Kid's Clothes Week Challenge September 2010

I enjoyed the last Kid's Clothes Week Challenge that Elsie hosted earlier in the year so much that I'm doing it again, sore back or no!  Join in, it's a lot of fun and your kids will love you for it.

Jump Rope Dress

Can I admit that this dress has taken nigh-on a month to finish up? It was part of the 'Kid's Clothes Week Challenge' but didn't quite get done in that week. All it needed were buttons but to do that I had to remember to get thread for the buttonholes and get some matching buttons. It's the little things that slow me up!

This is the Jump Rope Dress from Oliver + S. I've had the fabric languishing in my stash for over a year, meaning to make something for Hazel and I thought it would really suit the dress. In the end though, I'm not so sure. It looks nice but the fabric is a very high-quality cotton and it's actually quite stiff. Hazel complained about it the first time she tried it on and I'm not sure that I blame her to be honest. The fact that she complained means this may be as close to it as she ever gets

Oh well, I've learned my lesson when it comes to clothes she's iffy about and I'm not asking her to wear it, or making a big deal out of it. It's a bit too big which means that she's got plenty of time to come around to it! I made Dress A with the long sleeves from Dress B, so if she gets interested by the time summer rolls around I can always turn the sleeves into the short version of A. The dress went together well, although the belt loops were crazy long and the markings on the pattern for where to put them were just plain bizarre - I must check the errata and see if there was some issue. Or I may have just completely lost the plot in regards to the pattern/instructions. I got them right the second time around with alterations. The collar ended up being too stiff with the addition of interfacing, if I made it from this fabric again (which I wouldn't) I wouldn't put in the interfacing, the collar needs to be fairly soft to fold correctly.

KCWC Day 7

To round off the week officially (though I still have a dress to do in the next couple days!) I did this long-sleeved merino top from Burda 9614.  After reading such an awful review of it on Pattern Review I did a test shirt last week and while it came out a size too big it was otherwise just fine so not sure what problem the reviewer was having but it wasn't the pattern.  I made this one up in size 104cm and actually it's STILL too big!  Oh well, she can grow in to it :)  Very boxy pattern though, I had to bring it in quite a bit through the underarm and down the sides, to the tune of about 2cm both sides?  I deliberately made the sleeves and body a bit long to account for any shrinkage which I'm sure, it being wool and all, will happen.  Of course, add that to it being too big anyways and it's very generous in length!  Such gorgeous merino too, it was on sale at Global Fabrics last month for $10/m.  And from the metre I think I used about a 1/4 of that for this top?  I've got some in pink but am considering trying another pattern for it instead.  Or maybe I'll thrash this one into submission, not sure yet!

Crap photos due to the really overcast day we had yesterday, plus taking it quite late in the day

I was quite nervous about sewing with this fabric as it was much lighter and stretchier than anything I've done previously, but it went together super well and of course since it's wool it ironed beautifully!  The top-stitching was a bit of a dud though, one of the threads I used with the twin needles is too dark and really shows up in contrast to the other one that blends in well.  I may have to redo it so I feel happy about it. Or I may not, sometimes the irritation can't surmount the loathing I have of redoing something! Actually, looking at the photo it looks worse than it does in real life...

Here's Hazel modelling it:

She asked me to pick her some flowers for the photo and by sheer chance there were these little pink ones that matched her dancing skirt perfectly! I actually made that a month or so ago but never got around to photographing it. It's from Butterick 6660. Not the greatest pattern to work with (how could it be with a pattern number like that!) but the skirt is so cute and she loves it.

KCWC Days 5 and 6

Ah things are slowing down around here!  What with the late night on Thursday and my birthday on Friday and a party that evening at a friend's, plus a night at the movies last night (Boy, can't recommend it enough! Check out the hilarious Poi E video and the trailers on the movie's site) I haven't gotten in quite as much sewing as I'd have liked. I can't think the last time I did so much socialising!

Days 5 and 6 were the leggings from Clothes for Girls

The weather and lighting weren't so great today so apologies for the yukky photos.  These are very slim-fitting leggings, I had to go up a size and even then they're fairly tight. Nice fit though, and I love the little lace detail on the cuffs.  It's pale pink ribbon over cream lace, the colours have blown out a bit unfortunately.

