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??).

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!

I finally sewed a boy thing!

About time too! I have been wanting to sew something for T for ages, and given the amount of things I've made for L, it's well overdue. However I have so far been stumped by a fear of trousers and a fear of sewing with knits, which rule out the overwhelming majority of boy outfits. I know these fears are irrational and I will get over them, but not just yet.

So what would it be? Well T is not usually a jealous child, but ever since he saw the bags I bashed out for L the other day, he has been clamouring for his own one. Ping! Lightbulb moment. The ever-obliging internet quickly turned up this tutorial, and T kindly kept me at home for a day by feigning sickness (I have never seen a less ill sick person). So I set to it.

This bag was fun. And not just for the sewist. Here are some of the things T was doing while I was making it.

Making a train with crayons:

Charming his mother:

Hiding:

Spotted him yet?

Phoning: 

Practising breakdancing moves on the Fisher Price garage:

Phew! With all that going on it's a miracle I ever finished it. But lo and behold, I did:

It opens with a flap at the top so he can get into it easily:

I only had a fat quarter of the car fabric so I used a plain grey cotton for the back and the reverse side of the straps. There was one car picture left intact after I'd chopped the fabric up, so I appliqued it onto the back to liven it up a bit. The edge is a bit wobbly which I'm not very pleased with, but then it doesn't exactly matter.

I'm also not very pleased with this square patch which covers the seam at the top here. It's supposed to be aligned in the middle, but it's not (I forgot about it when I was pinning the side on). No-one except me will ever notice or care though.

The thing I am most upset about is that I forgot to add one of my brand spanking new labels to it! Rather gutted about that, as I would be very happy to see T toting around his "Made by Jo" backpack. But it is nonetheless very gratifying to see him with it anyway - because he LOVES this bag.

Here are some things T did straight away while wearing his newly made bag. (Photos may be blurred - I don't actually believe there is a camera with fast enough exposure to catch him without moving).

Cooking:

Climbing:

Exploring the kitchen cupboards:

And the drawers:

Somersaults: 

Choosing a dvd:

Putting chosen dvd in the dvd player:

And finally, sitting and watching the dvd:



After all that, he was ready for bed.

He wore the bag for most of the rest of the weekend too, and proudly strutted into creche with it this morning.

And after such an instant success, I am now on a mission to find more boy fabrics...

Sunday night sew-a-thon

So the weekend went a bit like this...

Friday afternoon: L finishes her first week at kindergarten. The nieuwsbrief informs us that for Monday she will need a gym bag and a book bag.

Friday afternoon, a bit later: we head down to the countryside for the weekend. Shopping possibilities: limited. Shopping attractiveness compared to other more countryside-related activities: very limited.

Sunday night: last-minute panic and bag sew-a-thon.

And for once my random stashing of cheap fabric stuff pays off! This is a set of four napkins I bought in the cave of horrors that is Kruidvat, for the knock-down and irresistible bargain price of One Whole Euro:

Now they are this, filled with gym clothes:

And this, for L's trips to the library:

The bags had to be named. So, they are. In the least subtle way possible:

She likes. She went to school this morning enthusiastically loaded up with all of these (it looked like she was sherpa-ing us to the metro):

The other bag is her backpack for snacks and other sundries such as her school diary. It was a present from Grandma and Grandpa. So far there were no books in the book bag, just a giant cuddly snake (bring-and-share letter of the week: S).

Such fun!

Now of course T wants one too. Watch this space...

I'm not really a seamstress

In my head, I mainly sew clothes. Almost all my thinking and planning about sewing is about which garment, with which pattern and what adjustments, in which fabric, and do I have shoes to match? What needs adding to my wardrobe next? What techniques am I confident in and how do I want to experiment? And, not unimportantly, will I find time to carry all this off before the season changes (again! Doesn't time fly.)

Well, the answer to that last question is usually - no. A resounding No, in fact. Because while my head is plotting lists of beautiful homemade garments, my hands have other plans and are just busily getting on with them.

You see, my hands like things like this. Little, cute, fun, projects, easy to both plan and execute successfully (not quite at that stage with my own clothing yet...).

Small lovely things such as, to take one example, snugglers for freshly born babies.

I may have mentioned that my friends are having their very own 2011 baby boom. And frankly, when faced with the choice between pattern tracing, adjusting, cutting, sewing, trying, unpicking, sewing again, all the while sweating and swearing, or choosing some lovely polka dots and fluffy light soft fleece and then whipping up a swaddling blanket. Well!

When it comes down to it, my head agrees with my hands.

While they were at it, they decided it would be a good idea to whip up a pacifier clip too. Because, let's face it, altogether this makes rather a nice little bundle, doesn't it?

Yes, friends, feel free to have as many babies as you like. I love making this stuff.

Plenty of time left to make next summer's wardrobe, after all. (Yeah, like that's actually going to happen).

Improvisation

So I've worked out recently that I'm a make-it-up-as-you-go-along kind of sewer (that's sew-er as in seamstress, not, er, municipal drainage). What with unburdening myself of lists, I'm hitting a groove of inspiration, enthusiasm and productivity in perfect synchronicity.

