Some Tops for Jane

My girl is about to start kindergarten!  I can't believe it.  She is so ready.  And fortunately for me, she's coming to my school.  We are so excited to go to school together every day.  I might even have her in my art class, as long as she doesn't get the traveling art teacher.  Will she call me mom? Who knows.  The other kids slip up and call me mom all the time anyway, which always makes me giggle.  I decided to make her a few new tops for school.  I like to save larger scraps of fabric from my projects thinking I can make something for Jane.  It's about time I actually got around to it.  The two floral pattern tees are actually recycled from two of my old tees.  And the black and white fabric is a piece I saved specifically to make her something.  Now that I've made these cute tops and have worked out the fit, I need to see what other knit scraps I've saved and make her some more.  Kids clothes are much faster to sew than adult size things. And she's very appreciative at this age.

Pattern Description:  I used McCalls 6947, which is unfortunately out of print now.  I've had it in my pattern stash for a while.  I actually used it last year to make her a dress (the patch pocket variation), so I knew what the fit was like. It's a pattern with lots of options for dresses, tops, and even leggings, which I have not made.

Pattern Sizing:  The pattern is sized 2-5.  I used a size 5.  I made a size 5 last year, too, and it was big then. I figured the five would be a better fit now.  Jane is a pretty standard size 5 in rtw except she is long.  Long though the body. These three tops are still running a teensy bit big in width, but that's a good thing as she'll grow in to them.  I added a bit of length to the bodice from the get-go, maybe a half inch.

Fabric Used:  The two floral fabrics are recycled from two of my tees. Of course I didn't take any 'before' photos.  Do you remember when Uniqlo had the Liberty collection?  I bought three tees then and only ever liked one enough to wear it.   The fit was off on all three.  The fabric, however, was beautiful.  So I saved the two tees with the intention of using the fabric for something.  Jane got a glimpse of the one with the rainbow colors in it and was all about it.  Anything rainbow these days.  Both fabrics are a cotton/viscose blend.  The black and white fabric is a remnant from a rayon knit I bought at Joann's.  I'm pretty sure it was one of their Nicole Miller fabrics.  I wish they'd bring back the Nicole Miller stuff.  It was decent quality compared to the stuff I've seen there lately.

Alterations/Deviations:  I used the bodice and sleeve pieces from view A but the gathered portion is different on all three.  I used the pattern piece as a general guide but the fact that these were all made from smaller pieces of fabric dictated the length and width.  I made the rainbow floral one first.  I used the bottom of the top (it was a swingy tank top) for the gathered portion after I cut the bodice and sleeve.  I really wanted the sleeves on this one so I sacrificed a lot of length.  It ended up very cute, but short.  I added the navy lace trim to give it a bit more length and I think it's my favorite part.  Though she won't be able to wear it much longer before it's a belly shirt.  The pink floral top came from a tee (front was floral and back was that solid oatmeal color). No sleeves so I could get all the length.  I went a little longer on the length so it's more of a tunic.  Both of those don't have all the width due to fabric constraints, so not as much gathering.  The black and white version is the actual length and width of the pattern.  I did a regular tee shirt neck band on all three instead of a binding.

Likes/Dislikes:  I really like all of them and so does Jane.  Of course the rainbow one is her favorite, although she really likes the pink floral one, too.  No dislikes.  The black and white top is a super stretchy fabric, so I bet she can wear it for a couple of years.  All in all, it's a nice, useful pattern.  I actually am sewing her another variation right now from some recycled fabric and have a dress planned if I have time before school starts  She's starting to make requests.  Good thing she's fun to sew for!

Rainbow Leopard

It's almost Halloween!  You know what that means- time for another homemade Halloween costume.  There aren't too many traditions I've made a conscious effort to start with my child, but a handmade Halloween costume is one of them.  I plan to make her one every year that she'll let me.  And hopefully one day she'll take over and make her own.  Next year I'll have two costumes to make...

This year, Jane was a lot more opinionated about what she wanted to be for Halloween.  Although the idea to be her rainbow leopard Beanie Boo came about kind of organically.  I started asking her what she wanted to be about two months ago.  First it was a duck.  Then a tiger.  Then a fox, which she settled on for a while.  I'm thankful she asked for animal costumes because they are fun to make.  I figured a fox would be a cute costume.  So I started talking about buying orange fabric for her fox costume.  Well.  That was when the floodgate of ideas of opened up.  She didn't want to be an orange fox.  She wanted to be a pink fox, then a purple fox, and so on and so forth (the animal changed multiple times, too) until she settled on a rainbow fox (with spots and stripes and sparkles).  While talking about the rainbow fur with spots and stripes and sparkles, we had a revelation that she was really talking about her rainbow leopard Beanie Boo, Dotty.  And that was that.  I searched online for "rainbow animal print fabric with spots and stripes" and found this awesome fleece blanket on Amazon.  I told her that once I ordered the blanket, that was it.  She wasn't allowed to change her mind or give any more suggestions, which luckily she didn't.

