Maternity dress finished! And a few other projects

First off, I finally decided what to do to finish of my black dress. I shortened it by a few inches and used more of the teal to do an outside casing over the elastic under the bust. I think I like it a lot more now!




We recently put our boys in a bunk bed. I had initially done Ian's half of the room in the IKEA "Barnslig" theme with duvet cover and animal prints for the wall. So we bought another duvet for Benny, and I had a piece of their fabric in that line, so I did a valance with some polka dot cotton to contrast. Still have to hang the pictures again.



And I whipped up a Charlie Tee for Project First Day. Super easy to understand pattern! A couple years ago I picked up a pile of men's tees in huge sizes on clearance, and as I can't find cute knits locally, I just upcycled one of them. I used existing hems with the fake layer for the sleeves and back, but had to cut the front higher on the tee to keep the screenprint, so did a new hem reusing the contrast fake layer from the original tee.

... and here's the outcome!

Thanks for the suggestions!


I added about 10" to the length (may take a bit off, as it feels just too long).


Then I sewed on a tapered inset neckline, just used a twin needle to sew it under the already finished neck edge. After that, I just cut two 6" wide strip of the teal at a random length, pressed it in half, tapered it into a semicircle, then sewed it under the armhole edge. I think I could have put them in a bit tighter though, as they poke out a bit much.


Does it need anything else? I have a small piece (about 12" x 30") of the teal left.

Upcycled Men's Dress Shirt...

...to boy's dress shirt!!

This was my husband's favourite button-down shirt, but his wide shoulders strained the seams so they started pulling apart. It's a very soft, drapey fabric. I used the Pox Couture Kid's Summer Shirt pattern. I placed the collar pattern on the existing collar, and made a centre back seam as it would have been too long otherwise. Placed the shirt fronts on the original button and buttonhole plackets, minus the seam allowances. Unpicked and used the original yoke and back. If I do this again, I'd upcycle a shirt with an existing pleat at the centre back already, then I could just use the whole back.


The pattern is fabulous! Amazingly detailed instructions with line drawings, just 4 pages, the pattern pieces are very professionally done, with seam allowances marked on each piece. Lots of great tips in the pattern for construction of a couture garment. The fit is great too, not as boxy as a lot of the Big 3 patterns I saw. I did the 2T size for Benny, who just turned 2. He was almost exactly the measurements the pattern listed.

Still has the printed care tag in the back!

Comfy Sleep Set and more stenciled tees

Had an impromptu craft night with a couple of friends last night. I started on this Comfy Sleep Set for baby girl and finished it this morning. It went together like a breeze once I figured out how to use a twin needle with Wooly Nylon in the bobbin for the hem.

Pattern: Comfy Sleep Set (Fishsticks Designs)
Fabric: mocha 100% cotton interlock
Trim: pink cotton/spandex interlock




I also stenciled another tshirt, using the "negative" of the stencil I cut for Ian's blue power symbol tee. It's a size 3. I fused the stencil on, then used a spray fabric paint.




And this is one I did a while back at Suzanne's - my first try at the spray paint was a little uneven in spots. Oh well, still cute...

Embellished hoodie

I picked up this little hoodie a long time ago (I think when I was expecting Benny, before we knew he was a boy) and found it in a box the other day. It needed something to pretty it up. I'm not sure if it's complete yet or not. I have to get an idea of what's cute for a little girl and what's too much! After sewing for boys, this is totally different!

Fishsticks Designs shorts

Now I've sewn from all three of the Fishsticks Designs patterns I got in the mail this week! Thanks for great patterns, Bonnie!

Pattern: AJ Bottoms Fishsticks Designs, shorts option
Fabric: flannelette, waistband black interlock with internal FOE
Sizes: Rockets 4T, traditional rise; Puppies, 2T, diaper rise

In a hurry, cut one leg of the puppy print upside down, but they're sleep shorts and to try out the size anyway...

Here's Benny in his:





Pattern: Inside or Outside Pocket Pants Fishsticks Designs, shorts option
Fabric: cotton twill, internal FOE for waistband
Sizes: Green 4T and Charcoal 2T

[ETA pic] Here are the boys in their new Sunday shorts!

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

I participated in Elsie Marley's Kids Clothes Week Challenge this past week. I sewed every day for at least an hour, some days for 2 or more! Such a great motivator to get some things done for my little people.

