A pair of pants that no one wants to wear, Round 2.

I don't know what it is with my girls.  Nin needed some pants so while waiting for baby #3 I got to work on a pair I had wanted to make for some time.  I picked out some cute unclipped corduroy and a matching print for the pockets and cut outs on the legs.  I ran them by her, she approved of my choices and the pattern.  I measured her cut out the corresponding size.  And that's where the trouble started. 

After I finished them, she put them on, and guess what?  They don't fit!  Again!  Maybe Ottobre pants in bigger sizes just aren't sized for my Nin.  The waist is so tight, they won't even close.  They are not too tight in the thigh and the length is good. 

So I go to KK.  Will you wear these if I hem them to your size?  Nope!

But come on!  Look at the perfect zipper!  It even matches!  How often do I have a matching zipper on hand?  She tells me they aren't skinny jeans.  And they look like Elvis pants.  Geesh!  How does she even know who Elvis is. 

Alright, maybe they do look a little like Elvis pants....

Ottobre Design 1/2012 #25 in size 146.

I give up.  No more mama made pants for my big girls. 

A few random pieces of clothing

I haven't been sewing much, I just have too many other things to do.  But I did manage to complete a few very random pieces of clothing. 

Nin needs some long sleeve shirts for winter considering she hardly has any that fit.  I loved this shirt the minute I saw the new Ottobre.  And this fabric has been sitting on my shelf for awhile.  A long while. 

Pattern:  4/2012 Ottobre #28

I figured she could wear it with jeans.  You know, the ones I made her that don't fit. 

I also made these leggings from the new Ottobre to match her new twirly skirt and shirt! 

Remember these?

I figured she needed brown leggings to go with this outfit. 

Pretty boring huh?  At least they have this cute little tab detail.

I also made 2 maternity shirts for myself.  Considering I am rapidly out growing clothes, I should probably focus more on clothes for myself!

Pattern:  Ottobre 2/2008 #17

The sides have rouching so that the shirt can expand with your belly, but the rouching totally messed up my stripe matching!

I picked up a couple yards of this DC fabric from Girl Charlee for the girls.  I made one shirt for KK but figured I could use it too!  I will need a t shirt or 2 for hanging around on the weekends.

More stripe matching problems!  Or maybe it was fabric selection problems!

 

 

They are a little big right now but with the way I am growing, it won't be long before they are snug!

 



 

The perfect skirt

Remember the skirt I made for BTS?  It is loved!  Very loved in fact.  Loved so much it was fought over.  Since it was so easy I decided to make another.  Or 4. 

I took the first day of school off since the girls like to be "car riders" on the first day.  It's the little things!  I had several hours during the day to get a bunch of sewing done.  I started with 4 of these skirts!

I just picked 4 random fabrics and made them up in the same size and let the girls pick through them when they got home.

KK picked this one....  That's it.  It was the only fabric she liked...

 

Nin scooped this one right up!  She said she loved the hearts!

 

Pattern: 
Ottobre 4/2012 #30

Awww, what's the matter Nin?

 

The jeans no one will wear!

There has been a jeans pattern stuck in my head for awhile now so I finally traced the pattern and set to work making a pair from some nice stretch denim that I had intended to use for myself. 

They are super cool pants that have these awesome circle pockets on the back!  They also had cool circle knee patch thingy's on the front.  Notice in the picture above that there is a lack of cool knee patch thingy's.  These were for my Nin.  She needs pants.  She mostly refuses to wear pants, but that's a different story for a different day. 

Anyhow, Nin took one look at the picture and said, "you aren't putting those circle things on the knees are you?"  Me, "yes, why?"  She replied, "they look like giant knee boobies."  Note to self: Nin does not like giant knee boobies.  So they were left off.

Super cool back pockets, no?

I get the pants done, minus the hemming, and have her try them on so I can see how big of a hem I need.  Guess what?  They don't fit!  The dang waist is too small.  I made the same size I always make but they are at least an inch too small in the waist.  Can't even get them buttoned, too small. 

But after 4 hours working on these suckers, I wasn't about to give up.  I took them to KK and asked her to try them on.  She has a smaller waist but is taller than Nin.  They fit!!!  Hallelujah!!  But guess what?  She doesn't like them.  BTW- she doesn't like giant knee boobies either.  I guess my kids just aren't knee patch wearing kind of kids. 

They aren't skinny jeans, she complained.  That is all I want to wear this fall.  Seriously?  Yep, 5th graders wear skinny jeans.  Appearantly. 

So now these poor top- stitched, perfect zipper fly pants hang on a rack.

No love!!

Ottobre 1/2010 #37 in size 140.

Back to School

I recently started on some back to school/fall sewing for Nin.  I went through her closet the other day and found like 1 shirt and 2 pairs of jeans that fit her.  Last winter I knew all her clothes were getting small and some of her pants were short but we made it through the winter.  And since its like 1,000 degrees I haven't really thought about winter clothes until I was digging through her closet the other day looking for hangers. 

So I decided since she needed so many things I would make some of it mix and match and then a few special pieces. 

For the first installment, I started out with some browns. 

A nice twirly skirt with a plain ish brown shirt.  My girls would never let me get away with sewing just a plain anything so I had to spice up the shirt with a few ruffles. 

The skirt is made from some nice jersey with a yoga waistband.  Seriously, it took about 15 minutes to sew.  2 side seams and then sew the waist on.  Afterwards I did go ahead and do a narrow rolled hem with my serger but it's jersey, so it wasn't needed.  I just had the machine set up to do a rolled hem for the shirt so I figured it wouldn't hurt.

