Un Petit Design

Cutie Capris Giveaway WINNERS

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 03:39:00 +0000

Sorry to be getting to this so late – the day got away from me!!

This week I’ve been hosting a giveaway for TWO finished pairs of Cutie Capris plus a copy of the PDF Pattern.

The winner of the size 2Ts is: Connie!

The winner of the size 3Ts is: JustPam!

and the winner of a copy of the PDF pattern is: Natalie!

Pam and Natalie, I’ve sent you an email already! Connie, please email me so that I can get your address to send you your Cutie Capris!!

GIVEAWAY–There’s Still Time To Enter!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:46:00 +0000

Just a quick reminder about the giveaway going on for my first blog anniversary. There still time left to enter!! If you’d like to win one of two finished pairs of Cutie Capris or a copy of the pattern, then head on over here and enter! Open for entries until tomorrow night.

It’s My 1st Blog-o-versary!!–and there’s a GIVEAWAY!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:37:00 +0000

Hurray! Today marks One Year since I started this blog. It’s been so much fun.

Over the past year I have really enjoyed writing about my sewing projects, sharing tutorials and I even released my first pattern!

I wanted to host a little giveaway to make today special. During the process of developing my pattern, I made LOTS of test pairs of the Cutie Capris. I made all four sizes that the pattern includes, 2T-5T. However, my girls are in the 4T and 5T, and right at the moment we don’t have any little 2T or 3T girls around us. What does that mean?

I have TWO Finished Pairs of Cutie Capris to giveaway!

One is size 2T and one is size 3T. Both look exactly like this photo, they are the pairs that I used for the pattern cover.

PLUS – for extra fun, I’m giving away one copy of the Cutie Capri PDF pattern too!!

To enter the giveaway, be a follower of my blog and leave a comment letting me know which size you would like (either 2T or 3T) for the finished capris. That’s all!! I’ll draw one winner for each size plus one extra for the pattern.

Entry into the giveaway will end on Sunday, July 22nd at 9:00pm CST, USA and the three winners will be announced on Monday, July 23rd.

Thanks for following my blog! I’m looking forward to another fun year!!

Another Spring Favorite from M5793

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:51:00 +0000

Whew! I needed a little bloggy break after finishing up my pattern last month. The computer work was intense so I’ve been busy just sewing and sewing and sewing these last couple of weeks. Trouble with that is it leaves no time for photo taking or blogging. So now I’m SUPER behind with posting all the dresses I’ve made lately!
I realized though that I had made a set of dresses for the girls this spring that I had never posted about, and they have been a favorite this year. Here it is, another variation of my all time favorite M5793:

These were made for a special occasion this spring. I made a pleated skirt rather than a gathered skirt and lengthened the tulle underskirt a little bit (a little too much as it turns out, oh well).
I made them matching shrugs, using my easy knit shrug tutorial and added a little ribbon flower embellishment at the neckline – the girls LOVED this detail.

These dresses had BIG bows in the back – my favorite part.

And what’s a new dress without a new hair accessory?

Alas, they have been too busy this spring/summer making “cupcakes” in the mud outside to be modeling dresses and taking photos with me, so I’m lacking photos of them wearing much of what I’ve made them lately, but that’s OK with me. Summer is so short here, we must enjoying it while we can!
Make sure you stop by my pattern shop and check out my first pattern, the Cutie Capris! I have a fun giveaway planned for next week – stay tuned for it!

ANNOUNCING: The Cutie Capris Pattern!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 11:00:00 +0000

It’s finally here! I am very excited to announce my first multi-size, digital sewing pattern. The Cutie Capris.

The Cutie Capris are a mid-calf length capri pant featuring slash pockets, pleating and an adorable double waistband.

I was inspired by a pair of RTW pants I saw that had a double waistband and I could not get the idea out of my head. The structure and style of a woven waistband with the comfy ease of a knit waistband all in one. LOVE! These waistbands scoop down in the front to give maximum wearing comfort to toddler tummies!

The Cutie Capris PDF Sewing Pattern includes four sizes, comparable to RTW size 2T, 3T, 4T and 5T.

The pattern comes with detailed, step-by-step instructions with full color photographs of every step to make it clear and easy for an Advanced Beginner. I’ve included lots of tips to help you achieve great results throughout the instructions too.

The little details of this pattern add up to make this an adorable little capri – the pleats, the slash pockets and the carefully placed topstitching will leave you with an easy-to-make, yet very professional looking pair of capris!

They have been great for summer days and evenings spent outside, when it’s too warm for jeans or long pants, but something a little more than shorts is needed to protect little legs from the sun and bugs!

I have to say, it was such a fun process to get this pattern to completion and I am very proud of it. I had some great pattern testers that gave me really helpful feedback too, so a big THANK YOU to those of you who tested this pattern for me.

I’ve sewn up more pairs of these capris than I can count now, so I’m glad I love them so much!!

Are you ready to make your own?? Then head on over to my new shop and get your copy!

Simple Summer Dresses – M5838 {Review and Modifications}

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 04:07:00 +0000

Last week I finished up a pair of new summer dresses for the girls made from McCalls 5838. I hadn’t really paid attention to this dress when the pattern was released, but I liked it when I noticed it sewn up on a dressform at JoAnns.

I used a quilting cotton, from JoAnns and cotton broadcloth for the lining. I read the reviews on PR in my prep for these dresses and noted several reviewers that omitted the zipper and added a casing for elastic in the bodice back. I liked the idea of this and that’s what I did. I took photos of my modifications, click the link below to see the details!

The first adjustment I made was to omit the front bodice stay. I didn’t feel it was necessary to have a stay and a lining as separate pieces, so the lining piece served both purposes. Because I was omitting the center back zipper, the bodice back and lining pieces were cut on the fold. I was making two different sizes (the 3 and the 4) as my girls now have such a large gap between them, I cant get away with sizing to the larger of the two anymore :( So for the size 3, I trimmed down the shoulder straps to 8 inches long and for the size 4 I trimmed them to 9 inches long.

I sewed up the shoulder straps and placed them RST with the bodice back, then sandwiched the back lining, also RST with the bodice back and stitched across the upper back seam. I also understitched the SA to the lining to ensure it would lay flat and not roll the lining to the right side. I always understitch everywhere possible, it make such a huge difference!

Sorry for the darkish/dingy looking photos – these were taken at night, in my basement, so not the greatest lighting situation!

