End of the month catch up; Jalie, Ottobre

April is winding down and I haven't had a chance to blog about these makes.
First up is a "meh" sweatshirt for me. I love this pattern dearly, but the fabric was not good.

Jalie 3355 

Ignore chalk mark in middle, I haven't washed this yet. 

Size: "U" for shoulders/bust/waist to "X" at the hip.  This is exactly to my measurements.

Fabric: I have a hard time finding good quality sweatshirt fleece.  If anyone knows of a good place, let me know please!  I picked up this purple from fashionfabricsclub "Regal Purple Sweatshirt Fleece" but it is a lot heavier and stretchier than I wanted. It is more like sweatpant material and less like a sweatshirt - if that makes sense.  $6.50 per yard and I used 1 1/8 yard.
The tie-dye fabric is an amazing rayon modal knit from purpleseamstress (flash sale at $4/yard).  I love it but it was not such a good idea to use it for the cuffs/hem band because it is too loose and flowy, not good recovery. Better for a maxi...yet to come ;-)

Fit: It is hard to tell with this cruddy fabric.  The arms are super long - which I do like in cold weather.  The fit is boxy- what you would expect in a sweatshirt.

Eh, you win some, you lose some. I might wear this, I might now, we shall see. :)

Ottobre 01/2011 #33 "Meet-up" T-shirt tunic
I picked up a cute green shirt for Miss K a bit ago for super cheap.  She didn't like the shoulders and arms because they were really tight but she loved the jewel part.  I lost the receipt so I couldn't take it back.  Then I figured I would just fix the shirt by hacking off the bottom and sewing up a new shoulder/sleeve/top bodice part.

Fabric: Scraps of Laguna Stretch Cotton Jersey Heathered Knit Pepper, Kaufman for the Gray. The green is from the old shirt ;-)

Size: 146

 New Shirt

old shirt

The pants are Ottobre 06/2008 #35 "Mimmi" corduroy pants
Size 140 Plus
Fabric: 1.5 yards of nice soft eggplant corduroy with a bit of stretch. I picked this up from Mill End Textiles in August 2013 for only $2.99 a yard.

I've made them twice before and this time I widened the waistband by 1"- it is perfect now
and I lowered the front rise by 1/2".  I think the rise is still a bit high so I might take another 1/2" if I make them again.  These are still a bit loose on K but just right height-wise so I will most likely add an inch to the hem next time.

These are a nice alternative to yoga pants and K doesn't seem to mind wearing them.

It is really hard to photograph these pants. They are a bit darker, eggplant

Added buttonhole elastic to make the waist adjustable. 

I have summer on my mind and so many shorts and tanks I want to get sewn up.
How about you? Have you moved on to summer sewing?

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Spring Outfit for K (Ottobre's and Jalie)

Usually I sew what comes to mind at any given time.  I get an image in my head and off I go.  Sometimes this results in clothing pieces that do not match anything....  This time I decided I would make a whole outfit for K for Spring.

K is getting a little fuller so I wanted to try a few plus size patterns.

I started with a Tee.
Ottobre 06/2008 #36 "Tania" T-shirt. 

Size: I sewed a 134 for the neck/shoulders and 140 elsewhere.
Alterations: I changed the pattern from long to short sleeves.
Fit: It is a bit big overall but she will grow into it. I could have made this a size smaller like 128/134.
Fabric: I used a beautiful pastel butterfly cotton knit I picked up from FabricStalkers on Facebook. 1 yard $4. Yes, only $4 (it was on sale for 1/2 price).  It is a great medium weight cotton jersey.  I purchased it Feb. this year.  For the neckband I used some "Light Pink" Cotton Lycra from Purpleseamstress.

Sewing/Instructions:  T-shirts only have a few quick ways to sew them together.  I didn't read the instructions.  I sewed one shoulder, then used my binder attachment on my coverstitch to attach the neck binding. Then I sewed the other shoulder, added the sleeves, and sewed up the sides.  The last thing to do was hem; which I did with my coverstitch.

Next I moved on to sewing some pants.
Ottobre 06/2008 #35 "Mimmi" Corduroy Pants.
This is the second time I've made these.  I had an unpleasant go at it back in August 2013 where they looked cute but the fit was crazy weird. I told myself I'd never sew them again but here I am. LOL.

Size: I sewed a straight size 140 plus.
Alterations: I eliminated the pockets with flaps on the front - it created too much bulk in that area.  I drafted normal pants pockets with pocket bags.  I added buttonhole elastic into the waistband to make these have an adjustable waist.  I didn't add the belt loops because K doesn't wear a belt but she was pulling these up a lot so I might go back and add them.

Fit: Gosh they actually fit pretty darn good!  There is a bit of front crotch sagging but K likes to pull her pants waistline waaaaaaay down. She hates things near her belly button.  I will try this pattern again perhaps but reduce the crotch curve length.

Fabric: Dusty Pink Corduroy. It is lightweight and has great stretch.  I had 2.25 yards in my stash from August 2013. I bought it at Mill End for $2.99/yard.  I used 1.25 yards.  Total of $3.74. Ha! I used scraps from this failed dress  in May 2012 for the front pocket bags, it is called Jungle Gym.  The back pocket flaps were made with scraps from this cute dress in April 2013. It is called Dress up days bikes yellow.  Not thinking I put it in upside down.  Oh well. I love using scraps from previous makes because it get's K all happy.