Ottobre 4/2012 # 30

The shirt is also from Ottobre.

Ottobre 6/2009 #29.  I have always really loved this shirt and had it tabbed for like the last 2 years but have never made it! 

The other skirt is not quite as twirly. 

Farbenmix Noelle, size 146. 

This one is made from a twill from the juvenile section at JoAnn's.  I originally bought it for KK since she liked peace signs at one time but I figured it matched my brown theme.  And just don't tell her because even if she doesn't like it anymore she would argue that it was bought with her in mind so it should be hers.... 

I didn't have a matching zipper....  And I goofed a little on the spacing.  Good thing 8 year olds don't care!

There are 4 big pleats across the front and back of this thing.  There were also supposed to be little panels across the back that you put buttonholes in so you can thread ribbon through and then cinch it up.  This skirt doesn't need any cinching, but that's not why I didn't put them on.  I just forgot.  I got the whole dang skirt done and then I looked down and saw I had extra pieces.  Oops!  I tend to just throw caution to the wind and forget about directions, since I can usually figure out how something goes together.  Which is how I forgot to include the little back pieces...

Do you see all the pleats?  And my red chalking marks...

I think I will make a few more brown pieces and then switch to a different color. 

Nin's birthday shorts

Nin's birthday was yesterday!  My big girl turned 8!!  We bought most of her presents but I decided since I had been promising all summer to make her some shorts that one of her presents would be mama made shorts.  And you know what, we didn't even let her open any of her presents!!  Aren't we mean.....  She gets to open them at her party tomorrow.  Plus we let her open one last weekend, so don't feel too bad for her. 

The shorts I made last summer don't fit anymore and I had used the largest size range on that pattern so I had to find a new pattern.  Browsing the Farbenmix Flickr group I decided I wanted the Unella Blomma pattern.  It's a shirt and short pattern, but I mainly just wanted the shorts. I have a nearly identical shirt pattern in one of my Ottobre catalogs that I have made 3 or 4 times. 

A couple months ago I went out and bought lots of mama fabric.  Lots and lots.  Probably 8 or 10 different pieces.  I wanted to make myself some new skirts and capri pants.  But then I got pregnant and got all sick and tired.  So I thought it was pointless to sew pants for me since I won't be able to wear them in a few months.  Even if I wanted to sew, I was too sick and too tired to do it!

So the point is, I used some of this mama fabric to make Nin these shorts.  Now, I bought 3 yards to make myself some pants and these shorts took about 1 yard so maybe next summer I can make myself some shorts.  If I am being honest with you, that won't actually happen.  I don't wear shorts. 

Pattern:  Farbenmix Unella Blomma
Size 146/152- they do seem a bit big but I have to wait until tomorrow to try them on her!
Embroidery:  Tinimi- strawberry fairy

After I made KK the strawberry dress, poor little Nin was so disappointed because she loved the strawberry fairies.  So I felt like I should use them on something for her.  Plus, when you pay $16 for one embroidery design you kind of feel obligated to use it more than once...

The shorts have these tucks and pleats all over them.  Two on the waist front, 2 on the yoke in the back and one on each front pocket.  I don't know, are pleated shorts a thing of the past?  Or are they acceptable for 8 year olds?

Cute little tags that I ordered from a Night Owl's Menagerie co-op.

Ribbon detail on a back pocket.  I saw another pair of these shorts with ribbon on the back pocket and thought it was cool!

 A happy sun!

And since I was all tuckered out after making these shorts, I went to Target and bought a plain pink shirt to match! 

Here she is in the whole outfit.  I know the pictures are horrible but I had about a 2 minute window to take these!

Not too big, they fit perfect!

Strawberry breakfast feliz

My mom works for a local university and every year the President and his wife hold a breakfast for all employees.  It's called the Strawberry breakfast because it features a buffet of delicious strawberries and all the toppings you could imagine!  Whipped cream, powdered sugar and chocolate to name a few.  In addition, they have all the traditional breakfast foods. 

Last year my mom invited my 20 year old brother, but at the last minute he didn't want to get out of bed to go so she decided that she wasn't inviting him anymore!  So KK is next in line!  But I decided at last minute that she can't possibly go to a strawberry breakfast without a strawberry dress.  So I went shopping for the fabric and downloaded the embroidery files and set to work making this thing 2 days before she needed it!  Now, I didn't have a lot of time and I hade a million other things to do but I needed to make time for this!  I guess I spent about 7 hours on it over 2 days, including staying up until almost midnight one night! 

Hubby thought I was crazy and at points I was beginning to doubt myself, but I got it done!  I did have to leave off one of the embroideries since I just didn't have time, but I think the dress is spectacular!  I have made several Feliz's before but none with this much detail!

Pattern: Farbenmix Feliz
size: 140- the largest size, boo!
Embroidery- Tinimi

Front

The best part about this dress?  The ruffles!!!!  After one look at it, KK said, I love how it's so big and fluffy!  The ruffles started with 440 inches of material that was 3 in. wide.  That is 36 feet!  Good thing my serger ruffles!  Here is the back before putting it all together..

And the twirl factor is pretty awesome...

This girl twirled all day!

With my mom!

Here is Nin's party dress version!  She wore this for probably 3 years until it was so short it was inappropriate!  We passed it down to another little girl though.

A brown and pink version....

And a Christmas version...