The ReFashion Project- Project Run and Play Week 3

oh, my… I can’t believe it’s Thursday and I am just getting this posted…

If you follow along with everything I do, I reuse or recycle or whatever you want to call it all the time! I love it! So this week’s Project Run and Play challenge was one I didn’t think would be a challenge. I was wrong. I came up with what I wanted to make first. Maybe I should have found the materials first….

The coat was the only piece I bought. I mean the original coat, that is. It started as a woman’s coat that I found in the Men’s department at our Goodwill! I was going for more of a solid wool coat, but the kiddo and I went shopping and found a handful, or armful, of coats on half price that we liked. So we brought them all home to see which one we liked best. And this is the one the kiddo picked!

For the coat I self drafted the pattern based on other coats and based on the pieces of the coat I wanted to reuse. Some pieces were upside down cuts where others were little pieces from here or there! Once I was putting it all together, there was part of me cursing the fact that I could have just bought a stinkin’ coat for him for a lot less time and energy! But in the end I’m happy with what I accomplished! I love the little elbow patches! The lining is the only piece that’s not a recycled fabric.

The pockets were originally smaller and all three were the corduroy and smaller. I liked it. Then I didn’t. Neither did my husband. (do you see a recurring theme with my husband and I and my pockets??? remember the fox coat pockets?) So off they came. I enlarged them and changed them. I have to give credit to the husband for some help with the pockets this time.

And then the sweater.. I know the picture is a bit blurry, but I loved it anyway…. So I bought the coat, but the rest of the pieces I wanted to come from my stash. Whenever my husband and I clean out our closet, I always pull a few things and add then to my recycle stash. I love the orange! (my apologies on the color scheme to any Bama fans that might be reading…)

The sweater was also self drafted. Just a simple copying of another sweater that fits! Easy Peasy!

And the tee. I knew the look I wanted was to have a collared tee with the sweater and coat. And again I had to corrdinate from my stash. Well, I didn’t HAVE to… But I wanted to… And yes, I know, the tee on it’s own, doesn’t go great with the pants…  just ignore that. The pants are from the fox outfit and I loved them with the coat and sweater…

The tee is the great old standby, The Flashback Tee once again! But I added the collar and the open front. And then the blue shirt that I wanted to use was too short, so I added the grey to the bottom!

The before and afters! I almost forgot! The coat and the corduroy. The corduroy wasn’t something else before, but I did purchase it second hand… The big sweater to little sweater. And the navy tank top, grey t-shirt (not pictured) and the men’s shirt turned t-shirt!

I don’t know. Not my best work, I don’t think… But I like it! Thoughts? I have no idea why that one collar corner keeps popping up! Ha! And since it’s also Kids Clothes Week, can this count as three outfits?

Where are we off to next? Want to come along?

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Yo Ho Ho Are you Ready for KCW?

You’ll never believe it, but I have made another costume for the kiddo! Do your kids like costumes as much as mine does?

The year before last my family was a silly band of pirates for Halloween. My son’s uncle had given him a pirate costume the Christmas before that. It was just a fun store bought costume. My son loved it! It was a hit at his birthday party. The problem with is was that it couldn’t be washed. If the red striped shirt got wet, it bled. And you can only imagine after a year of play, a birthday party costume and a Halloween costume, it needed a wash. So it had to go away. That was over a year ago.

The kid kept asking for a new one, just like his old one!

So I finally got down to it and it took all of two hours! Um. Hello?? WHy do I put off these things?

I used the Flashback Tee pattern. Lately, I haven’t’ been using a lot of patterns, but sometimes it’s easier to just pull it out and cut. No thinking…. I used a red and white striped tee from my recycle stash. I was going to make the arms red, but it just wasn’t working for me. Instead I raided my husband’s ‘t-shirt to turn into rags’ recycle pile for a plain ole white shirt.

The vest was actually the one his Dad wore for Halloween, just cut down smaller! And then pants are just comfy pants I made with fleece!

And the pirate hat and other pirate party accessories are available at my etsy shop!

what are you making for KWC?

 

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Happy New Year!

I hope yall all had a wonderful New Years Eve! We have a tradition of always going to Tacoma’s zoo and seeing the zoolights, so that’s what we did! Do you have a favorite NYE tradition???

I thought I’d welcome in 2014 with a look back at my favorite projects from 2013! I’ve been reading a lot of other blogs and it seems like I’m not the only one that gets into a mood thinking that I didn’t create too much… But once you sit and look at your whole blog from the past year, I’m reminded that I made A LOT! Yeah!