Anyway, I used Simplicity 1731, a pattern for an adult, child and DOG jumpsuit.  Just in case you wanted to make the whole family matching onesies.  I honestly want to make myself a fleece onesie that will accommodate my pregnant belly this winter.  I am serious.  The pattern is great.  I measured the length against a set of footie pajamas that Jane wears all the time.  The length was exactly the same (I used the child's size XS/4-5) as her pajamas but there was a ton more width.  After getting the fleece blanket in the mail, I decided not to narrow any of the width down due to the blanket being so incredibly fluffy.  The rainbow fleece isn't a typical fleece, it's more like faux fur.  It has a super deep fluffy pile on both sides of the fabric.  It was a pain to cut, a pain to sew and a huge pain to clean up later on.  It shed something fierce while cutting and sewing.  There was rainbow fluff everywhere.  It would fly up in the air and then settle all over everything like rainbow snow.  I found it all over the house.  It was all over one of our cats at one point.  I am pretty sure I inhaled some of it.  I sewed everything with a zig zag stitch and serged seam allowances to reduce some of the bulk.  I really had to pull the fabric through my machine due to the pile being so fluffy.

Here she is showing me how fast leopards are and how they sleep in the grass :D

I made a couple of small changes while sewing. I rounded off the back of the hood.  And, of course, added the ears, tail and white belly.  The double layer of fleece at the belly was way too thick to install a zipper, so I had to sew it along the seam line and trim off the allowance of the white fleece.  The white fleece is leftover from her kitty costume from three years ago!  I also sewed on cuffs at the ankles and wrists instead of using elastic.  I used some scraps of black bamboo knit.  I did shorten the sleeves a teeny bit but the legs are the length per the pattern.  The tail is stuffed with a little bit of poly-fil.  And we found almost the exact same shiny pink fabric for the front of the ears.

She loves it!  And I love it.  She's like a big, snuggly stuffed animal when she's wearing it.   She's been wearing it around the house and actually wore it out to a restaurant to meet her grandparents the other day. And thank goodness it will be cold on Halloween this year because this thing is warm.  We took these photos on an almost 80 degree day and she was sweaty afterward.  She could wear this thing in the snow.

Happy Halloween, friends!

A Dress, Some Curtains and a Birthday Eggstravangza

The title says it all!  I've done quite a bit for the girl here lately, so here it is all in one post.  First up is the dress.

Jane had picture day at school a month or so ago.  I decided to make her a dress for the occasion.  I'm so glad I sew.  The pattern is Burda envelope pattern 9362.  I've made a few Burda kids patterns now and I'm always pleased with the fit.  It seems pretty accurate.  I made a size 4, which is what Jane wears in rtw.  The shoulder fit and overall width is just right.  I made the dress, sans ruffle, but with the flutter sleeves.  I love those little flutter sleeves.

  

I used a swiss dot printed with flamingos (flamingoes?) that I found at Joann's.  I had the pink seersucker in the stash from years ago.  This dress is pretty simple but I went a little fancy with the finishing.  I lined the whole thing with white rayon challis I had.  The swiss dot definitely needed a lining.  I wanted to do a two layer skirt with the pink seersucker but was worried it would be too stiff for the gathering at the waist- hence the two piece skirt lining below.  

It's a very cute little pattern.  I plan on making the top version soon with some leftover rayon.  Jane seems pleased with it, too, though she refused to take any serious photos.  These are some of her modeling poses below.  She'll get lots of use out of this dress over the summer.

Next up is a set of curtains I sewed for Jane's room.  She has officially switched over to a big girl room :(  I tried to keep her in that toddler bed as long as I could.  But she's in her big girl bed and loving it.  I made her curtains and some bedding before she was born (see here and here).  The curtain fabric faded like crazy in the sun (we originally didn't have blinds up) so I figured it was time for some new ones.  Also, see birthday party eggstravaganza below-- we went a little nuts doing some home improvement stuff because we knew we'd have lots of guest over for her birthday party. I waffled over different color schemes for her room but ultimately we went with rainbow.  I mean, who doesn't love rainbows?  Jane loves her rainbow curtains and now I don't have to worry about anything matching, so it's a win-win.  I found this fabric on fabric.com and it's just perfect.  Hopefully it doesn't fade too bad.

The curtains are just a simple tab top.  We actually are planning on raising that curtain rod a couple of inches but haven't gotten around to it yet.  I didn't order quite enough fabric for the length we needed so I used a leftover piece of fabric from her baby bedding as a hem facing, which is my favorite part.  I know curtains are a boring sewing project but I like seeing other peoples home decor sewing, so there you go.

