Last Sewings of 2015

Here are the last things I’ve sewn in 2015.  I made them all in the last week and hoped I could get pictures before the new year! 

Pattern: I just couldn’t stay away from the Patterns for Pirates patterns.  I wanted to try the Henley.  It is a bit more fitted than the Raglan so I went with my actual measurements.  I cut and sewed a size L in the bust/waist and XL in the hips.  I sewed the placket neck, long sleeves hemmed, and curved hemline.  Of course this pattern has a ton of different options to sew, like all P4P patterns. 



Instructions and Sewing: The instructions are great but I was just slightly confused with one step of the placket.  You know how I struggle with those plackets!  I still think Jalie’s 2562 incturctions for a placket are the best yet.  The curved hem was very sharp too.  Usually there is a small flat part at the hip which makes it easy to turn up the hem.  This one met at an angle and was a bear to hem.  I had to snip my fabric just to get it to turn.  I’d modify this curve a bit if I sew it again. 



Fabric: The very softest French Terry I’ve ever felt.  Wearing this fabric is like wearing a cloud!  2 yards of Navy Two Tone French Terry Fabric from Stylish Fabric.  Purchased Nov 2015 for $14.80.  I thought it would be much thicker and have 4 way stretch.  It only has 2 way and is really thin, but still super soft.  87% Polyester 9% Rayon 4% Spandex mix.  I can’t recommend Stylish Fabric as a place to buy though.  They took forever to get my fabric to me and most of it was so thin. 



Thoughts: I love the feel of this top.  I love the color.  I’m not sure if it looks to much like Pajamas to be worn in public though.  I also have a bit of pulling across my butt so I need to add a 1/2” of fabric there next time.  I don’t want to take it off, however, so it must be a win!




Pattern: The P4P raglan strikes again!  This is the 3rd one I’ve sewn this month.  This shows how much I love this pattern!



Instructions and sewing: You can read my thoughts on the instructions in my other two posts: elephant raglan and hooded raglan.  I added 2” to the length.  This one is also a size M bust/waist to an XL at the hip.  I used the curved hem, long sleeves with cuffs, and round neckline.  The curve on this hem is perfect and I had no issues turning it up to hem it.  I slimmed 3 inches off each side seam from nothing at bust to 3” at waist to nothing at hip.  I like the slimmer fit. 



Fabric: 1.25 yards of Teal/Purple Print Double Knit, 97% Polyester 3% Lycra; purchased from fashionfabricsclub in Oct 2015 for $6.19 and 1 yard of Peacock Blue Solid Cotton Spandex Knit from Girl Charlee, Aug 2015 for $6.50.  Total for shirt: $12.69



Thoughts: I love this one just as much as the other two I made.  I like that this one is long enough to wear my leggings with!  My hooded one was just a tad too short for leggings.  I feel that leggings aren’t pants, and my tops must be long enough to cover my butt to wear the leggings, lol. 


Next I made a ton (7) Pairs of Jalie 3242 underwear for myself with fabric scraps.  I found this blog post showing me how to have the front and back crotch seams enclosed so I modifed my pattern for this.  I love them all but the bird one (yellow) has to be my fav. pair.  Yes, I used my silhouette to vinyl my underwear!  I’m addicted, what can I say : )  Anyway, I’ve made this pattern numerous times and I just love the fit.  They are so comfortable and actually cover my whole backside.  The best part is that they do not ride at all.  I used fold over elastic on all the leg seams and waists. 




Miss K received two new pairs of Ottobre 01/2009 #29 Saija Sweatpants.  This is her favorite pants pattern.  I think if I counted right this is the 8th and 9th pair I’ve made for her.  I sized up to the 152, reduced the front rise by 1” and shortened by 2” in length.  I use 2” wide elastic inside the yoga waistband to help hold them up. 



Fabric: 1 yard of Bright Purple Velour purchased Oct 2015 from fashionfabricsclub for $3.75; and 1 yard of “mouse” gray velour purchased Dec 2014 from Natures Fabrics for $9.




And Mr. T received a new pair of pajama shorts from the pattern he loves most Ottobre 06/2011 #37 Green Check Boxer Shorts



These shorts have been made 10 times before!
Bear Flannel and Space Nov 2014
Bart Simpson and Perry the Platypus May 2014
Long pjs pants and fuzzy shorts Jul 2013
Altered to shorts with piped pockets Jun 2013
Terry Cloth pj shorts Feb 2013
Space pj shorts with mock fly Jan 2013
Blue gingham shorts with mock fly Jan 2013

Fabric: 1.5 yards Pokemon Characters Blue Cotton Woven.  From Hancocks in Sept. 2015 for $7.71 on sale. 

I sized up to a 164 this time and added 1” to the waistband to fit in my 2” elastic.  They were a bit low before this and is rear was starting to show.  Now they fit great, if a little bit to grow into. 




So that’s it for 2015.  My next post will list my stats for the year and such.   I'm giddy with excitement to look over all my charts and data because I'm a numbers geek like that :D

Simplicity 1068 Skirt and some odds and ends

I received this really funky fabric in one of my Fabricmart mystery bundles. Miss K and I disagreed on who should get to use it. It is one of those crazy fabrics where I never would have bought it for myself but I love it in person. 