Then I placed the other ends of the shoulder straps RST with the bodice front (after I had added the gathering stitches to the top and bottom of the bodice front) and sandwiched the bodice front lining piece and stitched across the top edge (beginning at the side seam, across the top and back down around to the other side seam).

Then folding out the lining, I placed the bodice front and back, RST at each side seam and stitched through the fashion fabric and lining in one pass. Whenever I am sewing across fashion fabric and linings in one seam, I always place a pin directly in the intersecting seam right at the point of the seam allowance I am using. This make (almost always) perfectly intersecting seams.

And here is the finished bodice from the front and back:

To create the casing for elastic across the bodice back, I stitched 5/8” below the top finished edge of the bodice back starting from one side seam and ending at the other.

Then I inserted a piece of 1/4” elastic, adjusted the length to fit by slipping in on one of the girls and secured it by stitching in the ditch at each of the side seams through the elastic.

Here’s the bodice back after the elastic was inserted:

Next, I took the midriff front and back pieces (back also cut on the fold) and stitched them RST at both side seams (both the fashion fabric and corresponding lining pieces). Then I layered the midriff fashion fabric and lining, RST with the bodice and stitched all the way around.

Here’s the bodice with the midriff pieces attached from the right side and the wrong side:

I attached the skirt exactly the same way as the midriff – layering the fashion fabric and the lining with the bodice/midriff and sewing all the way around. I chose to make the skirt simply the width of my fabric, 44 inches around, which was only a little less than the total of the skirt pattern pieces. This way I only had one seam on the skirt, instead of two and making it a little narrower (less to gather) and saving a bit of fabric. And that was it!

You can clearly see the size difference in the two dresses. I did put size tags in though just to make it easy for the girls or my hubby to know who’s is who’s. :)

Here’s a shot of the insides – completely finished and lined. I love the sight of a fully lined dress! :)

I really like how they turned out! I think the omission of the zip and making it just a pull over dress was great and these dresses sewed up really fast – I already have plans for another set in a really pretty cotton swiss dot fabric.

I think the neckline on the bodice is maybe just a tiny, tiny bit wide, I might adjust it slightly on my next pair, but these dresses are totally wearable as is.

Leave a comment if you have any questions!

Pattern Testers Needed

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Good morning and Happy Monday blogland!

I’m partially back at it, at least on the blogging side. I have use of a work laptop at home right now, as my regular machine, which broke down, seems to be just two weeks outside of the warranty! *Sigh* I don’t want to pay to have it fixed, because I could almost just buy a new laptop for as much as it would cost to fix the one I have. So for now, I’m borrowing a laptop from my dad’s office, so we’ll see how consistent I can be until I get the techno situation resolved.

Otherwise, I’ve been sewing tons and tons! I have three new dresses finished for myself (yeah!!!) and a new pair of dresses finished for the girls. I hope to get those blogged here shortly, I think you’ll like them!

But what I’ve been really busy working on is a new pattern! I’ve been reading and learning about pattern drafting, and more specifically about pattern grading and I’ve just about finished my first multi-sized pattern. I’ve decided I’m going to open a little pattern shop (and I do mean little!) and just add to it as I go. I’m not coming out with a full wardrobe all at once, but I would like to eventually get a mini-wardrobe of sorts set up in a shop. I will still have lots of tutorials and I even have a few freebies in the works right now too.

That being said, I’m looking for a few pattern testers, to give my new pattern a test drive for me. It is a pattern for toddlers carpi pants, and I’m looking for testers in sizes 2T, 3T, 4T and 5T. I would love to have testers finished by Wednesday, June 27th and return a brief survey on the pattern so that I can get some feedback.

If you are interested and can be finished by the 27th, please email me at unpetitdesignblog {at} gmail {dot} com

OH – and now I have to mention – for anyone who has ever emailed me at unpetitdesignblog {at} gmail {dot} com – I have never received your emails until just tonight. I AM SO SORRY!!! It’s crazy to think that I missed so many nice emails and questions and such. Please know, I was not ignoring you. I had some settings setup funny and I honestly thought I had never received an email there before. Oh, I’m so embarrassed! But, I have fixed it (and now read through emails back to January!!!!) and I will receive anything new sent there. Big HUGE sorry to anyone who ever sent an email.

OK, any pattern tester out there?

Please Wait - We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties...

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 04:03:00 +0000

I wanted to give a quick update, I may not post for a while as my main computer has just had it's processor chip die. It's going to have to be shipped of to some customer service place and let just hope they take care of it under the warranty. Until then, I'm not going to be able to share any of the goodness I've been working on lately (I've sewing up a TON this month). I'm writing this on an ANCIENT, FOSSIL of a computer that is not fit for much else than internet browsing, and that is even sometimes painful.

When my regular computer is fixed, you'll look forward to not one, but two new kids patterns, plus some highlights of three new dresses I made for myself (imagine that!)

Take care - I'll be back when my computer is fixed!

Plumberries, Oranges and Port Wine

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:31:00 +0000

…these are the color names of the cottons used for this dress.

And that is exactly what I was thinking of as I was stitching it up. Delicious, colorful fruits and a glass of dark red wine (a personal favorite). All while I was thinking of this dress and working with the fabrics, I had images like this one swirling in my mind.

Source: andreasrecipes.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Yum! I just love this color combination and how the dress worked out. I drafted this during KCWC last week and finished it up yesterday.

I’m entering this dress into this weeks challenge at Project Run & Play. The challenge theme this week is: color. Initially when I read that, I thought of bright, bold, loud, big colors. But then I started to think of how color in deeper, more subtle tones can make just as much of an impact. I was inspired by a RTW dress that I saw with a similar color palette and I was sold!

It’s made of quilting cottons, the seams were finished with pinking shears. Normally I serge all my interior seams, but this time I was too ~~tired~~ lazy to change the thread in my serger.

I started to document the process with the idea of writing a tutorial, but then I got anxious to finish. But I do want to make this dress again. Anyone interested in a tutorial or maybe a digital pattern? If you are, leave a comment and let me know. If enough people are interested, I might write up a tutorial and put the pieces I drafted together for a download.

KCWC-Days Five, Six & Seven: A Pattern Drafted, and half-finished dresses

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:14:00 +0000

For the last three days of the KCWC, I drafted a new pattern and began sewing it up. Sometimes pattern drafting goes really quickly for me, and other times it doesn’t.