They're made from a heavy knit with good two-way stretch so I'm hoping they'll last out the winter!  Turns out I didn't have any elastic for the waist so that still needs to be done.

KCWC Day 2 and 3 redux

And Day 4 too, I did the last of the flower finishing this morning and that's all the time I've had today - lecture writing tonight unfortunately! But the cardigan is now finished and here it is:

Originally it looked like this:

I see that the original photo was taken way back in October last year so it's taken me awhile to get around to it!  I was inspired by a clever cardigan refashion by Tiny Happy who told me it wasn't that hard and actually it wasn't! This is what I did:

1. Cut off the sleeves and tried it on Hazel and pinned where I thought the shoulder seam/side seams would be.
   
2. Unpicked the neck facing or whatever it was called. I managed to get the overlocker seam to unravel by pulling random threads (is there a trick to knowing which one to pull? I only ever find it by accident or when it's unravelling clothing I want to wear in which case it's very easy).  This meant that, except in a couple places where I nicked it, the edges didn't unravel.  I undid the facing along the back and on the front just past about where I thought Hazel's shoulder seam would be.
   
3. Found a shirt pattern for a V-necked button-front shirt and matched the pattern pieces for the arm area and arm to the pinned positions as best I could. I do wish, however, that I'd had a good cardigan pattern to work from that was designed for knits as this one ended up being too big and the cardigan needs taking in.
   
4. Cut the pieces out and resewed with an overlocker.  After I tried it on Hazel I discovered it was fine along the neckline despite being too big around, so I went ahead and attached the neck facing and added the ruffle and buttons.  I sewed the ruffle on with a twin needle to give it a bit of stretch along with the knit neckline.

Mat thinks the buttons are a bit OTT but the originals were so... late '90s know what I mean?  The only problem I ran into was that the original facings overlapped more than I'd assumed they would so I had to shift the buttons over to the edge quite a bit so the right ruffle there wasn't covered over!

The flower was made from a tutorial at Pink Paper Peppermints that I found via a lovely little dress on My Sewing Circle.  It's on a bit of felt attached to a pin.  This is the one I prefer; but I had made a smaller one from the stripy fabric that Hazel likes best so she can have that one on it (too matchy for me!) and I'll have the photograph and the memories...

KCWC Day 2 and 3

KCWC Day 2 and 3 WIP, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

A work in progress! I've refashioned an old cardigan of mine for Hazel and am tarting it up with ruffles and other gew-gaws appropriate for little girls. I think secretly I just really really really wish I could wear things with ruffles but I don't need my bust to look any bigger than it is sadly! I'll finish it off tonight to count for two days of the challenge. I'm actually impressed I managed it because I was planning on biffing it into the 'too hard' basket fairly early on!

I love the fluffy raw edges on the ruffle but if they don't stop unravelling soon it'll drive us all mad with fine, floaty thread everywhere! Mat peered at them doubtfully and said "are the edges supposed to be like that?" Yes they are Man, yes they are.

Bo Peep Skirt

Or 'Day 1' show and tell :)  Hazel was so pleased with it that she was determined to accessorise which she hardly ever does, so she included the head band and necklace. And the goofy expressions. "No, not a smile like that, just a normal smile" I pleaded.  She did try.  I love how the little ruffles peek out at the sides.

Here she is doing her best curtsey princess-style

And her patented shake-yer-booty "bum dance", which this skirt does lend itself to!

I'm surprised how much I like this skirt because it's really not my style at all.  I was apprensive choosing the fabrics, and had to constantly fight my tendency to tone it down in some way. I totally splashed out with the purple trim, so not me! :))  But seeing it on her, and seeing how much she loves it really brings home to me that I'm sewing for HER, not me. I need to suck it up sometimes and try and make something we can both enjoy, even if it means I'm out of my comfort zone sometimes.

