleeved version of the Sketchbook/Jumprope mash-up that I did as an Oliver + S blog tutorial back here.

 

 

This polo doesn't really need the Sketchbook as it's base. If you have placket instructions for a partial placket (any shirt will do) and a nice fitting T-shirt pattern then you're set. All you'd need to do is draft your own collar. But perhaps that's where the magic lies....

 

Have you ever looked at a neckline, and a collar piece and thought  "I have no idea how they're going to fit together", but then they do. I certainly have. Worth paying for a well designed pattern in my opinion. So, I'll add the Parachute Polo to my collection, as the placket is interestingly different, and the side splits look cool (and I need to keep the collection complete :) )

 

 

Round about this point, you're probably recognising the fabric, right? Yep, this is the leftovers from my bumblebee Skippy dress along with a bit of that eternal lasting chambray tablecloth.

 

Of course that meant P needed to find the bee antennae....

 

 

So now there are two bees in the hive! With A and I both having the same dress pattern (Little Joey and Skippy) and a couple of fabrics in common, P and I both sharing some of this fabric, and the three of us all having culottes (did you see the sneak preview of his on Instagram?) we'll have to be more careful than ever not to go outdoors with our outfits matching!

 

 

From tomorrow morning, it's Kid's Clothes Week and the theme is Wild Thing, so I'm feeling on topic with my little bumblebee. I've got a few more things to make so I'm sure I'll manage one hour a day, but I'm not sure if I can sneak any more Wild Thing inspiration in.

 

Are you signed up? 

 

 

A pattern mash polo shirt

Why buy new patterns when you can combine a couple of good ones to get exactly what you want (and with no risk of dud sleeves to boot)?!

 

So, I wanted to make a classic polo shirt for P. I had just finished making his Spirograph shirt using the Oliver + S Sketchbook pattern and knew that it fit perfectly and the pattern pieces were still lying around. All I needed was a placket...

Enter the Oliver + S Jump Rope dress pattern. I've made this dress pattern four times now and it's just lovely. The placket instructions are very easy to follow but somehow leave you feeling like you're the genius for sewing such a great looking placket. Of course, this is my contribution to the Oliver + S blog for this month. You can see a bit more by clicking on the link in the image below:

Or just hang around here for more pictures of P!

The fabric for the polo came from Eliza fabrics in Sunshine and I think cost about $5. The collar and placket are leftovers from A's Moschino / Kill Bill suit. As an aside, I had a kid's wardrobe clean out recently and bagged up or gifted quite a lot of handmades. But the Moschino suit is still in the wardrobe. It's a bit short in the sleeves and legs, and so it's no use to us anymore, but I really don't know whether anyone is going to want a hand me down cream suit for a three year old. It's a bit strange, no?

Back to the polo shirt. In my efforts to match stripes, I thought it was correct to align the notches on the sleeve and the notches in the armhole at the same point on the stripe pattern. Obviously not. Is there a trick to getting the sleeve stripes lined up so that they appear to be a continual horizontal stripe with the shirt body?

I'd like to get it right as I have some striped fabric to make myself a Skippy dress, and there'll probably be enough leftover for another polo shirt like this one for P.

But before I tackle anything that requires thought I need a nice, foolproof project. My first attempt at pants for myself ended disastrously and I'm feeling a bit dejected. Somewhere along the way I mucked up such that my pants were about 3" smaller than the waistband. I thought they fit ok, so just chopped the waistband down to fit the pants. So very wrong! (about 3 inches wrong in fact). I don't even have the energy to go back over them to find out where I went wrong. Perhaps next year! :)

Part of my disappointment is that I had mentally planned a very funny, multi location photoshoot for these pants. I'm going to have to revisit the pattern if only for that reason!

I'm not all gloom though. In happier news, I raced my mountain bike a couple of weeks ago and had a win (lack of fitness cancelled out by lack of competition :) ) as well as beating the kids on the train this year. In tragic I-may-never-beat-my-kids-in-another-race-ever-again style I stood on the train platform with my bike over my head as the train pulled in. I may even have thumped my chest or pointed at the kids,...perhaps.

And then, as I gritted my teeth and listened to the dreadful grating noise of my thrice serviced Janome, I received an email saying I'd won a Toyota sewing machine. I didn't even know I was in a competition to win one, but apparently, by having entered the Show I had entered a lucky door prize as well. Bonus!

