Kids' Clothes Week, the rest - part III

The other thing I did in Kids' Clothes Week (which was how many aeons ago now?) was make a Jack O'Lantern with L. A nice friendly one so as not to freak her out.

I also made the dress she's wearing in that photo. It's the only picture of it I've got so no-one ask for details please. And when I say 'made', what I mean is, took in the sides and sleeves of a merino wool top that I no longer fitted into so that it miraculously became an item of child's clothing. It was Boden too. Guess I'm not a Boden wearer after all.

We also went to the flea market and bought this for T's bedroom wall (tis nearly ready!). He likes trucks.

All in all, the Kids' Clothes Week Challenge was, I think, a good thing for me. I got over my fear of trousers and knits and have since made trousers and a t-shirt for L as well. Plus I got into Sewing for Boys and started making some stuff for T too. It really is a good book with great patterns and clear instructions. So, hurrah!

But I have also realised that blogging is about the lowest of my priorities right now. Then again, I don't do it for anyone else. Posts will henceforth be random, as and when I feel like recording something (should I rename? Jo Crafts for Posterity, anyone??).

Kids' Clothes Week - the rest, Part II

Teaser picture of a finished t-shirt:

I think you can see already the level of quality that I and my sewing machine spewed out this time, no? So perhaps this doesn't come as a surprise:

Yes, that's what I did to my first ever twin needle. The machine gave me an error code which upon consultation of the manual turned out to mean something along the lines of Tangled Thread Meltdown.

No shit, Sherlock.

By some weird miracle I had a spare, which worked like a dream but was a different size. Thus we have this nice hem effect in the front middle of the shirt:

Then I had to seam rip the neckline twice, thus stretching it beyond repair and ending up with a funky wibbly effect.

But he seems to like it. He must do - he lovingly stained it with tomato immediately.

Kids' Clothes Week - the rest, Part I

Oh hello. It's been a while. What with doing my job in half the time these days and having a lot of fun actually sewing when not playing with the littles, I can't quite be bothered to blog. But then when I'm old I'll regret not having recorded all my lovingly handcrafted random crap, so here I am.

And here are T's finished trousers in action.

KCWC Day 1

Kids' Clothes Week Challenge is here! This being the first time I've signed up for any kind of sewing event, I find myself rather excited.

Yesterday was Day One, and I made this:



A pair of trousers, as yet without a waistband. Guess what's on tonight's To Do list??

I had done my prep:

And decided to do some refashioning/upcycling/recykleren on this:

 

Which is more shocking, that I own Boden clothing or that I'm about to chop it up? It's an excellent quality piece of corduroy and was sitting there unworn, as the waistband is inexplicably small compared to the rest of it. 

So - waste not, want not - here goes!  Lay out pattern pieces, just about avoiding the seams:

Trace pattern onto skirt using chalk (the "Halloween" method. Look, ghost trousers!):

Cut! Fun! 

What can I destroy next?? Did someone mention more unworn corduroy? 

 

Nothing better for livening up black cords for a boy toddler than knee pads.

Unfortunately, I didn't think through the implications of cord-on-cord appliqué. It frays and it stretches = not that easy to neatly zig zag round the edge of a circle. Or at all, neatly or not. The eagle-eyed will have noticed that the final knee pads in the picture above are grey. In the end I made them out of an old jersey vest, after A LOT of seam ripping. I got too fed up to bother photodocumenting at that point (I bet you're disappointed).

But hey, I love seam ripping. It's an excercise in zen. Almost as good as the sewing itself*. And thankfully the brown cords have plenty of scope left for other stuff.

~

* not really. But hey, you have to embrace it or this would be the Most.Frustrating.Hobby.Ever.

Various exciting developments

It's a random roundup post! No specific projects to show off, but I have not been inactive...

1) I went to Ikea and bought boxes and sorted out all my fabric and all my clothes for recycling and all my sewing supplies. It was a MESS. Now it's not. No pictures because I am still in denial about exactly HOW MUCH fabric there turned out to be hiding in the pile.

2) This was partly in anticipation of getting a sewing corner once we have 3 new bedrooms (attic renovation in progress!). But also in preparation for this:

Which starts today and which I am utterly signed up for. It's the excuse I've been needing to dive into ...

3) This book. I ordered it a few weeks ago and have been humming and hawing over what to do first ever since. I am particularly pleased about the fact that it contains a lot of intermediate and advanced things, so I can push my limits a bit without getting too fussy about it.

4) However, I'm also going back to the most basic of basics with a (very) beginners sewing course. I'm doing it for the fun - I've been wishing I could find a sewing club in Brussels (there seem to be many, funky ones in Flanders), and then found out about this from a friendly parent at the school gates. So I get to sew with other people and chat and make new friends at the same time! And at the end of it I will have a nice apron.

