My Sewing Space

Much like I did for my son , I quickly made a handful of T-shirts for my daughter to meet her clothing needs for the season. They were all fast and easy. Ottobre 3/2013 #32 Ottobre 4/2012 #28 Ottobre 1/2014 #28  (I thought I could just eyeball that button placement. Yes, they are crooked and no, I probably won't fix it). Ottobre 3/2013 #39 (Birthday shirt!) My sewing room has been packed up for a couple of weeks now. We're moving next week. So, this space will be quiet for awhile (intentionally this time!) until I get my new sewing space unpacked and set up. 

My sewing lately has been quite intentional, planned, and purpose-driven. I typically work well that way, but last week I needed a bit of a break and wanted to just sew something for fun. If it didn't turn out to be a runaway success, I wasn't going to worry about it. I pulled out a piece of black ponte knit fabric that was in my stash. I know it isn't the best quality and I didn't want to be tempted to use it for something that I would invest a lot of time in or would want to last awhile. It's a fairly heavyweight knit, but has quite a lot of stretch and decent drape. I don't know made me want to make harem pants, but after I had the thought I really wanted to go ahead with it. After looking for a pattern to download from Burdastyle , I remembered that I already had an issue with a suitable pattern in it ( 1/2011 #124 ). I didn't think I would like that deep yoke, so I modified that to be narrower and straighter across and also changed the front ...

My son didn't have major wardrobe needs this season. A quick assessment showed that a few T-shirts would do it. Last week was a busy week and T-shirts were about all I could handle in the sewing room. I finished four (from two very basic Ottobre patterns and stash fabric) and hemmed a pair of pants with holes in the knees - one project for each of the weekdays. The navy stripes are fused and then topstitched. I just eeked this out from an old T-shirt of mine. The neckband had to be pieced. I love this little gecko. It's from an Ottobre pattern. Back view: Finally, a new age number T-shirt. I like the baseball style shirt, but the sleeves ended up an awkward length. The pattern had narrow bands at the hem. I left them off and added length to compensate, but it isn't quite right. Still wearable, though.

At the end of the summer, my family went on a lovely vacation through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. These are beautiful states and we enjoyed experiencing them and learning more about them. New Hampshire's state motto is "Live free or die." That wasn't news to me, but it was interesting to see it stated so many places. It feels a bit edgy and unique to me. After reflecting on it a bit, it reminded me of this quote from Robert Louis Stevenson that I really like: To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive. After making that connection, I decided I wanted a T-shirt with the motto on it. I like graphic T-shirts, but usually feel torn about them - sure that's a nice bird/flower/bike/whatever on the shirt, but shouldn't it mean something? Maybe that's too much thinking about a T-shirt, but here I saw my chance to have a graphic tee and have it be meaningful. The ...

It feels like I just took my eyes off the toddler for a minute and BAM! He's seven years old! And quite into Lego. Pattern: Ottobre 1/2010 #24 - also seen here in a smaller size.

My youngest child (my baby!) celebrated her fifth birthday in January. I must confess that this sent me into a minor tailspin. I don't want to go back to life with babies, but I'm not sure I'm entirely ready to be done with the "little kid" stage, either. Anyway, my emotional state aside, I wanted to make her some new clothes for her birthday. The big day was a Monday, but we celebrated on Sunday. I made my decision to sew new clothes on Friday afternoon. Since she would be home all day Saturday I only had Friday evening to make it happen. I chose simple things and didn't have any trouble getting the three-piece "suit" all done. Pardon the wrinkles - this has been worn and washed a few times already. I always like the birthday number shirts that Joy makes for her kids and decided to copy her. The "5" is fused on and then edgestitched in place. I stitched over the same line three times to make it a little bolder. The leggings ...

My son has been in need of some more long-sleeved shirts for a few weeks. His patience was rewarded a couple of weeks ago with two new shirts, both from Ottobre patterns. The first was this collared polo shirt, #20 from the 4/2012 issue. The striped fabric is a nice pique knit. It has a good weight but a good amount of stretch, too. I'm happy with how the stripes match across the body and sleeves. The instructions for the placket were beyond puzzling to me. I should have just ignored the pattern pieces and instructions and used the same method I do for sleeve plackets. In the end, it looks okay from the outside, but the inside leaves much to be desired. The collar and stand is cut in one piece - not my usual preference, but I thought I'd give it a chance here and I'm happy with it. I stitched along the fold line and pressed along it well to help keep it in place. The second is a long-sleeved T-shirt with some sleeve details, Ottobre 1/2010 #24. The fabric is ...

The gift of very warm weather that we had back in March was just what I needed to get started on warm weather wardrobes for my kids. Now we're back to seasonal temps (not so warm) so the need for shorts and short sleeves isn't so urgent. But, I much prefer being ahead of the game and having options suitable for the weather. As I do most years, I churned out some basic T-shirts for my son. This time I used an Ottobre pattern  for a long-sleeved T (1/2010 #24), but cut the pattern off for short sleeves. I like the stripes of various blues the best. Perhaps because I haven't made a shirt from it before, unlike the other three . Joy recently posted about sewing basics vs. fun items . I feel much like she does. I like my kids' daily clothes to be things that I've made. Honestly, I find it freeing. I don't like supporting the sweatshop industry or the slavery required to sustain it. I don't like seeing my kids' bodies used as advertising space for Di...