So the terrible, no good, too small pants were at least sewn on a machine that sounded sweetly happy to be in service.

If you want to see how to make a polo shirt from a girl's dress and a boy's shirt pattern. hop over to the Oliver + S blog. Or if you're curious to see what it looks like when mountain bikers take on a steam train, there are pictures of last year's race here.

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. :)





Selfish Sewing Week: Part 2

Still sewing...

I made this dress last night and I'm wearing it today!

Pattern: Pattern mash of the Lisette Passport dress and the Lisette Diplomat (for the sleeves - not seen here 'cause it's too cold!) Other changes: No side zip. Bound neckline. Size 14.
Fabric: Liberty Carnaby jersey knit.

Next up, a denim Passport jacket to go with it.

My new favourite dress!

In my unsuccessful search for Navy Windproof Fleece fabric I found something else completely...

Funny how that can happen, isn't it? This large amount of gorgeously soft and perfectly brown on brown fabric just had to come home with me.

But what to do with it? It was begging to made into something my size and I spent a fair bit of time surfing the net for pattern inspiration before I decided to go with what I had to hand. Not that I had any dress patterns suitable for knit fabric, but that wasn't going to stop me.

I did have this pattern (as yet untouched) Simplicity 2209: Lisette Passport Jacket and Dress:

But I wanted sleeves, so how about some pattern mashing using this pattern Simplicity 1878 Lisette Diplomat Dress

Passport.... Diplomat... This was obviously going to work. (no need to point out that the whole Lisette line are thusly named and it's no guarantee of pattern mashing success that the names sound good together. I was satisfied it was a good idea)

So I pulled out my patterns, traced off the Passport dress in a size that seemed about right, then I laid that tracing over the Diplomat dress. I lined up the side edges and the shoulder edges and then redrew the armhole in order to have Diplomat armholes in a Passport bodice.

I've been doing some very involved pattern matching cutting again lately and so it was a relief to set that aside, fold this fabric over and chop the dress out in a matter of minutes. In fact, I didn't think at all about the fabric's pattern. I assumed it was sufficiently abstract to not matter at all. And so, I came terrifyingly close to a Map of Tasmania Disaster.


For the international reader, don't type that into a search engine. Let me tell you, Tasmania is an island state, shaped like this and thickly forested. Nothing more needs to be said.

I think I got away with it as the Apple Isle is more over my left thigh than dead centre...



Or maybe not... now that I see it right next to the other map I'm worried it's really obvious!

Anyway....
The bodice of the dress has a lovely cross over section under the bust and down to the waist seam that gives it shape. It's intended to be sewn in a woven fabric and I was so gung ho about this project that it was only as I was glancing at the instructions to attach the bodice to the skirt that I noticed it usually has a small side zipper.

Thankfully I can now say that should you make this dress in a knit fabric with sufficient stretch you can omit the zip! Phew!

The fabric feels lovely and somehow the shape, the fit and the fabric all conspired together to give me a dress that doesn't show bra lines, or look strangled or overly wrinkly anywhere. I love it!

I had a play with serging some clear elastic on the sleeve hems thinking that was what one did to help stop them stretching. Nope. I've left it there but my skirt hem that I did with the walking foot and double needle is much more successful.

The Passport dress has a facing to finish the neckline. I cut a strip of self binding about 1" shorter than I measured the circumference of the neckline, sewed it together with 1/2" seam then applied it as a binding. That means my neckline would actually be higher (by the 5/8" seam allowance) than the pattern intended) and I'm happy with it just like that.

In fact I just love this dress. It's by far the best thing I've ever made myself but it's also one of my favourite things in my wardrobe right now. And I suppose, if it makes anyone want to go out and hug a tree and picket near a logging coup then I'll wear my Tassie badge with pride.

I'll also probably buy myself a few metres of Liberty viscose jersey cause now I have the perfect knit dress pattern!

School sewing

I was never going to sew school uniforms but when I took P to buy his uniform and he tried on the pants I did my best to stifle my giggles. He wasn't meant to be going to clown school! We bought some polo shirts, the bag, school hat and then left and went straight to Spotlight.

For about the same price as two of their baggy track pants I bought some fleece for winter tracksuit pants, some navy drill for shorts and trousers and some athletic knit for sports shorts.

