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!

A Tried and True Absolute Favorite

Wow, I can't believe it's been since November that I've blogged!  Yikes!

I have been doing a bit of sewing - super-boring school uniforms....

You get the picture - a bunch of stuff that is useful, but tough to get excited about!  And there's more of these - way more!

So, here's my first non-uniform make in several months....the Jump Rope Dress from Oliver + S.  This is one of their oldest patterns, and definitely one of my - and Julia's - favorites.

I used fabric chosen by Julia - two lawns from Woodland Clearing by Liesl Gibson for Robert Kaufman.  We brought this line to Quiltcon and it pretty much got decimated.  More about that in a bit....

Julia chose a subtle contrast for the collar/placket.  If you haven't make this pattern, quickly run to the Oliver + S site and buy it if you want the most satisfying sew ever.  Ren of The Inspired Wren recently was feature on the Oliver + S blog with her versions of this pattern - she highlighted several of her plackets and I'm here to tell you that every time I make this dress, I hang up the completed bodice and admire my own work for at least a day!  There's something about that placket....

And about the fabric - well, our little business had a booth at the huge quilt show, Quiltcon.  It was an absolutely amazing experience.  We met a bunch of wonderful people who share the love of sewing.  My poor kid had to attend for 3 days - pretty tough for a 6 year old, but she schmoozed with all the other vendors, and met fabric designers like the super-nice Melody Miller from Cotton + Steel...

There's definitely something to be said for having actual in-person contact with your customers - people who get to feel the fabric, and see the fabric up close and personal.  Which is why our collection of Woodland Clearing got thrashed - people absolutely adored it!  It's soft so lots of folks told me that they were going to be using it for baby clothes.  Personally, I'd love to see/feel a quilt made from cotton lawn.

Anyways, watch this space for more sewing!  My kid is quickly growing and seriously has no summer clothes!  As a note, the Jump Rope dress is sewn in a size 5 with 7 length.  I can't even believe that I'm using a 7 length for my baby!!

Thanks for reading!