My Sewing Space

A week or so before I made my dress, I worked on these two pieces for my younger daughter. My older daughter had an idea of what she'd like for new Christmas clothes and I found something similar enough on sale, so we nabbed that. If she had needed me to make hers as well, I'm pretty sure mine would not have happened. Both the vest and the dress are based on Ottobre patterns, but they're so significantly modified and mashed up that I'm not even going to name the specific patterns. The vest was very easy to construct, but the fake fur fabric was quite a nuisance. I'm pretty sure I spent more time cleaning up the fur fuzz than I did actually making the vest. It's fully lined and only has one hook and eye closure at the base of the collar. The dress is also quite simple. The main fabric is a semi-sheer polyester woven with sheer polka dots. It isn't as sheer as chiffon, but sheer enough to require a lining. I handled the dress and lining as one piece...

Sewing for my kids has been pretty minimal the last few months. I told my girls I would make them each a sundress and seeing as how July is just about done, I thought I should get on it. I had these two cuts of striped knit and told them they needed to decide together who was getting each one. They settled that quickly and then I gave them two options for patterns/design. They each picked a different one. My younger daughter picked the narrow stripe and wanted "a loooong dress." I used a tank top pattern (Ottobre 4/2015#26) and extended it to maxi dress length. Then I followed the same stripe placement scheme as McCall's 6559 . I recently purchased a binder attachment for my Baby Lock serger and thought these would be good dresses for trying it out. I got the basics down, but I have a lot more learning/playing to do. I can get it to work great for wovens, but knits were pretty awful. So, these bindings are done on my regular sewing machine with a double n...

Shortly before Christmas, I made all three kids some new pajamas. Then I made them each a set as a Christmas gift and my mom gave them each new pajamas, too! Pajama overload perhaps, but it was really a good thing. Even The Preacher got new pajamas. The ability of good pajamas to bring comfort and joy is not to be underestimated. My pajama drawer and I were feeling left out. Finally last week I was able to remedy that. I do not enjoy the bunching up around the legs that happens with traditional pajama pants. I had been wearing leggings and tunics as pajamas for awhile and that worked well. Last fall I made a pair of sweatpants (track pants? lounge pants? I don't know exactly what they are...) using Ottobre 5/2011 #5  and I really liked them. Combined with the plentiful race T-shirts I have, they would be great as pajamas - comfy, stretchy, and tapered at the ankle so they don't bunch up. I bought two pieces of cotton interlock from JoAnn's and made them...

Since moving back to the US, I've done some experimenting with ordering fabric online. I had only dabbled with it while living in Canada because of shipping costs, duty charges and the nuisance of return shipping. As expected, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Some purchases are better than expected and some are disappointing. The corduroy for these pants was the former and the chambray for this shirt was the latter. The chambray is nice fabric, it's just different than what I had envisioned. I went ahead with it anyway. This shirt is for my son and is the partner piece for these pants. I like how the shirt looks with the sleeves rolled up. He will have none of that. The pattern is just a classic collared button-down shirt from Ottobre (6/2012 #37). I like the two-piece collar, the lined yoke, and the properly scaled front pocket. Breast pockets that are "off" (to my eye, anyway) in size, scale, or placement really bug me. I used a plaid shirting for co...

It happens every September. You'd think I would catch on. The air feels especially chilly on a Sunday morning and my kids still only have their summer clothes for church. Find some tights! Do you have a decent looking sweater? Put a shirt under that! And off we go, looking kind of patched together. Seriously, every year. That was last week Sunday. So, last week I was busy getting some dressier clothes together. I started with my son because I find his clothes takes longer to make. It's easier to squeeze in the faster dresses at the eleventh hour. I always have success with Ottobre patterns for my son, so that's where I started. This is pattern #38 from issue 4/2011. They are called "Algebra corduroys." Ottobre pattern names are always interesting. I like the narrow legs, the curved yoke and the angled pockets on the front. They are a bit rumpled from being folded up waiting for their shirt partner. All of the topstitching is done in tan thread. I copi...

