Swingset skirt

What ever happened to me sewing every project in that children's clothes book?!
I will tell you what happened:
Oliver + S happened.

 

I now find it difficult to make anything but Oliver + S patterns because I have yet to find any other patterns with quite the same amazing details and great cuts. This skirt is the Swingset skirt, made out of some Fig Tree buttercup fabric. Quilting cotton worked fine for this skirt, but if I were to make it again, which I probably will, I would use something a little more drape-y and lightweight. 

I love that this little skirt is fully lined, and the seams face each other.

I also love the super simple elastic casings and adorable ties.

More to come when the tunic is done.

P.S. I am taking applications for models..... these just don't look as good lying on a table.

Hopscotch Shirt

Pattern: Hopscotch Skirt and Shirt by Oliver + S

Fabric: City Weekend by Oliver +S in Turquoise Park Ramble in Interlock Knits

This shirt goes with this skirt from my previous post, it just took me quite a while to get the second half completed! Part of this was because I was intimidated by working with knits, the other part was because I needed non-woven interfacing for knits and I had to order that from somewhere else and let's face it, I just lost momentum after that adorable skirt was done! But here they are together at last!

I have to say the pattern for the top is so easy, but working with knits is not for beginners, I found it to be a little bit difficult. But I am proud of myself for making the attempt and I would certainly do it again, especially working with interlock knits as high quality as these are. This shirt is super cute and it looks like something your kid would actually want to wear... which is always good. :)
The best part is how great this came out:

Love it.

Hopscotch Skirt

Pattern: Hopscotch Skirt by Oliver + S

Fabric: City Weekend by Oliver + S for Moda in Bistro Red Roundabout Dots

Sometime last year or so in my blog reading I came across Oliver + S, a company that makes beautiful patterns for children's clothes in classic but modern styles. If you really want to learn how to sew you must buy some Oliver + S patterns because the instructions are so easy to understand and the techniques are often more advanced, but they are explained so simply that you can learn new ways of making clothes. The designs seem very professional and the end project feels like a very well-made high quality garment.

I love love love this skirt. I am so proud of myself. 

I love the pockets.

I love the buttons and the buttonholes that I sewed on my new machine. 

 

I love that it is a size 2T and it actually looks like it would fit a 2 year old. That is actually the best part. 

Smock Top

My first adventure in smocking. I didn't pull it out five times so I guess I will call it success. This pattern is again from Making Children's Clothes. Now that I have made two tops I am wondering.... are the proportions a little off in some of these patterns? Does she just like them to be very roomy for kids? Or (and this is the most likely scenario) am I not really remembering right the chubby shortness of children?   In the first top it may have been because I made the smallest size, but here it was really just one size option. It would be good if I had an actual child to try it on. Especially when it came to the straps. The pattern said to try it on the child and place them accordingly. Hm.... Normally I just eyeball-it but it occurred to me today that I can just safety-pin them on and attach them later. Ta-Da!

So smocking... I like this method involving stretching out the elastic and zig-zag stitching it down, but I think maybe she used better quality elastic, because mine did not scrunch up as much as hers did. I was a little disappointed, it still kind of looked straight instead of very gathered at the top. So if I made this again, I would use only 20 in of elastic instead of the 24 or something like that.

I do however, love my fabric choices. I have learned from quilting a lot about how the individual fabrics have to carry their own weight as well as complimenting each other. I thought the fabrics in the book's example were a little weak (Sorry, Ms. Hardy) but these Joann finds look great I think.

So February's projects are done.... and it is the 8th. Hm.... I'm not sure whether I should continue to drag this out, in order to get other things done at the same time, or do them all at once and move on. As you can see, each project takes about one afternoon. But I have some Oliver & S projects calling to me from my pattern stash so maybe that will be my weekend project, along with the shortbread cookies I promised everyone at work for Valentine's Day. On which I am working.... boo.

It is finally February!

