Back to School Sewing

I had to take a short break from me-sewing to make up some things for Miss K for back to school.  I spent two nights going through all my Ottobre magazines and picking out things to make her.  I have a huge stack on my kitchen table that I’ve slowly been tracing and cutting fabric for.  I finished up these things over the last two weeks. 

Ottobre 04/2012 #28 “Fancy Mix long-sleeve T-shirt”

Size 146 height and for shoulders/bust, 152 waist. 

I made this once before back in Oct 2013, but it was too big at the time.  I have Miss K’s size down to a T now with Ottobre.  This was a fast sew after attaching the yoke and the bit of gathering.  K loves it and it’s a great pattern to mix up scraps with for the yoke and sleeve ends.  I used clear elastic to do the gathering and my coverstitch for the hems and neckline.

Fabric: 1 yard hot pink/black leopard spots on grey, cotton lycra from Purple seamstress.  Purchased in Nov 2014 for $10. The pink is a Hot Pink Jersey Knit, 50% Rayon 48% Polyester 2% Lycra, from fashionfabricsclub.  Purchased in Jan 2015. I only used a tiny bit of this, we’ll say 1/4 yard for $1.

 

Total Cost of shirt: $11.00

 

Ottobre 06/2012 #30 “Sulka Jersey Dress”

Size 146 height and for shoulders/bust, 152 waist/hip

I’ve also made this pattern once before in Sept 2014 as a leopard dress for K.  This time I wanted to use some super cute sweater knit.  Last time the sleeves were a bit tight so I added 1/2” to the width.  I also had to underline the dress with tricot because the sweater knit was too loose and wanted to grow every which way.  It was pretty sheer as well.  I used clear elastic for the waist gathering.  I was silly and attached it to the “right” side of the skirt so when I attached it I had bits of it showing.  When I went back to serge a larger seam allowance it chopped off most of the elastic so the waistline is a bit saggy.  It doesn’t want to hold it’s shape well.  Sad, because this fabric is so pretty.  Luckily K didn’t notice. 

Fabric: 2 yards, Sunset Stripe Sweater Knit, 95% Polyester 5% Lycra. Purchased June 2015 from fashionfabricsclub for $7.90. 1 yard of tricot Purchased May 2014 from fabric.com, $4.78

Total Cost of dress: $12.68

 

Ottobre 03/2012 #34 “Jungle Stripes Jersey Dress”

Size 146 height and for shoulders/bust, 152 waist/hip

This is a favorite pattern of Miss K’s.  It is a super comfy knit dress and has pockets, so perfect for her.  I’ve made this a few times

1. Yellow Summer Dress
2. Pink Thermal Nightgown
3. Pink and Black Stripe Dress
4. Pink Flannel Nightgown

K wears them until they are worn-out (actually she still wears the yellow one for bed, and I just took away the other pink/black one).  K wanted me to re-make the pink/black striped one because it is her favorite.  This time around I omitted the pleats in the neckline because they don’t look very nice when finished and create too much bulk at the neckline.  I simply smoothed out the neckline when tracing, folded it over for a 1/2” hem, and inserted 15” of 1/4” elastic to make it a peasant neck.  Easy and only took about 1.5 hours of sewing.

Fabric: 1 yard of Hot Pink/Black Stripe Ponte de Roma Double Knit, 97% Polyester 3% Lycra, purchased two weeks ago just for this project from fashionfabricsclub, $4.95. This fabric washed, cut, and sewed like a dream.

Total cost of dress: $4.95 and K is super happy so win-win.

Awesome stripe matching, even on the pockets!

 

Seaside Notions “Point Mugu Maxi Skirt”

Size 12Y in waist and 10Y in height.

I was able to pattern test for this maxi skirt, and K loves her maxi skirts.  It went together pretty straightforward.  I didn’t care for the interfacing in the waistband (in my opinion knits should not have interfacing where they are required to stretch), so I omitted that.  I was testing the regular skirt, there is a cute ruffle option you can add to it as well.  The skirt is for woven or knits.  K loved how it turned out and I am interested in trying a woven version.  The size chart was spot on, too.

Fabric: 1 yard of this blue floral 70s look cotton lycra, purchased May 2015 from FabricMart, $2.40 and 1.5 yards of light pink cotton lycra, purchased Feb 2015 from purpleseamstress, $9.75

Total Cost of skirt: $12.15

You can view/purchase the pattern here if you are interested.

 

I still have 2 more tops ready to sew up for K and I’d like to make her some pants before I can stop with the school sewing. 

 

Can you believe Fall is almost here?

Ottobre 01/2009 #28 "Marja" Jersey Tunic

hippie flare? check
bell sleeves? check
loose fit? check
stash fabric? check. even better!

That is the mix for a great top for Miss K.
I had a blast making this.

The top is from Ottobre 01/2009 #28 "Marja" Jersey Tunic.  I also made the sweats for K that sort of "go with" this top in the magazine photos.  She's even wearing them in this photo shoot!