Here are all my finished items!

Pink dress and matching bloomers (NB)
dress pattern: Itty Bitty Baby Dress by Made by Rae
bloomers pattern: Newborn Bloomers by Fishsticks Designs
fabric: quilters' cottons and cotton interlock

Purple Argyle Dress (3-6 mo)
pattern: Sweet Little Dress by Leila and Ben
fabric: Fabricland flannel coordinates

Camo shorts (2T, but fits 4T)
pattern: Butterick 3475
fabric: cotton pixelated camouflage twill

Blue Dress (1 yr)
pattern: Summerlin by KathrynIvy
fabric: quilters' cotton and Lionbrand Cotton-Ease yarn

Just keep sewing, just keep sewing, sewing, sewing...

Thread catcher/tool holder
I made a thread catcher/tool holder for my friend Suzanne over at Making More With Less, based on the tutorials here (for the base) and here (for the pocket idea and thread catcher).

The base is a sturdy charcoal twill, and the pockets and thread catcher are quilter's cottons. I lined the thread catcher bag with a polyester lining fabric so clippings can be dumped easily. I changed up the thread catcher a bit by inserting a 1" strip of plastic cut from an empty mayo jar into the top edge, and I also attached the bag using polyresin snaps instead of a loop and button. The pockets can fit a pair of thread trimmers or small scissors, a seam ripper, and possibly a seamstress' gauge or another tool.




Gaudy Tote Bags
I was given some very bright, canvas-like fabric and had no clue what to do with it - so I combined it with a solid twill and made a bunch of totes. These are the two I made, and my two little sisters each did one too when they were here last weekend. They are fully reversible.

My Sewing Room

After almost 4 years in this house I have finally organized my sewing room. Well, not that bad - it's gone through stages. Yay for having three little sisters (10, 12, and 15) over who alternately helped me and entertained the boys today!

Finally finished bolting or folding all the fabric, filled the cupboards, got everything off the floor!! I still need to rehang the broken white board and some prints.

















For now, two small desks side by side for my serger and machine. I need a single desk, no leg between - hope to shop for that tomorrow.

















The laundry basket is wrap carriers in progress, which will hopefully be done soon. The shelf has shipping boxes on top, then UFOs, the gray box is patterns, next shelf also UFOs, bottom shelf things to recycle.


























Fabric shelving. Most of the fabric on here is on small cardboard bolts. Hatbox is trim/ribbon, on top is sewing machine cover, stuffing and batting, then finished baby gifts, the two clear boxes are scraps, interfacings, stabilizer, fusible web. Next shelf is sewing books, some projects, then satins and brocades, etc, then knits. Next shelf has cottons in the first two sections, then twills on the end. Next is flannel and cords, and randoms. Next is project bags. Snap press needs a better home, and the diaper box is all knit scraps from wraps.











Thread drawer. The drawer is just the right size for my thread organizers! They sit right up on the front ledge of the drawer, so I can see the colours.

















Next drawer serger threads, tools, bobbins.

















Notion drawer. My little sisters packaged them all carefully in small separate ziploc baggies! Elastic, ribbons, cording, etc.


























Fabric cupboard. On top is two clear boxes with finished things for my shop. Top two shelves are minky fabrics. Next two shelves are fleece, last shelf is cotton velour, bamboo jersey, hemp fleece, some micro fleece.

























Yarn cupboard. The way the shelf holes are placed, I can't get very good usage out of this cupboard, but at least it's all sorted - by fibre, mostly. Less than I thought I had, at least!

Toddler bed sheets from Queen flats

Our 3.5 year-old has been wetting a lot at night lately, which means daily sheet washings. I only have one fitted sheet that we bought with his bed, and I've been making do for too long with a flat twin sheet that shifts and rolls all over at night. When shopping for more sheets for his bed, I found that they aren't exactly cheap! So instead I scouted through the discount sheets at Superstore. Sure enough, I found these on sale, 2 sheets for $8. I picked up two queen size flats, one in a brown plaid, the other blue plaid.















Then I figured out from the size of the queen flat I could get two sheets and one pillowcase out! I folded the sheet in half, hotdog-wise, cut it down that fold, then cut each sheet to the length I needed (35" x 73" to make an 8" pocket). Then I cut a 7.5" square from each corner of the two sheets, and folded the two inside corner edges together and serged to make the pockets. Then I serged around the whole edge, zigzagged 1/4" elastic to the wrong side of the edge all the way around, folded it under, and zigzagged around again. Finished!

