Catchup coming

Oh dear.

I knew it had been a while since I posted, but February??! I suck.

I did take a bit of a sewing break, but my sewing has been here and there for many reasons. Life just got really busy. I was tired. Blah Blah. When I have sewn, it's mainly been for others. I sewed 4 tween and teen-sized dresses for a dress swap in April/May. A dress for my sister for her birthday. And I'm working on a few dresses for one of V's playmates.

Oh. And I was all set up to do a craft fair back in April, I think? Well, yeah. No. I had so many things going on with the family, and my sewing energy was so drained, that I just couldn't expend it all on sewing up, assembly-line, a bunch of the same items over and over. Props to those who can do that kind of thing and not get bored. Not only did I have to back out so I could do my real job--taking care of my family--but I also could no-longer face the rote-ness. I am a creative person, and I sew as an outlet for that. A bunch of simple, square shapes and clipping curves over and over, like, completely steps on my muse. That's just me, personally, though!

I'm finally waking up now and going, um, hello, Leah, you have like no clothes in your closet. Way to go with the whole not-buying-clothes-from-the-store thing. My reward is a complete lack of fashion. (I like to talk to myself in a stern way. The voice inside my head is my mean-mom voice. You know the one? All moms have 'em.) So I'm focusing on sewing for meeeeeee right now, as well as the odd thing here or there for V, because I'm addicted to sewing for her. No matter what my sewing mood, sewing for my daughter always sounds appealing! :)

In light of that, over the last few weeks I have sewed a few things for myself. I hope to get some pictures of those this morning. I will do a catchup post of my things, and hopefully one of what I've sewn for V, as well.

Stay tuned...

Love Sabrina

I'm feeling a little word-impaired tonight, so this post will be light.

Another Sabrina, this time the dress version. For V-day, of course, but also suitable for the rest of the year.

Fabric: Chez Ami stripe cotton/lycra jersey, cotton rib knit from Golden D'Or fabrics via the Walmart clearance table. Man, I miss Wal-Mart's clearance stuff. So sad they decided to downsize their fabric departments. :(

Pattern: Mamu Sabrina. I shared my thoughts about this pattern in this post, nothing new to say. Except that it won't be my last version. :)

She hasn't mentioned it, but I suspect this dress is really comfortable. I have the woman's version of the pattern, so I might be making some of my own very soon.


She was a little upset when she didn't see any heart fabric on my cutting table, so I added this reverse applique on the pocket. I also added a few embroidered ribbon trims. The ribbon is more of my vintage garage sale stash stuff.


More Sabrinas to come!!

Reverse Applique & Elvira Skirt

I actually made this outfit a few weeks ago, but it took me a while to get pictures.

With this set I am almost done sewing through my stack of Michael Miller knits. I know it sounds weird to want to use up treasured fabric, but I feel that particular batch of fabric has been taunting me ever since we moved into this house. It has been saying, "heeeey, you wanted me so much, what are you freaking pansy-ing about for?? Huh? You wanna piece of me?!"

I can only take so much of that.

One more Modkid Abigail dress out of this stuff, and I will be left with a nice pile of scraps. Hopefully it will go towards the doll clothes I have been promising my daughter since forever.

Fabric: Clown Stripe in Cocoa and Elvira in Toffee 100% cotton interlock from Michael Miller fabrics.

Pattern(s): Modkid Maya yoga skirt and Ottobre Design 6/2010 #19 tunic. The tunic is a great basic that I can see myself going back to again and again. I broke from their instructions in that I serged everything except the side seams. For those I finished the raw edges with my serger, then sewed the actual seam with my sewing machine. That way I could press the seam open and have it lay nice and flat for the ribbon inserts.

She is being grumpy here because she really wanted her little brother in these shots. WTH. Who can understand the whims of a 5 year old?

I felt like the top was going to be a little plain, so while laying down putting my son to bed one night, I thought up this flower design. I waffled back and forth with it, going, "this is supposed to be an easy t-shirt set--why add difficulty and time to it??" In the end I got up, went to my sewing room, and knocked it out in far less time than I predicted.

