Confession Time

How many times have you interfaced your press cloth?

[embarrassed laugh]

Stripey

This was a fun and easy thing to make after a spate of leotards and many-pocketed pants. It's the "Harava" t-shirt pattern from Ottobre 1-2009-22. The striped jersey is from Chez Ami and the solids are cheap jerseys from elsewhere. Boy what a difference quality makes! (The nice striped fabric was $3.50 a yard, so it doesn't have to break your pocketbook to search for good stuff.)

Peter is ecstatic over his new shirt. He's also wearing some pants I made earlier this year. When he put on this outfit he asked, "Will you PLEEAASSE make me undies?" He apparently wants an outfit that's completely homemade. Sorry, buddy, I have an underwear pattern, but I'm not doing socks.

Then he asked if he could make a separate section in his closet for just the things I've made. "Well, that'll be a very small section of your closet."

"That's okay, I want to do it anyway."

.

This shirt is item #2 in Peter's Fall/Winter SWAP.

Another Leotard

Last night - once again, the night before their morning gymnastics class - I finished Sara's leotard. It matches Grace's, except I made the side accent stripe in the same fabric rather than use the questionable purple.

Oof. Posture to make an English schoolmarm shudder. But the suit fits nicely anyway.

The pattern is Jalie 2443. I chose the suit size according to her measurements with a little hesitation: size F (toddler 2) for width and size H (4) for girth/torso length. But the pattern is definitely true to size. Gracie's is a straight size F. They have the same waist measurement, hehe!

Grace is pleased her sister has a matching suit.

Testing

There is a glut of free blogger templates out there...but how many of them work? This is my 5th attempt ):

Comment Box

I think the problem with the comment box is fixed.

So...if you have anything to say, you can now say it.

Jean Overalls

Sara has been asking for overalls for more than a year - ever since she grew out of her toddler- sized ones. I haven't seen them in the stores lately, and maybe they're not in style at the moment. But who am I to be deterred by fashion? I bought Ottobre magazine issue 2-2002 specifically for the overall pattern. I've also made a swimsuit and a dress from that issue. The drawback is that the instructions are in Finnish, so I went instructionless.

The tricky part was the side tab closures. They look okay, but gap a bit.

Sara chose the applique (from another Ottobre issue) and the fabrics for it from my scrap bin. The outfit with the applique and denim look as if they're straight from the 1970s.

The denim is very lightweight stuff from Hobby Lobby.

Complete with a hammer loop.

Little Gymnast

I finished this teeny leotard last night - just in time for Grace's first preschool gymnastics class. Phew! I was going to make one for Sara, too, but luckily she found a ballerina leotard in her drawer (from Aunt L?) that still fit her.

I had misgivings about it the entire time I was making it - especially about the color of the "accent stripe", but it turned out fine and it actually fits!

The V-shaped back was the trickiest part of the construction - in this case it was simply because I didn't stretch the binding all the way to the end of the neckline and there would have been a gap if I hadn't stitched the back a tad higher.

The pattern is Jalie 2443 and the sizes go from toddler size 2 up through adult sizes. The instructions give you tips on how to sew this without a serger. It does work fine, with practice, but of course the inside seams don't look as neat. Nobody can see those, right?

I'm still not sure about that stripe, but I have a pretty limited stash of lycra fabrics. For Sara's suit (coming up soon) I may just use all one fabric.

The floral print is tactel from Chez Ami, and the purple is nylon/lycra from fabric.com.

Cargo Pants Redux

Here is round 2 of the cargo pants from Ottobre 4-2008-33. This pair went a bit quicker than the first pair - about six hours this time. I used brushed twill from http://www.fabric.com/ and size 24 metal snaps from http://www.sewbaby.com/.

I made these as part of the fall plan for 2009, which I intend to make for each boy (who are the same size right now). I'm glad I've tackled the most complicated wardrobe pieces first. Long sleeved t-shirts will be cake after these pants!

There's some extra length there. Maybe they'll still fit next year too.

A little pizzazz in the pockets and waistband.

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These pants are item #1 in Peter's Fall/Winter SWAP.

Basic White Blouse

It's pretty anticlimatic (get it? har har) to make this at the end of the summer, but here is the basic sleeveless blouse I've been tweaking for a few weeks. Even though it's not extremely fitted (and it has no sleeves to fiddle with), I wanted to test a few shoulder alterations. I did three alterations (wide upper back, wide shoulder, and forward shoulder) and - voila! - I can move my arms. The true test will be with a sleeved garment, of course.

My 7 year old photographer told me he tilted the camera so it would look like I was walking uphill. Thanks, honey.

I think it could use a bit more waist shaping, but otherwise I'm very pleased with the fit. The pattern is from Ottobre 2-2006-4 and calls for linen or ramie. My cotton sateen is a bit crisp.

You can see I'm wearing a skirt I made just over a year ago - a pattern from burdastyle.

I think this is my 3rd collar/placket/facing combo and I still ripped it out and redid it about 6 times, so I'm glad I was working with this sturdy sateen.

I'm sure I'll be making this one again. It's a great EWP (essential wardrobe piece), which I desperately needed. I generally wear t-shirts with skirts, since I've never been able to buy a shirt like this that fit. No more!