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 04/2012 #29 Pinafore Dress (aka. the jumper)

This has been on my to-do list for a bit now and I'm glad I was able to cross it off said list.  Since K needs bottoms, and this used all stash, it is a major win!

Front                                                               Back

 

Ottobre 04/2012 #29 labeled as a Pinafore Dress, but I'm thinking it's what American's call a Jumper? Or maybe just midwesterners? or my family in general? lol. I don't know but I don't ever recall "Pinafore" to be in my vocabulary.  Either way it is a great little jumper, though a bit difficult and time consuming to sew.

Inside back                                                     Inside front

 

There are 6 pattern pieces that make a total of 10 fabric pieces: a front and back piece (not on the fold), 2 pocket pieces, 2 straps, and a front and back facing (on the fold).  I used this super soft 21 wale corduroy that I picked up in August 2013 at mill end textiles for only $2.99/yard. (Why did they have to go out of business!!!!).  It is "Happy Together Floral" by Timeless Treasures. I had 2 yards of it, this project used 1.5 yards of the main fabric and about 1/2 yard for the facings and pockets.  Those are cotton and older stash (oct 2012) leftover from this skirt of mine.  It is called "Cheep Talk" and I love those little birds.

I traced a size 134cm for K height wise as well as from the waist up.  I graded to a 146cm from the waist down. She is an 8/10 top and 10 bottom in RTW.  I held up the paper to K and realized it would be short so we decided to add 1" to the hem.

 

Things were going smoothly until I reached the pocket.  It was confusing in the directions. I unpicked about 3 times before I just did it how I thought it should be done. I'm adding those steps here for future reference or for anyone else that has trouble with it.

1. Sew pocket to back piece along entire pocket.

 2. Understitch in small area between markings only.

3. Pin front piece to back piece R sides together (with pocket piece out of the way). Sew down from armpit to top of small marking in pocket area as shown. Stop. Then sew from second opening down to hem.  Do not sew in between the small markings.

 4. Fold Front jutting out piece under, press, and mark on front the rectangle to sew. You are top stitching this from the front side on the front piece. Keep back piece and pocket out of the way while sewing this front piece.

 Here is what it looks like from the underside once you are to this point.

 5. Carefully flatten and pin pocket piece to front piece.

6. Flip to the front side and use the pocket pattern piece to trace your outline of the pocket onto the front piece.  You will topstitch this line around to attach the pocket piece to the front piece.

 Here is what it looks like from the inside after you have topstitched (I used the coverstitch)

 And here is what it looks like from the front side after topstitched.  The pocket is now complete.

I would almost prefer to have 2 pocket pieces a side - like the normal pocket "bag" and insert them in the side seam rather than this crazy method.  But I do like the way it made the pocket in the end. After the pocket business the rest was easy, but time consuming.  I actually spent 2 days sewing this up - usually I can finish one of K's items in one go.

Here she is proving me wrong in that she really CAN swing in the jumper.

I love it, it is so cute on her.  You may notice wonder clips on the straps in some of the pictures.  K decided after she had it on that the front was too low so I had to shorten the straps a full 3 inches.  There was no way I'd be able to get it off her, re-sew the buttons, and then get it on her again so I opted for the clips for the pictures.  The straps have now been fixed :-)

No mom, no more pictures!

 

April Totals:
Stash used: 2 yards
Fabric Out: 11 yards
Fabric In: 2

Totals for the year to date:
Stash sew this year: 20 yards
Fabric out in 2014: 89 yards!
Fabric in 2014: 77.5 yards
~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~

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 ~