The technique I used is called reverse applique. I originally learned how to do it from one of my Ottobre magazines, but I doubt they were the first to figure it out.

You make a sandwich: Solvy w/design drawn on it, t-shirt front, background fabric (floral in this case), then either tear away stabilizer or more Solvy on the bottom.

Then you stitch around your design. I used a reinforced straight stitch--which I hate, BTW, I am way too impatient for stitches like that. Next time I am totally just stitching around twice. Anyway, when you're done you remove the stabilizers and carefully cut away the t-shirt fabric on the inside of each shape.

I sketched the flower design using some circular shapes I had around the sewing room; in this case a candle (thanks, Lyn!) for the center and a pattern weight for the petals.

P.S. Here's a great reverse applique tutorial on Sewing Mamas. Seriously, that site almost never fails me. Even if you're too intimidated or overwhelmed by the forums, at least try out their downloads and tutorials sections. They are gold mines for information!

I love the little ruches! Do yourself a favor and a) seal the edges of your ribbon with Fray Check, and b) double knot your ties. This shirt suddenly looks really lame when one side is untied and a'trailin'.

Finally she got the brother shot! Doesn't he look thrilled/evil???

Next up I have shirts for the entire fam! Except DD, she already got hers...

Mamu Sabrina & Mini-me Yoga Pants

Ladies and gentleman, she's wearing pants!

And sneakers! She needed sneakers and pants for an athletic activity that she's participating in at her Awana club. I say needed, because I don't as a matter of course provide those things for her.

A frenzied search for acceptable shoes that I didn't despise turned up these sparkly retro-styled princess shoes. But she didn't have any pants that fit! I had bought her some last year, but they were getting a little tight.

I thought she'd be more comfortable in something stretchy, so I sewed her some yoga pants and dress-like tunic to woo her into this new silhouette. Ideally I would have an embroidery machine to girl-up the sportiness, but that day is a long way off.

Fabric: Gray cotton/lycra french terry, pink cotton interlock, and pink striped Chez Ami interlock. The plain pink interlock is soooooo soft and cuddly. I got yards and yards of it a few weeks ago from a lady in my neighborhood who was selling off fabrics from her children's boutique.

(NOTE: When I pulled out of my street and saw a big yellow sign that said FABRIC SALE, I about peed my pants with excitement. I got lots of amazing fabric from her. I like to think that it was fate and the fabric came from God. What, you think God couldn't give me fabric??! ;) )

Pattern(s): Jalie 3022 yoga pants, Mamu Sabrina tunic, girls' version. I traced a 112cm in the Jalie pants, which translates to a 5T in American sizes. I think they're slightly too loose, so I may trace another size down for her next pair.

The Sabrina tunic is beyond cute and versatile--oh, my head is spinning with more imaginary ones in my head!--but I would not recommend Mamu patterns for beginners. Their patterns are not hard to sew, however, the English instructions and pattern piece labels are pretty useless. Between all the variations in this one pattern, I scratched my head a little bit figuring out what pieces were for what view, how to put it together, etc. I didn't use the directions at all, shudder.

ETA: I just searched Sewing Mamas and found a Mamu Sabrina tutorial someone wrote to go with the pattern. So check this out if you'd like to sew the Sabrina but are put off by my "recommendation"! LOL :)

A big, sparkly crown applique right in the middle of the upper front would have been just about perfect. I could iron something on, but at this point after its all sewed together, I feel really scared to do anything that could potentially screw it up. I have bad iron-on mojo.

I did add little princess ribbon accents here and there.

I got this wild hair to embroider (with my regular ol' sewing machine) a heart on one leg. The things I do to motivate my daughter to wear gray and pants. I drew the heart motif on Solvy (used my 40% off coupon at Joann's), then sandwiched my fabric in between it and another layer of Solvy on the bottom. Once I was done stitching over my lines, I soaked it in warm water per the Solvy directions, then air dried. Voila! Solvy truly does dissolve in water.