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 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.

Today was a beautiful warm, sunny day - just how I imagined late May would feel back in March when I was sewing these pieces. This year I intentionally sewed spring/summer clothes for my kids ahead of the season. So, I have a number of things to post, but will likely not have too much to say about them (March was a long time ago!). These cropped pants were supposed to be for my older daughter, but they turned out much too small. Happily, they were just the right size for my younger daughter. The pattern is Ottobre 4/2013 #16 and I used an "engineer" stripe cotton (leftover from these pants ). I played with the front pockets a little - cutting them on the bias and inserting a strip of rickrack. I like the small feminine touch it adds. Most of the waistbands I've finished lately have included bias tape. I think it is less bulky and the pop of color and clean finish are fun. The waistband closes with a button, chosen by my daughter. The snap on these jeans frus...

One more new niece needed me to make something for her. Her older sister received this coat , and I suspect she will also wear it when she's the right size. So, I thought it might be smart to make something else for her. There is no shortage of Ottobre things I'd like to make, so it was just a matter of picking one! I love this little hooded shirt jacket and wanted to combine it with this corduroy fabric ( also seen here ) even though it isn't a knit as called for in the pattern. The piping helps define the yoke seam and makes the sweet gathers a little more noticeable. I was not intending to line the hood until I started putting the hood together and realized it wasn't going to look that nice with the wrong side so visible. Thankfully, I had this broadcloth that was a pretty good match for the piping. The skirt is a scaled-down version of this one , made from a dark purple ponte knit. I scaled it down too much the first time, so I had to add an e...

It was beginning to seem like my siblings and in-laws only knew how to produce girls. Then I did get a nephew thrown in the mix earlier in the year. Since I didn't think he would appreciate a little girl's coat, I had to come up with an alternative. I went straight to Ottobre. I loved this little jacket! This is the tenth (TENTH!) pattern I've used from this issue (1/2010) - the very first one I bought. I'd say it's a winner. I chose to make it in this khaki-colored wool rather than the sweater knit recommended. It'll fit smaller than the pattern suggests, but everything still worked. The wool was really lovely to work with. Those little semi-circular pockets are my favorite detail. The seaming is pretty sweet, too. I left off the collar tab. I like how it looks in the diagram, but I really had a hard time getting it to look good. The inner collar is quilting cotton, but the rest is a heavyweight poly satin (but not too shiny because it...

After botching the jacket part of the "jacket and skirt outfit" plan, I figured I'd still go ahead with the skirt as planned. Until I can make another nice jacket or top, my daughter can wear something she already owns with the skirt. To keep it versatile, I made the skirt out of denim. I will likely make her a nice winter dress in a couple of months and wanted this to fill in the gap now and also hopefully work into the spring. To guard again growth spurts, I made the pattern quite a bit longer than as drafted. Honestly, between that and other changes, it doesn't look all that much like the technical drawing! (Pardon the wrinkles in all the pictures. My daughter was snuggled up with a book on the couch when I pestered her for these pictures. She wasn't really pleased at all. Hence, no faces in the pictures!) I used buttons instead of the recommended ring snaps. Because of the added length, I had to use five rather than four. It looks like I should move ...

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 ...

This jumper pattern from Ottobre seemed like a good one to use with the second pair of huge jeans passed on to me. Seams at the sides, center front, and center back made it easy to make good use of the jeans legs. The jumper pattern has pockets, but I left them off and added some flower appliques. The buttons are tack style jeans buttons and one of them bent as I was hammering it on, so I'm curious how long it will last. All of the topstitching is done with the triple straight stitch and you can see I had some difficulty crossing over seams. This denim was pretty thick and heavy. Overall, I'm not that excited about how the jumper turned out. I should have taken in the CF and CB seams, but I had those all topstitched before my daughter tried it on. Those triple stitches are really awful to rip. The denim was just a little too heavy for this pattern and the jumper stands away from her body a little too much. It's wearable and my daughter likes it, so I don...