Sewing/Instructions: Ok, I totally didn't re-read all my issues the first time and here they happened again.  The waistband is NOT drafted long enough to fit these darn pants.  I added 2" and I barely fit them on with much swearing.  The waistband is too skinny, It needs to be at least 1/2" wider.  I had forgotten how much time a zipper and pockets add to sewing; I had to split it up into a few days.  I also forgot to sew the back darts BEFORE doing the back pockets because those pockets go right up to that dart point (and slightly over).

(windy day)

(pants in action)

Other than that things were smooth.  I have sewn a good share of flies now but it has been awhile so I used the instructions for Jalie 2908.

Wisconsin Spring is unpredictable so I made K another Sweatshirt.
Jalie 3355

Size: Height of M and width of P.
Alterations: Added 1" to the hemband as it was super hard to stretch to meet the bodice fabric last time.

Fit: fabulous! I love this pattern.  I need to make myself one next

Fabric: I purchased 1 yard of this PacMan French Terry off a facebook group in July 2014 for $8.  I didn't realize until I started cutting that there were streaks from roller marks in the fabric :(  I could only squeeze the bodice front and back and hood lining out of that.  I was freaking out but then saw that the Lilac Cotton Lycra from Purple Seamstress matched almost dead on.  So I used that for the arms, cuffs, and hood.  I'd say that was another yard at $6.50. Total: $14.50

Sewing/Instructions:  I remembered to put the Kangaroo pocket on first this time.  All sewing went smoothly and I followed the instructions.  The extra inch on the hemband made all the difference.  However, the cuffs were so super small and I wasn't sure they would stretch enough to make it all around the arm.  I need to add an inch here as well next time.

And to finish off the whole outfit I made a pair of maching undies!  K will not wear store bought ones anymore so I thought this would be perfect.
Ottobre 06/2013 #33 Undies

Size: 152
Alterations: None.
Fit: the best!
Fabric: Leftovers from the t-shirt. a beautiful pastel butterfly cotton knit.  For the band and crotch lining I used some "Light Pink" Cotton Lycra from Purpleseamstress.
Sewing/Instructions: Super fast to put together. I used my coverstitch binder attachment to put on the leg bands.

Here is our new naughty puppy Link.  His personality is very opposite of our other dog Nala.  He bites, chews, sheds, and is very vocal. He will literally talk back to you when you are scolding him. He is wild.  Nala is none of those so it's been an extreme adjustment. An exhausting one too.  We are putting in this fence so he can run without being tied up; he is super fast and loves to run but we live on a decently busy highway.  The gate hasn't been attached yet for these pictures so he is tied.  He really wants to get at Nala all the time. . .

But she is smart enough to stay on the other side of the fence!

He is a rescue pup. They say he is a cross between a wiener dog and a Jack Russell Terrier. Anywhichway, he is a bundle of naughty cuteness.  He likes to give kisses and snuggle a lot too so it's not all bad!

Two weeks ago we had a really bad scare with Nala. She always has reactions to her rabies vaccines and this year was the worst.  I thought we were going to lose her.  She is only 5 and our princess.  Puppy hospital is expensive.  I never knew.  Anyway she got lots of shots and medicine and had the worst miserable week of her life.  She pulled through like a good girl and is back to her old antics.

Exciting things going on around here all the time it seems.

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Ottobre 06/2008 Corduroy Pants #35

This was a long project.  I started tracing and cutting on Monday.  I finished them today, Friday, at noon.
Of course I didn't work on them non-stop, but I took breaks when I was tired or frustrated.

Day 1 was tracing and cutting - a size 134 for Miss K ~ These are a "plus" pattern.  Since I've had problems with the sizing for her on bottoms with Ottobre I figured I'd try out a plus pattern to see if it fit.  K is 7.5 years old and wears an 8/10 in RTW.

Day 2 was spent on the pockets.  These were a lot of work.  You have the pocket and then the flap.  Each is top stitched in two rows.  My double needle would not handle the thick corduroy and heavy jean thread so I had to sew each row.... 4 pockets.... 4 flaps.  *note* stitch buttons onto pockets before attaching them to the pants, not by hand at the end as the directions state. Also, sew darts before adding pockets - this would have been easier because the pockets get all bulky and up in the way.  And finally, the line on the pattern for the pockets is for the top of the FLAP! not the top of the pocket. . . sigh.

Day 3 darts, inseams, crotch, zipper, side seams. They actually started to look like pants here and I was getting excited because they were so cute!  I was very happy that past self thought of future self and I used my zipper fly tutorial.  Yay!

Day 4 waistband.  After getting further excited with only the waistband to do I quickly became disappointed when I realized the waistband didn't even fit the pants!  They were 2 inches too short. I had to re-cut the waistband and didn't have a long enough piece of fabric left so they were in two pieces.

I also added an adjustable waist, knowing these would probably be too big for K.  This would have went way more smoothly if the waistband wasn't so skinny.  It bunched up the elastic terribly.

way too large of a rise

Verdict: way too big for K.  Rise is too high.  She complained about the button being too hard to get on and off.  I will not sew them again due to all those and the amount of time that went into these pants.  Good thing I have Jalie 3243 on its way because K told me she will not wear pants with zippers anymore. LOL. stubborn child.

Fabric: 17 Wale Corduroy in Sand. Ordered from Fabric.com on 2/24/13 - 2 yards and I used all of it.  $6.85

.~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~