This one took a while, possibly because I was already tired when I started (in the late evening, after the kids are in bed). I drafted it all up on Friday, cut it out and starting sewing Saturday and worked until I reached a fiddly part on Sunday. By then, I had most certainly put in my ‘hour a day’ and I decided I wanted to sit on the couch and read. So this is where it stands right now.

(that collar is even, it’s just a funny angle of the photo that makes it look weird)

I will probably finish these up this week on Wednesday night. Wednesdays are my sewing days – the kids go to bed and my husband is out of the house, so I can sew uninterrupted for a few hours. Hey, maybe I’ll get them done in time to enter in to this weeks challenge at PR&P!?!

Thanks to Elsie Marley for hosing KCWC. It was really fun to participate. I’m looking forward to the challenge in the fall, and I think I’ll draft up all my designs and cut out my fabric in advance next time!

KCWC-Days Three & Four: Stripe-y Knit Dresses

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:04:00 +0000

For days three and four of KCWC, I made up these simple knit dresses for the girls with a little embellishment and ruffle. I saw a stripped knit dress with a similar embellishment in an email awhile back and I really wanted to recreate the look.

This awesome knit came from a local quilting shop of all places. They do have a small selection of apparel fabrics. The bolt was labeled “t-shirt knit” and that was it. I’m convinced that it is a cotton/rayon blend. It’s lightweight but very very soft and it sewed really well.

Check out the KCWC Fickr Pool, there are some really awesome kids clothes there!!

KCWC-Day Two: Easy Knit Shrug + TUTORIAL

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 01:59:00 +0000

Tuesday, day two of the KCWC, I made a little knit shrug to go along with the Tiered Ruffle Dresses I just finished for the girls. These dresses were unique enough in color and style, they needed their own shrug; nothing the girls already had seemed to go with them.

This shrug was made with a few alterations of my TNT T-shirt pattern, Jalie 2805. Click below to see the details and how to take any t-shirt pattern and turn it into a shrug of your own!

Beginning with a basic t-shirt pattern, I first cropped the bodice front and back to a more “shrug-like” length, about 4” or so below the arm.

On the bodice front, I added 1/2” to the center front and did not cut it on the fold. I also rounded the bottom corners.

The sleeves were not changed at all, and the only adjustment to the neckband was to add the 1/2” to each end, or 1” total to mimic the extra 1/2” on each side of the center front.

The first step was to hem the sleeves. I always do this first, just so it’s out of the way. I prefer to hem any knit sleeves flat (I also set them in flat). It’s easier to get a flat and even hem when hemming flat vs. in the round.

I gave it the ‘faux coverstitch’ treatment by serging, pressing up and then topstitching with a double needle. (and then pressing again.)

Next, stitch the bodice fronts to bodice back at shoulder seams.

I use a strip of clear elastic to stabilize the shoulder seam. I just lay it over the seam as I’m serging and then trim any excess down. This help the shoulder seams to not stretch way out of shape with wear, but I also find that it gives the shoulders a really crisp finish when pressed.

Then sew the sleeves on in the flat.

And stitch the length of the sleeve down to the hemline of the bodice.

Then serge around from the center front, down and around the hemline and back up to the other center front.

Then, the key to getting a nice, even hem on that curve is to gather the curved portion slightly to help it turn under evenly. I was able to do this by pulling the left and right needle threads from the serger, but you could also go and add a row of gathering stitches on a regular machine.

Press up the hem (mine was 1/2”, the amount that I added to the center front when I cut the pieces out) and stitch all the way around. Depending on the type of knit you’re using, it may come out a bit wavy, but nothing a good steam pressing can fix!

Now, attach the neckband, leaving the extra 1/2” on either end extending past the hemmed center front of the bodice.

Turn that 1/2” under and blind stitch in place. On the left side of the shrug, add one button.

And on the right side, add a hand worked button loop.

And there you have it! A really simple shrug to accessories any dress!

Here it is paired with their dresses. I love how the outfits turned out!

I was actually able to make my hour of sewing time to meet the challenge goals on Tuesday, only because the girls caught a little cold and went to bed earlier than usual. I’ve seen some great kids clothes so far this week, seem like everyone is having fun with it!

KCWC–Day One: Tiered Ruffle Dress + TUTORIAL

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Truth be told, I started these dresses over a week ago, but I finished them on Monday-Day One of the KCWC.

These dresses were inspired by a dress I saw in a popular children's clothing store, but it’s no longer on their website (otherwise I’d link you to it!).

I loved the tiered ruffles and fullness of the skirt, and after working on the ruffled skirts for the girls, I knew my plan of action for these dresses.

It started with my FAVORITE pattern, McCalls 5793. It’s not a fancy pattern, but it has so many possibilities. It’s a basic bodice (with options for sleeves or a yoke) and a ruffled skirt. I mainly use the bodice only and adapt the skirt portion to suit my needs for the project. I’ve sewn up this pattern at least 10 times now in all sorts of variations, each of them unique. For the 99 cents I spent on this pattern (on sale, of course) I’ve got my money’s worth by a hundredfold!!

Anyways! I’ve put together a little tutorial on how I made these. Click below for the details!

WARNING: VERY picture heavy post here!

Materials Needed:

Basic Bodice Pattern (I used McCalls 5793, size 3)
Fashion Fabric (approx 1.5yds) *Ruffles*
Lining Fabric (approx 1.5yds) *Tier Extenders*
Contrasting Fabric (approx 1/4 yd)
Invisible Zipper
Basic Sewing Supplies

One of the things I considered when planning these dresses was the need for the ruffled fashion fabric to overlap and hide the seam of the ruffle below. This meant that the fashion fabric ruffles would be longer than the tier extending lining fabric. I also wanted the skirt to widen with each tier as it extended down from the bodice to the hem. I sat with my calculator (well, my phone really) and figured it all out. This is all based on the measurements for the size 3 bodice from M5793 so it may not be exact for everyone, but here are my details:

I figured an increase in width of 50% for the extending tier and and increase of 100% for the ruffle tier would give me nice, full ruffles while increasing the width going down.

The TOP Tier – closest to the bodice: I measured the bodice width, which was 23.25”. I cut my strips of lining fabric (tier extenders) at 34.875” (rounded up to 35”) and the ruffle fabric at 46.5”
The MIDDLE Tier – now based on the EXTENDER PIECE FROM THE TOP TIER (35”) I cut the lining fabric (tier extenders) at 52.3125” (rounded up to 52.5) and the ruffle fabric at 69.75” (rounded up to 70”)
The BOTTOM Tier – now based on the EXTENDER PIECE FROM THE MIDDLE TIER (52.5) I cut the lining fabric (tier extenders) at 78.46875” (rounded up to 78.5”) and the ruffle fabric at 104.625” (rounded up to 105”)

The width of each Ruffle Strip (fashion fabric) was 7.5” inches and the Tier Extenders (lining fabric) was 6”.