Another winner from Ottobre! Not much to say about it - I'll mostly let the pictures do the talking. I like the unique pockets, but I was using a plaid fabric and thought it might be a bit much so I left them off. My original plan was to substitute a single traditional pocket, but I completely forgot about it until I saw these pictures. I messed up something with the front bands when I was tracing or cutting out the pattern. I'm still not sure what I did or didn't do. The markings and instructions were confusing to me. I ended up sewing on bands to make it work. The little sleeve tabs are a nice detail. On this inset you can see that the "solid" orange is actually a yellow/orange crossweave. There was just a small piece in my stash from many years ago and was a great match for the plaid. And, of course, the "silly shot" (featuring tattoos)...

I really like a lot of Ottobre's patterns for boys. They have creative and interesting details. But sometimes those details look overwhelming to me - multiple zippered pockets, many small parts to trace and piece, extra seams to topstitch, etc. I like those sorts of things, but I'm not always convinced that the extra effort is worth it for a garment that is quickly outgrown. A couple of weeks ago I squashed my doubts and made a pair of pants for my son from Ottobre 1-2011-29. The No Kung Fu (?!) pants are described as "outerwear pants," but I'm not entirely sure what that means. The directions don't call for insulation, lining, or waterproofing. The suggested fabric is "outerwear fabric" - not so sure about that, either. So why did I choose this pattern over some others? The knee patches, my friends. My boy blows out the knees on his pants with astonishing speed. I'm hoping these knee patches slow down the wearing out just a bit. Since I was...

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...

Item No. 2 in the Coordinated Christmas Clothing series is a dress for my younger daughter. I liked this dress in the most recent issue of Ottobre when I saw it and thought it could work for combining the glen plaid and dark red fabric. I'm quite happy with how it looks now, but when I first tried it on my daughter I was not hopeful about it. My first thought was, "I didn't know a three-year-old could look frumpy!" But, cutting off some length helped as did the addition of sleeves. This dress looks better on a body in motion than it does in photographs. Here the back looks a bit big, but it's just a very basic A-line shape. The plaids match nicely at center back, but maybe you notice that the sleeves are cut with the plaid going the opposite way. I was seriously in danger of not having enough fabric and played pattern tetris for awhile to get everything I needed squeaked out. Switching the direction of the sleeves was the only way. I think the sleeves mak...

This year I wanted to make coordinating clothes for the whole family to wear at Christmas time. I have no idea why. I've never wanted to do this before. And right now I'm having serious doubts about whether I still want to do it! When I explained my idea to The Preacher, he gave me a please-tell-me-you-are-kidding sort of look. I'm not sure he's on board yet, but that's okay. I'd say the project is 90% complete and I'm hoping to be completely finished by Saturday night. I started with my older daughter's jumper. She had a piano recital last weekend so I used that for an early-ish deadline. I chose a pretty simple pattern from Ottobre 3/2011. This is a summer issue and the pattern is shown as a sundress, but it worked just fine as a jumper. I cut the bodice on the bias and added piping around the top and at the waist seam. The piping at the waist seam made the jumper stand away from her body like she had a hoop in there. Not a good look (but really ...

No new fabric until after Christmas. That's my goal. I love accomplishing a goal. To make it happen I'm cutting out several things at once and then sewing them up. Some of this first batch were things that were necessary for my daughter's wardrobe ( this and that ) and then others are fabrics that I bought for a certain purpose but aren't very exciting to sew, so they have been pushed waaaaay down on the list. First, is this fleece pullover for my older daughter. I bought this fleece as a remnant when the Fabricland in town closed. Each season I like to make sure each of the kids has at least one of these extra layer type garments. My older daughter has been lacking one for awhile now. Ottobre to the rescue. I'm counting on those wrinkles coming out in the wash! This is the "New Generation sweatshirt" (#38) from the 1/2010 issue. I wasn't hopeful about finding a matching zipper and didn't want to buy one, so I went with one that I had and made...