Unfortunately I drew my design on in ballpoint pen. Don't do that. Parts of my heart have ballpoint pen on them where the Solvy dissolved down into the fabric/thread. Note to self: next time use a water soluable pen. D'oh!

Also, you can't really see the heart that well. Oh well. I tried. At least it doesn't look terrible. She was willing to put the pants on because they had a heart on one leg and a pink waistband.

I added a little bit more princess ribbon on the hood. When you find a spool of princess crown ribbon at the Michaels dollar bin, you buy it. Then you wish you'd bought more.

I used a combo of coverstitching (gray thread) and my sewing machine to top stitch various parts of the tunic. According to my whim.

Later today her (evil) little brother was trying to bite her (this happens often, didn't I just note his evilness?), and she said, "Mommy, he is trying to bite my new favorite shirt!"

I think it says how used to my (evil) son I am that all I heard was, "Mommy, I love my new favorite shirt, you are the best sewing mom ever!!!!!"

More to come!

Knit Patch Pocket Tutorial

Learning to sew with knits has little bit of a curve. It's uphill at first, but once you get the hang of it, they are much less stressful to sew than wovens. I truly, truly believe this.

One of the first knit garments I sewed was the Farbenmix Olivia hooded underdress. I sewed my daughter several of these on my sewing machine (that was light years before my serger and cover stitch machines) and they came out wearable, but I remember how much my heart would palpitate when I would get to the dunh dunh dunh...POCKET. Ugh. Despite my pressing and hoping, I would get this stretched out ripply pocket, every time.

My daughter still wore those dresses and loved them, of course.

But I eventually figured out a way to make my pockets much less stressful and get good results.

Last night I was making a hoodie tunic (not the Olivia) for my daughter and decided to take a few pictures of the process. I'm sure this is not the only way to do a knit pocket, but it is the way I do it, soo.... I hope this helps someone!

1. Cut a 3/8" wide strip of fusible interfacing, preferably woven. You don't want your strip to stretch at all, unless your pocket has rounded edges.

If your pocket has rounded edges, cut this strip on the diagonal (as if you are cutting a square into two triangles). Since the diagonal (bias) stretches a little, your strip will then have enough give for the next step.

2. Finish any opening edges of your pocket. The top of my patch pocket will go into the bodice seam, so I've left it raw. I finished the top sides with ribbing. That's where my daughter's hands will go into the pocket when we're all done.

3. Lay your 3/8" strips of interfacing down on the WRONG sides of your pocket, along the edges that you need to fold up. You want them 1/4" to 3/8" from the edge, or whatever your seam allowance is for the pocket. Fuse in place with a hot, steamy iron.

4. Fold up the bottom & side edges over the interfacing. My knit fabric here, a cotton interlock, is very spongey and didn't want to cooperate. You can see that it's not happy about being folded up and pressed. Sort of like a surly teenager or a cranky toddler. That's okay, I will WILL it in place. The fabric cannot win against me, muah hah hah hah....

5. Turn the pocket over. Press some more. Mine is not perfect, as you can see, but I'm not going to cry a river. This is a knit play outfit after all. The whole idea is that it is forgiving and casual.

6. Place the pocket where you want it on the front of your garment or wherever. Pin it down like crazy and "finger smoosh" (technical term) those folded edges down into the bottom fabric. You could even press a little more, being careful not to press your pins. Let the pocket know who's boss!

7. Here's where tools are going to come in super handy. I like to use my left-edge top stitching foot to attach my pockets. I have a Viking, so this is what mine looks like. All that metal is going to slide nicely over the knit pocket.

8. Here's the underside. See those grooves? They will slide along the edge of the pocket, keeping me on track and preventing the top layer of my pocket from bubbling up in front of the foot. It will kind of like, ice skate over the surface.

9. The little red mark is what tells me where the edge of the groove on the underside is. I line up the red mark with the edge of my pocket.