A couple of days ago I was talking to The Preacher and telling him that I had a lot of things to sew (M and S have both asked for more for their shops and the art sale is the beginning of November). Then I said, "But first, I need to make the little man a couple more long-sleeved T-shirts." To which The Preacher said, "Maybe you should just go buy the T-shirts. You've got a lot to do." Um, hello? Are you new around here? We don't really "just go buy" clothes. Especially T-shirts. Please. I wanted to use a pattern from the Spring 2010 Ottobre issue that I purchased. Since I'm not so familiar with Ottobre , I took more than the usual number of measurements of my son. He did not enjoy this. After I got the shoulder seams sewn and the neckband on, I asked him to try it on to see if it was going to fit. He came over reluctantly and said, "Why do you need to measure me AND have me try it on? I thought you did all the measuring so that i...

During the summer, Heidi of Handmade by Heidi  generously gave away some of her scraps. I was the lucky recipient of one batch and was thrilled with what I received. One of the things in the box was a partial charm pack. If you aren't familiar with quilting, a charm pack is a set of pre-cut 5" squares - one from each piece in a fabric collection. Every time I'm in a quilt shop I look at the charm packs and am tempted to buy one, but I've never been sure what to do with them so I've never bought one. Several weeks ago the Sew, Mama, Sew blog featured back-to-school patterns and tutorials. One from The Polka Dot Chair caught my eye and after looking at it further, I decided to try making it with the charm pack from Heidi. I really liked the T-shirt with the owl applique, too and decided to just copy the whole outfit. My daughter is really happy with these clothes, but you sure wouldn't know it from the picture. Since I was working with only a partial charm...

For awhile now I've wanted to try freezer paper stencils with fabric paint. A few weeks ago I got myself to Michael's to pick up the paint. I did that before deciding on a stencil pattern or getting freezer paper, so when I saw a package of sticky stencils for fabric embellishing purposes I easily talked myself into buying the stencils rather than making them. I made a new T-shirt for each of my older kids. There is a possibility that I'll make one for my younger daughter yet, but it would be to assuage my guilt rather than make her feel good - she doesn't really care (yet) that I don't make much for her. For my son's shirt I used navy blue cotton jersey that has been in my stash for a loooong time and Kwik Sew 2918 . My daughter's shirt is made with leftovers of this shirt of mine and Burda 9549, just like this shirt . I didn't get any decent close-ups because my son is constantly in motion. Most of the pictures I took are some variation of this...

I know that a lot of people think that sewing for boys isn't much fun.  I might agree.  But, when you're looking to clothe your family as much as have fun sewing, I find sewing for my son simpler and faster than sewing for my daughters. These shirts are exactly the same as the ones I made last year , just one size bigger.  I wasn't sure that I should do that at first, but I couldn't come up with a good reason not to - other than it being a little weird, but I could hardly consider that a "good" reason.  Anyway, my son is happy with them, I used up more of my stash, and he has more much-needed warm weather shirts. Having new clothes for the kids to wear makes them much more cooperative with getting dressed in the morning.  However, it does not seem to help them with the issue of matching tops and bottoms...   Next up:  Birthday party favors!

Thanks for all the comments about my sweater !  I'm still so happy about it.  I usually like everything to be put away as much as possible, but I've intentionally left it out so I can admire it.  :) But, in order to wear it, I needed a lightweight long-sleeved shirt to keep me from being too itchy in the wool.  So even though I have other things in the works, that jumped to the front of the line.  I pretty much made it while the kiddos watched Sesame Street this morning. Not terribly exciting, but it fulfills its purpose beautifully.  I'm not sure exactly what the fabric is.  It's super stretchy like a rib knit, but looks more like interlock.  And I'm not sure about the fiber content, either.  It feels like some sort of blend - very soft and smooth.  The color is difficult to discern from the photo, but it's a heathered oatmeal sort of color (somewhere between off-white and tan).  I'm pretty sure I bought it at Metro Texti...

Two more T-shirts for the little guy. Nothing too exciting....made from Kwik Sew 2918, of course. The blue camo fabric is from a thrift store. It's a pretty hefty waffle knit and I think the rest of the piece will become pajamas. My son's impression: "It's a little wierd." But, he likes it. The striped fabric is rather awful. I believe it was a JoAnn's clearance buy from a couple years back, but I'm not sure about that. A cotton jersey, it is thin and doesn't stretch very much and the stripes feel very "painted on." We'll see how long it lasts. I just finished cutting out my younger daughter's new dress. Perhaps there will be time to work on that tomorrow...

I’ve been sewing T-shirts for the little guy this week. Most of this has happened while he is napping or having some “quiet time.” Today when he came upstairs after quiet time he said, “What did you make for me today, mom?” Gotta love that. A couple of months ago the Preacher and I went to a minor league hockey game. Turns out it was a T-shirt give-away night. Everyone got a T-shirt! Lucky me! The team's mascot is a Muskie and is featured nicely on the shirt. The little man thought a fish playing hockey was really pretty funny. So, I cut it up and turned it into a shirt for him. You can imagine how hard it was for me to part with a large black men's T-shirt with a hockey playing Muskie on it, but hey, that's just the kind of mom I am. This shirt is made out of the leftovers from this shirt. The navy stripe is sewn on top, not pieced. The brown and blue stripes are from Metro Textile in NY. A very soft jersey - not sure of the fiber content. Orange and white stri...