And my favorites are….

The crazy colorful outfit the kiddo and I made in January for the Project Run and Play Sew Along.

The I Love You Jacket I made for the kiddo in February.

The Super Hero Cape t-shirt tutorial (you’ll see a superhero theme throughout this year!) I made for the kiddo and Go To Sew in March!

One of my all time favorite projects was the Fox Skirt in April (for my friend April’s daughter!).

The wonky star quilt I made, with the help of my Nurture Circle, in May.

The low volume, ‘Lone Star’ pillowcase I made for a swap partner in June.

The little overalls I designed for a friend’s son adoption in July.

I really loved how this needle book turned out that I made for another swap in August.

The Flash costume in September! I didn’t blog about it until October, but technically I made it in September….

And the Hulk Costume in October!

The kiddo and I really loved our melted bead necklaces we made in November.

And last but not least, I loved our Jack and Jill pj’s I made in December!

What was your favorite project that you made last year??? Or do you have a favorite that I made? I’d love to hear about it!!

Smash! It’s the Incredible Hulk!

Rrrrrr…. Smash… Hulk Smash…

In case you are still wondering why I made purple fleece shorts… It was the first step in the Incredible Hulk costume the kiddo was wanting!

I knew I was going to make a hulk costume, but I originally just started out with the idea of making green pj’s and the purple shorts. Remember? The kiddo needs pj’s. Then last weekend I was at a fifth birthday party and was talking about it to this other mother about Halloween costumes. When I told her we were thinking the Hulk, she asked how I was going to do the muscles. I was like, ‘nah… I’m not doing muscles!’ And explained the whole need for new pj’s thing to her. Then she gave me this disgusted look, like, ‘You’re not doing muscles?’ I don’t even know this woman, but, oh yeah, the challenge is ON.

The challenge is on and I’m making muscles, but I’m also stubborn and I’m sticking to my PJ’s plan! I started the whole costume using the Alex and Anna Winter PJ’s pattern (affiliate link) from Peek a Boo Patterns (affiliate link). Super easy pattern! Without muscles you could put this together in a flash! (Ha! I used the same pattern for our flash costume! Get it! I crack myself up!)

You want to know how I’m going to do muscles, lady??? I’ll show you exactly how I’m going to do muscles!

I started with one of the kiddos Spider Man costume full of muscles and traced/enlarged the muscles. Easy! The original costume was a size 3ish and I needed to enlarge the muscles to about a 5ish. You can print my patterns here.

Next I cut them out. On the fold. You’ll need 2 of the 6 pack abs and 4 of the shoulder muscles.

Start sewing! I put a straight stitch along the bottom line of the mucsles. Then I did my edge stitch (technically a stretch stitch) around the edge, leaving a hole in the top for stuffing. I’m only showing the shoulder, but I did the saem tthing for the abs.

Stuff!

Now I don’t know what this tool is technically called, but I call it a roller marker. I rolled it over the muscle shapes on the sleeves (and abs) to know where to sew.

Now it’s hard to see this, but I followed up my roller markings with an erasable pen.

Then pin in the mucles and align with the edge of the sleves and chest.

Sew the muscle shapes. (yes, I forgot to take a picture of the muscles before I put it all together.) And then put the pieces all together following the pattern (affiliate link) directions!

Not long ago I found this Hulk mask for a super steal and knowing how much the kiddo likes super heros, I grabbed it even though he’s never said all that much about the Hulk. But as soon as he got it, he told us he needed the costume to go with it! It’s actually kinda creepy, because the eyes are clear and light up, so you totally see his eyes, but with the face of the Hulk!

Hulk Smash! The costume has already been well loved! We’re still a little on the edge of our seats waiting to see if The Flash or the Hulk visit us on Halloween!

Are you making costumes this year?

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KCW- Purple Shorts

Ok, it’s not much today, but I did make something!

I had to finish up my last pair of dragon wings for the Halloween season, then I turned to some Kids Clothes Week! Some purple shorts! I started with the pattern for the Kickin Back Sweats from Sewing for Boys. I thought, that since I had the pattern, I should use it. Right? It’s super simple. But they are HUGE! This is the size 2/3 on my 5 year old! And I even sized it down a little from the 2/3! Either way, they fit great!

And I cut out the green pj’s to go with the purple shorts… Know where I’m going with this????

