Sandbox Shorts

The other Oliver + S pattern that stops at size 8 that I didn't think would be high on my to-sew list was the Sandbox pants.

Yet suddenly I was itching to make a pair of shorts using the pattern. These preceded the Bedtime Story pyjamas in the sewing queue but appear here a bit later as I wrote a tutorial for the modifications for the Oliver + S blog. Click on the image below to go to the blog post:

I've only made the pants once before when I made two pairs in navy French terry for P to wear to school. They didn't prove to be his favourite pants and I don't think I kept them for A to wear, or maybe I did and she never chose to wear them anyway...

But these shorts? She adores them.

She saw an old photo of a Sunday Brunch Skirt in this same bubble gum pink fabric and said she'd like that, only shorts this time. Well I happened to have more of the same pink drill that had been gifted to me and was leftover in the stash,. Easy way to revisit another soon to be outgrown pattern.

I've made a straight size 8 and the few modifications are thus: Shortened to shorts length, curved the front pocket pattern pieces and added waistband elastic as well as the adjustable drawstring. The drawstring is just a supermarket shoelace but looks kind of cool even when it's not entirely necessary. The idea of having the pants only held up by a tied drawstring is a bit optimistic when it comes to kids pants, hence the elastic added to the ribbing waistband.

They're kind of perfect shorts and I'm glad I gave the pattern another outing. I know these will get heaps of wear and hopefully might still fit next summer.

Sometimes the best clothes and the best sewing experience are those that are quick, simple and thrown together from the stash and an old pattern. Very satisfying.

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!









Sandbox pants for school

One of the things I was looking forward to, as my children started school, would be the end of sand in their pockets! I swear if I had bought an empty sandpit the day they first started in childcare I could have filled it at least once by now. As it is, we don't have a sandpit at home, but we get sand in the washing machine, sand in the shoe tubs, sand on the bathroom floor....

Obviously a sewing pattern called Sandbox pants which had pockets made no sense to me at all. But when I found a paper copy of this out of print Oliver + S pattern I had to have it.

I had also passed this one over as it seemed a bit simple. But, like all Oliver + S patterns, the delight is in the detail. The finish of these pants with their patch pockets on the front, buttoned down back pockets and drawstring waist, is fantastic.

 



I guess another thing that put me off the pants previously is the hard to resist temptation to use a novelty quilting cotton for the patch pockets. That makes a cute pair of toddler pants but just isn't my style. So here I was, using a pattern that I thought was going to be dull, with some plain navy terry knit, in order to make some school pants for winter. And you know, I was really enjoying myself.

To make it even more interesting I decided to do flat felled seams everywhere. I've learned not to cut big notches in seam allowances and then try to do flat felled seams, but I think with thick fabric like this it would pay to even cut them with an increased seam allowance. They looked perfect when first sewn, but after a few washes there are spots where I didn't quite catch the folded under top seam allowance properly. Still, check out the insides:

After flat felling the outer leg seam it was a bit of a challenge to do the inner leg seam as well. I hadn't thought it through very well and it was only as I was sewing down into the thick, fluffy tunnel of the leg that I realised what was happening. It was slow going but oh so satisfying, and I may have shown my husband more than once how neat they look on the inside.

I now can't recommend the pattern highly enough!

Since P only has one long sleeved school polo and one official school bomber jacket, he desperately needed some pullovers. I tried my Flashback Skinny T hack that I used for his Kenzo jumper again and made two pullovers in school red.

This is a size 9/10 in width, with the neckline of the size 6 and size 6 length for sleeves and hem. I also did a bit of an armhole hack to try and deepen the armhole, and it works fine, but I think I'm asking the wrong question of this pattern. It's a fantastic skinny T pattern, it's not meant to be enlarged to a blouson style pullover. I just can't bring myself to buy a pattern this simple, I'll keep trying....

The pants have been an absolute favourite. Although, since P can't yet tie a bow himself, I might make the next pair without the drawstring. I scored some more of the heavy, navy terry knit for a second pair, as well as some navy moleskin for a pair of Field Trip cargo pants and the last of the navy twill for a pair of Figgy's Banyan pants. I hope I'll find some interesting sewing in that pile.

Notably, the Banyan pants will be my first ever zipper fly. Isn't it funny when you read someone's blog and think, "have they really never done {insert thing you do yourself all the time} yet?".

... Oh, and you know what?... P's school has a sandpit!  Aaaarrrrggh!!

2014 sewing review

I started the year with something for me, and didn't stop there...

And there is one T-shirt, a blouse and a pair of pants that haven't yet been photographed. The hits and misses?