[Note to the ether: by the way, there will be no more lists ever. I thought blogging one would motivate me to get the stuff on it done, but my list of want-to-do changes too fast to bother and I was getting depressed about list-ticking-off failure. OK?]

Anyway, my two favourite projects at the moment are these:

The first will be a dress. The idea was to follow Martha's instructions for an easy, funky tube dress, but I was fiddling about with the concept before I even got to cutting the fabric. Since then I have just done what I like with it at each step of it's construction, and it's looking an awful lot better than if I'd just got on with it. Yippee!

Not yippee - I can't wear it yet though because I ran out of thread for the hem. So much for organisational skills.

The idea and execution of the second thing just came out of my head. Can you guess what it is yet? G thought I was making little toilet mats for potty training toddlers. Is he right???

All will be revealed once I've finished.



May Revelation

I just had a revelation in the queue for coffee. It involves a re-think of The List, but I can live with that (yes I can. It's my list. I'm allowed to re-think it).

The lightbulb pinged on while I was doing my pre-caffeine empty stare into space and having these random musings:

1) Making clothes for myself is actually a bit stressful. But I've been doing some enjoyable and successful shopping recently.

2) Buying clothes for the children is actually a bit stressful. But I've been doing some enjoyable and successful making, crafting and sewing with and for them.

3) The majority of things I've made that have been both enjoyable and subsequently used have not been items of clothing for myself. They have been bags, gifts, bits and bobs. Etc.

You see where I'm going with this, don't you.

I'm liberating myself from the self-imposed aim of making my own clothing. From now on I will just make things that are fun. And probably small, because big stuff just takes time I haven't got.

Hmm, that all sounds so obvious. Just as well I don't usually try tackling big ideas before the morning's latte.

The Mother Of All Spring Cleaning Lists

What's the best thing when you have too little time for all the things you want to do? A Great Big List, of course! I love lists - organisational, motivational little things of beauty. This one is a spring clean of all the stuff that's been plotting itself To Do in my head for the last few weeks, and oooh it feels good to have written it all down.

So let's share the love. First of all, clothes.

1) Anda dresses: one dark blue, with in-seam pockets and a big wide band of funky leafy material at the hem, and the other one in grey, maybe with gathered pockets (and maybe like these?) on the front. I might finish this one off with some contrasting bias tape (would pale yellow work?). This is such an easy pattern that this time I will be trying to draw it a bit less bulky from the waist down.





The Hawaiian-style leaves just shouted summer at me







Not sure about the colours to be honest 





2) Then another dress, made by lengthening the lower half of this two-piece bodice pattern. The fabric I have in mind for this was cheap and lovely but is only 90cm wide, so we’ll see whether I need to cut the pattern into more than two bits to make it work.

3) Then I want to turn my red jersey dress (last summer’s first make, fact fans!), which has managed to get stains all over the top half, into an a-line market skirt like this one. And while I’m on the subject of red jersey, I’ll finish the t-shirt below and adjust the sleeves beyond all recognition (all that fabric flapping around my sausage-like upper arms! No!).




Note to self:
accentuating biceps that flab
Is. Not. A. Good. Idea.

 
4) Also on the top half we have a nice green jumper which was a bit crap and hung funny and will become a cardigan or shrug. But which? A shrug would be easier (see here) but I have never yet been known to wear one, and just because I don’t know where to put the buttons yet doesn’t mean they’re an entirely bad idea. I've already done the cutting, in attempt to move this off the To Do list and into my wardrobe again.

5) I will finish making a dress for L out of one of G’s old shirts, following Martha’s instructions. If this is a hit I’ll do more later in the summer, as we seem to have old shirts aplenty.





Cuteness!





6) And because the half-made shirt dress is short enough to look like more of a tunic, some laid back ¾ length shorts or summery trousers to go under it wouldn’t go amiss (think I'll adapt this a bit). And while I’m making them, T should definitely get some too – the poor boy doesn’t have any  homemade clothes so far.

7) But girly stuff is so nice to do that I would really like there to be another sundress for L, using the ikea dress McCalls pattern or this MADE tutorial…. Or one of each, if by some miracle I have time.

PHEW!

In the non-clothing category, for the moment there’s only:

7) these baby booties, the first pair of which will be needed somewhere in May (the others can wait till September). In fact I’d love to do these as part of a package together with:
8) a bib, and
9) one of these hats.

Apart from all that, I have a secondary list brewing in my head under the heading “late summer holiday stuff”. This includes ridiculous camping accessories like bunting and dresses made of towelling for beach or poolside ease. I like this list mainly because it assumes that will have completed the above-mentioned by the early summer…




Many works in progress

  And then I’m looking forward to the children’s bedrooms and the hall/stairwell being renovated and needing decoration. Fabulous practical ideas don’t get much better than this, this and this, do they?

All in all, I think I won’t mention yet the little germ of a Christmas crafting list that planted itself yesterday afternoon.