In the past I've had trouble getting the sizing down for Miss K in the Ottobres.  She is 128 in height but her measurements are all over the place.  She is not skinny, and not chunky.  Her chest and waist measure the same, and then she is cursed with my larger rear.  I measured every piece before tracing this to ensure it would fit and not be too small or too big.

I ended up tracing and sewing a 134 in height and a 146 in width.  There is a bit of growing room, but I'm just fine with that.

(loving the bell sleeves!)

I took my time sewing, going slowly and taking breaks when I needed to.  I sewed it over the course of 3 days.  It was quite relaxing.  I switched up all my thread (both machine and serger) to Gutermann.  It runs/sews and seems to last much longer than the "crappier" thread I was using. Plus the lint is far less.  I also switched up to sewing with a zig zag stitch set at 2.5 length and 0.5 width.  just a slight bit of zag to ensure a bit of stretching.  After I stitched all seams I then serged - sort of a way to double reinforce seams. These suckers aren't popping!

I followed the instructions - crazy concept, I know.  The sleeve heads had about 2.5-3" of easing to do. Yuk.  I chose to gather the tops instead.  I like how they look with the gathering at the waist.  I did the binding on the pockets as directed but the neckline I finished the way I like.  My twin needle finished up the hems quite nice - still on the zigzag stitch.  I also used fusible stay tape for the shoulders instead of elastic tape; however, I used elastic tape for the rest as suggested.

(a bit of room to grow still - 1.5 inches each side I'd say - K loves it loose)

Fabric: Stash fabric! Yes! Though not too long ago ordered.  I picked this up from fashionfabricsclub on 10/24/13. 1.5 yards that shrunk when washed to 1 3/8 yards.  It is a lightweight, cotton, pink, floral jersey knit in 60" wide.  $5.56 total.  I bought it exactly for this project and I'm happy I actually used it as such!  The "official" description: Soft Pink, Fuschia, Orchid, Yellow, Dark Brown & White Small floral print Jersey Knit fabric This lightweight knit is great for shirts or a child's casual dress 100% Cotton 60" wide Machine washable

Outcome:
Freaking love it! Can I have one? The neckline is a bit wide on K so I will most likely reduce her bodices to a 140 width from here out. Otherwise everything else is perfect.  She's already requested another one in fox fabric.

I'll leave you with a picture of the "redneck" fun the kids had with dad today.  Yep, that is the lawn mower pulling the sled.  hahahaha

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~
Total Stash yards used in 2014 so far: 4.5

L/S Top, Leggings, and Nightgown for K ~ all Ottobre

I managed to pop out a few things for Miss K while I was not feeling well this last week.
Since the weather is turning she is in need of longer leggings.

I went with Ottobre 04/2013 #30  and made 2 pairs in size 146

I don't even know what this Pink Knit is made of but it reminds me of runner's pants.  I have no clue what they are made of but they have minimal stretch.  K loves them.  The material sewed up wonderfully even when I thought it would fight me.  They are really quite long as seen in the above pics.

For the second pair (the bottom blue) I folded out 2 inches to make them shorter. These are out of a very soft and stretchy pointelle knit.  Too soft and stretchy.  K wore them to school this week and when I picked her up they were very baggy and drooped around her ankles.  Cute fabric, Cute pattern: bad together. Sad because I really loved the blue knit and was saving it for cute leggings.

I also made Ottobre 04/2012 #28 "Fancy Mix" Long sleeve T-shirt in size 146.  This was also huge on her.  Maybe she shrunk on me? Lol.  I usually make her the 146 and they fit fine.  Anyway, the fabric again was my enemy.  The cute floral print is slinky but really soft.  It is not good quality.  I picked it up on the remnant table at Mill End Textiles for $3.95 - also the pink rib knit I picked up for the same at the same place.  It is not a good rib knit either.  It stretches all out of shape and doesn't want to sew well.

I put twill tape in the shoulder seams.  Used elastic to gather as the instructions stated.  I made the bottom parts of the sleeves cuffs instead of hemming them.  Thankfully I had my order of WonderTape arrive and could use it on the bottom hem or that would have been wonky as heck.

I really love this cute pattern but it is

1. too big
2. wrong fabrics - I need something more stable and less slinky

I will attempt it again sometime soon.  

Finally, I also used some flannel I had sitting out and ready with Ottobre 03/2012 #34

I originally wanted to use a Simplicity pattern but didn't have the yardage. Now this Ottobre pattern is for knits but I knew it had a lot of give in it so I went for it with the woven.  I eliminated the pleats and just used the elastic for the neck to have it all gathered.  I omitted the sleeve elastic because K feels "trapped" in it. 

I love this pattern as evidenced by the 4 times I've now used it! 

1. Yellow Summer Dress
2. Pink Thermal Nightgown
3. Pink and Black Stripe Dress
4. and now Pink Flannel Nightgown

terrible lighting and you can see what the cable guy did to our outlet.... we have plaster walls

Sometimes my productivity surprises me ;-) even if my attempts are not completely successful. 

~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~