Saturday, October 13, 2012

KCWC Day 5

Well, if I thought yesterday was bad, today was worse! First of all, my kids seemed to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, and were cranky monsters all morning. No sneaky sewing for mommy today! Instead, I cut out fabric for three shirts for Ben.

Envelope Tee

I used the Envelope Tee pattern from Growing Up Sew Liberated. I used this pattern previously this summer, and didn't find it too difficult. However, today it made me want to tear my hair out. But it was all my fault - I forgot to switch to my ballpoint needle, and realized it was I was finishing sewing the last shirt. Won't make that mistake again!

Envelope Tee

Both animal prints are leftovers and long-stashed fabrics that I used for the kids' lovies. I think the green one is a bit 'babyish,' so it may become jammies. (but I'm not sure it was worth the hair pulling for jammies!).

Envelope Tee

This grey is some jersey I grabbed out of the remnant bin yesterday on a whim. It is SO soft. Hubby asked if I would make him a shirt out of it! It is really nice, and I will be grabbing some in other colors!

Treasure Pocket Pants

I decided that I needed to make Ben another pair of pants, and I thought the Treasure Pocket Pants from Sewing for Boys were so cute. I wanted to make him some pants with corduroy to 'go' with the girls dresses, and I had a remnant (are you really surprised by now?) of some brown corduroy in the stash that I had just enough of. For my panel and facing fabric I used a bit of cute Riley Blake fabric I had in the stash that I didn't have enough to make Quick Change Trousers out of.

I had a DEVIL of a time with this pattern. I didn't check for errata first, so I found out the hard way that there is a mis-sized pattern piece and had to cut fabric again (I'm really glad I had enough!). I also had a difficult time understanding the directions for sewing the pocket pieces together, and I should have just trusted my instincts, because I would have done it correctly the first time! I used some stashed vintage orange bias tape for the pocket elastic casings, and I like the pop of color there!

If I thought the directions for the pocket were confusing, the directions for the faux fly were almost unintelligible. I completely did not understand what part I was sewing/basting/pressing/etc. I had to google 'how to sew a faux fly' to get some pictures of what I was doing. Then it all made sense. My main criticism of the book is that there are not enough pictures in the directions!

I mistakenly sewed the hem facings together to make the elastic waist casing, and didn't realize it until I got to the hem facing part of the directions and didn't have any pieces! My hem facings were a bit too small, so I have some small puckers on the hem, but they are not super visible (thanks to the corduroy!). And because my waist casing wasn't as all as it was supposed to be I didn't thread two pieces of elastic, I just used one. I think it looks fine.

Again, this is another pattern I will make again, because now I know all it's secrets!

Sophie Tunic

Finally, I sewed up Samantha's last shirt - the Sophie Tunic from Sis Boom. Again, my fabric is from Hobby Lobby. This pattern is great. Very clear directions and pictures, and it is super cute! This is one I will make many times, since it comes in sizes 6 months - 12 years! Might have to whip one of these up for Ellie too! I highly recommend this pattern, and it was perfect to end with today after all my trying bits of the day!

I have a few more items I've added to the list to work on tomorrow, and then I'm done! I'm exhausted and I have some quilts I need to quilt before my MQG meeting next week!

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