To figure this out yourself, start with the width of your bodice, multiply by 1.5 for the Tier Extenders and then multiply by 2 for the Ruffle Fabric. Use the previous TIER EXTENDER to repeat the process for the following tiers, working from top to bottom. Does that make sense?

I didn’t document the actual bodice construction, but it’s sewn in the usual way.

After the bodice is sewn up, with your contrast fabric, cut a strip that is equal to the length of the bodice and 5.25” wide. Fold in half, press well. Stitch to bottom edge of bodice, keeping the lining clear and then topstitch close to the folded edge of contrast fabric.

Next, prepare your Ruffle and Extender strips for gathering and attaching to the bodice. Each tier is prepped a little differently, so we’ll take them one at a time.

TOP TIER (closest to the bodice) – Both the ruffle fabric and the tier are left flat – not sewn together on their short ends. This is to allow for the zipper. One of the long sides and the two short sides of the ruffle fabric should be hemmed. I used my narrow hem foot on my machine, because it so super quick and easy.

After the three sides of the Ruffle Fabric are hemmed, gather the unfinished edge of both the ruffle and of the tier extender piece for the top tier.

Pin the Ruffle Fabric to the bodice with right sides together, adjusting gather to make it fit. IMPORTANT: Begin pinning the Ruffle fabric to the bodice 5/8” away from the center back of the bodice piece. This will prevent the top tier ruffle from being caught in the stitching related to the zipper.

Then, layer the Top Tier Extender Fabric over the Ruffle Fabric, with it’s right side facing the right side of the bodice.

The Tier Extender piece should go all the way to the center back of the bodice.

Stitch through all layers. Gently press seam allowance toward the bodice. It will look like this:

Now it’s time to insert the zipper. I’m not going to be exhaustive on invisible zipper insertion, but here are some photos of the process. When inserting the zipper, keep the Ruffle Fabric clear of the zipper and attach the zipper down the bodice and onto the top extender tier.

To get a nice, clean, 100% by machine finish on the bodice lining, turn the lining around to face right sides together with the bodice and stitch close to the zipper with a regular zipper foot.

Now, moving on to the middle tier! This is what the dress should look like now:

As with the top tier, we need to hem one of the long sides of the middle tier ruffle fabric. With the middle and bottom tiers, the ruffle fabric and the tier extender are sewn right sides together down the short ends, creating a long circle of fabric. Gather one of the long ends of each layer. Pin the Middle Tier Ruffle Fabric, right sides together with the Top Tier Extender. Layer the Middle Tier Extender over the Ruffle Fabric and stitch through all layers all the way around, including over the little tail end of the zipper.

Repeat the steps from the Middle tier for the Bottom Tier. Attach in the same way. There is only one variable with the bottom tier. It does not require and Extender underneath, depending on your type of fabric. Mine was a light cotton lawn with a burnout design to it, so I chose to include an extender tier under the bottom ruffle to act like a lining and keep the color seen through the burnout design consistent. If this is not the case for you, the lining fabric/extender piece can be omitted for the bottom ruffle.

The last little detail was to finish the bodice lining. I turned the dress inside out, pinned the lining down and stitched it from the right side, underneath the top ruffle. It worked out perfectly, as it’s not seen from the right side. It’s not perfect on the inside, but it saved me from hand stitching, so… yeah, that’s what I did! I also ran the seam allowances between the tiers through the serger to finish off those seams.

The dress that inspired these had three little fabric flowers centered on the contrast band on the bodice, so I made some simple gathered fabric flowers and tacked them down by hand.

And that’s it!

The girls were super tired tonight and not up to modeling, so no photos of them wearing them, maybe I’ll get some by the weekend.

Well, I got my hour of sewing in on Monday, so the week is off to a good start! How’s everyone else doing on their KCWC?

Kids Clothes Week Challenge–KCWC at Elsie Marley

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:29:00 +0000

I didn’t realized that I hadn’t posted about it yet, but I signed up for Kids Clothes Week Challenge at Elsie Marley. It starts today! I certainly have enough projects lined up to fill the entire week, but I almost never get a chance to sew every day of the week. We’ll see how it goes!

A Blog Award + Other Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:49:00 +0000

I just received a blog award!! I’m so surprised and very excited. Thank you so much to Lily at Lily Can Sew for nominating me for the Liebster Blog Award. Please go visit her brand new blog to see her sewing creations. Her little girl is super cute and Lily has made her some really sweet dresses this month!

The Liebster Blog Award aims to recognize blogs with fewer than 200 followers – the up and comings! To ‘pay it forward’ I’ll select 5 blogs to nominate myself. So here goes:

Sara Jane Sews – go check out her post on the Petal Skirty & Ruffled Leg Warmers, SO CUTE!!

Sophisticated Seams – she’s working on a great maternity mini-wardrobe right now, and I’d expect lots of new baby goodness soon!

Sew Easy Being Green – she’s go an eye for design and makes some great outfits for her kids.

Frogs In A Bucket – I really love her style, she makes the best dresses for herself.

It’s Elementary! – I may be biased on this one, but it’s deserving nonetheless. This is my mom’s blog, she was an AWESOME homeschooling mom to my brother and I and now is working with my three kids. Check out all the great stuff she does with them and see why my five-year-old son is reading like a 1st/2nd grader! (and leave her a comment too, she loves comments!)

I’ll go let all of these great blogger know about their awards too. Thanks again Lily!

And since I can’t leave without a project update, I do have four new finished dresses for the girls. Plus some extras, I just have to get them photographed on the girls. I’m writing a nice tutorial on one of the dresses too, so watch for that later this week. Here’s a sneak peek to get you excited!

Round & Round in Circles We Go

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 19:38:00 +0000

I interrupted my scheduled sewing projects last week to do something I’ve wanted to do for some time: participate in the Project Run & Play Sew Along. However, I wasn’t able to finish my project in time to be included in the sew along/contest. :-(

But I did finish them eventually, so now I present you with…

I made my remix of the circle skirt tutorial to be ‘fully loaded’, which means this skirt has

Pockets
Full Lining
Peeking Ruffle
Modesty Shorts (does this make it a circle skort?)

