Kids Clothes Week - Spring 2016

I made an attempt this past week to join in with Kids Clothes Week.  Success?  Failure?  Well, a little bit of both.

I set my sights high and pulled fabric for about 8 items.  What I ended up with was this:

I guess in the normal world of sewing, I'd be happy.  I completed both outfits this week, worked 40 hours, did about a million kid activities and took about 10 trips to the dog park.

The details:

Outfit number 1 - two free patterns from Oliver + S - the Popover dress made into a tunic, and my much-used Sunny Days Shorts.  The top and shorts are both size 5.  On the tunic, I added width on the front panel and gathered it a bit.  The fabric is a nice light seersucker from Robert Kaufman.  The shorts are a medium weight cotton denim fabric that has been living in my stash forever.  Nice to use that stash fabric!  I shortened the shorts 2 inches from the pattern length - works better with the heavier fabric. I added pockets to both the front and back of the shorts....gotta have pockets!

Outfit number 2 - the Butterfly Blouse and Skirt from Oliver + S sewn in a size 5 with 7 length.  The top is Woodland Clearing lawn and the skirt is a heavy cotton linen.  I've made the skirt a bunch of times for school uniforms, but this was the first time I've made the top.  It's a very sweet pattern - I definitely recommend it!

 Here's some modeled shots of both outfits (no pictures of the shorts yet!):

Thanks for reading.....can you tell my sew-jo is back?  Makes me happy!

Sew-Jo Coming Back.....

I haven't sewn a ton over the past few months.  And when I sewed, I didn't necessarily blog.  But, I think I may be getting back on track!

I made a quick outfit for Julia on Saturday.  Previously, just about two years ago, I made these shorts:

Well, these shorts stayed in the drawer for about a year and a half.  She refused to wear them.  Then, all of a sudden, they became The Golden Boy (Seinfeld reference) of her wardrobe.  Every day, when she got home from school, on went these shorts and a black tank.  Every day.  These shorts are now a pretty disgusting shade of grey with flowers.

So, I used some similar fleece and made this outfit:

These shorts are a size 5 straight up.  I may make the next pair a bit shorter - they are kind of an awkward length.  The previous ones were a size 4 and I think she still could wear a size 4.  The pattern is the free Sunny Days Shorts from Oliver + S.  I added front pockets and back pockets.    Gotta have pockets.

The top is another Oliver + S pattern - the School Bus T-Shirt.  This is a size 4 with about 5 inches added to the length.  The fabric is hideous to work with.  It is that kind of burn-out fabric which my daughter loves.  Unfortunately, it's a pain in the butt to work with - it curled like nobody's business.  The neck band application was atrocious so I went to the iron to give it a blast of steam.  Mistake.  Burnt a hole in it, hence, the lovely bow at the neckline.  I was actually going to put it straight in the trash, but Julia really liked it, so we'll see what happens....I have more of the hideous fabric - a lot more.

Next up, a Mother's Day gift.....

Mara Meets Shorts On The Line!

Hello to those of you visiting from Compagnie M!  I was so happy to be chosen to make a Mara Blouse as part of the blog tour.

The Mara Blouse was part of an outfit that I had in my mind to enter in Shorts On The Line over at Imagine Gnats.  Sometimes, you get an idea in your head about something you want to sew - sometimes, it works, sometimes, it doesn't......this time, it worked!

I made an adorable, if slightly edgy outfit for my 4 year old, complete with skull embroidery!

  

I got the idea in my head somehow to make a color-blocked version of the Oliver + S free Sunny Days Shorts pattern.  When I saw this skull - with flowers, no less! - over at Urban Threads, I knew it was a match!

 

I added back pockets to the shorts, and used my favorite snap tool from Snap Source.  It's simply the easiest way to add snaps - I highly recommend it!

Go check all the cool entries on Kollabora where they're hosting Shorts on the Line!