It’s Kids Clothes Week Again!

I can’t believe it’s Kids Clothes Week again!

And I’ve been swamped with etsy orders so I wasn’t able to prep until now! And we’re going out of town this weekend, so I don’t know if I’m in for the whole week or not… But either way, I’m going to try!

But don’t get too excited, I’m not going crazy with anything too exciting! My kiddo wants costumes and needs pj’s. So that’s what he’s getting!

What are you making?

KCW- More Overalls!

I know, Kids Clothes Week is technically over…. But I’m still going!

Another pair of overalls! Yep!

This time the boy version. A real version!

It’s pretty much exactly like the version I did yesterday. I’m still working on the kinks in the pattern and pattern directions. I’m thinking I’m going to learn how to make patterns! This is totally inspiring me to go for it!

This is the real pair that I’ve made for my friend’s son’s adoption on Thursday. So first, I’m crossing my fingers it gets there before Thursday! And secondly, since they are about 3000 miles away, I’m crossing my fingers it fits!! Ahh!!

And since it’s the real thing, I actually did all the top stitching and finishing of the seams, etc!

Originally I had the fabric picked out to be this super thin, bright green corduroy. Then realized that it’s hot in Florida about this time of year. SO I changed to just a bright green cotton with an owl accent fabric. Then last minute, with the husband’s help, we totally switched to blue and brown star fabric! I’m thinking it was a good choice!

OK, I’m taking a break from overalls for a couple of days!

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KCW- New Overalls

In a way I wasn’t as productive this season. In the sense that I didn’t get 5 to 7 garments made. But in the sense that I designed a pair of overalls for my friends son and got the practice pair made, I was successful!

I was supposed to do this last season of KCW. But I procrastinated… These are supposed to be for my friends son’s adoption and there’s nothing like a deadline to get me to finish something! So I’m cramming now!

I made the pattern. I got a pair of 18 month overalls as a starting point and then created my own pattern. Then I tried to make it! And realized I had forgotten a few pattern pieces here and there and made those on the fly. And of course the pattern wasn’t perfect the first time around, so there was some tweaking!

This is my ‘muslin’ pair. I was actually out of muslin and had this huge duvet cover that I had bought for fabric at Goodwill some time ago. And it ended up being perfect with the two coordinating fabrics!

I added a couple of pockets here and there….

With this pair I didn’t do all the topstitching I typically would. Just trying it out! And there were a pieces places I forgot to do something and added later, so you see extra stitching…

Here’s full back view! I wanted the waistband to come all the way around to the back. Technically, it doesn’t really do anything since I added the elastic waist. But I like it and I’m going to keep it!

So now I’m about to make the ‘real’ version to mail out tomorrow! And I’m crossing my fingers it fits! I don’t have an 18 month model at my fingertips!

I’m considering drafting this in multiple sizes and listing it for sale. What do you think? Worth the trouble? Would you be interested? It will be my first foray into pattern making…

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KCW-Update

I don’t have much to show for the work I’ve been doing, but I thought I’d give you an update and let you know I’m still working!

And, man, I feel like I am thinking this into the ground…. Cutting and sewing tomorrow! More soon!

KCW- Day 1- Fire Shorts!

Yep, it’s that time of year again! Another round of Kids Clothes Week! Fair warning though… This round I’m not making one thing a day and blogging about it each day! I will work every day, but I don’t think I’ll be finishing a different project each day! Ok, with that said, here’s Day 1-

 

The Fire Shorts!

 

To start, this fabric is not something I’d pick out myself! My son has been asking about this fabric at the quilt shops for months. Then finally I broke down. I figured if he’s been asking for the  same thing for this long, maybe he really wants it… I asked him what he wanted to do with the fabric and he immediately said, shorts!

 

Then he asked every day, why I hadn’t made his shorts yet. One day I told him I had to do something, I forget what it was, but he responded, ‘You did that, but you didn’t have to do it. You could have made them!’

Either way, they were made and he loves them. He’s actually worn them two days in a row.

The shorts are patterned the same way I did the comfy pants. Instead of an elastic pocket, I used wide black elastic and left it exposed as the waistband. I knew I had to add something to break up the flames, so that’s where the black pockets and black hem came into the design! The kiddo actually requested no ‘cuff’, so I made a large ‘hem’ instead.

I asked him if they were worth the wait and he totally agreed that it was! I love having a happy kid wearing the clothes that I make for him!