My February sewing!

It seems that I sew in spurts these days, with long periods of nothing in between! I sewed two tnt nighties from Ottobre 6/2009 - 17. These are going together super quickly now that I have made them a few times. The girls love their nighties! I used knit interlock from stash. The little ones has purple unicorns and the older ones had little puppy faces. Cute prints I got from the evil fabric queen.

Such a poser!

Here is a little fleece hat that I made up. I used simplicity 4311, I have had it in stash for quite awhile so it is probably oop by now. Anyhow, it was pretty simple. I found my head circumference in between the medium and large (I think this is a teenager pattern), so I made the large. It was too big (puffy looking) so I just took about an inch deeper seam where the circle top and band around the head meet. I like it now....my little one is my photographer!

Lastly, I found some time to squeak in a shirt for my dh. I made the purple t-shirt under the top shirt. I actually made the top one too, but that was about a year or so ago. He thinks he is funny posing dorky, maybe just dorky.....

Here he is with just the t-shirt. It was made from a knit that is brushed on one side and super soft. I put that on the inside of the shirt. I used Kwik Sew 3299. Another pattern I have had in stash for awhile. There are a few things I would change on that pattern. Number 1, I think the neckband is too wide, I think I would cut it close to in half. The other thing is the neck opening is a little larger than dh's favorite t-shirts, so I would make the neck opening shallower. The other thing he requested is that the body length be a couple of inches longer. I could have made the sleeves a tad shorter, but the shirt was a surprise (he was out of town), so I didn't get his arm to measure!

Well, that is all folks! I am not sure how much sewing I am going to get in the next few weeks....I have my plate full of stuff to do! I am selling a house, my dh's bday is friday, my dd's bday is in march and needs planning, I have my taxes to do, and taxes from a deceased relative to take care of. Plus normal day to day stuff. I may just need to sew to stay sane! :) Take care everyone!

Finally inspired to do something!

I found my camera and downloaded the hundreds of pictures from christmas! Then I took some photos of my finished American Girl clothes! Yay, I got something sewing to show you! This is the pattern I used for the american girl clothes. It is simplicity 7083 and I made the little jumper and shirt in the top left hand corner. Here she is! I added some trim around the sleeves and the bottom of the jumper, to help tie this outfit together. There is blue in the jumper stripes, but it seems to get lost in the sea of pink. I got this trim off of a christmas gift...it was wrapped around a child's hooded towel to make it look prettier and I decided to save it. Funny where you can pick up cute trim! The pink jumper is a seersucker material leftover from some capris I had made my older dd a long time ago. The blue shirt is leftover interlock knit from a tank top I made myself last summer. The American Girl is the right size to use up those leftover scraps that are big enough they are hard to part with and small enough you are not quite sure why you are saving them!

Here is a full-length shot (I know - she doesn't have shoes on, that is the first thing my dd always takes off....)

Now on to some new projects! I'm really going all out here! This is one of my latest purchases of fabric from fabric.com. It is a cotton lawn. I have never used cotton lawn before, nor really knew what it was, so I wanted to give it a try. For those of you clueless like me, it feels like a light and airy cotton. I really love the pattern and you can't see in this photo, but there are bits of gold metallic in the design as well around some of the white pattern edges. Very cute. I was originally thinking a light airy skirt....but I didn't feel like dealing with lining and couldn't find the right pattern that I had in my mind, so it has become a shirt!

I am going to use this burda pattern on the cover of the 4/2009 issue. Many people have made this up and posted on patternreview and I really like the results of everyones creations. I added a couple of inches to the top bodice section for boob room and because I traced the size 42 (largest size) and I am more of a size 46 around the bust. I also added a little flare out at the hips of about 2". Lastly, I added 4" to the length of the bottom portion of the top, because I like my tops to cover my tummy and some of my booty!

I have it all cut out and ready to sew!

Next, I thought that I would want to wear a tank top underneath the above top, so I pulled out my tnt tank top pattern from Ottobre 2/2009 #1.

It is this one here in the gray. I cut mine out of an off-white bamboo interlock knit.