5) And finally, you might correctly think that I'm not lacking in ideas or inspiration. However, I was getting very frustrated by the bottomless chasm of folders and sub-folders in which my "favourites" were organised. Utterly impossible to remember what I'd bookmarked half of it for, and totally not user friendly. So now I have this instead:

I had heard about Pinterest on various blogs over this spring/summer but decided it was a blogland fad and ignored it. Turns out everyone was right and actually it's great. Instead of bookmarking text, you bookmark pictures, and the internet being a visual kind of thing, it's a MUCH easier way to organise one's creative thoughts.

Upcoming project ideas are here, my list of useful resources for tutorials etc is here, random other ideas are here - all accessible at a glance. I've put the link to my boards in the right hand column in case anyone fancies clicking through to my link treasure trove.

~

And that's it for now. My sewing energy was a bit depleted after September's burst of productivity, but after a good bit of organising I'm ready to go again. I intend to be back soon with lot's of kids' clothes made this week!

All wrapped up and ready to go

Well well well, what's all this then?

Let's have a look shall we...

Specimen 1.

  

  

[ Wrapicus Sandwichibus ]

Specimen 2.

[ Pouchus Snacki ]

Specimen 3.

[ Sackus lunchum ]

~

Yes, more school-related bags/equipment.

All washable and wipe clean.

Made using tutorials here, here and here (adapted a bit). 

#Tip of the week: cheerful and lightweight wipe-clean fabric can be found in Ikea, at a much lower price than the oilcloth or laminated material usually found in fabric shops.

~

What's for tuck today??

Thanks Mum

For this lot!

(And the upbringing etc too, of course).

Which is the result of a recent raid on her box of patterns, just sitting there unused since somewhere in the mid-1980s. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane - I remembered several of the children's patterns from clothes she made for us, as well as a few of the women's ones that she made for herself. Mostly, though, it was just rather amusing to see how dated the designs are. If I was an American I would no doubt call them vintage - but I'm a Brit with frugal tendencies, and I just gawped open-mouthed at how shockingly cheap they were compared to today (yes yes I do know about inflation, but still).

Despite the ageing process, and due in no small part to the abovementioned frugal tendencies, I decided that quite a few of these clothes are still make-able.

First the adult ones, for me. (I left behind a man's suit pattern - G just about puts up with all the sewing so far, but I doubt very much that he's ever going to wear homemade clothes to the office. Even if I tell him that tecnically it's "bespoke").

This one was a find - I had been looking for a dress pattern with a curved/shaped bodice just like it:

This next one is basically the same shape as a much-loved but much-outgrown dress that I cut up to make a skirt for L. Serendipitously, however, it's a size or two bigger (none of the patterns are multi-sized). So when I feel ready to tackle collars, I'll have a go at replacing it.

This I mostly just love for the shape of the trousers, which I am unlikely to ever make. Might have a go at the skirt though. And what about those red shoes?! Such fabulous styling.

Now on to the kids' stuff. It's a fab little collection:

L immediately pulled this one out and has made it very clear that she wants the long version:

She's a tall age 4 so I'd best get cracking! Not sure I can bring myself to go floor length though - but would that be better or worse than the tantrum when she realises she's not going to get it? Hmm.

Then, if L will still concede to wear things I make her when she's 10, I quite like the cap sleeved model of this dress:

I'm not sure I'll ever make any of these next ones, but I just really like the sailor tops with elastic around the bottom. Some possible boy options there too, with the shorts/trousers.

I wonder how he cut his knee? Plus, I had that haircut too!

This one on the left is sized 12 months and might well get used to make first-birthday bloomer suits for various babies next summer. I'm thinking the robe on the right will make an appearance for L next Christmas (it's for age 6).

For now though, the one that really grabbed my attention was this:

More specifically, this:

Hand-embroidered options also available:

Um, no thanks. And I won't be patchworking any fabric either, tempting though that particular 'serving suggestion' is.

No, I used denim:

It has a zip, and a snap fastener instead of a hook and eye (because I hate them):

I also used snaps instead of buttons on the front, because I didn't want to risk messing up a finished garment with a bodged button hole.

Just for the novelty, I finished the seams with bias tape. Looks nice, wasn't much more fiddly than the other options, but did add a little bulk (this only really mattered though because the hem is massive - almost double the depth you see on the finished skirt, to allow for letting down later). All told, I'm neutral - might do it again, might not.

And this time I remembered my label.

No, I didn't change the thread. I couldn't be bothered.