I wanted to use it for a Maxi skirt but was too lazy to draft one myself.  I picked up Simplicity 1068 a few weeks back and I like the other options the pattern has too.

Size: My measurements put me in a size 16 waist, 20 hip. Looking at the ease I decided to use a size 16 waist/18 hip. 

Seen here with my New Look 6470 Tank Top

Adjustments: I had to taper in 1” on each side of the bottom of the skirt for lack of fabric width. When I held the pattern up to my body I thought the side slit would be too revealing so I lowered it by 3” – not a good idea.   I forgot to add the waistband height when holding it up. The slit ends up only going to the knee and makes walking easier.  Now that I’ve lowered it, walking is doable, but not as easy as it could be, lol.  For future reference I’ll leave the slit where it is.

Instructions:  This is a super easy skirt to sew. I suggest serging each piece separately, then sewing them together, this makes the slit easy to sew. Anyway, you sew both sides, sew the slit, and add the waistband.  Very fast and easy.  The “one-hour pattern” lives up to it’s name.

Fabric: 1.75 yards of Cheetah knit with ruffles from Fabricmart bundle. Only $2.01!! Yay!  I underlined the skirt with some White Polyester Knit Lining purchased in May 2014 from Hobby Lobby, 1.5 yards for $5.24. Total for the skirt: $7.25.  I was not able to line up the ruffles because I used literally ever bit of fabric I had.  The pattern calls for 1 3/8 yards but extra fabric is needed to match designs, stripes, etc. Plus my fabric was not 60” wide, either.

Thoughts: I absolutely love this skirt.  It is super funky and fun to wear. I have to be extra careful to make sure the puppy doesn’t jump up on me though because this fabric, while with ruffles, has a mesh-like under layer – which snags easily.  I think I’ll try some of the other views with this pattern, too. 

I also made yet another tank from the New Look 6470 Pattern. 

I used View D but omitted the cross over.  This tank is the same as my Gray and White Burnout Tank. I made no changes from what I sewed for that one. You can see the shoulder gather much better in this solid tank though.

I used 1 yard of Bright Red Jersey Knit, cotton/lycra, from fashionfabricsclub. I just purchased it in June for $3.95.  It is pretty lightweight and soft.  I’m not really in love with this top like I am with the gray and white one.  I do wear it often though. 

 

And lastly, I thought I’d share a fail with you. This is a fabric fail, not a pattern fail.  I picked up 2 yards of this cute red apple rib knit fabric in February from Fabricstalkers on Facebook for $8. I wanted to test out McCall’s 7079 for Miss K. 

The pattern reminds me of a skater dress, for girls.  K does not like any cutouts on her back so I used View F.  I cut and sewed a size 10 for the bodice, 12 for the skirt. I used fold over elastic (but didn’t fold it over) in the waistline instead of clear or regular elastic.  I find this much softer on the skin.

The dress would have been great, I think, but the fabric stretched all out and does not have good recovery.  It just hangs on her and isn’t very cute.  The fabric keeps growing. I did not even bother to hem it.  I should not have used a rib knit for this pattern.  So, this dress has been retired to the pajama pile. And I’ll try the pattern in a proper fabric, jersey, next time.

I made K a pair of undies with the scraps of this and she loves those. 

Ottobre 06/2013 #33 Undies

Size: 152 
Fit: the best! I used my cover stitch binder attachment to put on the leg bands

Of course I could not leave out Mr. T. So I whipped him up a pair of Jalie 3242 boxers from scrap fabric.

Size: Q (or EU 155, or US 13). They fit perfectly.

Happy Summer, it’s hot out there!

Loose Ends ~ McCall's 6948; and a fail

I have a confession to make. I hate having UFO's.
I don't like leaving things unfinished. It gets under my skin.

I've had a few patterns sitting around in various stages of completion since August? September? Who knows but they've been bugging me!  It is so unlike me! I like to finish a project all the way before I start the next.

I finally got around to that pile this week.  I'd like to start the new year off with a clean slate.

McCall's 6948
After I made K her red maxi sundress in July 2014 She asked me to make a high/low hem dress.  I purchased this beautiful cotton fabric sometime in 2014 from fabric.com and cut out the pattern in a size 10 back in August.  I used a purple cotton lycra for the bodice.

When I went to put the skirt together I realized I had cut the front part backwards. The fold was on the wrong side!!! Boo. I had no more fabric left and couldn't find anymore to purchase.  I was deflated and left the project.  I couldn't believe I made such an silly mistake!

Well I went back and finished it now.  I just cut up the fold and left that stinking line right there in the center front. It is what it is.  K loves this dress anyway and hopefully she won't notice.  K noticed immediately and has banned the dress to the get rid of pile.  I'm going to sneak it into her closet and pray she forgets and loves it in the summer.