Then I decided that I would like some leggings to go with the outfit, so I pulled out my new jalie legging pattern and cut out some leggings in the same bamboo interlock knit. I then decided that the girls could have some leggings too and I cut my younger dd some in a white interlock knit and then I didn't have quite enough of the offwhite left to cut my older dd leggings, but some shorts! Kind of like bike shorts style. Stay tuned to see all of this sewn up!! Ambitious, huh!?! (maybe just crazy......)

Simplicity 5276 American Girl!

I received all of the American Girl patterns that I ordered just after Christmas! I love the fact that there is only one size and that I can actually cut up the pattern rather than tracing first!! Silly, I know, but it is a lot of work getting a new pattern ready for material to be cut! I took two of the six patterns and cut up the sheets getting all the little pieces ready to be placed on material and cut (I actually cut out a lot of them, rather than just getting them roughly there, why....I don't know!). There are probably about 40 pieces in each envelope! I asked my dd to pick a pattern and she picked the leopard looking ones below. As always, my younger dd thinks that it will (or should) look exactly like it does on the envelope (actually, my dh is like that too....). So, I searched into my stash and found something pretty darn close! It was a pink leopard print leftover from a halloween costume I made for my older dd when she was 2. So, here is Alexis! My dd loves that name and that is the name she gave her doll! She is in a two piece pajama set. And, it actually fits her pretty well. This is a plush fabric so, I spent the time to pin well, because it moves on you. I probably spent about 1 1/2 hours sewing up this outfit for the little girl. More time than I thought it would take, but I did spend a lot of time pinning. Anyhow, it was interesting how most of the outfit is put together in the flat, unlike how we are used to sewing our clothes. The neckband, the arm and leg bands and the waistband on the pants, were all put on in the flat and then the last seam sewn up after the addition of the bands. I used little pieces of velcro for the the closure of the back of the shirt. I probably need to add more, because it pulls open a little (but then again, this is a doll outfit....).

My kitty found her pretty interesting too.....

So, one outfit completed! I have a few more cut out and ready to go! We'll see if I have any time today to get to it! :)

An angel at last!

Here she is! Hot off the presses, my angel......

She really likes the costume. I think it is very cute on her.

Don't you like the wings? Of course those I purchased! There is a cape that goes with this, I am debating whether or not to sew it up. I probably will, don't know if she will wear it with the dress or not. This was a pretty straightforward pattern. I made a few changes, such as machine stitching the marabou boas on rather than doing it by hand. I made a size 7 and I had to cut 8" off of the length and put in a couple of pleats in the front at the neckline. I forget how large the big 4 patterns tend to run....I usually avoid them. Don't know if the zipper in the back was truly needed......the marabou took away the stretchiness at the neckline. I imagine it would have worked without the zipper, but I decided to conform and use their instructions.

Halloween is on its way...

Well, I must admit that I haven't touched any sewing for over a week now. However, I have started the planning stages of a Halloween costume for my older dd! My younger dd has decided she wants to be a puppy and use older dd's old Halloween costume from 3 years ago (score!....only one new Halloween costume to make this year!). My older dd decided she wants to be an angel this year (I wish she were an angel all year.......). I found this pattern, Simplicity 2861 and am making view D:

I purchased some angel wings and a halo online to go along with the costume. She picked a white stretch crushed velour for the dress and a white sheer with halographic dots on it for the cape. I purchased white marabou boas for the the trim on the dress and the cape. This is my project for the week! Wish me luck on finding time! :)

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!

Simplicity 4104

I am making the skirt with the cute flounce on the bottom for my older dd. I just cut out the fabric, it looks like something super easy to put together. Just two pattern pieces cut twice each for a total of four parts with an elastic waistband. I hope it turns out cute because I could see making a few different versions... It calls for a weave fabric, but I am using this knit:

Hopefully it won't be too big, I may have to do some adjusting as I make it.

Oh yeah....no, I am not done with my dh's shirt yet! It was easy to cut this out while cooking soup for lunch! I couldn't go and sew while cooking lunch! :) Now I have two projects waiting in the wings for the dh shirt to finish!