A Valentine's Sewing Compulsion

I'm sure I'm not the only one who sometimes gets that overwhelming urge to make something fairly ridiculous. This shirt was a must, a need.

Originally, I hadn't planned on making Hendrix any Valentine clothing, or maybe just doing some fun stenciling on tshirt. But then I remembered that I had a yard of this hilarious personal ads fabric that my friend Delia sent to me because she didn't know what to do with it. It was 2 days ago when I realized how perfectly destined it was to be a button down shirt for my 3 year old, and I kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. But as short on time as I was, it still had to be done. 

I mean, is it borderline inappropriate? Maybe? I think it's in that sweet spot between hilarious and way too weird- the one I strive for :) There is nothing obscene on it, just some double entendres. And I figure there is no better time than before he learns to read, for clothing him in an outdated form of texty loneliness. (Do they even have these in papers anymore? Or is it just Craigslist now?)

The sewing is really rushed since I finished it around midnight last night. Threads hanging out, blue marks still all over it, the inside seams a bit of a mess. But I'm so happy I got it done in time for him to wear to school today. It would have been a waste after today!

The pattern is the Oliver & S Sketchbook Shirt in a size 5. He's also wearing his Oliver & S After School Pants from the Ferris Bueller Film Petit. He loves the shirt and totally thinks he such a big boy in it. That shirt is not for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed making it. It's just a lot of steps, some a little finicky, but the end result is just so great. And it's my practice for this month's Film Petit, which will need another Sketchbook shirt. (Oh no, did I totally just give away the movie?)

Smoldering. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

(get more Arrested Development Valentines here. and awesome Wes Anderson ones here.)

A baby dress

But not for my poor neglected daughter. Remember that time I made her a dress a week before she was born? I'm really glad I had that pregnant motivation because I haven't sewn her a thing since. She just grows out of them too fast! And I'm not saying that in the drippy emotional mother sense, I'm just sayin, she literally grows out of them quicker than I can make them. So, Miss Elsie, you are punished with the wearing of generic onesies for all that healthy growing you are doing. Why do children's clothing brands feel the need to put little sayings on every single item of clothing? It can't just have cute purple flowers on it, it also has to say "daddy's favorite" or "silly-dilly little dumplin puddin-pop face of sugary-sweet bunny-bunny hop land."

Anyway, I made this dress a few weeks ago for one of my bestest friends who is having her first baby this month. It's Rae's Itty Bitty baby dress which is really fun to make. And the fabric I found at Joann (gasp!) on clearance. Definitely the cutest stuff I've found there in a while. Or maybe I just don't go there anymore. I'm a total quilt shop snob now, I won't deny that.  

Speaking of fabric snobbery, I'm doing an echino swap. So.... that's pretty awesome. I will end up with 28 amazing Echino prints in 10" squares. I'm thinking I won't even cut into them, just make a square patchwork quilt. We'll see, but I'm pretty excited to get my hands on them. (If you don't know Echino, here's a lot of the prints.)

And here's a peek at my current quilting obsession project. I really need to learn how to survive on four hours of sleep. Time to get back at it, this one has a looming deadline. 

Oliver & S Sew Along- The Details & Schedule

<br /> <a href="http://alittlegray.blogspot.com/p/oliver-sew-along_25.html"><img src="http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx147/alittlegray/blog%20stuff/OSsew-alongbutton2.jpg" /></a></div>

Here's the idea:

We are sewing through the amazing and adorable book, Little Things to Sew by Liesl Gibson. But I'm no slave-driver, so let's do this casually, mmkay? We are going to do one project a  month. 

If you don't like the project I've picked for the month, that's fine. Make something you'd rather make from the book. I have picked these based on what I think I will use more. For instance, I'm not putting the tutu on the schedule because there 189 different ways to make a tutu, and besides that, my daughter is only 3 months old and I'm not bothering to make her one until she can stand up and shake her booty in it. Also, I love the bento box, but it wouldn't get much use around here because I don't have any school age kids. But if you would rather make that then the backpack, go for it. And I know a lot of people have already made the bucket hat we are starting with, so feel free to replace that project. Or just make more hats! Point is, we are all building skills through this book and looking at each other's fantastic creations. 

