It's not all wine and finished projects in these parts. Trust me there are plenty of half done--half assedly done--things shoved in various corners of my studio. This afghan is not destined for one of those corners (I hope). It is actually coming along quite nicely.  I fell in love with this vintage afghan that Miss Rachel from Smile and Wave picked up at her local thrift. I had been looking around for crochet patterns I could use to make a blanket for my son, but nothing seemed right until that blue number popped up. A commenter on pinterest pointed me to a pattern on ravelry called the Vintage Fan Ripple Stitch Pattern, which turned out to be exactly the same as the original afghan. I went out and bought a bunch of yarn the next day.

I liked all the blues in Rachel's blanket, so I stuck with that and threw some gray in for good measure. Ravelry came to the rescue again when I ran out of the light blue yarn I was using. The heathered light blue was by Berroco Vintage, which I had in my stash, and when I went back to my local yarn store for more they were all out. After a look on the interwebs, I discovered Berroco didn't even make that colorway anymore. Luckily there was someone on ravelry who had two skeins of it for sale! I don't know why the two rows of light blues look different in the photo--trust me they are not. Oh also there are more nerdy crochet details on ravelry. 

The other half done project is not coming along as nicely. The first time I made the Wiksten Tank it was nice, but it was a smidge small.  So I cut a medium this time. Well turns out the first one wasn't small, it was just that the material I used didn't have any give to it. The medium is too big everywhere and if I try to take the sides in, the wide set straps make me look, umm, beefy.  I can't shove it in the corner because this fabric was expensive as hell. So here's my plan: I'm going to cut this tank apart, cut the small from it (a little lower down), and then add a band of color to the bottom. What do you think? I picked up some navy linen that I think will work. I'm hoping it won't look hackneyed.

Last winter we went on an amazing trip to Kauai. When we went the kids were 5, almost 4, and 1 at the time. They remember some things, but not too much. We try to tell stories about it and look at pictures from when we were there, because I'm guessing we won't be back for a long while. That's where these pillows come in.

Kauai is a teeny island with one main road that goes almost all the way around the island. When you are driving one way the ocean is on your side and when you turn around and drive the other way the mountains are on your side. Most directions include one or the other to help you find your way. The Hawaiian for this is mauka and makai:

- Mauka (mow-kah) means on the mountain side of the road.

- Makai (mah-kigh) means on the ocean side of the road.

The big kids each had their side of the car (the baby was in the middle). That mean one kid was mauka and the other makai. They would have argument about which was better and rub it in if they got the good side. Of course once we turned around and went home, the other one would rub it in. Some days the mountains were the favorite and other days it was the sea.

I'm not super big on souvenirs (except we got a hula girl of course), so I made the pillows, hoping it would help the kids hold on to  a bit of Kauai. The mountain is a simple green triangle. And yes it has snow, shut up it looks good. My first idea for the ocean pillow was to make it look like this, but when I sewed it up, it looked like a blue santa hat. I was working on these pillow right after I made this potholder and I was getting into the polka dot as neutral thing--as you can tell with the ocean pillow. I really love how it turned out: the day side, the night side, and polka dots all over the damn place.

and the winner is...Avital, who said:

I've got a roll of tyvek that my construction working husband brought me home from the garbage pile at a construction site, and I need to make some things with it. I was a little daunted by its whiteness, and it actually never occurred to me to try painting it. duh. I am not to clever sometimes. I make a lot of things out of felted wool sweaters and old t-shirts, and thanks to Maya's inspiration I rescued a stack of coffee sacks a while back and have been making buckets from her pattern and then branched out into other things with burlap , and it has been great fun. I'd really like to win a copy of this book, so fingers crossed!

Get that tyvek out! Avital, if you'd send me your deets I can forward them on to Wiley Craft (elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com)! Thanks to everyone who entered. Please do check out the book, it really is a good one.

Reinvention: Sewing with Rescued Materials is a beautiful new book by Maya Donenfeld . You are probably familiar with Maya's blog, MayaMade, where she writes about parenting and making with the seasons. Years ago, Maya sent the craft blog world into a sewing frenzy when she came out with the burlap bucket pattern and for good reason: it is simple, beautiful, useful, and recycled.  So too is every project in her new book.

Each chapter in the book is dedicated to a specific material: linen, burlap, jersey, wool, denim, tyvek, and vintage. The projects are, yes, made from recycled materials, but they don't scream, "I'm recycled!" like say, a pop top vest would. They all subscribe to the same natural aesthetic, even the most seemingly unnatural of materials, tyvek.  When my copy of the book came I was immediately draw to this chapter, because I've always loved tyvek, oddly enough, and I was excited to see someone else out there did too!

