on my desk. wednesday.

This was supposed to be the fourth moustachioed plush (the others are here) but I just can’t decide if I like it or not.  It was definitely a pain in the butt to make. It took forever to try to make the face at least a little three dimensional and after I gave up I realized how I should have done it (though now I forget) and then all the fussy cuts.  He does have a little body that’s done and his legs are in pieces, but I just don’t know if it’s worth it to put him together. His face is so flat that it reminds me of a tiki doll. The moustache helps–it’s a bushy Tom Selleck number–but I still don’t know. What do you think? Should I sew him up and put him in the shop or scrap it and start over?

just one more and then kid clothes week is over for reals. I think the skirt was actually the first thing I finished, but I ran out of double sided fusible interfacing and it took me a few weeks to get my butt to the fabric store for more.  First I drew a skyline without any reference and it was pretty sad, so I looked up skyline on flickr and ta da! There’s a little New York, a little Shanghai, and a little Cleveland on this skirt and maybe some Chicago on the back.

I’m thinking about selling a few of these in my shop, maybe doing a county version too.  I still have no idea how to size a pattern (anyone? anyone?) but I’m confident I can wing it. Next week is making stuff for the shop week, so we’ll see. I put a few things up (have a look!) but there are many diggers to make, so I don’t know if I’ll even get to the skirts. Hope everyone had a good weekend. I’m off to have cocktails and listen to some french gypsy music with my best pal.

When I made a plan to just sew one kind of thing for a week, it was a good plan and I should have stuck to it. I completely lost my momentum and now it’s just a chore to go down in my studio.  Sewing from actual patterns didn’t help.  Everything was going fine and then suddenly:  step 12. put in zipper or step 7. sew continuous lap.  I still need a little hand holding when it comes to zippers (and who the hell wrote the instructions on the zipper package anyway? because they’re crap) and they could at least define continuous lap even if they’re not going to tell me how to do it.  I did figure them both out (thank you internet) but they are definitely a little off. A continuous lap is where the buttons are in the cuff of your sleeve, if you’d like to know.  You cut a slit in your fabric and then sew a piece of fabric to it in order to hem it, but not make it any smaller.  That’s very confusing, sorry–maybe that’s why they didn’t explain it in the instructions. Anyway, it’s on the back where the buttons go on this striped jumper.  The striped jumper that’s too big. Oh well, at least it’ll fit for sure next summer. I just can’t figure out sizing with patterns. I measured her and picked the size that matched, but I guess it just runs big, like one size too big.  The same thing happened with the other pattern I made.

But this is heavier than I expected–Joann’s linen is not the finest quality, duh–so it might work well as a fall jumper.  I haven’t hemmed it yet because I can’t decide whether or not to use the striped fabric I used on the collar and armholes or just fold it up and hem it.  If I use the striped fabric do you think I need to make bias tape, or can I just cut it straight?

So I have a few things to finish up this week for my kids and other people kids, but next week I’m moving on whether I’m done or not.  But when I do get back to sewing kid’s clothes I’d like to be able to sell some, but I don’t have the foggiest idea how to size them.  Does anyone have any good resources about this?

*edited to add*  both the patterns I got at a thrift store, so I don’t know if they still sell them, but the striped number is Simplicity 6500 and the one with ruffles is Butterick 6089.

I kept my word and worked (almost) every evening this past week on my kid’s wardrobe.  Actually I had such a good time I’m going keep at it this week.  Mostly I used tutorials, but I’m working on some patterns too. The two skirts are from the twirly skirt tutorial by Erin from house on hill road.  It is a seriously twirly skirt–my daughter calls it her swirly skirt.  The tulip fabric I picked up at the thrift store and there was just enough.  A good friend gave me the fish fabric and even though there was only a quarter of a yard (about half of what is called for) it still twirls a little. I looked forever to find a tutorial for the shirts. I knew what I wanted, but didn’t want to spend 10 bucks on a pattern for something so simple.  I finally found it on Just Tutes, which is a fantastic resource for kid’s clothes (click here to go right to the shirt tutorial).  I made the yellow one first and it’s ridiculously small (I’m worried it won’t even fit the 4 month old babe it’s going to) and the second one I made is too big, so I’m guessing next time I’ll get it right.  That’s the problem with sewing at night–no one is around to try anything on.  The striped pants are for my son and I blatantly ripped off the design (and fabric choice too) from Leah of go monkey designs, but she did a much better job (serves me right). I traced a pair of my son’s pants for the little shorts and made up the cuffs and tabs as I went a long.  I used a contrasting bright green thread for all the details and damn if it isn’t stylish.  They turned out better than I had hoped and have been worn and washed many times already.

whew! if you’d like to see bigger and better photos head over to my flickr site.

Do you have any good garment making tutorials to share? I’m kind of addicted, so if you know of any good ones–for kids or adults–please leave a comment so we can all see. thanks.