Out of the remainder, I made a pillowcase with inner pocket. I just cut one piece the size of the pillow, the other one about 8" longer. I finished one short edge on each piece, then matched up the pieces so there was the 8" overlap on one edge. That edge I folded back over on top of the shorter one to make the pocket, then serged down all three sides and turned it right side out.
















Two fitted sheets and one matching pillowcase from one queen sized flat!

More maternity tops

Last weekend my friend and I sewed up the Perfect Maternity and Nursing Top together. I chose the wrong fabric for this - it didn't have enough stretch, so sadly doesn't really fit me. Too bad, because I love the fabric (bargin centre score)! Also, the cami piece underneath was stretchier than the outer, so it lay kind of funny...

My mods: added length to the top (long back); shortened the band - at the full size, it was way too wide - hit me way lower than it should, so I just cut it down to about 1.5" wide instead. I will definitely try this pattern again though!




























































The other top I did was Megan's Wrap Around Maternity Top. I used a soft drapey jersey knit in blue. My only mod was to add 1.5" to the sleeve length for my long arms.

Tutorial - Adding a Faux Cami

Last week I made Megan Nielsen's Gathered Dress and Top pattern to make a dress and a top. First off, the pattern is fabulous - it's affordable ($5), easy to understand, well-illustrated, and fits well. I managed to get a dress and top out of the yardage given, as my fabric was a bit wider. I sewed them side by side assembly-line style.

When I tried them both on, I realized I didn't want to layer under this for summer, so I decided to make a faux cami. (Excuse the odd self-pics and puffy tummy this baby's already pushing out)

Dress with short sleeve option and contrasting ruffle and faux cami:


Top with kimono style sleeves (my alteration) and matching faux cami:






Basically I did half of a tube top attached to the side seams. I'm quite happy with it, as I can push the whole panel down to nurse after baby is born.

Here is my tutorial for a faux cami, in case you want to try this too!

Materials:
small amount of knit fabric to match or coordinate with your outfit
1/4" wide clear elastic

This top has raglan style sleeves, so I sewed the faux cami inside to the side seam and a little ways up the raglan sleeve. You will have to adjust for the style of sleeve your outfit has.







1. Start with the top on, and measure under the bust from side seam to side seam. To this measurement add 1.5" for ease and seam allowance. Then measure up over the bust to where you want the cami to end. This was 5.5" for me, and then I added 0.5" for seam allowance.

2. Cut a rectangle of those dimensions with the maximum stretch going side to side. Here is where you'll need to adjust for different style sleeves. You'll cut a triangular or semi-circle shape out of the top two corners of your rectangle to match your sleeve seam. Slide the fabric under your top to see how it will fit. My "rectangle" ended up being 18" across the bottom, 6" top to bottom, and 15" across the top. The side edges were 4" tall, with a straight triangle cut from each corner to the top.

3. Now you'll be sewing elastic to each of the edges. I used clear swimsuit style elastic, as it's much less bulky than a regular elastic. Cut two lengths of elastic, one about 4" or 5" shorter than the bottom edge of your rectangle, and the other about 3" shorter than your top edge.



4. Serge or zigzag the shorter piece to the top of your rectangle on the wrong side. Then fold that edge down over the elastic to the inside and zigzag it down, making a casing for it.

5. Serge or zigzag the longer piece to the bottom edge on the right side (so that it won't irritate your skin. You won't be sewing a casing for this to avoid bulk).



6. Serge or finish the triangle top edges.

7. Now try the cami under your outfit and pin it in place in the side seams. You can make any adjustments now, making it tighter if needed.



8. Turn the outfit inside out and sew the cami to the side seams and up the sleeve seams. Turn it right side out and tack through the elastic edge of the bottom corners and the dress in the side seam.



That's it - you're finished! Hopefully that was clear. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! Good luck!

Sag Cincher Tutorial

I saw Dapper Snappers on Babysteals yesterday, and thought - great idea, but no way can I shell out $20 (incl shipping) for 3 of these... Therefore, I made one myself!!














Hopefully this is a solution for my skinny dude's potty learning days (and probably longer!). Here is a tutorial if you want to try yourself!

Sag Cincher