Pumpkins and projects!

Two girls in a sea of pumpkins! These photos are of the pumpkin patch at a farm close by, we go every year for activities and pumpkins! She found hers!

We were there with some friends....

The girls were so cute posing for their picture!

And on to projects! This is a close-up of the owl applique I put onto their t-shirts to wear with their leggings.... I made a shirt and leggings for both of the girls.

Here is the outfit. I wish I got them while they were wearing them.....instead I pulled them out of the dirty clothes to shoot a picture!

They looked super cute on them.....unfortunately, the pants I don't think are going to make it much longer without some work. The knit is pulling holes in it at the butt seam on both of the girls pants. I stitched them again inside of where they were pulling and they just pulled more. I was thinking that I could fuse some knit stablilizer to the seam.....if that doesn't work I guesss they get to go to the donation bin or garbage! I finally got my zipper last week. Remember how I had the perfect color and not the right length? I ordered up the right length, and decidedly got the wrong color! I don't know what I was thinking......I put it in anyway. My dh reminded me that it will be outgrown in a few months anyhow! Hmfph....

I like it still though. I will make this pattern again.

Jalie 2805 with a scooped neck

Here is my finished t-shirt! I didn't take a close-up, but I topstitched the neckline and hems with a contrasting black thread. I am pretty happy with how this turned out. I took about 4" off the neckline from the orginal pattern and bound the neckline using my binders. It is nice to have some variety. I use this pattern alot!! I am a t-shirt sort of gal. I downloaded the embroidery from the website embroidery library. I like the designs there and the costs are very reasonable! I need to look through my stash to figure out what is on the agenda. I know we still have many hot days down the road here. It doesn't usually start to get coolness in the air until the end of October or November. So with three more months of hot weather, there is plenty of time to still do summer sewing. I was chilly last night watching my dd's at swim lessons (they end at 8pm), I was thinking that it had to be in the high 60's.....when I got into the car, the thermometer read 75 F and didn't budge. I laughed at myself. It is all relevant to what we are used to!! I hope everyone has a good sewing weekend!

Work in progress

Here is the embroidery that I chose to go on this Jalie 2805 short sleeve t-shirt. This t-shirt is supposed to go with the wild capris that I made a little while ago. I thought I would continue the island motif onto the shirt. I used a mango colored sophia knit for this t-shirt. This is really a very stable knit to work with. It is a little bit thicker and lays very nicely when worn. This particular fabric is sort of two toned in color. The outside is almost more of a coral color, while the inside has two colors knitted together: an orange and a pink. I like the color alot! I cut the neckline deeper and plan to bind it. The rest of the t-shirt will be standard per jalie 2805. For those of you that embroider.....what do you use to cover up the stitching on the inside so it isn't scratchy? On a non-sewing related topic, I am ready for Hawaii! We have a little more than a week until we leave! I made my Hawaii weight loss goal of 20 pounds today! Yay! My weight goal for while we are gone for two weeks is just to try and maintain that loss!!

A sleeveless Jalie 2805

Here is my modified Jalie 2805. I cut the neckline about 2 inches deeper than the round neck version and I narrowed the armholes at the shoulders by about 1 1/2". I bound the neckline and armholes with a black lycra knit using my binder and coverstitch. I lettuce edged the bottom of the shirt. I had to stabilize the shoulders, neckline, and armholes. I started to seam up the shoulder and saw how stretched out it got, that I ripped it out and stabilized before starting again. After stabilizing these areas, I had no issues. Even with the ripout and stabilizing, this only took about 1 1/2 hours. I made it this morning and wore to a birthday party this afternoon!

Here are my promised pics!

Here are my pictures of the Kwik Sew 2884 swimsuit. She is having fun! I made a hair scrunchy in the fabric as well. You can see that the bottoms of this suit provide ample coverage.

I have my mind made up to make bwof 4-2009-122. I traced in out in a size 42, adding some extra for a fba to be sure the casing was in the right spot. I had this fabric below picked out and sent it to the washer and dryer because it had never visited them. It is a neat fabric. It has elastic in it making the crinkles. After the washer and dryer I laid everything out and realized I didn't have enough fabric to make what I wanted to make!!! AARRGGHH! So, I still wanted to use this fabric and decided to make a jalie 2805 with it....but I will make it sans sleeves and bind the neckline and arm holes with a black fabric that has some stretch to it. Here's hoping it comes out cute!

Hope you had a great 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! I got a picture before my dh put up the flag with the girls!

