2 shirts for me!

My personal sewing quest continues!  I spent the better part of an afternoon sewing up 2 shirts for myself. 

The first is a silky, sleeveless number from a recent Ottobre.  I decided to make a muslin since it is a button up and fit matters.  I used this slippery, poly stuff from JoAnns red tag table that cost me $2.50 a yard.  Bingo!  Perfect muslin making fabric!  It was not the best to cut or sew and kept slipping all over the dang place.  But I got it done and I like the shirt as a pattern, but I am just not sure if this is wearable.  It's too tight in the bust, and although the buttons don't gap, there isn't much room.  The waist is fine but it's a smidge too tight in the hips.  And I think it's too short. 

Before cutting out the fabric for this one, I had moved the bust dart down, since the pattern had it above my bust....  I also should have done a FBA (full bust adjustment) to give the girls more room.  FBA's keep the side seams the original size while adding more room to the cup portion of the bust.  So, I pulled the pattern back out and in a couple days, I will alter it and try again.  Which is the purpose of making a muslin!

 Pattern:  Ottobre 2/2011 #9, size 40. 

Then I pulled out a new Vogue pattern I purchased recently.  I bought the pattern because I knew I had the perfect fabric to use with it! 

I wanted to make the main view, which has little side cutouts with the fabric placed in the opposite direction.  But I also wanted the short sleeves since we are going into summer here!  It will be 91 degrees this week!  In April....  The short sleeves have these little box pleats at the shoulder seam and are very bulky and I don't like the way they lay.  Since the shirt itself is flowy, I think the need the more conservative sleeves like the pattern envelope shows.  Oh well, live and learn and all that jazz. 

I think I will rip them out and re-cut the sleeves into a regular ole' short sleeve and see if I like it better. 

Otherwise, I like the pattern fine, but it may a bit too flowy for me.  Maybe paired with some skinny pants? 

Love the side cutout!  

See what I mean about the sleeves.  There is just too much going on up there.

Photography credit goes to my 7 year old.  

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

Today marks the start of Kids Clothes Week Challenge!  The idea is to sew at least an hour a day for the next 7 days!  At the end of the week, your kids should have some new clothes out of the deal!  Well, my kids need nothing, but I still want to participate so I think I will work on baby clothes for my new nephew.  I mean, he is due to arrive in 3 weeks, I had better get busy!

Go on over to Elsie Marley's blog and read more about it!

Clothes for Mama!

I usually don't make many clothes for myself.  Mainly because my kids grow out of theirs so fast and it kills me to have to pay for clothing for them!  I just don't have a lot of time.  But because their growth spurts have been minimal as of late, their wardrobes are quite stocked!  Recently, I have also lost some weight and/or inches so some of my clothing is on the baggier side!  Go me! 

We start with the Jamie Dress!  I am about a year late to the Jamie Dress party!  I bought it after seeing some great examples on various blogs. 

Although most reviews are favorable, quite a few ladies commented on the changes they made which were the same over and over again.  So I decided to make a muslin to see what changes, if any, I needed.

Pattern:  Jamie Dress by Sis Boom
Size- XL.  I made an XL based on my bust measurement but it was pretty big, so i sized down to a large on the next one.

This one is true to the pattern, except for one change.  I continued the waistband from the front around to the back.  Who knows why the pattern maker only had the waistband on the front?  It really does boggle my mind! 

Back

See how much excess there is!

I guess I didn't do to great of a job drafting the waistband for the back!  Maybe that's why they left it off?

Once I had the kinks worked out, I made another in a great fabric!  It is from the Lisette line at JoAnn's.  I took gathers out of the bodice and the skirt!  I also shortened the elastic in the top casing that gathers the top edge of the bodice. 

Much better job drafting the back waistband this time!  It lined up!

I also made a top from this fun, ruffly knit fabric from JoAnn's off the Project Runway line. 

Pattern:  2/2011 Ottobre, #1
Size 42

A close up of the neckline binding.  It's looks pretty wonky, mainly because it is.  The ruffles were tough to topstitch over!

Another top!  This top is extra saucy!  Mainly because the front V is not tacked together any where and one bad move ends in disastrous wardrobe malfunctions.  I bent over to pick something up when hubby was taking pics and literally, the shirt parted and the girls fell out.  Huzzah!  The V needs to be tacked together, but otherwise, love the shirt!  Made out of some sparkly jersey from Girl Charlee.

Pattern:  Butterick 5497

Size- Can't remember?

