KCWC: Day Six

I made another nightgown using the Badminton Dress pattern.

I'm more motivated than ever to find a soft drapey beautiful fabric to make this nightgown again. It's a bit stiff like the first one I made. 

I had a terrible time taking photos of this white dress.  Sorry for these shitty pics. I also should have pressed it before it made it's debut. Sewing this a second time around was easier. I am happier with the topstitching.

KCWC: Day Five

I've been sewing like mad... between all the normal things like a screaming toddler, an IEP for Rocco and life. Sewing this much after the break in garment sewing makes me realize how much I really enjoy making clothes for my kids.

 I just wish I had more time. And I miss making clothes for babies. I want a little girl to sew for. No, we are not going down that road again. Three is enough.

So it looks like I'm stuck making slightly girly clothes for my little boy. Sigh. I imagine the striped leggings would look fine if we would actually cut his hair.

Yes, I agree that this star waffle print is gender neutral, but paired with the leggins and his long blond curls I think I'll get more "oh she's so cute" comments than ever before.

The shirt is another Flashback Skinny Tee

Pants are self drafted and I literally just finished them tonight so I hope they fit. They look like they will fit great. Fingers crossed.

KCWC: Day four

Just in time for a cold rainy day...

I made a short sleeved tee and a pair of clam diggers. After the heat wave last weekend I guess a little rain was in order.

I found the koi fish image on Google images. Not sure if it's copyrighted so I'm not sharing the download, but there were a lot of neato images if you are so inclined and handy with an Xacto knife. It actually didn't take all that long to cut out the image (on freezer paper). I did it yesterday afternoon while the kids were doing homework. I used So Soft fabric paint. I've had good washing results with this paint in the past. I dabbed the paint on with a sponge brush using three shades of blue.

T-shirt: Flashback Skinny Tee

Pants: Easy Fit Pant

Fabric: Probably from fabric.com. The white is a 100% cotton sweatshirt fleece. Stripe has a lot of Lycra and possibly some polyester cotton blend.

KCWC: Day three

I bought Rae's Flashback Skinny Tee pattern on Friday and I love it!

I kind of promised myself that for this entire week of sewing I wouldn't purchase any new fabric so there will be a lot of fabric this week that you've seen here before. 

I've made t shirts with both these fabrics before. The next two are fabric I've had for a while but I haven't made anything with these fabrics before.

I'm glad I set aside the dolls for this week. It's been so long since I've sat down and pumped out clothes like this. I have a pair of long shorts cut out in a totally inappropriate toddler color... white. What was I thinking? Well, I wanted to get rid of the fabric and I am doing a freezer paper stencil on it and white was the only color that worked for the design I am using. 

Well I'm off to the machines. It's a minimum day at school so the kids will be home early. I wanted to call the school and ask them if they knew that it was Kids Clothing Week Challenge. How rude!

KCWC: day two Spring 2012

I made my first garment for the week. I used a new Oliver + S pattern to make a summer nightgown for Luca. The pattern is the Badminton Top/Dress. I bought the pattern specifically to make nightgowns for Luca.

I used a quilting cotton and it's a bit too stiff for my taste. I wish I had a huge stash of Heather Ross Mendocino to make this nightgown because that's the kind of weight fabric I would love. 

I totally messed up on the neckline. My understitching is showing. I did it on the wrong side of the yoke but I'm choosing to ignore that little oopsie. One thing that kind of bugs me is the top stitching. That is an area that I'm particularly picky about.  

This pattern has some fiddly parts to it but as usual the instructions are perfect and I felt the pattern was pretty easy. I have a white nightgown cut out but it's Kona cotton so it's going to have the same stiffness to the finished garment. I should have used and old white sheet. One with high thread count to give it a softer feel to the skin.

KCWC: Day One... realization sinking in

On Saturday we had a bit of a heat wave and I realized I have no shorts for Vinny. Then I realized that none of the projects I had planned for the KCWC frenzy are shorts. I need to remedy that stat.

 I did pull out a pair of pants that I made for Vinny almost exactly two years ago for the KCWC challenge and they fit. As shorts. I was totally shocked. That's one reason I love the pattern so much. It's really quite a roomy fit. They are below the knee totally adorable surfer style. They looked cute for about 10 minutes.

Then he discovered a mud puddle we created for our duck. Our duck Quackers was pretty upset that he took over her earthworm hunting spot. 

Needless to say, these "new"shorts are totally ruined.

Doll Factory

I ran out of doll fabric so I'm taking a break. For like maybe a day since the nearest fabric store is closed. I'm not usually a puzzle solver but that's what this feels like to me. I want to figure out the doll that is perfect to me. I made one leg and didn't love it yet so I tweaked the pattern a bit more. The arm I like but the hand needs work. I'm labeling all my pattern pieces so hopefully I don't get too confused. Another thing I just realized is that this cutie pie is going to be naked once she's finished. Looks like I better figure out some clothing for her. I think she will end up being 16". To give you a modern reference an American Girl doll is 18". So off I am to maybe work on my Spring Top Sewalong top.

New Obsession

So sorry if you all keep coming back to see hand made kids clothes and stinky fowl...

 

 I've been obsessing  over these adorable dolls. So of course I'm spending a not-so-normal amount of time trying to make a doll just half as cute as hers are. I purchased a vintage pattern which is the doll on the left. It looks a little like a monkey. The curves of the face are a total bitch to sew. I wanted a wider face so I fiddled a bit with the pattern. The curves are still a bitch.  I am not good with pattern fiddling but I am pleased with the outcome so far. I still need to tweak it a bit to get the cheeks rounder. I haven't even worked with the body yet. Once I stuff the bodies I will probably have a lot more fiddling in my near future. After the bodies I will have to work with the limbs. I already know I will be changing the arms and legs quite a bit. I'm pretty sure when I'm done the pattern will barely resemble the pattern I purchased. If the doll turns out kind of cute and anyone wants the pattern I will happily upload the final pattern. I'm stressing about the eyes. Oh how will I make those gorgeous eyes?

Easter Birds

Happy Easter everyone!

We couldn't resist adding to the flock.

We got a new duck and a goose. They were only a few days old when we got them last week and they are growing so fast. The duck we named Lucky Ducky and she (he?) is a Magpie Duck. The goose is named Lucy Goosey and the man at the store didn't know what breed she (he) is.

When they are ready to join all the other ladies outside there will be one goose, two ducks and nine chickens. Until then they are in our living room or as you can see in the photo above we took them for their first swim in our bathtub.