I chose to make the color block zippered pouch, but after painting a bit of tyvek I was less than thrilled.  I used a silver metallic acrylic paint that ended up looking a sad gray and the blue was nice, but it brought out the texture of the tyvek more than I wanted. It is actually a nice effect, sort of like a faux leather, but it wasn't what I was after.

Maya suggests painting the tyvek or simply drawing on it with a permanent marker, which of course makes sense as tyvek is as much like paper as it is like fabric. I picked up my ultra fine point Sharpie and went to town. The leather-like effect I got with the painted tyvek made me want to use some actual leather. A few snips from a vintage, buttery leather jacket and I had the makings for a fine recycled zip pouch.

I didn't use the exact dimensions she specifies for the pouch, but the patterns in this book are meant more as guidelines. Maya even says, "...ultimately the size, shape, and color of each rescued piece informs the final outcome. If you listen carefully, the fabric will tell you what it wants to be."  This tyvek envelope told me to draw a geometric pattern on it, then sew it to some leather and attach an aqua zipper. Sewing the tyvek was easy, just like sewing paper, so use an old needle in your machine. It was my first time sewing with leather and that was simple too. My machine didn't know what was going on when I tried to sew the tyvek to the leather, and I had to help it along quite a bit.

Maya also suggests leaving a bit of the original printing exposed, "..so that its reinvention efforts are not forgotten." I think this quote sums up the book nicely. You get to make all these wonderful pouches and hampers and poofs from old materials, but hidden in these newly sewn things are little reminders of what they once were.

The lovely people at Wiley Craft have offered a copy of Reinvention to one of my readers. Please leave a comment telling me about your favorite recycled material to be entered in the drawing. The giveaway will close Wednesday May 9th at noon central. I'm sorry but this giveaway is only open to US residents. Please follow along with the rest of the tour to see more of this lovely book!

I am elsiemarley on instagram or webstagram, if you want to follow along online. Happy Weekend!

1. Fiyel Levent  2. Made by Rae  3. Clever Charlotte  4. Tea Collection  5. Babushka Girl  6. Figgy's  7. Magpie Patterns  8. My Poppet  9. Wink Handmade  10. Ida Pearle  11. Threadbias  12. The Wildwood Flower  13. Vistaprint  14. Not So Mellow Designs  15. Re-New  16. shiny happy world

First the sponsors of KCWC need a round of applause! There are so many wonderful shops, artists, and bloggers up there who helped make kids clothes week a success. Often when I am looking around online shops--for fabric or patterns or just nice things--I instinctively say, "Oh, that costs too much, I'm not going to buy it," but then I stop and remind myself that most of these are women like me, working hard to make and promote handmade goods. Rather than thinking of it as just buying something, I think of it as, in part, donating to the handmade movement: creating beautiful things with thoughtfulness and intention. You are also helping out a young entrepreneur. Everybody wins!

1. color theory top  2. rabbit pajamas  3. train flashback tee 4. urban duck hoodie  5. obscure animals alphabet t-shirt  6. alligator pants  7. sandbox pants, flashback tee 8. dino flashback tee  9. peek-a-boo stripes  10. quiet cats lazy days skirt 11. t-shirt to dress refashion  12. I'm on a boat  13. sunki dress 14. gray boy shorts 15. cloud hopping tee  16. sleepover pajamas

Everybody won this kcwc with all the fantastic handmade clothes that got made this week. With 600 participants, the flickr pool was overflowing with beautiful garments everyday. I could almost feel the creative energy of all of us sewing together, even though we are scattered across the globe! Even if nothing turned out the way you wanted, or everything didn't get finished, or the pants are a leeeetle too tight, I hope you are inspired to make more clothes for your children.

I would love it if you told me what you thought of this kcwc: what could be better? what you liked the most? what more you do want out of kcwc? what is the worst bit? Anything, I want to hear it all!

I'm a little late with the last post of the week, sorry. Yesterday was so dark and rainy we couldn't take any pictures (hence the wellies).

the fabric: this awesome star fabric is from JoAnn's country club collection. I only remember the name because it's hilarious. The fabric is a really nice bottomweight print, which I have the hardest time finding.

the pattern: half pants pattern letter S from Happy Homemade vol. 5 I've made the pants version of this pattern before--here--but added all kinds of piping and pockets.

the sewing: I made this pattern last summer, but never got around to finishing them. Ever do that? Well the half finished shorts don't fit this year, but I liked the pattern so much I traced a bigger size. The pattern is nicely tailored and the tiny pocket is adorable, even if it's totally useless.  I have to say, these skinny star shorts are pretty much the bomb: simple, long, good for school and play. I think this would work well for boys too, maybe in a size up from what they normally wear so it's not so, so tight.

