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!

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!