Carefree Clothes for Girls Sew-a-long, Month 4

Here is my entry for this month's Carefree Clothes for Girls sew-a-long, hosted by Elemental Stitches. 

I altered the pattern by using a decorative stitch on my machine to embroider around the arm and neck holes.  This was the first time I've had a fit issue with a pattern from this book, but the too-wide neckline was easily brought in with a small inverted box pleat.  I actually think it makes the shirt.  Aren't mistakes the best?  Then I added three sweet little buttons and was done!

The perfect lightweight top for these scorching summer days, and a great under-layer for sweaters in the fall.

Z seems to like it too.

Does anybody get the niggling feeling that something is missing?  Well, let me put your mind at ease.  That faint idea that all is not right in the world that's been keeping you up at night for the last few months is that I did not participate in Month 3 of this sew-a-long.  Shocking!  But, that also gives me a great segue with which to tell you that this is a perfect reason to sew along with this sew-a-long.  You don't have to do anything you don't want to do!  Last month's pattern was a multi-layered skirt that my daughter simply didn't need in her wardrobe.  I thought it was overly fussy for everyday (not in the least, shall we say, carefree, but would actually make a beautiful flower girl or junior bridesmaid's skirt with the right fabric.)

So, since I didn't want to make it, guess what.... I didn't!  See how easy that is?  That's why you should definitely stop procrastinating and join us already!  Make what you want, don't make what you don't.  And right now your odds of winning one month are pretty high too!

My Second First Quilt?

This is my very first quilt. Sort of. I started it, and then the I Spy frenzy overtook it, and it was pushed aside for a bit.

My mother had planned a visit in April and I was so so so excited to give this to her in person. My very first quilt, just for her. Except she never made it. The ridiculous volcano craziness killed her trip. By the time the upheaval was sorted out it was time for me to come back to the states anyway. I am, of course, glad that the volcano was mostly an economic crisis and not a crisis for humanity. That said, I was pretty upset for a while. She was supposed to be able to be there for M's first birthday. And M was crawling but not yet walking and so deliciously cute. And I was going to give her the quilt as an early Mother's Day present. And we had all sorts of fun stuff planned for her trip. Waaaaaaah. I still want to cry about it.

So now that I'm in America again, and she's finally freed from a few things she has had going on in her world, she has just arrived to hang out with me and the girls for the week. I can FINALLY give this to her.

I was inspired to make my first (second? first? first. Let's call it first. I've confused myself) quilt by my Mom and by AMH. I/we lovelovelovelove Good Folks as previously discussed on our blog and Adrianna and I are both in a period of mourning over the discontinuation of the line. This quilt was totally influenced, of course, by AMH's folk dance quilt. Had this not been my first/second quilt, it might look more like hers. But I went a little nuts in the process, and... well... it evolved. Whether I originally meant for it to or not. This quilt bears more of the markings of a learning curve in progress.

Just like the I Spy quilt, the zig zag quilting made a pattern on the back that made me a happy. Whether I had originally meant for it to or not. And I had to add a little embroidered bit. 'Cause it was for mom. And she's been pretty patient with me and all of the running to and fro with her grandchildren.

So glad to finally have this in her hands. She slept with it the night I gave it to her. I'd call that a success. I'm dying to start another quilt, but I still have a few weeks of relocation upheaval left. In the meantime, we'll make up for lost time with my Mom.  Fortunately, M is still deliciously cute.

Operation Care Package with Above All Fabric

So, I don't think I need to tell you guys how much I love Above All Fabric, but I'm going to remind you again.  True story:  My husband recently recommended that we rent an RV next time we're in the states and drive across the country.  Before I got to the part where that's what airplanes and hotels are for, my first thought was that I could stop in Tucson and visit my favorite fabric shop!  Ok, it's an online shop, so maybe just Melanie's storage room.  But still, I think if I begged (or camped outside her front door) she would let me :)

Ok, my stalker plans aside and back to the point of this post: Melanie has just offered one more reason to love her shop.  She is using her powers for good, in an on-going blog series called Caring Communities.  You can read all about the different charity programs she has become involved in on her blog.  Living overseas as an American, the military is very near and dear to our hearts, so I chose to make a couple drawstring bags for her Operation Care Package program.

If you have some scrap fabric and a couple minutes of extra time, I encourage you to check out her site and make some bags too (she provides a tutorial).  There are also different ways and different items you can donate, so if drawstring bags aren't your thing, you can still get involved.

