KCWC - days 4, 5, and beyond

I haven't stopped sewing! Here's the latest children's clothing item I finished: a corduroy "cowgirl" skirt. I used up leftover fine-whale corduroy and decided to spunk it up with a faux petticoat underneath. I know, the picture is pretty rotten, but we've had four solid days of rain and my daughter is pretty loathe to model while mom is being fussy with the camera. There's an elastic waist plus one more tier of gathered fabric. The "petticoat" is pleated to reduce bulk and attached to the top of the gathered tier. And whenever I sew clothes for the kids, I finish all my seams either with french seams or flat felled seams. Fraying fabric is a pet peeve of mine.

It's knee length, which means she won't be able to wear it next year, but for now it's just right with her western boots and the warm Southern Autumn weather.

Next up (Lord willing) will be a wool coat. This one is a bit more to tackle!

KCWC - day 3 - Freezer paper patterns

Got my sewing mojo back on yesterday - wahoo! I discovered some leftover floral corduroy fabric in my stash and thought it'd make a great skirt for my 9 yr old daughter. She's really into her new western style boots, so I thought a "cowgirl" skirt would be fun. It'll be a gathered skirt with a bit of an attatched underskirt or petticoat peeking out the bottom. I'll show you the finished photos tomorrow - after I run out and get some lace to finish it off! ;)

For now, let me share with you some major work I did on kids' clothes today: pattern tracing. Not exciting in the sewing sense, but necessary and crucial prepwork. A multi-sized pattern is great, but you can't just cut into it if you'd ever want to sew it again as your child grows. Want to know my secret for getting just the size I want on some sturdy paper? Freezer paper! OK, maybe not a new invention in the sewing world, but it's rather new to me, and I love the outcome. Taping the pattern to a window and tracing it that way would work - if I had windows large enough, and if I could find uninterrupted daylight hours to do this! This works well after the sun - and kids - goes down.

First I cut around the pattern pieces just to get them to a manageable state. Those huge pieces of tissue paper are so unwieldy!

Next I lay them out on a piece of freezer paper, shiny side down. Using a Sharpie, I mark the outlines with dots right on the tissue pattern. The Sharpie bleeds through the tissue onto the freezer paper, leaving me a nice connect-the-dots pattern. I use a ruler to put in the straight lines, and a steady, decaffeinated hand to draw the curves (I could use a french curve, but the kids misplaced mine). Remember to mark all dots, notches, and other details! When I know all the info I need is transferred, I can fold those tissue paper pieces back up and store them in their envelope, safe and secure for next time.


Now is when the freezer paper advantage comes in. The shiny side will lightly adhere to the fabric with just a smidge of a warm iron applied. So I can lay out the pieces, iron them down then cut them out with NO pins!! The paper easily comes off the fabric (but I always do a test first, just to check).

Tomorrow is cutting day as well as getting some of the major seams constructed. This will be a lined wool coat, which has two upsides: wool doesn't fray, so finishing seams isn't necessary. It's lined, so all those seams will be neatly covered! I'm already planning on how I'll alter this pattern; I think I'll leave out the set-in pockets (bulky!!) and put a neat pocket on the inside lining for keeping track of small things, like a pair of mittens & a handkerchief.

KCWC - day 2

Didn't get much sewing done on day 2 of the kids clothes week challenge. Evening plans with friends diminished my sewing time, but I did manage do crank out this little muffin cap for a costume.

Kids' Clothes Week Challenge - day 1

It was pretty easy to get a good hour or more of sewing in yesterday for the KCWC. I worked on sewing flannel pj pants for my 4 yr old. This must be one of the easiest sewing projects out there - elastic waistband, 2 seams, and hems. Done. I used a modified version of Butterick 4222 (modified to make a smaller size than what I had). I used 1 yd of flannel and about 20" of 1-inch wide elastic.

Christmas Hexagons

The Christmas quilt top I've been working on since Spring is finally finished! This was an exercise in scrounging together my scraps of "Glace" fabric by Three Sisters for Moda. I was literally digging through my waste bin looking for bits of leftovers in order to come up with the border of squares! Sewing hexagons was a new thing for me. It's not very difficult, but as you can see from some puckers, precision is key.


The top measures about 42" square. Now the challenging part - quilting!

Kids Clothes Week Sewing Challenge

Sept 20-26, 2010
Join in over at Elsie Marley's blog.

For one week, work on sewing clothes for your kids an hour each day. I have four kids, so this should benefit our family!

I hope to sew some fishy PJs for my 4 yr old and a wool dress coat for my 9 yr old. To do that in one week is a challenge, for sure! Some mending will be in there as well (with three boys, there is ALWAYS mending to do!) If there's time, I plan on sewing a skirt for me, too. Ok, I'm not really a kid, but perhaps a kid-at-heat counts?

Six Socks

Sock pair #6 for 2010 is finished!

On our 10th anniversary trip to Cape May, NJ, I picked up this yarn because it reminded me of the colors of the sand and sea we enjoyed so much together. I wanted to find a pattern that would be a lasting reminder of the rippling waves and sand there. It took over a year to find something that was JUST right, but I love the outcome! It's a very stretchy sock, so I'll have to keep this in mind as a good gift sock pattern.

Pattern: Koi socks (ravelry link)

Yarn: Fortissima Socka Cotton Colors (used 72g out of the 100g skein)

Needles: US 2 circular

size: fits women's US 10