Then I went on a navy sewing bender in January.

You've already seen the Art Museum pants I made as part of his "good" outfit.

For another pair of long trousers I revived my pattern mash pants and made another pair with a bit extra length. Those Kenzo jeans are already looking a bit short. He's a weed I tell you!

I threw on some topstitching and so these pants have a bit more of a casual feel than the Art Museum trousers.

 

For hotter weather, and gee have we had some, there are two pairs of Sketchbook shorts.

Finally , the sporty shorts were made using the Nature Walk pattern (did you guess it would be another Oliver + S?)

If I'm ever asked to pick a favourite from the Oliver + S patterns (hint hint) this could be it. The pants are such a quick sew and have the cutest backside fit of any kids trackpants I've ever seen, while the top is much more involved and gives you that "gee I'm clever" feeling that Oliver + S is famous for. Mostly though I love this pattern for all the costumes and variations it's spawned. Seriously, from Michael Jackson, Octonauts, Pirates, Evel Knievel, Robots and Mermaids the Nature Walk has been the basis of them all. Best pattern to play with ever (Flickr search for you)

Today was his first day of Prep and he woke up super early, super excited, dressed himself and then couldn't wait to get going! He literally sang the whole bike ride to school (and back again!)

I added some cotton twill tape labels to make his pants identifiable (should any school activities involve removing, then losing them)

I thought I was superbly prepared; 4 pairs shorts, 2 pairs long pants, all sewn up and labelled. School hat and bag labelled. Lunch made. At least until I got to school and realised I forgot about his teacher interview last week. Ah well, at least I've started the school year as I shall probably continue (bad mummy)

Blogging by request

How very flattering!

I snuck a little photo in the Oliver + S pool and it seems it is perhaps worthy of a blog post after all as I got quite a few lovely compliments. So for those who can feel a copy coming on, here's another of my tutorials DIY - LIDs (Like I Did).

The pattern is another Oliver + S (of course) in the Nature Walk pullover and pants. This is, I think, the unsung hero of the Oliver + S stable. It's a pretty unassuming pattern but it's been used to knock out quick dance pants, multiple shorts for kindy, nice sweaters for boys and girls and has been the basis for a LOT of costumes. Here's the Flickr pool for inspiration (I LOVE the octonaut costume)

I'd made the Pullover and pants for P and wanted to give it a bit of a girly twist for A. She has many gorgeous knitted jumpers thanks to my amazing mother in law, but needed some throw in the wash type jumpers for everyday. Coincidentally, it was my mother in law who gave me the velour skirt that I cut this sweater from.

 

The pattern has a collar and I decided I wanted a hood instead. I used the hood pattern piece from Happy Homemade Vol 2 seen here:



 

It wasn't a perfect fit as this hood has quite a deep attachment at the front, so after making the hood I started pinning it at the centre back neck and then when I got to the front I just chopped off the most pointy part that didn't want to fit.





 

 

Then I folded over the hood lining as if it were the undercollar and sewed it down. Not as neatly as I should have done mind you, but I couldn't be bothered handstitching it first. There may or may not be spots where the raw edge will poke out after a bit of wearing...

The other changes I made were to cut the sleeves and the body sections from a single piece of fabric each rather than having seams where contrasting fabrics would normally be used. I also did this cause I had a very tight squeeze to cut this from the thrifted skirt and saving half an inch on each pattern piece was vital.

The lining was likewise cut from single pieces of fabric. I put the front lining on the front panel when I sewed the placket down. I'm sure if I'd thought more about it, a placket wouldn't have been necessary at all. Or even better, I'd like to have inserted a short zipper there as it does gape open a bit.

And then some ruffles at the pocket openings:

 

The pocket opening measured about 5 inches at the inner curvature, so I cut a 10 inch long strip that was 2 inches wide. Fold in half lengthwise then gather to fit the inner curvature. Because the ruffle's ends get sewn into the side seam there's no need to taper or finish the ends of the ruffles.

 

Looking at the photo above, I did learn that velour likes to be sewn in the right direction. The bottom hem and one sleeve went a bit wonky whereas the other sleeve is lovely.

 



 So there's my Nature Walk hoodie. It's already been worn as evidenced by the spaghetti sauce stain, but I pulled it out of the wash basket to share it with you. Thanks for asking!

