I have been lazy

I have been lazy and not kept the blog updated. I have been a little bit stressed at work but I have been sewing as normal. Hopefully I should get a couple of posts up soon, since I have a few things to photograph.

I took these photos at night, as we were wearing the new clothes to church (so the photos are blurry - I am making them do)

First up is a off-white jumper for me. The pattern is Kwik Sew 742, size 10 (it is a vintage pattern, thus the different sizing). I added flared sleeves just to make it a little different from the last time I made it.
Pants from Ottobre 2/2005 (my favourite Otto). These are design #23 but lengthened as they are only short length. For my skinny minny child I use size 80 for the width and size 86 for the length (I used a different pattern for reference). Size 80 ended up being too wide still, so I removed some of the seam allowance, reducing each leg by about 2cm. They are still baggy but look more in proportion.

It was a lot harder to get the perfect length pants. Normally for shorts, it does not matter where they end, but I had to go through several trials to get the perfect length, and actually measure his inseam and outseam. I tried using his height measurement alone, and that just ended with super long, extremely baggy pants.

Jalisa's outfit: The tiered skirt doesn't have a pattern as such, just a formula. You start with the waist measurement and multiple anywhere from 1.5 - 2.5, depending on the fabric used. I went with 1.6, as I thought that is what I had used previously. When I later checked my notes, I found that 1.4 was adequate for baby cord fabric. You need to add hem, waist casing and seam allowances to the panels too. I made each teir the same length visually, so tier 1 and 3 end up being bigger since they have the hem and waist casing added.
The jumper is from Ottobre 5/2006 #22. Ottobre have it made in a drapey knit, but I thought it would make a good jumper. The fabric is the same off-white as my jumper. It is 100% acrylic but it is lovely to sew and very soft on the skin. I love the little sections that are shirred - at the front, top of sleeve and are the wrist.

I had originally bought this denim fabric for me, but I already had some other denim for my jeans and I thought my kids could do with some of their own jeans. The pattern is the same as Scott's pants above. I liked the patterns because it had a couple of cute features that wouldn't take me too much time to get through. I am really impatient when sewing kids clothes. Simple works for me and the kids. The pants have a faux fly, front pockets and back flaps. I used a green thread to topstitch.

It is supposed to have belt loops, but they annoy me when sewing and that part isn't shown under his shirts, so I did not bother.

At the moment I am working on a few things: a jacket for Sherry's RTW Tailored Jacket Sewalong, a dress for me and jeans for Jalisa. The jacket and dress will be entered in to the local show sometime this week. I have only to bag the hem and sew on the buttons on the jacket, and dress needs hemming and the lining sewn down.. I should be able to reveal the jacket very soon.