I'm Melting

I am going batty around here. We are in the middle of the most hideous heat wave. we live in a part of California where the weather is generally pretty mild all year long. We expect about three little heat waves per year and right now we are experiencing heinous heat number two. I love warm weather. I even love hot weather, but our house is just not equipped for what happened yesterday. It reached about 103 degrees outside which translates to 95 degrees in our living room by 5 p.m.!!! I am not joking. We have four sliding glass doors in the living room so it's like a giant fish bowl. Speaking of fish bowl, our poor tropical fish got so hot I had to put ice cubes in their tank! 

What does all that have to do with the scooter fabric above? Not much, other than I hate posts with out a nice picture. It also happens to be the fabric I am using on an upcoming project. If you like this fabric as much as I do you'll be excited to know it involves a giveaway I'm preparing. Yippee! So check back often to see what I'm making with this great print.

KCWC - Fin

A while back I bought some Heather Ross Munki Munki carnival fabric. Well, actually it's pieces from a pair of pajamas. I bought a back panel of a pajama top and a leg panel of pajama bottoms. I love all things Heather Ross so I had to have it. 

I used the Easy Fit Pants pattern and just added a pocket on the side. I used a raglan sleeve top from Ottobre (4/2010). It's my first try with the top and I have to make the neck a little smaller on the next go around. I usually like making lap tee's but the raglan sleeve tee was so fast and easy to make. I'm not sure how most of you attach the neckline to a raglan tee but I liked the method Ottobre used. You stitch three shoulder seams first, then attach the neckline, followed by the final shoulder seam. I wasn't paying attention to the instructions and I stitched all four shoulder seams so there was a little seam ripping going on. It still was a quick top to make. 

p.s. Aren't photographs just wonderful? I am seeing that the left leg (with the pocket, pictured in the far right photo) is longer than the right leg. Hmmm. I will have to investigate and get back to you on this matter.

KCWC

I finally finished these pants. I used the Oliver + S Sailboat Pant pattern. I forgot to alter the pattern to accommodate cloth diapers so I think they won't even fit the littlest booger. It is made from a stretch denim so maybe they will work. I'll have to wait and see when nap time is over.

KCWC

So yesterday I made the Pixie Hat from a thrifted cashmere sweater. I wish I had taken a photo of the sweater before I cut it all up. It was a men's XL sweater so there is a lot to work with. I cut off both sleeves, created and inseam and used the mock turtleneck as a waistband. I used twill tape as a tag even though the front and the back are identical. I just like having tags in clothes. So there it is. Maybe tomorrow I can revisit the Pixie Hat and try to make one that fits. I have a pile of wool sweaters that I bought to make longies (diaper covers) out of. It's just one more project added to the list.

Pixie Hat

KCWC

 I am so motivated to sew these days but I can NOT seem to find the time. Slightly frustrating considering it's one of my favorite inspiration weeks... KCWC (Elsie Marley's Kids Clothes Week Challenge). It's so much fun to see what everyone is creating and to post about what I am creating. I have a zillion projects (what's new) in mind, but I'll be lucky to get a few little things done this week. 

I was inspired so much by the adorable brown hat that Meg posted that I just had to try making one. I made it out of a thrifted cashmere sweater (pants hopefully soon to follow). It's sooooooooooo dreamy and soft. I lurve the knit. It fits like shit but that's what I get for designing something from scratch for the baby while the baby is sleeping. It was very quick to make, but the cashmere was wriggly and I had a hard time sewing the bias trim on. For the next hat I'll try using a rib knit.

You can't tell by the photos but the baby hates wearing hats. What you can't see in this photo is Chef holding both his hands. Nice huh? We're great parents. As soon as Chef let go he took the hat off. I would show a picture but he ripped it off so fast my camera wasn't prepared for such lightening speed.

I stitched a cute vintage button on le hat which will have to be le removed since the hat doesn't fit and he'll never wear it. If I make a hat that finally fits I'll upload the pattern piece. It should be easy to size up or down. It's a great way to use old sweaters.

Peasant Top

Ahhhh, sewing, sewing, sewing. This pretty little top that should have taken me about an hour to finish actually took me three days. Oh the joys of motherhood. I don't mean to sound bitter but where the fruit do all you crafty blogging mama's find the time to get to do all the sewing, tutorials, cooking, baking, playing with your kids, smiling at the mailman, etc...? I assume some of the big bloggers out there don't bother with silly things like sleep. I think that's where my approach is all wrong. I hold too high of a value on the measly 5 hours per night that I am allotted by Prince Vincenzo.

