KCW Day 7- Almost…

I had a good run at KCW this year, but I didn’t quite complete all of my projects…

I did work yesterday on another project, but didn’t anywhere near done…

I have three projects that I didn’t get done. Project 1: A cute little romper for a friends son, which means I need to make a pattern ’cause I can’t find one that I want. Project 2: A new pair of pants for my son, using Blank Slate’s Coastal Cargos pattern. And the last project, Project 3: Turning this adult octopus t-shirt into a kids tee.

Just cause KCW has come to a close, it doesn’t mean that I’m stopping! This week I have to switch direction to party decorations and quilting. But you will see these projects soon!

Did you finish all your projects??

KCW Day 6- Monster Tee

I was crossing my fingers the whole time I was sewing this shirt, hoping and hoping that it would fit over the noggin’!

And it did! Not even a struggle! Woo Hoo!

I also have a huge problem finding cool knit fabric for the boy. So I finally resorted to online. I found a few great ones at Banberry Place. Including this monster fabric by Lillestoff, a European import. Please explain to me why cool knits are so hard to find in this country??? I love Lillestoff! Love! It’s so nice and soft and the design is COOL!

My original plan was to use the Flashback Tee again. I used it once before and it was a bit tight, so I wanted to try it again the next size up. But then I was like… Well, maybe I reuse the Winter PJ top cause it fits so well. But the head thing… The winter PJ’s top goes on easy, but it’s kinda hard to get off.

So I went with the original plan to use the 4T Flashback tee pattern. And it’s perfect. Easy on. Easy off. Cute. Fast. Not too tight. Love.

I even remembered the tag! The kiddo was pretty excited about that!

And he wanted to be sure we showed the back of the t-shirt. Since it’s so different from the front….

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KCW Day 4 and 5- A Foxy Little Skirt

Ok, so here’s a scenario for you:

It’s Kids Clothes Week and you have a schedule.

It’s 11 pm. You neighbor calls and needs you to babysit while they go to the hospital.

What do you do?

A. Say, sorry, I have to sew it’s KCW…

B. Say, forget it KCW, I have to go help my friend.

or

C. Say, I’ll be right over, throw your project in a bag, grab your sewing machine and run out the door.

If you choose C, you and I would be great pals! That’s what I did! But as I was getting set up to work I realized I for got a few things. Like my cutting mat and iron.. So I was able to get some things done, but not actually finish. I got an hour of work in, which is the actual challenge. One hour of sewing a day. But this project overlapped for two days.

But isn’t is ADORABLE??? Remember my Foxy Sewing Machine Cover from a few weeks back? Well, a neighbor saw it and loved it, so it gave me the idea to turn it into a skirt for her kiddo!

Again, I used the precious little Lil’ Fox pattern by Artisania. And then I lined the back of it. I basically sewed the front and back right sides together with the rest of the skirt sandwiched in between. I really didn’t want all those seams from the piecing of the fox to show!

Then I added used French Seams to finish the skirt ends. I’m sure there’s a better was to finish the bottoms of the seams, but if there is, I don’t know what it is! I didn’t want any exposed edges.

I basically made it like curtains. You measure the width of the window and double it. For this I took the waist measurement and doubled it. For 3T the typical waist dimension is for the elastic is to use 20″ or so. SO I made the skirt 2 really long rectangles, 42 inches long. That’s it. Just two long rectangles!

I rarely sew for girls, but this was so exciting and fun. I think it’s just great. I kinda want to keep it. But I also can’t wait to give it away!

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KCW Day 3- The Beachy Boatneck

I know, it’s not PJ’s… I could make PJ’s all week, but… I’m in love with this one!

I love this pattern for the Beachy Boatneck by Blank Slate Patterns. I got it in a bundle of beachy patterns from Pattern Anthology.  I was moving right along. The pattern was super easy to put together! Nice and quick. I was so excited about my details, too.

Like, look how pretty the neck looks. I debated about topstitching. I didn’t want to do the double stitch, so I ended up with a slight zigzag to keep the stretch.

I even got most of the stripes to line up!

I used my new ‘serger like’ stitch I found to finish all the edges.

I added a tag. My son ALWAYS asks, ‘Which way is front?’ And I ALWAYS say, ‘Where’s the tag?’ So, I need to remember to add tags to the clothing that I make as well!

And then we tried it on….

And tried it on…

And tried again…

Note to self- Always try on before adding finishing details!

My son has always had a big head. It was even a little issue during childbirth, but I won’t go into that story here. His day care teacher LOVED it and said in her country large heads are a sign of brilliance! In my world, it doesn’t fit in shirts I make for him! Remember, we had a little trouble with the Popsicle PJ’s, too.

