kcwc spring 2011 wrap up
May 19th, 2011
1. pink 2. kcwc day 3 3. mini boden knock off 4. gingham top 5. triangle shirt 6. 7. variation on MADE 8.tee for two dress 9. pear me top 10. pants 11. keyhole top 12. summer breeze back 13. summer kiss dress 14. sweet flower shorts 15. strip skirt 16. little dude jeans
The spring kids clothes week challenge has come and gone and what an awesome week it was! Look at all the amazing sewing you did in just a week! I tried to make a garment a day and got a little overwhelmed in the end. I should have stuck to the challenge and aimed for an hour a day. It’s that little nudge that makes me fall in love with sewing again–the manic sew until 2 in the morning is what burns me out :) But you, you listened to the challenge and quietly chugged along on that machine and turned out some stunning kids clothes. No princesses or googly eyed cartoon characters in sight. Instead you used beautiful colors and bold patterns and simple, stylish silhouettes. Do you hear that, giant kid clothes maker corporation? This is what mothers want their kids to wear!
may sponsors
1.from the red kitchen 2. ida pearle 3.melon dot kids 4.crafty mamas 5.Magpie patterns 6.Fishsticks Designs 7.Wild Stitches Design 8.Gingercake 9.From Somewhere in my Imagination 10.{Re-New} 11.Sew Many Patterns 12. that’s me silly, I just had to make it an even twelve
Every kcwc seems to top the last and this one was made even better by my May sponsors! I am proud to be able to show off all of these wonderful indie shops and blogs. And I would love it if you could visit one or two. It is you (and me) who need to support small, independent businesses, because this is our community. A virtual community, but a loving supportive community nonetheless. And after this week, we know first hand how much work goes into all the designing and drafting and sewing and making! We don’t need Mr. Giant Corporation, we have each other.
For all of you that participated, I have a little surprise. Tell me a little something you liked (or didn’t like) about kcwc this year, or something you made that you were particularly proud of, or how you flaked out completely after that first hour, or what you are already planning for fall, and you will be entered to win one of two prizes: the fantastic Charlie Tunic pattern by Rae and the fantabulous I Love Paris doll kit by Erika. I’ll announce the winner Friday May 20.Extended until Monday May 23 (5pm CST). Good Luck! And thank you so much for making another amazing KCWC!
I love, love, love KCWC!!! I get so inspired!!! What I liked best were the ties I made for my son and his friend for their spring recital this year. I made them out of black silk I had. I have to say making ties is very relaxing. I think it is all the hand sewing involved that does it. : ) Thanks again. Looking forward to the next KCWC!!!
This was my first KCWC so my motto was ‘go hard or go home’. Day 1 and 2 went to plan, I got burnt out on day 3 and had a rest until the final hours of day 7. I then thought there is still enough time for one more thing and sewed like a crazy woman, even sustaining a sewing injury! I think I will adopt a new approach next time….
I tried my best, but I’m not sure I got a whole hour in each day. Kids decided napping wasn’t such a good idea. I’m still happy with my two sets of PJs and overalls that I made (although I still have to put the snaps on the overalls). I thought I’d just continue on and finish the other things on my list, but have actually had a break from my sewing machine this week. Maybe on the weekend I’ll start back up.
This was great. I got lots of sewing done (6 FOs), but still haven’t had time to upload them. Maybe that is what I’ll do for fall kcwc ;)
This was my second KCWC – and I fully intend to play along with the next one, too!
I started off well, the sailor pants for my son came out in just one day of “patterning” and one day of sewing – as I had hoped. The tunic I had intended for my little girl went all wrong, though. Started on Day 3, I had to unpick almost every seam after the fitting on Day 4…. And eeryone knows that unpicking a seam goes w-a-a-a-y slower than sewing one! So that kind of took the wind out of my wings. A splitting headache on Day 5 prevented any sewing then.
So there I was, on Day 6, far behind on my schedule and feeling bad because of it. Until I realized that that was not the spirit of KCWC at all! Sure, it is nice if you manage to finish more projects, and, well, let’s face it, there’s something terribly addictive of showing (off) your pictures on Flickr, for the world to peruse and to cheer at your work (and your sense of pride ;-) ) But there’s something else.
I think that the KCWC is about giving you that little nudge to go and to KEEP going, using different motivators: the online “audience”, the inspiration you get from seeing all those other wonderful creations, the interviews and articles on the Elsie Marley Blog; the idea that one hour a day is (most of the time) really feasable, the personal drive from “within” that makes you believe that “Yes, I can do it!” and the pride that you feel when you do succeed.
So I singlehandedly opted to extend the KCWC and finished the tunic on, well, Day 8 and Day 10. Which meant no public cheering, but when my almost 2 year old daughter saw herself in the mirror with the tunic on, she went all “Oh! Mooooooi!” (*)
(and if that doesn’t give me the nudge to prolong the KCWC even more, then I don’t know what will :-) )
See you next time!
Sabine
(*) In case you are wondering: yes, “Mooi” is the equivalent of “beautiful” in our language ;-)
Thanx for kcwc it got me motivated to finally get my daughter’s outfit made (simplicity 9090) which I love how it turned out!! She even picks it out to wear (a very opinionated 21 month old).
I had fun working on clothes for my kids and they were thrilled that I was making them stuff. I didn’t work on kids’ clothes for an hour on Wednesday or Thursday, but I think I made up the time the other days. I ended up finishing 3 nightgowns, 2 dresses from pre-smocked fabric, a skirt with attached leggings and a knit dress (except the hem – it mysteriously disappeared from my sewing room before I was able to finish it!) It was lots of fun and I can’t wait till the fall challenge.