And it’s a hit! The girls really like them, because they twirl! And because of the pockets. They LOVE pockets. The Wild One came screaming from the other end of the house when she discovered the pockets.

Want to make your own? Click below to see my changes to include the pockets, shorts and lining!

What You’ll Need:

Circle Skirt Pattern – find the information on making your own on Dana’s site
Fashion Fabric – about a yard, but depends on the size of skirt your making
Lining Fabric – same amount as fashion fabric
Ruffle Fabric
Bias Trim (optional)
Knit Fabric for Shorts
A Favorite Leggings pattern or a well fitting pair of leggings you can trace
Elastic for waist band

What I Did:

The first change I made was to cut my fashion fabric in half circles instead of a full circle to give me a side seam for including pockets. I just folded my fabric once instead of twice (as the tutorial instructs) and cut two per skirt.

I cut my pocket pieces by eyeballing it, I just drew a pocket looking shape on my lining fabric and cut, keeping one edge strait (the edge that will align with the skirt side seam). You’ll need four pocket pieces per skirt. Then I added a strip of the fashion fabric, 1.5” wide to the side of the pocket to prevent the lining fabric from peeking out.

I placed the pockets 2” from the waist of the skirt and stitch them on each side of the fashion fabric, both the front and back pieces.

(Are you dizzy yet? I got dizzy working with this fabric!!)

Then layer the skirt front and back with right sides together.

Stitch the side seams, beginning at the waist down to the top of the pocket. I was sewing with 1/4” SA, so I continued past the beginning of the pocket by 1/4” and stopped with my needle down.

Then pivot the fabric and continue sewing around the edge of the pocket.

Sew 1/4” (or what ever amount of SA you’re sewing with) back into the skirt piece, pivot again and continue the side seam down to the hem.

Repeat for the other side seam. Then switch to a long stitch length (I used 5.0mm) and baste the pocket closed along the side seam line (the portion of the side seam left open when pivoting to go around the pocket).

After basting the side seam closed, press the side seam open from the right side, pressing the pocket to one side. At this point, you are choosing which side of the skirt is going to be the front and which is the back. Press both pockets towards the same half circle or towards each other. Then remove the basting stiches to open the pockets.

I cut the lining pieces from the same pattern piece as the fashion fabric, but attached a ruffle at the hem line. I calculated the circumference of the skirt and multiplied it by 2 to get the length of the ruffle piece. I used bias tape to finish the hemline of the fashion fabric with a little color.

The modestly shorts were made from a basic leggings pattern that I cut off to be shorts. I also cut them without the allowance for an elastic casing at the waist since these were going to have the elastic waist band from the skirt.

I layered all three pieces together (the skirt, the lining and the shorts) and serged them together at the waistline. I followed Dana’s directions for the elastic application at the waist and called it done!

And then the twirling began! They both spent a while spinning and spinning in these, but only the Wild One was willing to take pictures!

The cardigan is made from my favorite t-shirt pattern, Jalie 2805, which I’ve modified for a quick and easy cardigan. I talked about my modifications here, and I plan to do a more detailed blog post about it soon.

I’ve got so much more in the queue right now, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to work on any other sew alongs over at PR&P this season, so I’m still a little sad this didn’t make it in last week, but I do love how they turned out. Just was I had pictured in my head when I picked up this fabric. I love when the ideas in my head actually become reality. That’s not always and easy thing do achieve!

Spring Sewing Has Begun!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:41:00 +0000

I’m sure it began a while ago for most, but I’m just getting back into my sewing room since winter and it feels great! My first finished project for spring was inspired by some rather simple, but cute t-shirts I found at Target for my girls.

These little shirts were just screaming for a white ruffle skirt to pair with them. I love the look of ruffles, but I’ve always dreaded sewing them… their just tedious. Until now!

I’m SO HAPPY Dana posted this fantastic tutorial on ways to gather/ruffle fabric. Her “cheating” way is now my ONLY way to gather a ruffle. SO much easier than fighting with that ruffler foot, which I’ve never really quite managed to get to work on my machine.

I also used Dana’s Layered Skirt tutorial as my basis for making these little skirts, with just a couple of adjustments.

I used a biased cut waistband from Simplicity 2483 and attached it to the top of the last connector piece. I did this so the distance between the waistband and the first ruffle would lay flat under a longer t-shirt and to add some overall length. I prefer longer skirts over shorter ones.

I put in a lining as well, I knew at least in early spring this would be worn with tights so I thought a lining would be good to avoid the skirt sticking to the tights or riding up.

This was a white seersucker from my stash, and just enough of it too, I think I have about 3” of it left!

And the girls really love wearing them. They were so excited to put them on for these photos, they could not hold still for even a second!

The only change I would have made was to increase the width of the last ruffle and connector piece. There is plenty of ease to wear it with, but I think it hangs just a little too strait. I little more a-line shape to it I think would have been just perfect. So, that being said, I moved right into my next project, which also includes ruffles and a little different remix of the same layered tutorial. It turned out SO CUTE!! Just need to get some photos now!

I’m Alive!!! And returning to blogging…

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 02:33:00 +0000

Really, I am still here!!! All I can say is… whew!! What a winter. We were hit with every single virus under the sun, and were pretty much continually sick with one thing or another for months!!!

One of the twins started school in the fall. Prior to this, they’ve all stayed home with me. No schools, no daycare and therefore no regular exposure to viruses. Which has been great, up till now. With the introduction of one child into the school system, we were hit by everything we’ve missed these last five years. Yikes!!! I’m so glad spring is here!

Because of the afore mentioned state of our house this winter, I barely did any sewing at all these past few months. I think I went about six weeks strait without going into my sewing room. So, I have some pent up sewing in me!

And what better time to get back to it than Spring! I’ve already made a few new things for the girls, and I have lots more planned. I made my annual spring fabric shopping trip a couple of weeks ago, and it was so much fun. Last year, JoAnn Fabrics was the spot, I hit their Quilters Showcase sale and got tons of cotton prints for $2.49/yd and made so many little summer dresses. This year, when the sale came around, I was seriously disappointed. There was not selection at all.

While my favorite local store is still SR Harris, it’s a bit of a drive for me to get out there, so I stopped at another local shop, Mill End Textiles. They carry mostly quilting cottons, but some apparel fabrics too and I found a ton that I loved.