I couldn't figure out a good time of day to take a photo so it's little dark.  But for posterity, above is Jane's room somewhat clean right before her birthday party.  Hasn't looked like this since!

Jane's fourth birthday party was great fun.  She is obsessed with these crazy surprise egg videos on YouTube.  I'm not sure what the pull is, but she would watch them over and over again if I let her.  So we decided to have an EGGstravangza birthday party, complete with egg crafts, egg themed food and an egg hunt of course.  It also happened to be the weekend before Easter.

Somebody should have restricted me from Pinterest beforehand.  Pinterest gets full credit for the peep centerpiece and bunny cups.  So much work!  It's funny how a 'little get-together' can turn in to something so crazy.  I'm glad I snapped a pic of the spread before it was eaten up.  Jane helped with a lot of the prep.  She did some of the faces on the bunny cups (my favorite!) and helped set up the craft table and made examples.  It was fun having a helper.  We made an egg scratch board and little bunnies using plastic eggs and pipe cleaners.

I promise there were other kids there but didn't want to post pics without permission, so you just get Jane.  We also made those bunny bags for the egg hunt.  She had a ball.

This girl.  I can't believe she's four!  Everyone told me it goes by fast but I had no idea.  She is just so much fun, uncooperative camera faces and all.

Rompin' Around

I'm going to apologize in advance for the picture overload.  This might be the cutest thing I've ever made.  Except, of course, for the cute thing I made that's wearing it!  There was a little bit of bribery involved in taking these photos, but for the most part she cooperated.  She's got personality, this girl, that's for sure.

Pattern Description: McCalls 7376.  Girls' blouson romper and jumpsuit pattern.  There are strap and length variations and some cutesy little trim details.  I made view C with the single ruffle and elasticized, below-the-knee legs.  Is this not the sweetest little pattern?  I was buying other McCalls patterns at the latest pattern sale and saw this one from their early summer release.  It moved to the top of the queue and I made it right away.  It's just so adorable.

Pattern Sizing: Children's sizes 2-8.  I made a size 4.  Jane is three years old but she wears a 4T in rtw.  She's tall for her age, too.

Fabric Used: Rayon poplin. When I made my recent maxi dress, I also bought a yard and half of this same Cotton and Steel rayon poplin in this color way.  When I ordered it, I though the navy would be the same and I could use this one with the teal diamonds for contrast.  The navy is not the same, however.  This particular blue is much more of a denim blue.  I also figured I would have some of the original rayon left over and I could always make another garment with the two.  Well, I used every scrap to make that maxi dress and then stuck this small piece in stash.  It was perfect for this romper.  So Jane's romper is made of some pretty swanky fabric.

I do wish the camera had focused on her instead of the background.  I was lazy and took all these on an automatic setting. But this photo.  I love it.

Alterations/Deviations:  While being a super cute pattern, it was very fiddly to sew.  There was lots of trying on to measure elastic and placing straps.  The elastic guide for the casing at the chest was way, way too long.  I pulled that piece of elastic pretty tight to hold up the romper.  The waist casing didn't have an elastic guide.  I left that piece of elastic pretty loose for comfort.  The elastic in the leg casings are loose, too, which is why you see them riding up above her knee in photos.  It's cute either way.  I also had to give her some more room in the crotch after the fact.  It fit when I was done, but when she moved around it definitely rode up and looked a little uncomfortable. I unpicked the waist seam and sewed the crotch seam about 3/8" lower.  And I then I sewed the waist seam back on with a smaller seam allowance (using a smaller width of elastic) to give even more room- probably another 3/8" inch.  So I gave her more room in the crotch by lowering everything almost 3/4" inch.  Just something to pay attention to if you are sewing this pattern.  But she is tall.

Likes/Dislikes:  I mean, again- how stinkin' cute is finished product.  I can't help but love it.  But I do have to complain a little about the instructions.  They were confusing.  All the instructions for the different views are written together.  I had to use a highlighter to mark which parts were for my view.  I did follow the instructions closely since I wasn't sure about the order of construction.  And it all worked out. Except in the end, there was never a proper explanation of how to attach the front straps for view C.  The instructions and illustrations didn't take in to account the ruffle.  I worked it out but I can see that this would be frustrating for someone who was new to sewing, since this is a "Learn to Sew" pattern.  I flipped the ruffle up and sewed along the top of casing to attach the front of the straps  in case you are wondering.  I also need to tighten up that one strap a little.  It keeps slipping off her shoulder.  If I made this again, I'd just use the straps that tie.  They would be much easier to sew in and would also be adjustable after the fact.

This is when I told her to "strike a pose."  Lol.

Conclusion: I love the end result.  Jane loves it, too.  She wore it straight off the sewing machine.  She says it's comfy.  I know we'll get lots of use from it this summer.