I hope these bags are patriotic without being too kitschy.  I made them using my beloved Ikea striped home dec weight and some twill tape.  With the french seams, they ended up being a lot sturdier than I expected.  You could squeeze a baby elephant in there and those bags wouldn't bat an eye.  Hopefully someone gets some good use out of them!

Pleated Sundress: It can also be a romper!

I'm about to date this post, but I wanted to show you how easy it is to use the Pleated Sundress Tutorial to make a matching romper.

Yes, these are the outfits my girls wore for Easter.  Ever want to know how busy moms have time to sew and keep a blog?  1 word: Backlog!  Our stuff is usually pretty timely, posted within 2 weeks of being made, but we do tend to have 5 or 6 posts just hanging out waiting for a rainy day.  Figured I should get this one in before it wasn't weather appropriate any more!

To make the romper, use the tutorial for the bodice as is, then construct the bottom half.  Rae of Made by Rae recently came out with a fantastic sunsuit tutorial, so I won't recreate the wheel (thanks for doing the work, Rae!).  Just follow her directions for making the snap closure and shirred leg openings. (And, because I want to be totally fair, I will tell you that for my snap closure I just cut the crotch out of an old onesie and sewed it on.  I know, I'm a big fat cheater!)

The only thing I did differently was to roll-hem serge the hem and around the waist.  I used red thread for contrast.  At the waist, I gathered the bottom half and topstitched it to the bodice so would create a little exposed ruffle:

I love how it looks like a bubble dress when the shirring around the legs gets caught on her fat little thighs:

And remember, you can turn any dress with a waist seam into a romper using this technique.  Such an adorable option for little sister!

Pleated Sundress: A Tutorial

I saw a really cute, breezy sundress at the Gap, but at $30, it was way more than I'm willing to spend on a preschooler.  I decided I had to give it a shot and since I used $2 fabric I got at a yardsale over 3 years ago, I was able to make my version for the low low price of FREE.  (Ok, since I used about 1/3 of the fabric, maybe 60 cents.  But FREE sounds better.)

Here's the original:

And here's a tutorial.  I'll assume you know the basics of construction and stick to the finer details.  First, you'll want to make yourself a little pattern for the bodice front & back.  You can use the same pattern for both sides, but we'll alter them a little when we cut them out.  

Using your child's chest measurement, construct a pattern for the front and back bodice pieces that looks like this, with the bold line indicating the fold:

You will need to include a 1/2 inch seam allowance along the bottom edge and the side seam.  The top edge and arm curve will be bound in bias tape, so no seam allowance is necessary.

It may help to use an existing garment to cut out the arm curve.  The Gap dress has a fairly high empire waist, but I cut mine to be a little longer.  You can cut to suit your liking.  Also, note that the Gap version has a slightly angled neckline - it dips a little in the center.  I made mine straight across, but wish I had remembered to do the dip.  Again, your choice.

To cut out your front bodice piece, you need to first allow more room for the pleats we will add.  So, fold your fabric, but instead of placing the edge of the pattern on the fold like usual, place it 4 inches away.  Cut along the pattern, and continue cutting on the imaginary lines that would connect your pattern to the fold of the fabric.  Make sense?  This way, when you unfold your cut fabric, it will have 8 extra inches in width.

Now for the pleats.  Mark the center of your bodice by pressing, then measure 1/2 an inch to the right.  Make your first pleat by folding and pressing the fabric another 1/2 inch from that point.  Once you sew the pleat, you will be removing 1 full inch from the width of the bodice, like so:

To make the second pleat, move 1/8 of an inch to the right of the folded edge of your first pleat and make another 1/2 inch pleat.  Make four pleats on each side of the bodice, ironing them down so they face the side seams.

Now cut out the back bodice piece, again moving the pattern away from the fold of the fabric but only by 1 inch or so:

Shirr the back bodice piece with horizontal stitching all the way from the top to bottom edge, stopping at each side where the arm curve begins.  I cannot overstate the importance of hitting your shirred stitches with a shot of steam from your iron.  I also cannot overstate the importance of having every available person in the house watch this step, as it is so flippin' cool.  You'll see.

Sew the front and back bodice pieces together at the side seams.

Now you will need to make enough 1/2 inch bias tape to cover the front and back top bodice edges, and enough 1/4 inch bias tape to bind the arm curves and form the ties above the shoulders.  My dress is approximately a 4T and I included 10 inches of tape beyond the top of the bodice for ties, just to give you an idea.

Sew the 1/2 inch bias tape to the top edges first, then sew the 1/4 inch tape around the armholes and up the straps.