I wish I could have done more but both the girls got sick and we had unexpected company come into town. I did get lots of stuff ready to sew and got about 3 pieces done. I am happy with the results and it gave me a kick in the rear to get the girls summer wardrobe finished. I am already thinking about the fall challenge. Thanks for all the hard work and making this so great.
I didn’t end up doing the projects that I thought that I would, but I still got a lot more done than I usually do. I was helped by the gym shutting the pool all week long for maintenance, mind. Having said that, it all ground to a halt on Sunday and I haven’t got the machine out since. I need some more motivation… Maybe you could have an adult clothes week challenge – then I might get around to finishing the shirt that I started…
oooh! ok, so the week got me very inspired. i managed to average an hour a day ( a couple hours some days, none the next) but best of all—i decided to put some of what i made into a crafty/local fair! my favorite quick project was making a bow tie for my son, since most of my creative energies are focused on my daughter. thanks for the creative kick in the pants and for all the amazing inspiration!!!
I did not nearly sew an hour a day but I did kick it up a bit. I managed to complete a few projects, one for myself even. Thank you for the push I needed to actually focus and finish some things!!
I failed miserably at kcwc this year! I did get some patterns traced and cut out, and my fabric is washed, but I don’t have a single garment to show! I know it is because it is the last two weeks of school, I am a teacher, and it is incredibly busy, plus I have a 20 month old, and our house is on the market to sell (we had three showings and an open house that week), we had a modern quilt guild meeting one night that is an hour away, and I went to a book signing one night that ate up three hours. It was just not a good week for me to sew. I am still doing the challenge, although by myself :(, the first week of summer vacation as a sigh of relief that May is over. Thank you for having it! I have been so inspired by everything you have posted, and I have been loving your pinterest boards!
I love KCWC, it brings out a competitive edge that leads me to passionately over-exert myself with irrational to-do lists. While one hour seems perfectly reasonable I assume you really mean THREE. And to ignore the children until they approach the machine, isn’t that part of it too? I’ve found pinterest to be my absolute favorite development since now I can actually keep tabs on my inspiration for good and see a trend. Thanks so much for another great week. May the inspiration flow through the summer.
I LOVED KCWC!!!!!!!!
I sew and teach and sew all the time and I am usually sewing clothing for children, but I specifically dedicated an hour a day to sewing for my own sweet boy.
He and I were both pleased with the results, and I can hardly wait to do it again!
THANKS!
I looked at every single photo in the pool, if that counts for anything. (And I loved having so much eye-candy.) I’m also probably going to spend this weekend sewing.
Yay for our community and I had a blast. Wish I could have made more but I’m happy I stretched myself by making a few of my own patterns :) thanks Meg looking forward to fall kcwc
It was my first kcwc and I’m sure will not be the last. But this time wasn’t an hour every day … Too many things to do! But it has given me many ideas for sewing and I had advanced work. Now there will not be an hour a day but a couple a week for sure! :)
I wanted to say thanks for inspiring me to do something that I want to do all the time, but put off in the day to day keeping up with the household duties. Sewing for my kids isn’t just about putting clothes on their backs it’s a hobby that lets me slow down, breath and feel a sense of accomplishment. Thanks a million!
I enjoyed my first KCWC this year! I completed a skirt for my daughter (I’ve never made a skirt so it was fun to learn how to make one). Also am finishing up on a kuspuk for my daughter (it’s like a dress with a ruffled skirt worn by some Native Alaskan girls/teens/women to keep the clothes and jackets they wear underneath clean). I am almost done. Just got stalled by not being able to find an 8″ zipper locally. Living in a rural area, the nearest place to get zippers in a variety of sizes and colors is more than 35 MILES away. Makes it a bit challenging to get sewing supplies.
For the next KCWC, I’m going to get all my supplies ahead of time, have pattern pieces cut out, fabric chosen, washed, and ironed. In that way, I can use the 1 hour a day focused on sewing rather than the prep work. That’s all part of making clothes, but it would be nice to produce more items in a one-week period.
Thanks for all the fun and inspiration that came out of KCWC. I am quite new to the online community of sewing, and so this was my first KCWC. It spurred me on the make a few extra things, and even to host a sewing night with a few friends, during which we all made a Mini Boden knock off dress. So thanks everyone for the ideas (I will revisit the photo pool during the next few months to get more inspiration) and the lovely comments.
I loved KCWC last fall and planned on participating this spring but alas, no clothes sewn at all! I loved seeing what everyone else did in FLICKR and here on the site! I promised myself I would finish some business sewing before I could KCWC sew and I just couldn’t get it all done. Boo Hoo for me! I will do it in the fall for sure! Thanks for doing all this meg!
What I liked about this KCWC is that, although I was not very productive, it has really fired me up to do more and to keep learning so that I can work more productively. I seem to have done more thinking and planning, ripping out and cursing, than actual sewing but I really want to improve my skills. I feel very proud of the finished dress and am glad I took extra time to make it look neat. Thank you very much Elsie for all the hardwork you put in to the challenge and for your inspiration.
I finally got back into the swing of things after my son was born. He’s nine months now and finally starting to sleep some, so I had the energy to stay up and sew a bit. I loved it! I made three skirts for my daughter!
I didn’t post any pictures, but I did sew along. I made a bucket hat for my one year old, a great pair of linen knot shorts (and also a too-small pair, oh well), finished 4 big bibs that have been hanging around for a month, and cut out an Uptown Girl jacket. The house is a mess, but I feel great! Would love to be entered for the doll kit.
I was all prepared to knock out at least 3 pair of pants BUT my first day in & always done with the first pair of pants my machine crapped out & won’t wind the bobbin. Hopefully it’ll be a cheap & easy fix & then I can host my own private KCWC :-)