This Fat Quarter stack came from JoAnns, and will soon become a pair of pillowcase dresses (I hope! Not sure if there’s really enough there for two dresses)

All together I have an overflowing laundry basket of sprint/summer fabrics, all ready to go and with pattern/design ideas picked out for each of them.

So check back later this week for a look at a few of the things I’ve already stitched up this spring. Here’s to staying healthy!

My Perfect New Cowl–The Renfrew Top

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:30:00 +0000

If you are a follower of Tasia over at Sewaholic, then you heard about her latest pattern release this week, The Renfrew Top.

A little more than a month ago, I was able to test out this pattern for Tasia. It’s so much fun to be a pattern tester. It was really fun to test a pattern for myself rather than my kids this time too!

This is a great basic tee-shirt design with neckline options and three sleeve length options. It also features banded hems, so no worries about hemming knits with this pattern.

I opted for view C, the Cowl neckline with long sleeves. It is winter here after all. I used a ponte roma knit print from Hancock, I had my eye on it for a while, but when I went to pick it up for this top, it had gone on clearance for $5/yd! Yeah!!

I cut a strait size 8 and followed the instructions almost completely. They are very well written with great illustrations too. The only change I made was to construct it on my serger; the instructions are for sewing on a regular machine. Then, after sewing it up, I did end up narrowing my sleeves just a bit from the elbow down – I have kind of tiny wrists… it runs in the family.

Here’s a close up of the cowl, which I’m totally in love with. It is, in my opinion, the perfect cowl. I have big plans for this cowl. Hopefully coming soon. We’ll see, I have so much I want to sew, so little time…

And just for kicks, here’s a “great” shot of me adjusting my camera…

And one of my little man, who thought taking pictures with a remote was very, very cool.

So, if you’re looking for a really nice basic tee or a super cool new cowl, I highly recommend the Renfrew top – head over here to get your own!!

Updates and Notes on the Little Grey Dress

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:51:00 +0000

Wow, a whole month has gone by already. We’ve been busy and sick over here!! We all caught a nasty flu virus that just.would.not.let.go!!!! Add one ear infection and one case of pneumonia and it’s been a very unproductive month in my sewing world!

Thank you so much for all of the comments on my last post, the Little Grey Dress. My girls have just loved wearing them, they are really warm and comfortable. (and yes, to those who asked, this is one of my two daughters. She thinks she is a model.)

There were a few questions that some of you had left, so I thought I would try to answer them in this post.

What size is it? My girls are 3 and a half years old, but very tall for their age, so most of the Big 4 patterns I make them are size 4, and if I buy RTW I’m buying 5T or even girls size 4/5 or XS. So based on that I would put these dresses at a size 5T, if comparing to RTW. This is just an approximation, as we know sizes can vary so widely.

Can I make it in a woven fabric? When I drafted this pattern, I had in mind an very easy, pull over dress that did not include any closures (zippers, buttons, etc.). So it is designed to be made with a stretch fabric, like fleece. While you could choose another type of fabric other than fleece, it would still need to be something with stretch, so that it can fit over a head. That being said, you could certainly alter the pattern to include a center back seam and a closure to make it work with a woven. I have not done it with this pattern so I have no other specific advice on how to execute this, so if you have your heart set on a woven, go for it! Experiment away, if you make a change that works out well, make sure to come back here and share with everyone too!

How are the raw edges finished on the sleeveless version? All I did is turned them under, about 1/2” and hand stitched in place. I hand stitched (yuck) because I didn’t want visible topstitching right there. I thought I might compete with the pleats.

How can I make it in a different size? Most who asked this had smaller little ones in mind, I believe one person was in need of a larger size. Let me just say, size grading is not my specialty!!! I am not at all experienced in grading for different sizes, at least not from scratch! If it were me though, I would probably just take this pattern and compare it with a similar type of pattern that I had in the correct size (in this case, a simple jumper pattern would be a good starting place) and I would adjust the pattern as needed to match the design of the desired garment. Does that make sense? I sure hope so. I would love to eventually learn how to grade patterns into all sizes and have a little pattern shop, but right now I have neither the time nor experience to do it.

Did you make the headbands too? Yes, I did. I’ve been trying to make an effort to make some sort of matching hair accessory for each dress I make for the girls. I find it so much easier to do something quickly with their hair if I have a specific hair piece to go with an outfit.

These are headbands, made with plain old 1/4” elastic. I used a combination of fabric/felt flower tutorials to make them.

The grey rose I made using this picture I found on Pinterest a while back.

Source: fromwillyoutoido.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

It really is that easy, I’ve made roses a bunch of times now just by looking at this picture. I do adjust the size of my starting square of felt/fabric based on how big of a final flower I want. I used the same fleece that the dresses were made of to make the grey rose on this headband.

The black flower I made using this tutorial by Jess over at Craftiness Is Not Optional. I used a piece of craft felt that was 11” long by 1.5” wide and followed the steps in the tutorial.

The third flower is made of a sheer fabric with silver glitter/sparkles on it. It was an old wrap of mine from a wedding I was in about 10 years ago. It’s now in the “hair stuff” bin, to be cut up and used for little projects like this! It’s just a strip, about 2” wide and 12” or so long that I ran a running stitch down one of the long sides and gathered to form the flower. Add one pretty button in the middle and call it done!

I also threw in a piece of black tulle just for kicks, it’s just a little rectangle, maybe 5”x6”, folded in half and bunched up.

All of this is attached to the elastic band with a oval shaped piece of felt. The next time I make headbands, I’ll be sure to take photos of the whole process so that it’s a little clearer!

So what’s next? Well, I have another girls dress design in the works, but the collar has been giving me fits!! I’ve even had dreams about the collar on this dress. It’s driving me crazy because it’s really a simple little dress so it shouldn’t be giving me this much trouble, but I think I’ve finally thought up a solution. More on that later!

I’ve made up my second Oliver + S pattern, the Sunday Brunch Jacket and Skirt. It turned out so cute!! I still need to make the second jacket and then I’ll take some photos. I also ended up changing the construction on the skirt so I’ll be sharing my tips on that too.

And I’ve got a few items in the works for myself. I was sure hoping to have some of them done this week, but this week has flown by! Maybe next week.

And as a final note, I stopped into my local JoAnn’s this afternoon to pick up one thing and saw that everything in the store had been changed over to spring! The florals and pastels all over were calling my name. I guess it’s time to get started on Spring wardrobe planning!