Being Two (And A Half)

I decided to take Christmas card photos of Jane again this year.  Last year's are still some of my favorites.  So I set up a cute little vignette on the back porch and dressed Jane in her Christmas jumper I made last month.  And this is what I got.

Oh, two year olds (going on threenagers).  They are so wonderfully cooperative, aren't they??  I bribed with everything I had.  But no such luck.  If you could have been a fly on the wall while I was attempting my photo shoot.

Most of the photos are blurry like this.  Never stops moving.

I hope these photos make you laugh as hard as I did as I was going through them.  I took 248 photos trying to get a sweet one.  And I got one sweet one.  One.  So we put the sweet one on the front of our Christmas card this year and a bunch of the hilarious ones on the back.  She's a trip, y'all. And now a quick pattern review of the corduroy jumper I sewed (jumper in the American sense of the word!).  

Pattern Description:  A Burda envelope pattern, 9447.  Three sleeveless dresses with different trim options- bows and hem bands.  I made view C which has a really cute bubble shape with elastic in the hem and gathered patch pockets.  Jane loves the pockets, which you can't see very well in this fabric.  Every time she has worn it, she packs them full of little toys.

Pattern Sizing:  US sizes 2-7.  I made Jane a size 2 even though she is really wearing a 3T in rtw.  I think I probably could have made her a size 3 in this pattern although the shoulder fit is perfect.  It's the tiniest bit short on her but she's tall.

Fabric Used: A very lightweight printed corduroy from fabric.com.  The fabric is adorable and I bought one yard a few months ago with the intention of making Jane something for Christmas.  It was easy to sew.

Sweet, but still blurry!

Alterations/Deviations:  I omitted the zipper at the back and did a keyhole closure instead.  Way easier than putting in a zipper.  But her hair does get caught in the button.  Maybe I need a different button?

Likes/Dislikes:  I really love everything about it.  And Jane likes it, too, but just because of those pockets.  I spent some time sewing those pockets.  Probably more time sewing the pockets than the rest of the dress.  The elastic in the hem is what makes the dress so adorable.  She has worn it quite a few times since I made it already.  I sewed it all in one day right before her picture day at school.

Conclusion: Cute little dress for a preschooler.  I'm filing this pattern away for summer.  I can see making it again, for sure.

Merry Christmas!

I No Like It

Y'all.  My child.  Look at her.  She is figuring it all out.  Soaking it all up like a little sponge, making her own decisions and forming her own opinions.  I can't tell you how many times a day I hear, "No, I do it!"  It honestly is pretty awesome to watch most of the time.  However, not so much when this happens.

I made this really cute poncho using McCalls 6431 in a blue check fleece.  It's adorable.  I even made pom poms for the drawstring.  That's right, pom poms that I made.  I'm not sure why it's such a dud with her.  It's soft.  It has a hood.  Her response to it: "I no like it" and total refusal to wear it.  That was before even trying it on.  I took these photos the other day under heavy, heavy coercion.  And bribery with a tootsie roll pop.

The photos are hilarious.  I have snorted quite a few times while editing.  To be fair, the poncho is way big.  I think the main issue is that she doesn't know what to do with her arms, much like myself when I'm wearing my cape I made.  It's kind of like a toddler straight jacket.  If it was shorter so she could stick her arms out of the bottom (or if she was taller), it would work. Or maybe a poncho is just not a good idea for a toddler.  I made a size XS, which is listed as a 3-4.  And it definitely is.  She is wearing a 3T now in rtw, but just barely.  So I will put it away in the closet until next year.  Or possibly the year after when she's 4.  Maybe she'll change her mind about it by then.  She does like the pom poms.

The pattern is really simple.  Three pieces- front, back and hood.  I did deviate a little and line the hood so I could sew a casing for a drawstring.  I used a scrap of bamboo knit for the lining.  I knew it would be nice to be able to cinch the hood in.  Also because I wanted to add pom poms all along.  I made them with my pom pom maker and some really soft black yarn.  Not sure how they'll do in the washing machine, so they are just tacked on to the end of the drawstring and can be removed really easily.  I'll probably try washing them once just to see what happens.  I added two button holes at the front of the hood where I sewed the casing for the drawstring.  I did that before I sewed the lining to the hood.  I also made the button holes at the bottom of the poncho per pattern instructions but they are pretty crappy in fleece.  I should have stabilized them with something first.  They flop open and slip off the buttons easily.  I think I'm going to sew the button holes shut and sew snaps instead.  I'll just sew one of the buttons on top to cover up the button hole.  However, no rush since she's not likely to wear it any time soon.

She is a trip.  She's almost two and half and full of personality.  This picture below is me threatening not to give her the tootsie roll pop unless she smiles.  Cute little pattern.  I recommend it.  I actually am a little jealous of this poncho and would like something similar for myself.   I've been plotting one, maybe in some grey sweatshirt fleece.  Would that be ridiculous???