And of course, if you can only join in one or two months, that's fine too. I'm including a smaller project for December, but please take a break there for other Christmas crafting if you need too. The key here is fun, not stress!

Here's the schedule: 

August- Reversible Bucket Hat

September- Penguin Backpack

October- Bias Trimmed Apron

November- Puppet Theater (for Christmas gifts!)

December- Cozy Winter Hood (or take a break)

January- Bear Carrier

February- Play Town 

March- Explorer Vest or Red Riding Hood

April to June Finale- Travel Quilt

Here's the rundown:

At the beginning of the month, I will post my fabric choices for the project, as well as some other options and materials you will need to gather. A week after that, I will post pictures of my version being made. This book has great diagrams, but we have all been pretty spoiled by picture tutorials on the crafty webs, so sometimes it's nice to see the trickier steps in 3D. I'll also share any tips I've learned that might be useful as you make yours- or ask you for your help, I definitely don't know it all! After each month, I'll link everything back to this page so it's all easy to find. 

At the end of the month, I'll have one of those link parties and we can all show off what we made together. I'm not going to start a flickr group or anything because there already is an Oliver & S Patterns group. But if you do add your pictures to that group, it might be fun to link back to our sew-along in your descriptions so that other fans of the patterns can join in. The more the merrier. 

Participate:

Like I said, we'll have link parties. I've grown to appreciate these things as long as people actually mingle! Don't just post your project and go away. Visit other people's posts too and leave them some love. Get to know people who like sewing the same types of things you do. What good is a party if you don't meet people?

Also, Let me know in a comment at any point if you are joining in. I'll add everyone's blog or flickr stream to a list of links on my sidebar. And grab that button up there (that I spent way too long figuring out the code for) so that more people can join as the sewing goes along. 

Once in a while I'll do a round up post here of some of your projects as well. So if you don't have a blog or anything, email your pics to jessica@fyrefly.com so I can show them off for you. 

Lastly, please please don't be shy in the comments on these posts. Tell us what fabric you are going to use. Tell us what you learned as you made it or how you did it differently. We want to gain from everyone's knowledge and inspiration, not just mine!

Ok, I think that's it...

Thanks so much for sewing with me, I'm very excited to get started!



*******This just in! You can get 20% off the book directly from the Oliver & S site with a coupon code. Go here for details, and order your book.********

(This exact same post is up there on that new Sew-Along page so you always know where to find it. Start leaving your blog links below so I can start the list and we can all meet you!)

Refashion: How to add a waistband to a top.

So I'm not one of those people that fits into their old jeans 2 weeks after having their baby. The truth is, I'm a normal person who has a pretty good second-baby-jelly-belly going on, and I will struggle this whole summer in half-assed attempts to lose it. (And if you are one of those other kinds of people, the rest of us hate you. Just sayin.) Right now, I'm putting more energy into dressing to hide the belly. 

I finally went shopping last week since I had absolutely no clothing that fit me and was suitable to leave the house in. Time to stop dressing in pajamas. I went to Nordstrom Rack (awesome) and bought several loose fitting racer-backs. This is because I don't wear nursing bras, which suck, I just wear sports bras. Maybe you didn't care to know that, but it's my nursing tip of the day I guess. 

For some reason, I bought this one without trying it on and without noticing that it was really more dress-length than top-length. It was like something that would look cute over leggings on a 12 year old. Hm, no. Rather than take it back, I took the risk and fixed it myself by adding a low fitted waistband. Now it says, "Yes there is a blouse-y pooch here, but it's totally on purpose. Duh." 

