Goodies for the kids

Firstly, some simple tees for the boy. The fabric is french terry, dyed by moi. I used a raglan and a regular long sleeved tee pattern from Ottobre. I made these three plus another blue one the other week.

I cut out this tee as part of an outfit for Jalisa. However, I am not totally happy with it so I may end up finding some other fabric to use to match the skirt (which I haven't sewn yet). The body is an Ottobre basic tee pattern. For the sleeves I used a puff sleeve pattern but cut it at full length. It looked terrible so I used some shirring elastic to tighten things up. Here is a good outfit that I have made for Jalisa. The pleasted skirt is # 14 from Ottobre 4/07 and the knit top is "Kaisa" from Ottobre 1/09. I always seem to chose the simplest styles from Ottobre. This is probably no accident. I am too lazy to sew complicated outfits and I prefer simple colours and patterns over Euro for my kids (although I love to see Euro outfits made up).
The boucle in the skirt was picked up in the remnant bin for $2 a metre and with a red bolero already purchased in the January sales, the only suitable colour for a top was black. I had a small remnant of some rayon elastane left over from a skirt a few years ago. Perfect.

I love basics

I do prefer simple styles, particularly in Winter when I need a bazillion layers. I am on a mission to sew stuff that I can wear under all the winter woolies that I have already, that can also be worn on their own when it gets warm (during the same day, gotta love the weather here).

So I present, the off white tee
Hmm, a little see through. Very comfy and totally me.

Next up, more Fly Zipper pants, in a grey pinstripe. My assistant insisted on being there.

This is the pants with the tee that I made today. I just used my TNT tee patterns and added a row of shirring elastic to create a ruching effect like some It worked okay. The sleeve on a hanger looks like a longer version of the Anthro tee but on me the ruching is lost because it is a little tight. I think I need a teeny bit more ease for it to look better on me.
I also made this jumper for me today. The fabric is acrylic and I was expecting a struggle but it was really nice to sew with. I used Kwik Sew 2874, basically a raglan with flared sleeves. I have decided I don't like raglans on me, I get this pleat of fabric happening under the arms but I like the sleeve shape so that was enough for me to give it a go.

Jumping for joy

I did a fly zipper! I have been sewing for a long time but, being lazy, I rarely try new things or new patterns. This year I challenged myself to sew 12 new patterns for myself. I think this is about 6 or 7 (the pleated blouse was a dud and I never quite completed it). Carolyn's challenge for this month is zippers, but I am pretty good at zippers, well the invisible ones. Having read Debbie Cook's fly tutorial, I was less scared of the scary fly. I even found a pattern like my go-to pants pattern but with a fly zipper. The pattern is # 107A from Burda 1/2006. The pattern even had front pockets, which I avoided in the past.

I found that with the fabric I was using, the pattern was much to wide. I had to take it in 1cm on each seam. Debbie's tute was amazing and i had a great looking zipper done in a flash. However, I was a little stumped with how to apply the facing. Burda's directions read like gobbledeeguck, my sewing reference books only seemed to address fly fronts with waistbands and so my first attempt was extremely slapdash. After a quicck search (online of course) I found a fantastic tutorial. I had to unpick the edgestitching and topstiching, as well the some of the seam and understitching but the results are much, much better than before. Still room for improvement on the inside, but there are not horrible threads sticking out.

See how nice the inside can be. My version had a wedge shaped out and the threads showing. Ick.

Look out for some more versions soon.

Cardigans

The other day I was in the mood to sew, but wanted something simple that wouldn’t require me to change colours on my overlocker. I was feeling lazy, nothing new. Anyway, I found this glittery silver grey knit and thought it would make a really cute cardigan. Now, I have had Kwik Sew 2759 in my pattern collection for a long time, I have even traced it in different sizes as I grew older and fatter. But I can’t recall having actually made it up. I love wearing cardigans with the SE QLD weather – autumn days means freezing in the morning and really warm during the day. Anyway, I chose view C, which as a binding around the neck and front edges. There are no buttons on my version, simply because of the laze factor and I usually don’t use the buttons anyhow.

I have had this knit top since I was pregnant with Scott. I actually used a Kwik Sew outerwear pattern but I used a lightweight wool-type jersey. This is a terrific green colour and I used a matching thread on my sewing machine, but I must have run out of ideas for a hem finish because I just left it as is. While I had my cardi pattern out, I thought I might as well reconstruct it into something that I can wear now. There was plenty of fabric to use, but not enough for a band. Not that I needed a band, as the pattern gives an option to finish with lingerie elastic, but I just like the look of the band more.
I left the sleeves a little fuller than the pattern, as it was already sewn up anyway. I did not have enough for long sleeves but I think the shorter sleeves suit the weight of the fabric anyway. I knew straight away that I would be using black picot elastic – that was the colour I had in my overlocker. I even found the elastic in my picot elastic stash. I haven’t used this colour before because I have only really used it for Jalisa (and therefore not in need of black yet).
I chose not to interface/add buttons. I rarely button my cardigans up and I just wanted a quick project. If I did it again, I would cut the sleeves with the right width. It is a little full and my coverstitch machine hates sewing picot edged hems in the round.

Yes, we do have a pink truck parked in our yard. I hate having it there - it makes up the bogans of the street. DH won't even park it behind the shed anymore because it got bogged. Anyway, I thought it might make a nice backdrop.

Pink boucle coat for Jalisa

Jalisa chose a pink boucle fabric for her Winter Coat this year. Since it is not exactly a warm fabric, I interlined it with a cream flannelette. It is lined with a white and silver cotton. Pattern is from Ottobre
The fit is is okay - it will fit all her layers under it so that is the main thing.

This is a close up of the fabric and the buttons. These are the most expensive buttons I have ever used.