I couldn't resist bwof july 2009 124a, the first picture in my last blog! I traced this afternoon - I traced the largest size 42 because I was planning on using my siltex bamboo interlock which has a lot of relaxation to it and seems to expand as the day goes on. The last shirt I made with this seemed at least a size too big after making it and as the day goes on gets roomier. I measured up today and found to be a burda 46. I am giving it a try and hoping that it will work out for me....if not, I am still on the weight loss wagon, so it should fit soon! I chose a black color bamboo from my stash (which seems to be growing waaaayyyyyy faster than I can possibly sew!), with a coordinating fabric for the sashes and the necktie. It is all cut out awaiting the sewing, stay tuned!

I sewed up a nightgown today for my older dd. It is jalie 2805 with 12" added to the bottom to make it come down to her shins. She was happy with it, it was a tinkerbell knit from my stash. I have made these before a few times and both of the girls love this style. It only took me an hour to sew it together including all the hemming! I got a new down feller for my babylock machine. It is a 5/8" hem, which is what I always use for knits. I tried it out on the bottom hem of the nightie and had great success and definitely saved time pinning! Any tool that saves time and makes your work look nice is a great tool to have!

I also stitched an ear back on the little puppy in the picture. It was a high quality fair win....I would have tossed it, but my dd has been patiently waiting for me to get the ear back on him, so I figured I had to do it!

All in all, it was a pretty productive day!

Two Outfits and 1 shirt!

I have two hams! Well, I think that they liked their outfits. The t-shirt material seems to have a lot of "loose-ness" to it. So much, that I think I probably should have made a size smaller in my littlest dd's and maybe even my shirt. My older dd's shirt seems to fit the best. I liked the pattern of the littler one's skirt better than the older dd's skirt. I think next time I will adapt the pattern to look more like the younger dd's skirt. They loved the cupcake applique. I used the skirt material for the bottom of the cupcake and a pink sherpa for the top of the cupcake. My shirt is View D of the jalie 2805 pattern. I like it....but I don't love it. I needed a new white t-shirt and I like that it isn't totally plain, but I am not in love with the style. The way it hangs seems to make me look larger.....it could be the material though. It is super soft though and I am sure I will get lots of wear out it.

Here is a closer shot of the applique....can you tell her front two teeth are about to fall out?

Cutting done!

Well, off to the next project! I wanted to make a couple of new outfits for my dd's. I picked out one of my new fabrics from the evil fabric queen (EFQ). It is a sweater knit....see picture. I am going to use this for the skirts and I am going to make t-shirts with a cupcake applique on them tying in the same fabric into the bottom of the cupcake. I cut the sweater knit out using patterns that have been in my stash for awhile. For my older dd I am using Simplicity 4104 (I made this before a couple of months ago) and for my younger dd I am using Butterick 3674. They are similar, the flounce of the bottom is constructed a little differently though. The simplicity one is curved half circles sewn together, while th Butterick is 3 long rectangular pieces sewn together and gathered (this will give me a chance to use the gathering foot on my serger!). Then for the t-shirts, I am using my old tnt Jalie 2805 with a round neck. I received some bamboo interlock from the EFQ in my lastest shipment. It is the absolute softest t-shirt material that I have ever felt!!! Nothing else even compares...not even my t-shirt from l.l. bean that is 90% cotton and 10% cashmere. So, I have the bamboo in white, black, brown, and a natural color that is prepared for dying (PFD). I cut the kids t-shirts out of the white and will do the applique of the cupcake on the front. While cutting their t-shirts out I decided that I could really use a white short sleeve t-shirt, so I cut out Jalie2805 for me too. For mine, I decided to go with view D, which is the one with the buttons. I haven't tried that version yet, so I am excited to see how it will turn out!

Five items cut and waiting to be sewn, a house that needs vacuuming, beds that need sheets put back on them, kids that need played with and read to......I think the sewing is going to have to wait! First the kids, then the vacuuming, then the beds. Later, when the kids are playing with their friends, maybe I will get to sneak in a little sewing. Otherwise, it is after they go to bed tonight!

Jalie 2805 done!

Okay, one long sleeve shirt completed! Yeah! Nothing fancy here, just a long sleeve jalie 2805 in black siltex knit. I didn't do any changes to the pattern...except cut off a few inches from the arms. I always make it as is and then trim after I make it so I get it where I want it. I didn't get to dh's shirt today.....but it is all cut out, interfaced and waiting......