The process was pretty simple:

First I tried it on and figured out where I wanted the finished product to end on me. (Remember to cut that top layer lower than you think since it will blouse up some.) I stuck a pin there and then cut it all the way around, using a stripe as my guide. Then I cut again a few inched up from the bottom hem. This will be the waistband and it's already hemmed for you. 

The middle strip that's leftover you can discard or use for something else, like an embellishment around the top. I'm not huge into embellishments though. (What? Can you even be a craft blogger without sticking fabric flowers on everything?)

Next I put that bottom strip back on around my hips and pinned it up to be more fitted. Take it off and turn it inside out, draw a line where you want the fabric taken in to, and sew along that line. I made sure to keep the stripes and hem lined up. Then cut off that excess and finish the seam. 

Here is what the waistband looks like right side out at this point. 

Next, I went back to the top piece and sewed a gathering stitch all around the bottom. If you don't know how to do this, turn your stitch length up to the longest on your machine, and turn your tension up. Also, make sure to leave long thread tails on either side of this so that you can adjust how gathered it is. You will likely have to "un-gather" some. 

Turn the waistband tube inside out again and slip it over the bottom of the main piece. (See how the hem is at the top? See how I have blue toenails right now?) Now you will have to un-gather evenly to match up these two pieces and pin together all the way around.

It is helpful to use a lot of pins for this one, maybe even more than this.

Now sew, just making sure you use a big enough seam allowance to catch that gathering stitch inside. You want the needle to be to the left of the gathering stitch. Once you're done, pull out that gathering stitch and zigzag or serge the seam. Boo-yah.

So I've basically just undone all the damage the shirt does by having horizontal stripes to begin with... whatever, I like it. Time to eat ice cream for lunch :)

KCWC Day...um... so far.

I managed to squeeze in some sewing for KCWC on 2 days this week... that's it. But I don't feel bad because, A) I have a newborn and I require naps, and 2) I've made a lot of articles of clothing for both the kids lately, it's pretty much all I've been sewing.

I made H two pairs of summer pajamas. I got the fleece really cheap at Joann's and it's been sitting around for a while, so I needed to use it. I'm not crazy about it at all, but it's good enough for PJ shorts. Except, maybe it isn't? The selvedge of the fabric had a lovely little message saying it isn't intended for children's sleepwear. I'm such a rebel.

Oooooh. Now I remember why I usually just photograph the clothes I make hanging on the wall. It's because 2 year olds are impossible to take photos of. Especially when it's always rainy. And also, they hid your real camera in a dresser drawer for two days and you only have your phone to work with.

No, this isn't a potty training activity. I promise that brown thing is just a felt kiwi. 

By the way, did you know fleece refuses to stick to fusible webbing? Me neither. We do now. 

And of course, he's still rocking his Easter seersucker. Look at those muscular toddler legs!

And just because she's pretty adorable, and doesn't want to be left out...This is where she slept at my parents' house last weekend, in a little cradle my grandfather made for me as a baby. Presh.

Piggies & Lips Sighting

I was so excited when the lovely Lina let me know that she used my applique pattern on an outfit she made for her daughter.

I was even more excited when I looked and saw how adorable it turned out! Her work is gorgeous.

I think the coolest part about this is that she lives in Germany (I think) and she found inspiration all the way from Ohio on my little blog :)

If you go look around her beautiful blog, there is a Yahoo button on the right side that will translate it to English for you. It's actually pretty hilarious to read the literal translation. Thanks so much for sharing Lina!

My Fave Spring Tops

I wish I could have found time to enter something into the Spring Top Sewalong, but I have my reasons. (Their names are Hendrix and Elsie and mastitis. Guess which one has overstayed its welcome.) But I looked through all of them and picked out my favorites, just for fun. I really want to start making more of my own clothes. Some of these aren't necessarily my style, but I still think they are really beautiful and inspiring. Well done ladies.


              

          

               

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What are you hoping to make for yourself this season?