Each day in the flickr pool has been better than the last. On this, the final day of kcwc, your handmade clothes are pretty much blowing my mind. Check out these amazing garments:

1. yoke dress for kcwc

2. striped dress

3. robot baseball tee with rainbow stripes

4. organic cotton pj's

Sometimes the idea is much more exciting than the actual outcome. But still matching, stripy pants and shorts are pretty cute

the pattern: same as these pants, letter o from Happy Homemade vol 2 in two sizes. This was totally the wrong pattern to use for the shorts, but the perfect one for the pants.  The idea I had for the shorts was something more like this, but then I got all wrapped up in saving the pockets from the original pants (see below). The front pockets were nice, slash pockets, but the back ones, I discovered later, were fake. It was a waste of time and energy and screwed up my plan.

the fabric: those pants up there. They were mine, but I felt like a fool every time I walked out of the house in them.

the sewing: I didn't intend to get two garments out of one pair of pants. I was only going to make shorts and really to make the shorts I wanted to make--bloomers with a contrasting band--I shouldn't have made the pants. Oh well. The little pants turned out super cute and the shorts are fine, I guess.

The flickr pool is bursting with amazing garments, many of them upcycled ones. Of all the discussions on flickr this week, my favorite has to be the one about all our mistakes and straight up sewing failures. Late at night, when I'm screwing up every possible way, it's good to know I'm not alone!

1. pinafore made reversible 

2. top naii

3. raglan tee

4. stripe and color block top

My youngest has a thing for hoods. He would be happy if every shirt he own had one (this tutorial makes that a possibility). He was looking a little like the incredible hulk in his old hoodie, so a new one was definitely in order.

the pattern: the hoodie pattern from Happy Homemade vol. 2. I made this pattern a few years ago and my son still wears his--has it on today actually. Successful boy's patterns for tops made from woven fabric are few and far between. That makes this hoodie pattern practically perfect.  I added a kangaroo pocket to make it actually perfect.

the fabric: yellow linen from JoAnn's. I've been using a lot of linen this week. I can't help it, it is just so perfect for summertime kids: sturdy but still soft, lightweight but still durable. Also, my youngest is crazy for the color yellow and there aren't a whole lot of tasteful options out there for that color. This yellow was yellow enough for him, but mustard-y enough for me.

the sewing: This pattern comes together crazy fast. The elastic in the front is a little fiddly and I know it doesn't look the greatest, but whatever. The hoods on the last hoodies I made seemed small, so I made this hood bigger. Except I made it bigger in the back and now my son looks like a conehead. I fixed the hood not so it's not so pointy (after this photo shoot), but it's still elf-y. An elf is cuter than a conehead, right? I think the hood pattern needs to be made bigger in the front so it covers his forehead. I already cut out another of these hoodies for my five year old son, but I may re-draft the hood before I start sewing.

Here are today's cuties from the flickr pool:

1. kcwc 2012

2. sleeveless t-shirt

3. flat front pocket shorts

4. here fishy fishy

Sometimes getting a good photo of the clothes is twice as hard as actually sewing the clothes. She loves the clothes--I think this outfit will be worn all summer long---but hates being in front of the camera. There were many, many crabby faces before I got this smile.

the pattern: This wide leg pants pattern comes from the Japanese sewing book Happy Homemade Vol. 2. It is pattern letter o. I've had a few questions about this book and Japanese sewing books in general, so I thought maybe I'd do a few reviews after kcwc wraps up.

the fabric: Aqua linen from Joann's.

the sewing: I've made these pants so many times before I could sew them in my sleep. Actually, I made these exact pants in orange linen last summer for my daughter and she wore them at every opportunity. Who can blame her? Wearing linen pants feels so good in the summertime.

the pattern: tee for two pattern by figgy's. I think this pattern might be out of print, but there is a version in the book Sewing for Boys.

the fabric: Nani Iro knit called Pocho. I would buy every bit of fabric Naomi Ito designs if I could. The knit fabric is just as lovely as her double gauze: super soft, a little waffle-y, and the print is perfect.

the sewing: The tee for two pattern calls for all your seams to be on the outside. I wanted a cleaner look, so I sewed everything with right sides facing. I always have trouble with hemming knits, but this time I used mother's little helper: steam-a-seam. I kind of fell in love with the stuff. It's double sided, fusible, a little bit stretchy, and only 1/4 inch wide.  Stretch knits and shifty fabrics can be tamed with this stuff. The arm hems turned out perfect because of it. Though, I did feel like I was cheating a bit.

Today's picks from the flickr pool are brought to you by the amazing stripe and the crazy polka dot:

1. polky dots

2. kcwc spring day 4 

3. kcwc day 1 and 2

4. more stripey jersey jim jams