I don’t have any finished clothes to show you today, but I do have a bunch of stencils. I’m not a big fan of Things On Shirts, but my kids are. Freezer paper stencils to the rescue!! I’m worried the ice cream will look weird, but I’m excited for the beetle. Any freezer paper stencils in your plans?

My youngest is my pickiest when it comes to clothes. I get a little nervous making things for him because I don’t want all that effort to go to waste. I’m happy to report this outfit was so well received it was worn for the rest of the day!

Thank goodness because this shirt was a ridiculous amount of effort. First I cut it out all wrong, then I tried to iron on the tiger and it was a one giant fail.

See those little shiny, gold bits? Yeah, the whole tiger was supposed to look like that. What you are looking at is tiger shaped glue. Eh, well it kind of works. The project seemed so cursed–ever have one of those?–that I was too nervous to actually hem the shirt. I just sewed a band on the bottom instead.

aaaaand the band kind of sucks anyway. The shirt is too long (arrgh! curse of the shirt!) so I may chop it off and try to hem it for real. The shorts though, they turned out pretty cute.

They are the same Japanese pattern I used for the other stripey shorts. I forgot to add the drawstring again, so this time I unpicked the waistband and made it happen–two very uneven buttonholes later.

I found this awesome drawstring elastic in my stash. Have you ever used it before? It worked out so well, I’m thinking about writing up a tutorial on it. Yes? No?

That’s it for day five. There are only two days left in this summer edition of kcw. I have a lot to finish and a busy weekend to boot, but I’m going to try to at least do an hour a day–that’s what kcw is all about, right?!

You can see all my kcw projects on the new website! happy sewing!

I think this outfit looks pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself. It’s far from perfect, but it’ll do just fine.

striped banyan tee and yellow linen prefontaine shorts with beige bias trim.

The shirt was a breeze to sew. The pattern is Figgy’s Banyan tee and it is perfect for summer. I was quite pleased with how the collar came out. The hem on the other hand is on the wonky side. I’m still getting used to sewing with jersey. This striped jersey is from Joann’s and I actually like it a lot. It’s very thin, but the stripes are a bit textured and that gives the fabric some body (or structure or weight or something that makes me not curse when I sew with it). I used the blue colorway on a tee shirt I made for the handmade kids clothes swap.

The shorts gave me a run for my money. I think I sewed every single seam wrong at the start. They are constructed in a different way then I’m used to. I like to sew each leg separate, then put one leg in the other, and sew the crotch seam (if you don’t sew, that was a very odd sentence). In this pattern, you sew the front together, then the back, then sew those two bits together, and then the crotch. I think.

There weren’t enough pictures in the pattern for me and I got lost very quickly. But eventually it came together and they are cuuuute. I love the way the beige bias tape looks with the yellow linen. I just realized this is a whole Joann’s outfit. Sometimes, man, they get it right.

Have you seen the featured projects for kcw day four? They are good, check em out!

Day three of Kid’s Clothes Week  and I finally have something to show you :) I made this blue tee and the stripy shorts using patterns from this book:

It’s called something like My First Kids Clothes or Easy Kids Clothes Sewing Finish in One Day. Depends on who’s translating. You get the gist. The author is Ruriko Yamada, the same woman who wrote Happy Homemade vols 2 and 5 (aka my favorite pattern maker ever).

When I discovered she had another book, I didn’t hesitate to buy it. And the patterns do not disappoint! As the title implies, they are simple, but I think the ones in the Happy Homemade books are too. I can see all the clothes in this book being made and worn many, many times. And it doesn’t hurt that the styling is extra adorable.

You can see the shorts I made in the picture above: pattern Z-b. I changed it a bit by adding pockets in the front and nixing the pocket in the back. I also omitted the elastic, because I thought I could make a double layer of jersey do the job. But sadly, no, they are a bit fall-y down-y as my son says. I’ll have to go back and put some elastic in to keep them up. I’m kicking myself for forgetting to add the drawstring, because even though it’s fake, it’s a nice detail. I also skipped the hem on the bottom, because I liked the casual vibe the overlocked edge gave it (and I’m a little lazy).

The tee shirt is definitely my favorite. It’s just a basic tee with a little lapped bit in the front. The binding in the collar comes to a point where the two sides overlap. This small detail just makes the shirt. And the way the pattern is made makes it super easy to figure out. Knit necklines are not my strong point, so it’s nice to have one I know I can do.

I loved making this shirt so much, I cut out another for my youngest.  KCW is in full swing. Have you been stopping by the blog to see what amazing clothes everyone is making?

This picture pretty much sums up how my sewing went yesterday. So I’m making a simple tee out of a giant green jersey skirt I got for cheap at Target (ho, ho, ho greeeen jersey). I cut out the front and the back of the tee, using the machine hems that were on the skirt. I patted myself on the back for saving a step. When I went to attach the sleeves, I realized, silly me I should have cut those on the machine hem too. I grabbed the skirt, threw it on top of everything I was working on, found a bit of hem left, and cut one sleeve. Then I looked around for a bit more to use and found some–I couldn’t believe my luck! Cut out the other sleeve and as I made the last snip realized I was cutting the sleeve out of the front of my shirt! Aaarrrrggg!

Thankfully the skirt was very large and there was enough of it left to cut out another back & front. But seriously, not the best way to start off the week. I’m rallying though! That’s what KCW is all about right? Getting back on the horse. Like these amazing sewers.