I don’t know what I did! The stretch is all going in the right direction. I used a stretch stitch to sew the neckline… I guess I need to modify the neck a little next time. I haven’t decided if I’ll try to fix this one or not. I took out the topstitching, but it didn’t help…

Any ideas?

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KCW Day 2- Outerspace PJ’s

Yep, more PJ’s!

These PJ’s, like yesterday’s PJ’s, are also from a pattern by Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop. These are the Winter PJ’s.

What do you think about this fabric? I like it. But not really excited about it anymore. At least not like I was when I bought it 3 years ago! Ha! I got it to make my son PJ’s when he was a baby baby! Never happened. Until now, that is!

The kiddo keeps wearing PJ’s that are too small for him. Mostly in the length. Even his belly pokes out of some! But they are so comfy and he loves them so… But it drives Nannie (my mom) crazy. Even when he does have new PJ’s on, she thinks he needs new ones. So, Nannie, he’s pretty set up with new PJ’s.

These were totally simple to make. And again, I ignored the 1/2 seam allowance and they fit great. Not too tight and not too baggy. As I was sewing along I realized that the pants looked SUPER long. SO I held off on adding the cuff. Luckily I caught myself before I went on. I ended up cutting off 4.5 inches from the pant pattern before I added the leg cuffs!

The arms are a little long too, but he’s not having anything to do with the idea of fixing them! So they stay. I almost fixed them anyway, but hey, he keeps growing and the sleeves stay the same…. So why not leave them a little bit long??

We put them on for the pictures and they never came off. It’s so funny… It’s starting to be like pulling teeth for him to get dressed for me ot take pictures, but once the camera actually comes out… Totally different story… A little comedian he thinks he is!

He’s sleeping in them tonight!

 

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KCW Day 1- Popsicle PJ’s!

It’s hard for me to call this Kids Clothes Week and not Kids Clothes Week Challenge! I’ll get used to the name change soon!

This week I’ll be sharing a lot of patterns. I rarely buy patterns, but recently there have been some great deals and some great pattern out there! And I haven’t had a chance to really get into them until now. So, ready? First up is the summer PJ’s pattern by Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop.

The pattern was pretty easy. OK, very easy. But I had a few missteps, so what should have maybe taken an hour, took more like three! There is a note in the directions that says to use a 1/2 seam allowance. But honestly, is there really a seam allowance? I don’t think so. So I got hung up on that for a while.

And then…. My double needle… I had some issues. My machine technically isn’t set up for a double needle, so I kinda rig it to work. And it does for a while, then the threads start to knot and break. And as the top threads are starting to fail then the bobbin does some weird jump thing and the stitching would jump… So don’t look to hard at my stitches up above….

All this was driving me insane! It was driving me nuts re-threading my machine over and over, so I started wondering a bit about what my machine could really do. After a little manual reading I found out that there was this one stretch stitch that kinda looks like a serger, and it worked great!

So I finally figured it out. Use this stitch for putting the knits together and the double needle rig for topstitching!

The shoulders do this weird kinda stand up thing. Which is part of the pattern. And I think it’s part of my adding a 1/2 seam allowance when there really wasn’t meant to be one… (as far as I can tell from the pictures in the pattern).

Another problem with my seam allowances is that the neck hole got a little small. We got it on, but my son was like, ‘I hope this comes off and I don’t have to wear it forever and ever!’ It came off easier than it went on! Also, the placement of the popsicles on the shorts was a bit of an oversight on my part!

He loves the popsicles! I thought that they were going to be red, but they ended up being pink, not so BOY-ish,  so hence the boy popsicle PJ’s and not a shirt or something. The fabric is not my most favorite fabric from my Banberry Place order, but….  It’s also super soft on the inside. Almost a little fleecy feeling, so it’s perfect for PJ’s.

The photo shoot ended with a chat with Bow Wow, who I guess wanted to go with us to Gymnastics and the fabric store today, but stayed home instead.

 

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Weekend Whims- Kids Clothes Week!

It’s coming!! Again!! Kids Clothes Week, the Spring Edition!

Next week! You in? I’m in!

And I have a long list! I wonder how much I can get done!! So here are some things I’m going to make that have already been done by others!

1. I bought the Surf Collection from Pattern Anthology and one thing on my list for the week is the Coastal Cargo shorts by Blank Slate Patterns for my son.

2. Sew Boy had a great idea of turning a men’s shirt into shorts! Shorts are also on my list….

3. Another project on my list is to make a jumper for a friend’s little guy. But I’m not a cutsie kinda romper gal… I love these overalls by Delia Creates as inspiration!

4. Tees. Even though my son has a drawer full of tees, I’m feeling the need to make more… Not sure why… But I love this tee by Cirque du BeBe using the Flashback Tee pattern.

5. There’s going to be a skirt in my mix! I think I’m using Dana’s simple skirt pattern…

6. In that Surf Collection I mentioned earlier… I also got the Boatneck Tee by Blank Slate Patterns. Love it. The kiddo is getting one of these! I love this striped version by The Train To Crazy.

