hey look! you made it to the last day of the kids clothes week challenge! One hour left to hem everything you spent all week making. It’s been amazing to see what everyone has made by just working a little bit everyday.  Some people worked on one garment all week and other people managed to sew up something new everyday.  I finished up these shorts today. The pattern was from Happy Homemade Vol. 2 and he’s wearing the shirt I copied from the book too.

I started these on Friday and I was lucky enough to spend that evening sewing with some of my friends. Friends who were nice enought to join in on the challenge and they made some of their first garments for their little ones.  Sitting around a dining room filled with sewing machines (and cake and wine) talking and laughing was wonderful. This challenge has been like that, only with 200 people around the table!  I am absolutely floored by the things you have sewn and the momentum you created by sewing everyday. A lot of people have asked me to keep the challenge going for a few weeks! And really there is no reason you should stop.

It has taken me all week to figure out I’m making clothes that are a size too big for all of my kids. So even though I got a lot done, most things won’t be worn until next summer. I guess I’ll have to do the week over for this year’s wardrobe, but I honestly don’t mind. I’ve learned a bunch of new things and sewing doesn’t feel like so much of a task any more. What about you? Did you have a good time? Did you cross everything off your list?

oh you didn’t think it was over did you?

The baby doesn’t really need clothes, but how can I not sew something cute for him. Plus it’s easier to make new pants than to go get the box of bigger clothes and go through it again.  The knee pad pants are from the illustrious Dana of dana made it. And the purple pants I made from sleeve of a sweatshirt. He had some purple leggings that I was squeezing his chubby legs in because they were too cute to give up. Finally I traced them and made these and there are some yellow ones in the works from the same pattern.

I bet you could squeeze in a couple hours of sewing this weekend to finish up some projects, then maybe take some pictures and put them up on flickr. Next week I’m going to show off some of the beautiful things that people have been making because wow! you guy are amazing!

After some pretty obvious frustration yesterday, I finished some projects. Some I just put away for another time and some I started because I knew I could finish them without loosing my mind.  This shirt pattern is from the super fantastic japanese book Happy Homemade Vol. 2.

There is a little keyhole detail in the back, but except for that it’s just a few pieces of fabric cinched together with a tie.  The tie works as the straps too and ties in a pretty bow in the back.  If I didn’t have to hem the entire tie  (and next time I’ll just cut two, sew them together and turn them out) it would have taken an hour start to finish. I don’t know if it fits yet, because little miss is at school, but it turned out so well I won’t even mind if it doesn’t.

I know for sure these shorts don’t fit, but they might in a few years. My son doesn’t care though. He wore them yesterday and today and the front is covered in breakfast, which is why I am only showing you the back. To make these you take a pattern for shorts cut the front and back pieces down the middle (slash and spread) so when you cut out your fabric you should have eight pieces total. Then sew the middle seams with the seam exposed and sew the side seams normally.  It’s kind of a cool detail, but I’m not sure how they’ll look out of the wash. I made them from a knit, so they shouldn’t unravel. If they come out ok I’ll make some more in the right size. someday. The pattern is “i” from Everyday Bottoms.

I usually have a fine time while I am sewing, maybe there are a few mistakes here and there, but I fix them and continue on imagining how perfect the dress (or whatever) will be when it’s done and then I start working on the very last step–the waistband or the binding or the damn hem–and everything goes to shit.

It just destroys me every time. Why is it always the last step? Of course it means that in order to fix the screw up you have to undo most of what you just did and unpick a whole lot of seams to get there.  But to have made the dress in the first place I’ve had to put everything else I have to do on hold (as I sew I can feel the laundry pile getting bigger and bigger) and now I have to go do all that stuff in half the time because I just wasted two hours on sewing with nothing to show for it.

This dress wasn’t like that at all actually, but I have plenty of projects piling up on my ironing board that are and I’m feeling a leeetle frustrated about it. If this challenge weren’t happening I would just quit and be crabby, but I can’t now. Who came up with this stupid challenge anyway?

But the dress. The pattern is from Carefree Clothes for Girls and in the book it’s made out of woven cottons, but I made it with knits so I could be sure my daughter would wear it.  I omitted the button closure on the back and made the neckline a little deeper (I was going to say “I made the head hole bigger,” I think I need more coffee).  Because of that, it falls off her shoulder a little when she jumps around (i.e. all the time) which is too bad, but it’s big anyway and next year I think it will fit perfectly. The printed knit I got from Joann’s and the lining was an XL tshirt. I had barely enough of the shirt to make the ruffle, but there were no hems anywhere! so yay!

I was able to sneak downstairs yesterday and make these polka dot leggings for my daughter. Holy crap that serger is fast. Once I get going I get a little serger happy, weeeeeeee!  Of course then I make a mistake and those seams are a bear to rip out, so  I have to serger more to fix the problem and as my grandfather would say, “I cut it and I cut it and it’s still too short.”  All that is to say the waistband is a little janky.  The pattern is from the Nani Iro book that came out a few years ago.  Between the leg and the cuff of the pants the pattern also had a floobidiboo, but I couldn’t figure out the directions and it wasn’t all that fantastic, so I skipped it.

The top I made from this peasant top tutorial. I snagged some of that Heather Ross Far Far Away unicorn print when it was flying off the shelves (but oh! have you seen her new designs?).  And I’m so glad that I did because I’ve never worked with double gauze before and it is a whole helluva lot nicer than quilting cotton. It’s light and soft and hangs nicely–perfect for summer.  Thankfully the pants and the shirt are a hit even though they are not pink (thankfully).