So back to the peasant top. This Kokka fabric is a double gauze which when I ordered it (here) I thought it would be just like the Heather Ross FFA double gauze (like here). It is so much softer. I am loving this fabric long time. I am also having a serious back and forth debate over whether I should spend the money on enough yardage to make this exact top in my size. I realize it may look a little maternity in an adult size but it is so cute I don't really care. I cannot say enough about the cuteness of this fabric. It was pretty easy to sew with (at least in this basic design), but I seriously would scream if I had to use the seam ripper on this fabric. With closely matching thread I don't think so. 

Enjoy my latest. I'm not sure when I'll get to some more sewing. I had all the intentions of participating in the Jump Rope Dress Sew Along (have had this pattern for over 6 months) and the Little Cap Sew Along (I mean it probably takes 30 minutes to make this). Not to mention I bought Rae's Big Butt Pants the day after it came out and haven't even printed out the pattern. 

Oh and thanks for the buzz about my upcoming tutorial. It is for babies and it's gender neutral. Don't worry if you don't have a baby yet or anymore. Oh that sounded bad. I mean if you don't plan on having a baby or your children are a bit older. This is a fantastic baby gift. In fact I'm doing this tute because two of my best girlies are expecting in January and I can't wait to give each of them one of these.

I'm Still Here Guys!

I know it's been forever since I posted anything that I've made. It's not that I haven't been sewing, it's just that I haven't been sewing much. I just haven't been able to squeeze sewing into my tight time budget. Drat.

I am working on a fun little project that will be revealed some time in October. I know that seems like forever, but it's a tutorial for another blog and I need to make about four test items before it's finalized. I'm super excited. I'm also going to make a tutorial with the same theme to go along with the current one that I am working on. I hope to post that tute on the same week as the other one. A double whammy. I'll also be doing a give away with the new tutes. 

As soon as I iron out the kinks on these projects I'll be able to get back to some sewing for the kids. I really need to because the baby had a growth spurt and he has nothing to wear. I just cut the feet off of his footsie pajamas to get a few more weeks out of them. Hopefully I can make some fleece pajamas before it gets too cold around here.

On a totally unrelated subject I just needed to post about my crazy indoor only cat. She has recently been allowed to go outside for a few hours at a time. 

 

Yes, she brought us a bat. Awwww, how sweet. No more presents Katie. Please.

The Spirit of America

We enjoyed a lot of silly rides, bad food (so bad it was good), and manure. I know most people go to the fair to enjoy the first two items on my list, but we really like to go and visit all the animals that are entered in the county fair. Our neighbors are 6th generation ranchers and their children had some sheep and pigs entered this year. I personally enjoy looking at all the chickens since we are chicken owners. 

This year there were three pregnant dairy cows and one was just days, maybe hours away from giving birth.  There was a small group of ladies standing by her rear end pondering the arrival of the baby. I should have taken a photo because a cows ass is actually pretty interesting at that stage. 

Since I am getting quite graphic in this post I may as well tell you this next little tidbit. We encountered a lot of friendly FFA kids (Future Farmers of America) and young 4Her's, but none so nice as the grandpa of one of them. Upon seeing our blind son he asked if Rocco wanted to get closer and pet a cow. I always love when people think about Rocco's experience and how to make it better. Our world is so visual and we experience things so differently than he does. This kind gentleman took us to a cow that was six months pregnant and he let Rocco pet her nose and feel her fur. Then out of nowhere he takes Rocco's hand and pulls it toward her udder. No problem until he describes said udder. "This here is her tits." Yes you read that as correctly as I heard it. He DID NOT say teats. Then he follows with, "She has four of them. Isn't that weird?" Before he could compare his bovine beauty to Rocco's mommy we quickly thanked him and got back to the real fun... carny folk.

O.k., so I totally just pulled that one from the internet, but I did try to take a photo of a carny worker with a cupcake tattoo on her neck.

Baby in the Hood Jacket

I guess I really do love the Baby in the Hood Jacket even though as I'm making them I grumble quite a lot. Since this is a gift I was grumbling even more because I wanted it to turn out really nice and it was giving me all kinds of grief. It's one of those designs that you need to cut really exact and you need to make each seam very even or things don't line up. 

It's for a late baby gift for a now 6 month old little girl. I made the jacket in a size 9-12 months. I added a hand stamped label to the jacket to personalize it for baby Sierra. It's just a piece of lightweight linen that I top sitched and pinked the edges. The stamp is an alphabet stamper I have and a little floral twiggy thing. I heat set the ink with an iron. Hope it lasts through the wash. I think it should.

I had hoped to make a pair of Rae's Big Butt Pants but I didn't have enough fabric. Instead I found an adorable baby bootie pattern on Etsy (check out the "boot" bootie on this site. Love it). 

Unfortunately I don't like how it turned out and I guess I need to make a few to get the hang of it before these are given to other people. I had cut out a pair in this denim for Vinny which I should have made first to get the kinks out.

Oh, and I bought the fabric at Hawthorne Threads. Love them.