7. Another men’s shirt reno! Feather’s Flights turned a men’s shirt in to a romper! Cute!

8. Love this short sleeved version of the Flashback Tee pattern by Sewing For Four.

9. And… The kiddo is getting new PJ’s. Love love love these neon ones by LBG Studio using the Winter PJ’s from Peek a Boo Patterns.  I think I’m going to try to do both, the winter and the summer pj’s.

 

OK, a peek into my list! Now what are you making?

 

Follow all the Super Hero’s to Go To Sew!

Today’s my day at Go To Sew!

Be sure to click on over to learn how I (finally, as my son would say) made him the super hero shirt and cape that ‘he’s always wanted.’

It’s pretty Super Duper! hehehe… get it? Super Hero… Super Duper… Ha! I crack myself up!

 

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The Banyan Tee by Figgy’s

ok, So have you gotten the Sew Fab e-pattern bundle yet? Yes, there’s a lot of girl patterns, but there are boy patterns there too! Including the Banyan Tee by Figgy’s.

Can I say super easy?? Yes, I can!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know how excited I was yesterday when I got my double needle to work to do the knits! YEA!! It wasn’t much at all, but I’ve been scared of it for a while. All I did was add two spools to the spool and threaded them both through to the double needle and off we went! SO in that sense, and the fact that the shirt was so easy to make, it was a great day.

But here’s the flop… I hate the fabric I used. It’s so girly! I love the color. But the dots and the weight of the fabric are too girly. Hence the  reason the Kiddo is wearing it over a hoodie. The pattern calls for a pocket, but with this fabric, I didn’t like the pocket, so I left it off. I don’t know, would the pocket help it not be so girlie???

Ok, enough about the flop side of my sewing…. Back to the plus! I love the little sleeve detail! Love it! A little turned up sleeve!

The pattern actually has a version for boys and a version for girls. Check out how cute it is on Jessica’s (from Craftiness is Not Optional) little lady! (her little lady is absolutely adorable, but you have to go to her website to see the whole precious thing!!)

And on a slightly different subject, it seems like the 100th Day of School Celebration is taking over this year. I’ve never heard of it before this year, but now I’m seeing in on blogs and FB all over the place. We had to bring in 100 things in sets of 10. So we decided to make a garland of 100 squares in 10 different colors.

According to the teachers it was a hit! The kids pulled it out across the room. And 100 2 inch squares makes about a 17 foot garland. So it honestly did stretch across the whole room!

So even though I love the pattern, but am not in love with the fabric of the shirt, my son loved it and wouldn’t take it off. He wore it to school and even told his teachers that I made it for him! I’d call that a 10 percent flop, 90 percent WOOOHOOO!

Be sure to get your bundle of patterns before time runs out (super early Monday morning)! Click here to purchase yours today!

 

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Project Run and Play- Boys Style

OK, just a little warning… This week’s outfit is pretty silly! (And so is the model)

Once again, I’m playing along with the Project Run and Play challenges. This week’s challenge is Boy’s Style! And we took that to be The Kiddo’s Style. Remember last week when my son got bummed when he saw his sweatshirt and it wasn’t red and blue and green and yellow and orange??? (The week we won the reader challenge???) Well, I promised that this week he would get his color! And he did!

We had fun wandering around the fabric store picking out all the colorful pieces we could find! He said he wanted stripes. So he got stripes.

And polka dots. Our last color that he said we needed was purple, so we decided to go with purple pockets. Then he wandered around and found this great purple polka dot fabric! I added the pockets and was excited to figure out how easy they are to add. I also realized how I want to do them next time!! I’ll show ya soon!

The pants are an adaptation of Dana’s Basic Kids Pants. I actually enlarged the pattern a little bit since I have a growing son, but kinda wish I hadn’t. I wanted them a little bit skinnier than they ended up. But all in all, it’s probably best that they ended up a little baggy. The kiddo seems to like the baggier, comfier fit!

And the shirt!!! I’m so excited! The shirt is pretty much my first try at knit that turned out pretty right on! This is actually a pretty stretchy knit, not really a t-shirt knit. Very stretchy…. But it worked! The pattern is Made by Rae’s Flashback  Skinny Tee pattern. And it takes no time! It took me longer that it should have, but only because I read every word of the instructions looking for all the tips on getting it right. Next time… Maybe an hour, if that long. It’s perfect!

You’ll be seeing more of the scarf with some other news I have coming… Hehehe… I know, on the seat of your chair, huh???

Unfortunately, this week was CRAZY. I totally overbooked myself on things to get done this week, so we didn’t exactly finish the outfit! There’s a red sweatshirt with matching light purple trim missing…. Soon!

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