10. Lengthen your stitch. I like 3.5mm for my knit top stitching. Your stitch won't actually be that long, as all the knit and bulk will most likely feed rather slowly under your needle.

11. If you can, lower your presser foot pressure. Not all machines have this, but if you do, take advantage of it. It's super helpful for knits. My rules of thumb are...is it stretchy? Is it bulky? Then lower away. My usual pressure is a 4; here I've lowered it to a 2.

11. Starting, oh, 1/2" in from the edge of your pocket, stitch a few stitches forward. Then backstitch to the beginning of the pocket. Go forward again. This should a) strengthen the edge of the pocket, and b) help prevent a bunch of puckery, angry stitches that sometimes happen when you start sewing on knit fabric.

NOTE: Make sure you are using a ballpoint needle OR, if your fabric has lycra in it, a stretch ballpoint needle! Don't use a universal needle, your stitches will totally suck. Ask me how I know.

12. When you get the end of the pocket, back stitch again to strengthen that side.

13. PRESS with lots of steam! I cannot stress how important this is for knit sewing. After every seam, steam & press.

14. Be so stoked at your awesome knit pocket-ness! Don't let the fabric win! You CAN tame it!

:)

Jalie Hoodie and Yoga Pants

I read a lot of sewing blogs where people make career wardrobes: jackets, tailored skirts, classy dresses, etc. Or they are sewing these things to wear to church, or...or...wherever.

I am a stay at home mom, so while I love reading about such sewing adventures, the fact is that I most happy when I sew something practical for my lifestyle. Which involves a lot of homebody-ness and shuffling kids back and forth.

So, I am FREAKING THRILLED that I sewed this comfy lounge/errands outfit for me!!!!!

Can I allow myself to be so excited about knit loungewear? I mean, it's not like I had to fit it or anything. I just sewed it as drafted. But for me it is wonderful!

Fabric: Cotton/lycra stretch french terry. I love this stuff to death. I need more of it--MORE! After stash game, Leah, pace yourself... Lots of plans for more from the other colors I still have it in!

Pattern(s): Jalie 3022 Yoga Pants and Jalie 2795 Hoodie. I don't think I've ever really mentioned Jalie patterns on here before. Well, they are amazing. Some of the best drafted patterns out there, and with incredibly simple yet informative instructions. From newbies to experts, anyone can pick up a Jalie pattern and get great results, even if you only have a basic sewing machine. Not to mention, each pattern comes with sizing from 2T up to adult sizes. I've already made my daughter a matching pair of yoga pants from 3022, which I'll put up in another post.

I am having a hard time taking this hoodie off. It's soooo comfortable and cozy and, and, it's just perfect! This is only the second hoodie I've made, and I'm once again convinced that separating zippers are EASIER than the traditional closed kinds you put in skirts, dresses, etc.

I wanted to make sure that my ribbing, pockets, etc., matched up, so I laid out my zipper along the front and marked on each side of the zipper where those would be. That way when I separated each side of the zipper to attach them to the fronts, I knew that each side would be hitting those marks at the same place. When I zipped it up, voila, matching pockets et al on each side. I also fused a strip of knit interfacing along the edge of each front before I attached the zipper. See, I can be precise when I want to be, Lyndsay T!!

I used a contrasting cotton lycra jersey for the waistband. It's super comfortable and about the easiest type of waistband to do. You always want to make sure you use a cotton lycra fabric for your yoga waistbands, otherwise they will stretch out and your pants will fall down. Which is bad, unless you're going for that. (I'm usually not.)

I used my coverstitch machine for all of the top stitching on the hoodie and pants, and my sewing machine for the zipper and welt pockets. The pattern says to use a sewing machine for all the top stitching, and that would certainly work nicely as well. I just used my coverstitch because, well, I have one and love it. It also sews a lot faster than my sewing machine, which is nice for impatient me. This hoodie had a lot of pieces and a lot of top stitching!