To sew the super thin bias tape for the straps, first pin everything in place around the arm curves, then start stitching at the under arm, and keep going beyond the bodice and up the tape.  Then return to the underarm and sew again in the opposite direction.  

Or, if you want to start at the tip of the strap and do one long seam, lay it down on paper or tear-away stabilizer.  This will keep your sewing machine from viciously eating your tape, and when you're done sewing, you can simply tear the paper in half along the seam and remove it.

Congrats, your bodice is done!  Now for the easy part.

For the skirt, first measure how long and how wide you want it to be.  Use an existing garment to check for fullness.  I made mine slightly fuller than the original.  I find it easier for my super visual mind if I draw a little diagram.  The numbers inside the rectangle indicate my desired finished measurements, the numbers outside indicate how big I need to cut the fabric for seam allowances & hem.  We are adding an extra inch in addition to the hem measurement so we can make a growth pleat.

From here on out, it's business as usual.  Sew the rectangle into a tube, gather the top edge until it is the same circumference as the bottom of the bodice, pin right sides together and sew.

To form the growth pleat and hem, first measure 4 inches up from the raw hem and make another 1/2 inch pleat all the way around.  Then hem as usual, first pressing under 1/2 inch, then 1.5 inches.  When you sew the hem, make sure the pleat is out of your way.  Then when you press the pleat back down, it should cover up your hem stitch.  Nice & neat!

Growth pleat around the hem

Pleated bodice

Shirred back bodice

Happy kid, happy wallet!

Please note, these tutorials take a bit of time to construct, but what makes it all worth it is seeing you use them!  Please post any pictures of things you've made based on Crafterhours tutorials to our flickr group.  Also know that by posting your work there, you're giving us permission to include you in a post featuring your finished projects!

I Spy Spoonflower Fabrics in my Mailbox

Okay, not yet. It's too soon. But tonight is the deadline for swap participants to have picked their fabrics, checked the Flickr pool to make sure they aren't duplicates, uploaded their picks and ordered their two yards.

With 56 participants and this being a new sort of swap, there were a lot (a LOT) of e-mails back and forth about fabric choices and scale. Several Spoonflower designers piped up and offered tips and advice, which was much appreciated.

While looking around and reading FAQs and help, I found that you can order a Spoonflower color guide. $1 including shipping is pretty great, I think. Now I can keep that and use the hexadecimal print to make Adrianna soooomething.

So now we wait. 56 sets of 112 squares are on their way to my mailbox to be sorted and sent back out into the world to inspire past, present and future kids.

We've gotten some questions about more swapping-- Will there be another Spoonflower I Spy Swap? We'll see. I'm thinking maybe it'd be a good post-winter-holiday activity. In case there's anyone you need to nudge for a crafty gift certificate. (I start my nudging early some years.) Maybe I should finish this swap first? I don't know, it's only 6,272 squares to sort out. Wait, WHAT? REALLY? Why didn't I do THAT math before I started this!?

Fashionable Torture: A 3-in-1 Leash Tutorial

(I'm about to ramble & rant for a bit, so skip to the pictures if you just want the tutorial)

Remember how you used to not have kids?  (ok, did I just lose everyone?  You either don't have kids or you're in so deep you can't even fathom what a quiet evening, mess-free house, and stretch-mark-free stomach look like?)  Well, let's use our imaginations.

You're walking through a crowded grocery store/airport/zoo and you see someone walking their child.  On a leash.  And though you would normally never judge, you instantly become Ms. Judgy McJudgerson.  Really?  A leash?  On a kid?  Isn't that a form of torture?  Someone call CPS!

Well, I don't know about you, but that was definitely me.

But now I have kids.

One in particular.

I don't know if she is just trying to escape our family, or perhaps she thinks I need more (read: any) exercise and wants to give me a good chase, or maybe she just heard we were having vegetarian lasagna for dinner.  For any or all of these reasons, she's a runner.

Cue scene one: A few weeks ago, at the zoo.  She decides to make a break for it at the very moment that a large school group, at least 50 students strong, comes in between us.  And as I'm pushing little sister around in the Hummer of strollers, I can't exactly bypass the crowd quickly.  I reach the point where my daughter disappeared, and it's a T-stop.  Left or right?  Apparently I chose un-wisely, because after 15 minutes of searching along with all my very kind and non-judgemental mom friends, I had to alert zoo security who eventually tracked her down via radio.  She, of course, was miserable.  As she should be.  I thought to myself, "Well, that wasn't the most fun I've ever had, but now she's learned her lesson in a big bad way."