If you read this post you will remember that I am in the middle of a project that involves sewing every pattern in one book in a year. I whipped through January, and I am happy to say it is now 2 days into February and I have completed one of my two patterns for this month.
The Petal Top is complete:

The colors in this top are brighter in real life.
I made the size 2-3 because I am instinctively attracted to small cute things... but I think the proportions might be a little better in a larger size. This feels like it might be a little too puffy on a busy little two-year-old.
I modified the details slightly by just adding a small pink bow instead of a large fabric flower-thing. At this point in time, it is just tacked on with a tiny safety pin, but I think I might leave it that way so it can come off to go in the wash. Or in case she hates bows. Some girls are like that.
I did learn a new technique which happens to be featured on my wonderful new sewing machine - the overlocking stitch. It is used to keep edges from fraying much like a serger does, or similar to what you might do with a zig-zag stitch, but it's fancier.
So that is the Petal Top. On to the smocked top, which intimidates me with it's elastic smocking....

Number 3 - Baby Bib

Pattern number 3 is the baby bib. This took me all of about 2 hours, including hand sewing the binding.
The fabric is mostly scraps I had and a small portion of yellow terry cloth from Joann's.
For the applique I used only spray adhesive instead of fusible web because as I have mentioned before, I don't like the way it makes the end product stiff. We will see how this holds up with washing. The other part I am worried about is the binding, hand sewn on. Maybe I'm not very good at hand sewing, but it doesn't feel very secure. In the future I might zig-zag stich it, or try out one of my cool new stitches on my machine. Also, binding an edge with sharp corner is very difficult come to find out. With some practice I think I could have done this a little neater. But I don't think the baby who wears it someday will notice much.

Number 2 - Baby Hat

I am missing two things for a successful picture of a baby hat - natural light, and a baby head to model. You get the idea with the lamp though, right? Haha! I can't believe I didn't even have a stuffed animal in the house!

This hat is truly adorable, even the hubby admits. I was nervous about working with knit fabric but it didn't turn out to be that difficult. I purchased an interlock knit, which I think helped. You can read about knits here. The part to be careful of is that you are not stretching them as you sew, but it isn't that difficult.
The hardest part of this little hat was sewing the ears. I guess I have never really tried sewing sharply rounded pieces because I had a lot of difficulty getting a smooth curve. Maybe I am just still getting used to my machine, but either way, the ears turned out a bit wonky, but they are cute. As far as applique, the fusable web is definitely the way to go here because the stiffness helps the ears stand up.
If you have noticed that it is still only December 29th and I have completed two out of three of my projects for January you are wondering the same thing I am... am I going to be done with this by June?

The Project

Sometime this year I bought a book at Joanne Fabrics, to feed my pattern-book buying habit. Unlike other books I have bought in the past, the more I looked at this book the more I liked everything in it! There are literally only one or two patterns that I am not crazy about, and everything else I think so so darn cute I just want to make them all.
So my sewing-book buying habit... I have a similar problem with cookbooks.... I love to buy them, then I make one or two patterns, and the book sits on the shelf forever.
There is something about choosing a project to work on, choosing a pattern that I find difficult. I have a hard time just opening a book and saying, I'll make this one first, and the rest later. I feel like I have to decide on the perfect pattern because I don't want to loose interest. But once you have made the best pattern the the book and eliminated all the others in the process, well, it kind of makes me not want to make all the others as much as I did before. So, inspired by a favorite movie of mine "Julie and Julia" I thought, I'll just take this book from which I love almost every pattern, and start from the beginning and sew my way through! Yay!

So the book is Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy. This is my new machine (<3, <3, <3, see my last post about how I love my new machine). And there behind the book is the first project, the baby booties! Now there are 25 projects in this book and they are all quite easy... so given that fact the I have a full time job and a lot of being lazy to do... this will not be an all consuming project, just a fun thing to do. I have decided to make two patterns a month, and will probably still work on the fifteen other things that are always lying around wanting to be finished.

Project Number 1: The Baby Booties

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These booties turned out to be much harder that I anticipated - they are very small and hard to maneuver on the machine. A couple things I would note on the pattern. When you sew the straps, you have to sew them at 1/4 seam or you won't be able turn it right side out, so ignore the 1/2 inch seam instruction in that part. Also, I think the lining is a little too large for the bootie. It just doesn't seem to fit, there is too much fabric! I would in the future maybe use the smaller size, and a 1/4 inch seam allowance, or something to allow for this. Also, I would plan on making three booties, one to mess up on and two to wear :) These look adorable, but I'm not honestly sure they would be wearable..... but not bad for the first project!