Well the first dress, the one that looks and feels like a camel bred with a settee; definite miss. The Coco? Saved only by the fabric, it's still getting some wear. The Coco top didn't even make this picture collage. The Lisette denim jacket made me realise just how fussy I am about inside finishes. I won't make another jacket without lining it. Live and learn.

The jersey knit dresses have been the standout successes and are in very heavy rotation. The silver sparkly Weekend Getaway has come out for a couple more parties recently and is just the easiest thing to throw on but still look very dressed up. (just realised I still haven't worked out what to do with Grandma's vintage silk)

I remain quite clueless about fitting myself, but since I'm hooked on sewing and wearing knits, I'm mostly getting away with it.

The kids love their knits too....

If P were here to ask what his favourite of the year was, there's no doubt he'd say the Knight Hoodie. Man, he loves that sweater! All of the T-shirts have had heavy wear. He especially liked his Robert Morris Sculpture T, but we never did get around to visiting the art gallery while wearing it.

The duds? Well, sewing so many pairs of navy shorts and pants for school was always going to get boring. As much as he loved the Sandbox pants initially I think he found the drawstrings too fiddly, and since they're a heavy knit, I suspect they may have been falling down a bit.

The insane straw boater project ended up being a touch too small once the Petersham ribbon was added. Worn once, but worth the effort just to prove to myself I could do it.

Much harder to predict is what A will like, or wear, or not tolerate at all. After declaring her favourite colour was purple for most of the year, she surprised me by seeming to be most fond of the brown Hopscotch dress, and the brown Japanese leaf dress. Happy surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.

The things I really like that she simply won't wear are the Apple Picking dress in that sweet  Alannah Hill fabric that J Wo gave me, and the red wool peplum. Oh well, they'll be as good as new when they get passed on to someone else.

And what became of the insane beaded deer project? She declared it "too bobbly" for a long time and then finally decided to wear it one day. I snapped the picture above, and then we headed out for the day. We ended up at a country school fete which had a bouncy castle. No sweat, she's a pretty timid bouncer... Next thing I know she's graduated from the little bouncy castle to the giant inflatable slide next to it and she's going down head first! Needless to say, the larger beads didn't survive, there are bits of frayed beading thread everywhere and the sweater itself is filthy. Still, I had a lot of fun making it, and it was pretty hilarious watching her fly down the slide. Clothes are for wearing, right?

The only kid's clothes I bought this year were some school uniform shirts for P and socks and underwear for both kids. Otherwise I went 12 months without buying anything for either of them.

On to making things just for the fun of it: Here are all the gifts and accessories and Little Things To Sew projects I made this year. - Correction: I didn't make all of them. The kids did some sewing and made the butterflies (with help). The blue one on the card was made entirely by P and was a gift for his prep teacher. Thanks to Heidi for the inspiration and link to tutorial.

Admittedly a few of those gifts were projects from the Little Things To Sew book that I was making because of my challenge to sew the lot, the recipient just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But shhh, don't tell them that.

For Christmas, Flipper got a couple more pair of lycra booties and some little phone cases made out of old PUL nappy bags. It's on my list of things to do to share the cycle shoe cover pattern as I really don't think you'll find another like it on the web anywhere (You've been searching too, right?!)

The other gift that hasn't yet made the blog is the Newcastle Cardigan that I made for Roger. I took some photos of it on the hanger, but missed seeing Roger at Christmas, and I know you'll be hanging out for modelled shots. That's his New Year mission, and perhaps, a condition of receiving the gift! :)

I had a lot of fun with the blog this year. Hosting the Little Things To Sew challenge was so enjoyable, and only a lot of work because I suck at formatting Excel spreadsheets. Being a contributor to the Kid's Clothes Week was a blast and quite an honour. I landed a dream job with Oliver + S contributing to their blog on a regular basis. I think my job description is to do interesting things with their patterns and occasionally something a bit out of left field. I loved the Valentine's gift exchange and I'm hoping Sanae and Ute host it again, and I'm branching out into blogging advertorial and have a new Thread Theory pattern to show you very soon.... (I think you know I'm brutally honest about what I think about a pattern and that there won't be any cash for comment on this blog!)

Thanks to everyone who has visited the blog in 2014. I hope, by documenting what I make, the brilliant bits and the balls-ups, I can amuse or inspire you in the new year.

Have a Happy New Year!

To all the stencils I've loved before...

Apologies for the blog silence. I threw myself completely into the pattern tracing, muslin making and construction of my dress and coat for the Dressmaker's Do.

I'm not quite done with all of that, but since I'd just made another freezer paper stencilled t-shirt for P's birthday (he's come down with horrible gastro and isn't up for modelling just yet) I thought I'd round up all my stencilled projects and share some tips.