Inspired By: Little Grey Dress via Pinterest (plus a gift for you!)

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:49:00 +0000

Ah, it’s felt good this week to create a few things that didn’t involve a lining or underlining! I actually have finished eight items this week! I’m not planning to post all of them, they are not all exciting enough for a post. But this new little dress is!

I was inspired by this dress pinned on Pinterest:

Source: google.co.uk via Jennifer on Pinterest

It’s simple, yet elegant and looks so cozy and warm. I’ve had this picture in my head for months. I knew this was first on my list of winter dress sewing for the girls. Here’s a look at my version:

With the inspiration photo, I was always perplexed by the fact that it was a sleeveless fleece dress, worn in the summer – it seemed more fitting to be either layered or have sleeves as a winter dress. So in this first version I whipped up a couple of my favorite TNT t-shirts to layer with the dress. Tights and shoes from Target (I picked this color combo to go with the tights, not necessarily to match the inspiration photo).

Then I thought it would be nice to try a version with sleeves so that layering wouldn’t always be necessary.

Whoops! Looks like my hem is coming down on that sleeve! Better go fix that. ;)

I really like how they turned out and thought just maybe you would like your own. So I put together my first PDF Pattern for FREE download.

Its completely digital and I would say it’s comparable to a size 4T/5T in RTW. I’ve put together a tutorial for this pattern, click below to see the step-by-step tutorial with photos.

Un Petit Design – Little Grey Dress

Materials Needed:

- approx. 1 yard of fleece fabric (a heavier sweater knit or sweatshirt fleece would work too)

- thread

- marking transfer paper (or preferred method of marking tool)

- rotary cutter, mat and ruler

- PDF Pattern

Instructions:

1. Cut out pattern pieces provided and one piece that is 6” by 21” (see diagram on pattern) and mark pleat lines on dress front piece.

2. Fold pleats to the RIGHT side of the dress front and BASTE in place. Very important to use a basting stitch here as it will be removed later. It is most unpleasant to remove regular stitching from fleece. Ask me how I know…

3. Finger press the pleats towards the outer edge of dress (two to the right, two to the left). Top stitch the pleats with a regular stitch 1/4” from folded edge of pleat.

4. Remove the basting stitches from each pleat.

5. Sew the dress front and back together at the shoulder seams with right sides together. If you are making the version with sleeves, skip down to step 6 now. If you are making the sleeveless version, sew the dress front and back together at the side seams. Turn garment right side out. Mark the center front and center back of neckline.

6. To sew the sleeves in flat, lay the dress front and back pieces flat and line up the upper edge of the sleeve with the sleeve opening of the dress, with right sides together. Stitch. After both sleeves are attached, pin the underarm seam and dress side seam, right sides together and stitch each side. Turn garment right side out. Mark the center front and center back of neckline.

7. Take the neck band piece and sew the to short ends together to form a band. Mark the quarter points of the neck band with pins.

8. Place the neck band on the dress neck line with the RIGHT side of the neck band facing the WRONG side of the dress. Match the neck band seam with the center back, match the dress and neck band center fronts and the remaining to marks on the neck band with the shoulder seams.

There will be excess fabric between the quarter points on the neck band. This is going to form the soft pleats in the neck band. To form these pleats, smooth the fabric from each pin towards the next pin with out stretching and fold excess fabric at the next, forming a pleat. Do this at all four pins and in the same direction as you work around.

9. Stitch the neck band to the dress, being careful to keep all pleats on neckband and dress front laying in their proper direction as you stitch over them.

Unfold the neck band from the inside of the dress.

Turn the raw edge of the neck band about a third of the way down.

Then fold it again by another third.

Finish the dress by hemming the skirt and, if you are making the sleeveless version, turning under and stitching the armscye 1/2”.

Here’s a few more photos of my Wild One sporting her two versions of the dress.

I hope you enjoy this little pattern. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment!

Burda 9501 – Another Story of Sewing Success!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:15:00 +0000

As promised, here are the details (and photos) of my girls wool winter coats. You can find my son’s coat post here.

I started with Burda 9501, I just loved the photo on the pattern envelope. As with my son’s coat, it is made of wool coating, underlined with cotton flannel and lined with satin charmeuse.

This pattern is pretty good, it was my first time sewing a Burda pattern. I thought the instructions were a little vague in a few spots (as is the general consensus regarding Burda instructions I hear) but I’ve been sewing for a long time, so I figured it out.

The only alteration I made was adding length to the sleeves. I did construct it just a little differently than instructed, both on the pockets and the lining. Ha, it’s funny now that I think of it. I opted to hand sew the pockets on, but changed the order of construction on the lining in order to eliminate hand sewing. I’m not a fan of sewing by hand, but every now and than, when it really warrants it, I will sew something by hand.

Can you believe they are twins? Ha ha, every time I photograph them, the “Little One” gets so much taller than the “Wild One”.

OK, back to the coats. I really like how they turned out! The only difficult part was the collar. I think it is overall, just a little too small, it should have been a little wider to allow more to roll and lay nicely. I also really really regret not cutting the under collar just a little smaller than the top collar to help the seam to roll to the underside. It took a lot of steaming and molding to get them to behave as well as they do. Here are a few close ups:

I cut them the same size, based on the measurements of the bigger of the two girls. It fits really well around both of them and is just a little long on the smaller girl, hence the rolled up sleeves. While I would like them to make it to next year, I just know they are going to grow too much for that to be true. Sigh, I’ll just have to make them new coats next year. :)

This was a big project! They day after the last coat was finished, I felt a little lost in my sewing room. I wasn’t sure what to work on! That quickly ended and I made two things for my son and started work on a new dress design for the girls.

But I learned a lot about coat making.

- It’s not that hard. Just a little more detail and more time consuming, but not necessarily harder than other garment sewing. So if you’ve never made a coat before, give it a try!

- I love working with wool, it really does sew and press unbelievably well.

- Wool apparently doesn’t shrink as much as I thought it would when pre-treated. I over bought in yardage to account for shrinking when I steamed it before cutting. I think I ordered 1 yard extra, and I was really afraid I under bought and would be short. Well, I received almost a full yard MORE than what I ordered when it arrived in the mail, and as mentioned, it didn’t shrink as much as I anticipated it would. In the end, I still have 3 and a half yards of this beautiful wool coating. And that means…. Momma’s getting a new wool coat too!!!