Here you can see it on the sleeve a little bit.

When I showed this off to my hubby, he looked very jealous, gestured at his own hoodie and said, "oh. Mine's from...Old Navy." Wonh wonh. I think he wants me to make him one. I have another guy pattern that will work perfectly, but not any fabric. So he's going to have to wait until next month!

More to come!

Modkid Abigail & Thoughts

I went to click the "New Post" button on my dashboard, and saw that I now have 9 followers. Which is great. But I used to have 10.

Sad face. :(

I'm laughing at myself, because I SO don't want to be that person who ruthlessly tracks her friends/followers. I mean, you're not going to please everybody.

(What did I DO? Why?)

Blogging is confusing. I am wishy-washy about my own blogging aspirations. I don't carefully consider who my own audience is or what they (you) want. Mainly I just blog to my own pied piper muse.

(Which apparently doesn't please SOME people. *sniff*)

So why would I think that out of billions of sewing blogs, someone would read MINE? Because I'm so freaking special?

(But...surely I have a certain "something"? No?)

Uh uh. I will continue to pretend that I write "into a black hole" and leave it at that.

(Please love me.)

...oh, and also I made this tunic:

Fabric: Turquoise Mod Dot, Pink Ta Dot, and Scandi Chirp interlock from Michael Miller fabrics. Looking at these fabrics together, I feel the corners of my mouth tip up. They are so. Freaking. Happy/awesome/bright/soft/wonderful !!!

Pattern: Modkid Abigail. Another great knit pattern from Patty Young. I made the tunic with long sleeves, but the envelope shows several versions: short sleeve, cap sleeve-ish sleeve, dress length, etc. My brain is already putting other fabric combos together for future versions.

It is so cozy and cuddly that I want one. Patty, can you make this pattern in women's sizes??

I did a rolled hem on my serger for the bottom hem and sleeves. I put hot pink Woolly Nylon in my upper looper to get a nice, filled in edge, and stretched the heck out of the hem as I sewed. Getting a nice lettuce hem can take a little bit of practice, but it's a nice skill/tool to have. Once this goes through the wash the curls will tighten up and look even swoopier.

I had this really lovely vintage cotton ribbon in my ribbon box that perfectly matched the colors of the top, so I sewed a little tag on the side. I love happy coincidences like that. My sister got me a stash of several of these types of ribbons at a garage sale years ago. They are priceless to me in an era when even poly-blend eyelet costs $2.49 a yard, yuck. Did I mention this ribbon is made of 100% natural fibers and I have yards and yards of it...for pennies? Garage sales are amazing.

P.S. Patty Young has also designed some wonderful ribbons that coordinate with her fabrics. You could use a bit of one of those for the same effect. You can find them at Maisonette, Banberry Place, Fabric.com, etc!

This is what happens when your little brother tries to get in the shot. Ugh.

What are these? Well, as you can see above, I paired her tunic with leggings. She refuses to wear jeans. Then on a whim, I decided to try and make some "jeggings" for her by fiddling with an existing leggings pattern. She tried them on and they fit, but...I have doubts as to whether or not she will actually wear them. Even though I used a verrrry stretchy denim, I still don't think they're quite the comfort level she's looking for. I mean, they fit. I would probably find them very comfortable, especially with that button-free yoga waistband. But she is picky.

I found some denim-printed knit on eBay that I think will work much better, but I'm *gasp* not buying any fabric this month. I know. I'm participating in the Stash Game over at Sewing Mamas, so I'm on a diet. Like all diets, it is hard. Especially when I found magical hard-to-find jegging fabric that might trick my daughter into wearing jeans. Deep breath....strength.

More Michael Miller Knit outfits to come!

Modkid Maya Take 2

I had more fabric slated for the Maya pattern, so for this one I tried to make it as different as I could. I sewed the short-sleeved version, and I didn't feel like sewing more ruffles, so I changed the neckline to a tie one. I think I might like it better than the ruffles, and it was far easier. :)

Fabric: Pink Blossoms by Patty Young for Michael Miller Fabrics. The trim is Solid Raspberry.