Instagram image of WIP

 I won't write a how-to of basic freezer paper stencilling, 'cause that's been done many times already (see here and here for good basic ones - or, if you have the Oliver + S Sandbox pattern then you have a written pattern with instructions for stencilling) but rather, I'll show what I've done and give my tips and tricks. All discovered the hard way of course, 'cause I never think to research how to do something first!

Where to get freezer paper in Australia is often the first stumbling block. At the beginning I had bought one to two metre cuts from a roll at a quilting shop. That's not the cheapest way to buy it obviously. I now have a full roll, which I think came from Spotlight, but I seem to recall having to ask for it. It was "under the counter" if I recall correctly (?!)

If you live in a major city there might be a US expat shop like this one (USA foods), and that's by far the cheapest way to buy the freezer paper. Unless of course you are tempted to load your shopping cart with weird USA only confectionery! Some other online craft shop options are here and here

Basic stencils are as simple as trace or draw, cut, iron then paint. I usually take over the knife duty, but the kids can certainly do the painting. This "favourite footy team" t-shirt for kindy was done in an afternoon by P when he was five.

It's pretty easy to use freezer paper stencilling for big lettering. Just be sure to keep the insides of letters like "a and o"

More detailed lettering can be done with freezer paper if you have a steady hand and patience with the scalpel blade. For smaller lettering, and other complicated designs, I'd suggest ironing on the main stencil, then adding back in all the elements that have been cut out in order to get the positioning correct. Then peel off only the areas you want to paint. Here's a great Instagram video series of exactly that process (@craftroom101)

Of course, if you have one of those Silhouette stencil cutting machines you can cut a perfect lettering stencil in seconds from a digital file. But to me, that feels a bit like cheating. I like the relaxing approach of taking time to boil the kettle, put on the radio and painstakingly cut a stencil.

I've said it before, but anything I can do with a scalpel in hand that can not possibly result in death is relaxing! :) 

The picture above is my Slaughterhouse 5 t-shirt from a few years ago that amused me no end, and which I would almost make over again. Perhaps when he's older I can get a Montana Wildhack reference in there and get away with it. ;)

 

The Space Shutle above was done with multiple layers. Once the metallic white paint was dry, parts of the stencil were reapplied and the silver grey applied over the top. That one used a Jones Tones paint which has a slightly 3D effect and is not so easy to handle and use in detailed work.

My preferred paint is Setacolour Opaque. They mix together really well allowing me to get exactly the shade I want with only half a dozen pots of paint in the stash.

By not mixing the paints too well, you can get a nice blotchy, textured colour. That's what the kids did when they painted their Vermicious Knid dress/t-shirt.
 

 T-shirt transfer lettering (above) looks dreadful compared to the freezer paper stencil lettering  (below). It's worth taking the time to cut a stencil.

 

Blotchy, poorly mixed paint is perfect for monsters! Flipper's Father's Day t-shirt monsters were painted by the kids and then I added the hairy details freehand.

 

Single colour stencils that are more detailed to cut, but then super quick to paint can look awesome.

Here's where you need a steady hand and a good knife. I'll confess the one I bought at Spotlight is cheap and has a "looseness" that bugs me. I actually think I'd do better with a small scalpel handle from the vet clinic and a number 11 blade. If you can't pilfer scalpels from your work, look for a good quality craft knife. Cheap ones are kind of rubbish and little slips can ruin a stencil.

While a Vermicious Knid outline, or a dead bird are fairly easy to draw freehand, these more complex stencils are best traced. If you ever get to do craft during the day then use a sunny window to tape up your picture and freezer paper and get tracing.

If you're an after-darker like me then you need some kind of light box. You can buy expensive light boxes from art stores, or (again) raid your local vet clinic for one ('cause we've all gone digital and are throwing them out), or make use of your mid century furniture: A glass topped coffee table (sixties styling optional) is perfect. Put a torch or lamp underneath and you've got an enormous lightbox.

The Darth Vader stencil image, and my recent Pokemon Talonflame picture both come from DeviantArt which is a great source for images. You can purchase images, but I guess if you're using them for personal use and not for mass production and resale, a little right click and save is probably forgivable.

Searching for images will often give you almost what you want but not quite. I found the perfect drum kit silhouette for my nephew's Christmas present t-shirt, but wanted some Beatles-esque lettering. I found a font through My Fonts  that looked pretty good and then used Paint.net to overlay the two images.
 

 

Once cut and ironed down, this all black stencil took barely two minutes to paint. Don't forget to iron the dry paint (with a pressing cloth or baking paper sheet) for a solid 5 minutes to set the paint and make it washable
 

The stencils that I've been enjoying making recently use the freezer paper just to give the shape and blocks of colour. Then, the line detail is added freehand after the main paint has dried. If you're nervous about painting fine line detail, then you could heat set the paint and then use a fabric marker to draw the detail lines instead.