But not right now, I’m tired of coat making! It was fun to be sure, but I’m ready for some instant gratification sewing.

Oliver + S School Days Coat – Total Success!

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:28:00 +0000

I am so completely satisfied, my kids are guaranteed to be warm this winter. I am finished with all three winter dress coats!

First I’ll show you my boys coat, made from the Oliver + S School Days pattern. Stay tuned for a later post on the girls’ coats.

This was my first ever Oliver + S pattern. I had read so much about how great these patterns are so I was excited to make one myself. I couldn’t be happier! It was so well drafted, the instructions are crystal clear and the finished coat is beautiful. And it went together very quickly. I had the coat done, start to end in two short evenings(not including cutting it out, that was done previously). I say short because both evenings were full of constant interruptions. Not bad for a fully lined, very RTW looking wool coat!

And my son really likes it. He is almost five and is very appreciative when I sew for him. Admittedly , I do sew more for the girls, partly because there are two of them to just one of him, but also because it is a bit easier for me to sew for girls. So when I make something for him, he really is happy. I hope this lasts!!

So without further ado, here it is!

As I wrote about before, it is made of a wool/nylon blend coating, underlined with cotton flannel and lined with satin charmeuse, with the exception of the hood, which is just the wool and flannel. I didn’t think a satin lined hood would be as comfortable nor would it stay on his head.

I had some care labels in my stash which I inherited from my mom’s stash so I added a Dry Clean Only label in the side seam of the lining. However, I think with the pre-treatment of all my materials, I should be able to hand wash this coat in cold water and line dry it without any risk.

These wooden toggles were the only ones I could find locally, and I looked long and hard. At first I was really disappointed about not finding black toggles, but now the contrast of the wood is growing on me. I had looked around online and found a few Etsy seller that had some nice black toggles, but I didn’t want to wait for them to be shipped. My son’s old coat was really too small and he needed this one to be finished!!

I used sew-on snaps for the closures under the front plackets, I always sew these on by machine with a narrow zig-zag set to a short stitch, similar to sewing on a regular button by machine. It makes me feel like I get it on more securely than it would be if I hand stitched them on – especially for something that is going to be snapped and unsnapped by a kid!

I did have some trepidation when it came to choosing a size to cut for him. When I compared his freshly taken measurements to the size chart on the pattern, he was all over the map. He measured at a size 6 for height, 5 for weight, 4 for chest and 12-18 months for waist and hip!! Hum, I always knew he was tall and skinny, but c’mon!! However, with so many gushing reviews of Oliver + S patterns, I still had reason to trust in their sizing. So I pondered it for a while and decided to cut a size 5, with added length of 2”. My goal was for it to come out just a little long and wide enough to be worn over a thick sweater comfortably. And it did! Provided he doesn’t grow 6 inches in a year (which he probably will since I don’t want him to) this coat should definitely last him for this winter as well as next winter.

I cant say enough about how happy I am with this pattern. It will get used over and over again. And I am so happy that Oliver + S has brought it back as a Digital Pattern, available for download. Although I purchased a paper pattern immediately when I found out it was going OOP, it’s nice to know that the digital option will be around should anything ever happen to my copy.

Pattern Review can be found here.

Next up, the girls’ coats.

Still Here!! Just Busy Sewing….

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:31:00 +0000

So sorry for the posting drought last week! I’ve been working on the coats so much and really nothing else. I did get the girls coats finished on schedule!!!

They have worn them a couple times already and they are fabulous!! I want to do a proper post on them, and I haven’t had a chance yet to photograph the girls in the coats, so I’ll leave you with this teaser photo.

This tag is so true, this has been a labor of love. My kiddos will be warm and cozy all winter long.

Also, the size tags that I mentioned before came just in time!!! I absolutely LOVE them. They came much faster than expected (I was told it would take three weeks, they arrived in one) and are exactly what I was looking for. In case anyone else is interested, I ordered them here. They have some other labels that I just might order in the future.

One of the things I like about these tags is the fact that they are reversible. The size is on both sides of the tag and can be sewn in vertically or horizontally.

I’m making progress on my boy’s coat, and would be farther along if not for the light bulb in my sewing machine burning out the other day. Little hard to do strait topstitching without the light. I do plan to finish it up before the end of the week still. The long weekend will help!

And I’m so excited about my most recent pattern purchase!!

I have been wanting this pattern for sooooooooooo long, but have not ever been able to find it in the above highlighted size range, as it is OOP. But I happened upon a shop in another state (via an internet search) that had some left in stock and I was able to order it. I’ve been just dying to sew it up, but I’m determined to plow through this last coat and get that finished before I start anything else new.

Next post, I promise, will have some finished objects!

Sewing Expo and Other Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Jennifer) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:06:00 +0000

It has not been productive over here this week. One of my girls had a serious case of the stomach flu this week, therefore not much sewing has taken place.

However, I did spend yesterday at the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Minneapolis. My mom and I went together. In previous years, this has been at the Minneapolis Convention Center and has been really fun. But this year it was in a hotel and much smaller than before. I must say, we were both very disappointed.

We went through all the vendors in less than an hour and I really didn’t see a whole lot that thrilled me. I did pick up one neat tool though. This bias ruler and binding tool. The woman at this booth had a few great examples as she demonstrated it, so it came home with me. It will likely come in handy when my latest pattern purchase arrives in the mail – I FINALLY found the Oliver + S Sunday Brunch pattern in size 4-8 - so I’m anxious to try it myself then.

There is also a helpful YouTube video on it here.

There was a booth with lots of trims. ribbons, elastics and buttons, so I picked up a handful of buttons for my girls along with a piece of wide cotton elastic.

Since we left the Expo disappointed, we went to JoAnn’s and I picked up a few patterns for $1 each (except that Burda, that was a bit more)

some cute printed sweatshirt fleece that was in the Red Tag section with an additional 50% off

and some fabric dye, to go along with that cotton elastic from the Expo - more on that later!

And I actually have made progress on the coats! They are even starting to look like coats. Really the only things left to do on these are construct and attach the lining and add the buttons/button holes, so these will definitely be finished this week!

My plan is to have my boy’s coat finished no later than the end of next week, but I’m still throwing ideas around in my head when it comes to the closures. I love the toggles, and I will keep those for sure, but I think I may want to add a zipper to make it easier for him to get on/off himself. Supposedly other have done this with success, but I’m not finding any photos or blog posts about it out there. Leave me a comment if you have made this coat with a zipper or know of someone who has!