Kid's Clothes Challenge Day One

It's Monday! First day of the challenge. I promised myself that if I spent the morning writing my lecture on the Neandertals I could sew after lunch. After a bit of hemming and hawing I settled on the Bo Peep skirt as first cab off the rank. It's the one that I've found most challenging in terms of fabric selection (mixing patterns and colours!) and the one I've been most worried about:

After an hour I was at this point with the ruffles sewn on one side panel and the other side ready to assemble:

I couldn't bring myself to stop though as it was both challenging and fun to wrangle those ruffles into a straight line and get them sewn down, and when I'd done that it seemed it was just a short step to get the sides sewn to the front and back panels and then before I knew it I'd hemmed it and got the elastic in :P Probably...2.5 hours all up? Hazel really likes it and so do I - photos to come tomorrow!

Pattern snobbery

I've realised that I'm a pattern snob, that all brands are not the same. I started thinking about it today when I was relieved that I found a Burda kid's pattern that I liked better than a Kwik Sew one. And it wasn't just that the Burda one was more what I wanted, I was relieved I didn't have to buy a pattern from a company that spells quick the way they do. Plus Burda is European - inherently more stylish right? So I started to think about my list of pattern coolness and it goes something like this:

1. Pattern you draft yourself from scratch (you are massively cool and clever)
2. Pattern you draft using instructions (still very cool and clever)
3. Pattern from a foreign book or magazine, like a Japanese one (ooo foreign)
4. Pattern from indie pattern company like Oliver + S (sticking it to the man, go indie!)
5. Pattern from a magazine like Ottobre or Burda Style that you have to trace out and put on seam allowances. (foreign! stylish! different! takes a bit of effort! Might even have to order magazine from Finland!)
6. Pattern from a craft book - Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, Betz White etc. (support fellow bloggers and style mavens!)
7. Pattern from an online tutorial or magazine (go the little guy and freebies!)
8. Pattern from Burda (Slightly edgy sometimes, great for kid's patterns, but the fabrics can be a bit weird in pattern illustrations)
9. Pattern from Vogue (they take nice photos and hey, Vogue is a stylish magazine right?)
10. Pattern from McCall's or Simplicity (not very exciting but reliable - like a comfy pair of old trakkies)
11. Pattern from Kwik Sew (same as above plus appalling spelling and even less excitement)

I'm sure I've forgotten a pattern source in there somewhere! So what do you guys think - what order would you put them in?

I've started getting together the patterns for the kid's clothes challenge starting on Monday and one of the projects is making some long-sleeved tshirts out of merino to use as undershirts/layering items. I was going to adjust a tshirt pattern out of an Ottobre magazine - it's a turtleneck and should be easy enough to turn into a scoop-necked style. But today I came across this Burda pattern and got very excited about it:

Long sleeves! Short sleeves! Hoodie! It has it all. Including a really crap review at Pattern Review :( Oh well, I'll check it out thoroughly before I start cutting that's for sure. Further to the pattern snobbery I was slightly loathe to buy it in some ways becasue I felt like I should be using the Ottobre pattern I already had and just altering it (may yet do that if this pattern is as bad as the review suggests though!). Not surprising considering that option would have been #5 on the list, plus a little of #1, up against a lowly #8. On the other hand, ease of construction and flexibility of 4 different styles counts for a lot!

Kid's Clothes Challenge Patterns and Fabric

I loved how Hillary over at Wee Wonderfuls laid out her proposed patterns and fabrics for Elsie Marley's Kid's Clothes Challenge so I'm doing the same.  Frankly it's doubtful I'll get them all done in a week but aim high right?

Clockwise from top left:  Bo Peep Skirt by Anna Maria Horner, Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress (probably view B but still need to discuss this with Hazel), Leggings from Clothes for Girls, and two merino tops from Ottobre 3/2005.  Centre is a refashion of an old cardigan of mine. I have no idea what I'm doing with this one so it will be the first into the to-hard basket I think!

The one I'm most nervous about is the Bo Peep skirt because it involves mixing colours and patterns. Eeep!  Hazel wanted the brown fabric with trees, and I've added in the other ones.

I'm planning on having the brown as the centre panel, the pink as the back section which will have the blue and pink floral largely covering it as ruffles with some ribbon at the top.  I'm feeling rather insecure about this distribution though, not sure if I should have the darker fabric in the front, will it make the skirt look unbalanced?  I could find a plain brown to use instead, but that doesn't seem quite right either...  Ack!  Anyways, all doubt aside, I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into this lot.