It's couture knock off time! Kenzo Kids style

I could be accused of getting carried away with "project" sewing (Exhibit A, Exhibit B) but there's a lot of fun to be had in making things just a bit more than was required....

P needed another pair of these pants:

I'd bought these from a now defunct store called Kids on Parade which sold lots of high end fashion clothes for kids. I suspect everyone else, like me, only bought anything from there when it was heavily discounted in the sales. These Kenzo Kids pants were one such bargain

They are a size 4 and have a lovely slim fit and have been P's good pants for almost two years but they're definitely now too short. I wanted to try and make my own and replicate all these little designer-y features.

I experimented with the patterns I had that seemed appropriate and came up with my Pattern Mash Prototype pants. They have proven to be a great pair of pants but were a little more of a relaxed fit than I wanted so I took half an inch of each back panel at the side seam. I also raised the back yoke seam about an inch by adding to the pants panels and subtracting from the yoke.

Then I took the scissors to the old pants and stole all those Kenzo tags (sadly not the pocket rivets as they're one use only)

Essentially I used the front of the Oliver + S Field Trip pants and the back of the After School pants, splitting the front pants to include the extra inner leg panel.

 

I bought some little pyramid rivets from Jimmy's Buttons which is also where I found this grey denim remnant. There was about a metre and a half on the roll and I paid 5 bucks for it!

 



I'm not sure what kind of modelling style we're channelling here....

So there are my Kenzo knock off pants, modelled above with (yet another) Flashback Skinny T

But I couldn't stop just with the pants. Nope, if you're going to wear Kenzo, it would seem you need to get a tiger on your sweater....

The idea of knocking off one of these sweaters with some fleecy sweater knit and fabric paint from Spotlight was just too amusing (for me at least)

I did a dry run here using the Field trip pattern again for the sweater, but decided in the end to do an upsized Flashback Skinny T. I cut a size 9/10 in width and size 5 in length. The blue striped one earlier is straight size 5 and perfect as a close fitted T-shirt using very stretchy fabric. This one could still do with more depth in the armholes and sleeve width and I should have cut the neck-hole back at the smaller size but I'm happy with it.

....if only cause it was fun to paint!

It's a long blog post, but stick around if you're curious as to how some of these things were done.....

First up, the detail on the pants pocket: I don't have a fancy sewing machine that does embroidery so there was no way of perfectly replicating the mid section of the pocket detail from the original pants.

But my sewing machine can do these stitches:

So I used the Orange A stitch for the straight lines and a couple of rows of the Blue J stitch to get the wavy midsection effect

 

And after Heidi taught me to topstitch with two threads I thought I'd try for three!  Using three lots of regular thread is STILL easier than trying to thread a needle with that thick topstitching thread! Here's another shot of how they all sat atop the machine:

 



Now to the sweater....

I downloaded the clearest and flattest picture I could find of the tiger logo and then traced it to tidy up some of the lines and make it clearer. Then from this image I traced again, using a Iron-on Transfer Pencil onto baking paper.

At this step the image needs to be in reverse. If you have a really clear image you can flip your paper over and trace it from behind. Otherwise, when printing the image you need to select T-shirt transfer paper as your printing medium and the printer will reverse the image for you. Or I guess you could reverse the image in any photo editing software before you print. Anyway, make sure it's back to front.

Put your traced picture facing down onto the fabric and iron it on. Be careful as the pencil marks do not wash off and the print is not really useful a second time over without recolouring all the lines. you can just see that I've drawn up a grid with washable pencil markings to make sure I got it straight first go.

Then you simply paint over the drawn lines. I used Setacolour brand paint as the green paint and it is lovely to work with. Two layers gave a good depth of colour with no brush marks. The orange paint however, was Jones Tones and it needs a lot more layers and then develops quite a thick plastic-ky feel and you can still see through it a bit.

 

These paints only take a few hours to be dry to touch and then you iron them (with a baking paper sheet or similar over the paint to stop it sticking to the iron) for a few minutes. Then they wash and wear really well.

So there's my Kenzo Kids knock off outfit.... As I'm posting this last picture I'm making myself laugh wondering if there's any way I can incorporate a conical Gaultier bra into a  princess dress-up costume for A...