 

This is where the Setacolour paints are worth the pricetag. They're opaque and thick enough without being gloopy or lumpy. I'm yet to use them, but I love the look of the Setacolour translucent paint to give watercolour lines as in the t-shirt here

I found a few other pictures of clothes I've made for the kids that have been painted freehand, or stamped, but I thought I'd keep this to a stencil round-up. In looking at all the pictures I'm aware that my painting style is very much a tightly controlled copyist :), but I do love the idea of watering down the paints one day and making some Nani-Iro-esque fabric. Here's a great post from You and Mie about letting go and letting the kids do the fabric painting.

But for these type of stencils there's really nothing more to it than some patience, precision and practice. Final tip: If you paint BEFORE you sew, then you can always chuck out the t-shirt front panel and start over.

Now, I need to get back to coat making and pretending to manage the household...

Happy Birthday Oliver + S

Oliver + S are celebrating 10 years and the release of their 50th sewing pattern!

I own every paper pattern (except the latest release which is yet to make it's way into my collection) and I did a round up of every pattern and found one picture to represent each unique view. Of course there have been many multiples sewn of quite a number of these patterns and lots of mashing and variations which aren't included here. Get your scrolling finger ready...

2+2 Blouse and Skirt

After School Shirt

After School Pants

Apple Picking Dress

Art Museum Trousers

Art Museum Vest

Badminton Skort

Bedtime Story Pajamas

Birthday Party Dress

Book Report Dress

Bubble Dress

Butterfly Blouse

Butterfly Skirt

Buttoned-Up Button-Down Shirt

Class Picnic Blouse and Shorts

Croquet Dress

Fairy Tale Dress

Family Reunion Dress

Field Trip Cargopants

Field Trip Raglan Tee

Garden Party Dress

Hide and Seek Dress

Hopscotch Skirt

Hopscotch Top and Dress

Ice Cream Dress

Jump Rope Dress - View B

Jump Rope Dress - View A

Library Dress

Lullaby Layette Set

Lunch Box Tee and Culottes

Music Box Jumper - View A

Music Box Jumper - View B

Music Class Blouse - View B

Music Class Blouse - View A

Music Class Skirt (with Family Reunion Tunic)

Nature Walk Knit Pants

Nature Walk Pullover

Parachute Polo

Parachute Sweatpants

Pinwheel Tunic and Slip Dress

Play Date Dress

Playtime Dress and Tunic

Playtime leggings

Puppet Show Shorts

Puppet Show Tunic

Roller Skate Dress

Sailboat Pants

Sailboat Skirt

Sailboat Top

Sandbox Pants

School Days Coat and Jacket

School Photo Dress

Seashore Sundress

Secret Agent Trench Coat

Sketchbook Shirt

Sketchbook Shorts

Sleepover Pajamas

Sunday Brunch Jacket and Skirt

Swingset Tunic and Skirt

Teaparty Playsuit

Teaparty Sundress

Teaparty Bloomers

 Did you spot the missing patterns/views?

The only ones I haven't made are the Carousel Dress and the Top/Dress view of the Badminton pattern as well as the new Girl on the Go Dress

Then there are the digital only patterns (not counting the singles which were originally released as paper pattern)

Forest Path Cape

Hula Hoop Skirt

School Bus T-Shirt

And the one that I'm yet to sew out of that little group is the Firefly Jacket

There are also a great collection of free patterns available as downloads. Like these:

Sunny Day Shorts

Lazy Days Skirt

On Stage Tutu

Reversible Bucket Hat

Felt Bow and Bias Covered Headband

I still haven't made either the Ruffled Halter or the Popover Sundress from that collection of freebies.

Finally, there are two Oliver + S books. The book Little Things To Sew has 20 projects for toys and accessories, and in October of 2013 I set up the challenge to sew every project in the book : Cover to Cover Challenge

By August of 2014 I made it and was interviewed by a Bear bath mitt on the finish line.

The newer Oliver + S book is the Building Block Dress Book which is an absolute gem of a resource for altering patterns to create whatever you want.

Here are two of the dresses I've made using the book so far...

Over at Oliver + S, Todd crunched the numbers and worked out there are 60,481 different permutations on the basic building block dress. So, no, I won't be going all the way on that one.

But maybe this year I should finally make the Firefly Jacket, Carousel Dress and Badminton Dress and break out those as yet untouched patterns. But then I look at some of those old photos and just want to revisit the old favourites as well. Sigh.

Do you have an Oliver + S pattern you own but haven't yet made?