I think I am going to make the other version next!  I actually really like the shirt and it's a great length for me. 
Here is the back view.  I love the little peekaboo triangle at the top.  Can you see the rouching in the sleeves?  I thought I would like this about the top but they have you create a casing from the seam allowance and it's really bulky.  It's a nice detail but I just wish it was executed differently.  So I think next time I will either gather or use lastin to make the gathers. 

Finally, I made a sundress from a Big 3 pattern.  I am always leery of Big 3 patterns just because the sizing is always sooo off.  You can really tell in this muslin how off the fit of the bodice is.  I had to shorten the straps by 3 inches and they still don't fit correctly.  The top is too low and I may run into another wardrobe malfunction like above!  The waist is too long.  Yes, you read that right!  I am the most long waisted person I know and I found a pattern that needs the bodice shortened.  I can't believe it myself!  This never happens!  But above the waistband on the back there is a floppy part of material that just sort of sits on the waistband like it's a little shelf.  Not what I need above my rear end. 

This pattern would need so much work to get it to fit right I am not even sure if I will remake it.  I would need to:
shorten the straps
shorten the bodice by about an inch or so
raise the top edge of the bodice
make a taller waistband- although that is just personal preference
and see those "smiles" in the area of the bust, that means I need a full bust adjustment to give the girls more room! 

Pattern: Simplicity 2443

Farbenmix Tini

Another great Farbenmix pattern, the Tini!  I bought it 2 summers ago and never got around to trying it out.  So it's about time I used it! 

I was cleaning out huge bins of fabric that people have given me over the years and found a bunch of older fabric.  It was stiff, probably because it is polyester, but I was hoping a trip through the washer and dryer would loosen it up.  I was right!  So I combined this black and white polka dot, some yellow gingham and some train fabric.  I think they look great together!  You know, sometimes I will sit and look at fabric and instantly an image pops up in my head of what I want to do with a piece of fabric.  That happened with these particular pieces.  As soon as I layed them down next to each other I knew they needed to be a tiered peasant style dress.  They are a little to young for my girls, so in mind they belonged to baby Avie!  I love when it all works out!

Pattern:  Farbenmix Tini
size 86, which is the smallest it comes, but may be too big for tiny little Avie. 

I searched for a long time trying to find an embroidery of those railroad crossing signs that are yellow with black letters that say R/R.  But I couldn't find one that was just perfect.  So I let it go.  But I still think the dress came out pretty darn cute!

Update:  I finally got a modeling shot of this dress on little Avie!  Not too big at all! 



Farbenmix Amelie

I recently purchased some new Farbenmix patterns and one of those was the Farbenmix Amelie.  It is so simple and can be "girlied" up in so many ways!  And you know my girls, pretty much anything with pink, sparkles, ruffles, frillies and glitter is great. 

Neither of them need any clothes at the time moment, so this tunic was for creative purposes only.  Meaning, it wasn't needed but I just wanted to make it so badly! 

Pattern: Farbenmix Amelie, size 140
Embroidery: Huups, this one in particular.

This sucker has 3 different embroidery sections

The hood

I had every intention of making matching gray capri leggings to go with it.  But, I ran out of the gray cotton lycra I used for the top.  So she just wore black leggings.  I promised I would make her some when I ordered gray cotton lycra next.  But let's face it, by the time I get anymore back in stock, she will have A) outgrown the top and B) forgot I promised to make her gray capri leggings.  ;)

More bottoms

I haven't had much of a chance to sew lately, but I did get around to making some various bottoms. 

The new Ottobre for kids is a big hit in our house.  Lots of older girl things! 

A jean skirt for KK.  This was supposed to have kind of a military feel.  But I couldn't find 1 inch grommets for the front closure so I used buttons.  It is very structured and not loosy goosy twirly like her sister wears! 

Pattern:  Ottobre 1/2012 #33  Size 140

Back

This was the only "action shot" I got!

Then I had to make Baby Chey Chey (the girls' cousin) a birthday gift.  he is 4 and loves dinosaurs so I wanted to make him a pair of shorts that matched the ones I made for Theo.  But of course I waited until the night before, so I had to make something a little less labor intensive....  And because I waited so long, I couldn't make a matching shirt, so I had to run out the morning of the party and buy one!  Why do I do this to myself!  If it wasn't for procrastination I wouldn't get anything done!

These are from the same Otto that Theo's shorts are from!

Pattern: Ottobre 3/2011 #22.  i think I made these in size 116, but they were kind of long so I made a really big hem.  I know bermuda's are supposed to be long, but these seemed excessive!  But I don't have boys so I don't know how they are wearing their shorts these days.

Double front pockets!

No pockets on the back!