Pattern: Modkid Maya. I am in love with this pattern. I don't think I'm done with it yet. Amertized out of how much I will sew it, even full price, this pattern is a bargain. I LOVE Modkid patterns! Have I sold you all, yet???

If I were a really awesome blogger, I would have taken pictures on how I changed the neckline. Buuut I didn't take pictures. Whoops. :p I will say that I took the neckline binding piece and added, oh, something like a good 18" inches on either side of it. So, 36" total to whatever its original length was. To attach it you:

1. Sew both shoulder seams.

2. Fold your new, extra-long binding piece in half, right sides together.

3. Sew along the short sides and 18" in on each long side.

4. Turn right sides out & press the whole thing flat.

5. Clip about 1/4" in from where you stopped your stitching.

6. Decide where you want your bow to be on the front of the dress/top, and mark that as your "center".

7. Mark the rest of the neckline in quarters in relation to your new "center".

8. Mark the non-tie part of your binding strip into quarters (just as if you hadn't added ties on either end of it).

9. Attach the binding as per the instructions, except you will be sewing it in the round.

10. Topstitch as directed & then tie a bow.

Yay, it's a bow neckline.

I love how simple this skirt is, and how little fabric it uses up. I think it's definitely going to be a staple knit skirt pattern for me!

Up next, more Michael Miller knit projects!

Modkid Maya Take 1

This week I've made two dresses from this pattern. I am finally getting around to sewing up my treasure trove of Michael Miller knits that I purchased in the Summer, right before we moved.

I think need to intersperse quick, simple projects like this in with the challenging ones if I want to increase my volume AND skills. My daughter is in dire need of new clothes after all my sewing neglect this Fall, so I need to step it up. I sewed 3.5 outfits for her this week, and it feels good!

Fabric: Carnival Bloom and Clown Stripe 100% cotton interlock from Michael Miller fabrics. Usually interlock knit is very stable and easy to sew, but I find these a bit stretchier than the interlocks I am used to. I think each garment I've made from it needs a good run through the washer/dryer to tighten everything back up. That's a good idea with all knit garments you sew, but especially important when you use knit fabrics without any spandex in them. If you are new to knits here are some really great tips for working with them.

Pattern: Modkid Maya. A great beginner knit pattern. Excellent directions, simple but cute. No complaints. The sleeves are a smidge long, but that makes for more growing room.

I made the dress view. No sense making a separate top and bottom, since I knew she would never wear them independently of each other.

The waistband of the dress version needs to sit up on the waist so that the top will blouse out over it. She kept pulling it down; I kept pulling it back up.

Since a 100% cotton knit like this has poor recovery (i.e. it doesn't bounce completely back to it's original shape once you stretch it), I think it's really helpful to gather the skirt section to the waistband with clear elastic. Here is a tutorial on how to gather with clear elastic, but to be honest, I don't measure. I pull either medium-much or a lot-much (kind of hard to explain the "feel", but after doing it a few times, it becomes natural) on the elastic as I sew. If I didn't pull the elastic tight enough I cut off some of the excess skirt and then sort of fudge it as I sew it the the waistband or whatever. Usually my fudging is about right, though. Once again, I order my clear elastic by the 10 yard-ful from Sewzannes.

I love, love the huge, bright flowers in this print. I fused a few scraps to a knit interfacing to stabilize them a bit, then cut out the flower shapes. I glued them onto a brown velvet headband, which you can't really see in her dark hair.

I gathered these strips the old-fashioned way. Sigh. Sometimes ruffle gathering like this feels tedious to me, even though it doesn't take very long. You just have to be so careful to get them straight, and I don't feel like feeling stressed when I'm sewing a simple t-shirt dress. I love the result, though.

As the sleeves were a little long, we just cuffed them to get them out of her way. I have a feeling that after a few washes, this won't be much of a problem anyway.

Coming up, another Maya!