It is a very pretty dress.  I normally do not like high/low hems but this looks pretty on K.  The bodice is big for her but she has time to grow into it.
Fabric: Laguna Stretch Cotton Jersey Knit Amethyst, Kaufman that has been in my stash since March 2014. 1/2 yard at $3, skirt is 100% cotton woven, it was simply called Vines Multi, 2 yards for $11.16. Total for dress: $14.16

Jalie 3242
I also had these undies cut out for me in the purple cotton lycra leftovers from K's bodice from the dress but never sewed them up.  I used binding for the leg elastic though I think I should have done them a bit tighter.  I used regular picot elastic for the top and sewed right on top of it with the coverstitch. After wearing them a day, the leg elastic does get a tad loose over time.  Next time I will cut the strips at a full 2" so there is some pull in the binder attachment which makes them smaller. If I do 1 3/4" the binding goes on flat and nice for necklines but with not much pull. At 2" it has nice pull, but wrinkles the fabric. I hope that made sense.

I just love the fit and coverage of the Jalie underwear!

Now I just have 4 more pairs of Jalie's to sew up for K and my pile will be clear! :)

And on to the fail. Not really a fail, fail. But a time wasted fail.  LOL.

K loves my elephant Renfrew and asked me to make her a top like that.  So I spent some time drafting out a cowl and modifying two Ottobre tops to get to here.  Looks cute right? like a baby Renfrew (minus the cuffs and hem because this was a fast "trial".  K put it on to test it out and hated the cowl.  She said she felt choked, even though it is loose on her neck. So, no go. I'm just glad I didn't cut into nice fabric but used crappy $1.99/yard fabric!!  You live, you learn.  (still, it would have been super cute on her). Sigh.

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

Baby Sewing ~ Ottobre 03/2014 #2 & #3 and randomness

No, no babies on the horizon in this household.  My nephew is turning 1 on Friday and my DD wanted to take him an outfit.  I've never sewn a little one's outfit.  I settled on the Baboon jersey pants from the 03/2014 Ottobre and a matching "Spot Fish" T-shirt.  How cute are they?

Little clothing doesn't take much yardage but the pieces are much smaller to work with!  I didn't like the way I first attached the neck binding on the tee so I picked it off and then attached it the way I usually do.

Tee:
View A - size 86cm - 1/2 yard stash
Nothing new or exciting to report on the Tee - I think I can sew them in my sleep now.  The instructions were good, I read through them after I finished sewing it up. I used my cover stitch for the hems and to top stitch the bindings on the neck and sleeves.  I also added Fusible stay tape to the shoulders.

Pants:
View A - size 86 - 1/2 yard total between the blue and contrast fabrics
The pants were fun to sew (insert sarcasm). OMG. Attaching the butt circles was a pain because you are putting one concave curve into one convex curve - like sleeves but more severe.  I top stitched the circle seams down.  I didn't know what - and didn't care to read slowly - the instructions were asking for the leg cuffs.  I simply folded them in half wrong sides together and sewed them R sides together to the legs - like I do for bindings. Then I cover stitched the seams down.  I did this before sewing the legs together.
I omitted the drawstring because an active 1 yr old boy may get into trouble with it.  I serged the elastic onto the waist, in the round, then flipped it over to the inside and top stitched with the cover stitch.

They turned out really cute, but look big.  I hope he enjoys them. (he is a large 1 yr old so that is why I went for the 86cm size).

back

front

Fabric:
Blue: Laguna Stretch Cotton Jersey Knit Royal, by Kaufman. I picked it up from Fabric.com in Feb 2014; 1/2 yard was $3.49
White: Fast Food Cotton Knit bought from Fabricfairy.com Feb 2013; 1/2 yard was $4.50
Total for the outfit: $7.99

In other randomness, I have been making a back to school sewing list and one of the priorities is Underwear for K.  She now only wears the Jalie 3242 ones I sew.  I cut out 12 pairs and managed to get 6 sewn so far.  I took to putting the elastic on top of the waist part and cover stitching them down, like I've seen in RTW ones before. This was much faster and wears all the same.

 The green floral is from an outgrown tank top, The pink is from an outgrown tee, and the blue are from scraps from K's maxi dress.

The oranges are scraps from K's T-shirt dress, the birds are from her PJ shirt - now too small, and the wild black and white are scraps from her T-shirt.   I estimate about 3/8 yard for each 2 pairs. (1 pair needs 11" high by 24" long) So, 1 1/8 yards were used for these 6.  (3/8 from stash, 3/8 from new fabric, and 3/8 from old clothes)

Mesewing:
I have another pair of Thurlows altered, cut out, and ready to be sewn up and I'm going to be working on a Plantain too.

I'm in my "finals" week of class here so who knows when I'll get to them.  I've been very stressed and it has aggravated my chronic health issues, which in turn zaps all my energy to do anything. I'm sure I just need to get through this class (1.5 more weeks!) and the 12 page paper this week..... and I'll be less stressed and feeling better.
Nala thinks so anyway

August Totals:
(stash is anything purchased before this year)
Stash used: 7/8 yards
Fabric Out: 2 1/8 yards
Fabric In: 0 yards

Totals for the year to date:
Stash sew this year: 35.75 yards
Fabric out in 2014: 129.5 yards
Fabric in 2014: 141.25 yards

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~