Hmph.  Cue the very next day:  We are in the basement of a large department store when she suddenly disappears.  After 5 minutes of searching that level of the store, a security guard makes eye contact with me and says (not in English), "little girl?"  To which I roll my eyes and say (not in English), "WHERE?!"  She had left the basement, gone up 2 flights of stairs, found the entrance to the store, walked outside, and gone into the electronics store next door where my husband was shopping.

!!!!!!!

That's all I have to say about that.

When we got home from that outing, I sat down in my sewing area and immediately constructed myself a LEASH.  And I felt darn good about it too.  Best invention ever, in my book!

Tutorial:

So, now the tutorial, in case you've made it this far.  It'll give you 1 leash, and when/if you're done using the leash, you can detach the parts and have a belt for your child and a key fob for yourself.  Let's hear it for multi-purpose items!

Here's what you'll need:

Twill Tape (2 yards is plenty)
Key Fob hardware (1 of these and 2 of these)
Cotton Webbing (enough to slip on around your wrist)
2 D-rings
Leash Fabric (optional if you're just making torture, mandatory for "fashionable" torture)
Key Fob Fabric (something that you like, as this will be for you later)


Step 1: Cut a length of twill tape to your desired leash length.  Press twill tape in half length-wise and sew down the open edge so you have a long tube.  Cut a strip of fabric 1.5 - 2 times longer than your strip of twill tape and ruffle it down the center so it is the same length as your tape (I roll-hem serged the edges to prevent fraying, but you could skip this step or cut the fabric wider, sew it inside out into a tube, and turn it so there wouldn't be any raw edges):

Step 2: Sew fabric to twill tape by sewing directly over your ruffling stitch, right down the middle.  At one end, make a loop with the twill tape before sewing it down, on the other end, apply a metal key fob clamp.  I'm not sure of the "correct" procedure, but I used a rubber mallet to clamp it down.  Probably some kind of wrench would work too (though not as therapeutic as pounding that sucker down with a hammer):

Step 3:  Cut cotton webbing to a length that will comfortably slip on your wrist + 1 inch.  Cut a rectangle of fabric to the length of your webbing.  The width will be twice the width of the webbing plus half an inch.  Sew the fabric, right sides together, along the length using a scant 1/4 inch seam allowance:

Step 4: Turn fabric tube right side out, thread the cotton webbing through, form a bracelet, then clamp both ends together in the other metal clamp:

Step 5: Make the child's belt.  Cut a length of twill tape to fit around your child's waist + 7 inches.  Finish one end by folding the twill tape down and sewing across.  On the other side, thread the twill tape through both D-rings and sew down to secure.  If you enlarge this picture, you can see I sewed the twill tape down using a square with an "x" in the middle to make it extra secure:

Step 6:  Assemble the leash.  Slip the belt through the loop of twill tape on your leash.  Use the metal key ring to attach the two key fob clamps:

And you're done!  

If you plan to use the belt portion as an actual belt for your child, you could embellish it with fabric, stamps, stitching, or use colored or custom printed twill tape for that part.

And of course you have a lovely new key fob for yourself (perhaps with your very favorite discontinued Amy Butler fabric?):

We put the leash to use the next time we went to the zoo.  Was it a tad embarrassing?  Yes.  Did we get some strange looks?  Oh yeah.  Was it better than spending 15 minutes wondering if I'd ever see my 3 year old again?  Heck YES!

Farmers Market Farewell Bags

We live a transient life right now, so Susan isn't the only person I had to say goodbye to recently.  Christy is another great friend who also really helped me adjust to life here, prepared me for the experience of giving birth here, and let my daughter crash her in-home preschool a few times.  She had me and my girls over for dinner when my husband was traveling, she braved the hordes of screaming teenagers to see New Moon and Eclipse with me on opening nights, and she was Crafterhours' very first follower!  I think the one place I will always remember her is our farmers market.  She was there every Thursday without fail with her daughters, loading up her double stroller with produce.

So, when it was time to say goodbye to her, and thank her for all she's done for our family, I immediately thought that she needed some nice new market bags!

This was a collaborative project.  After I finished making them, I passed them on to another friend who used her super duper fancy embroidery machine to label them.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to get a daylight picture before presenting them to Christy, but you get the idea:

We miss you already, Christy!

Oh, and this fabric came from Ikea - a great resource for cute home dec weight.  Since I have to buy most of my fabric online, it's a real treat for me to actually run my hand over bolts and see the fabric in person.  Some of them do tend to have repeats that are so big they'd only work for drapes or duvet covers though, so I was super happy to find these versatile stripes!  You'll be seeing more of them.