Sneak peek

I finished Twirly Girl’s Easter outfit this weekend–always a good feeling to finish with time to spare. I wrote last week about our patterns and alternations here; as I suspected the sewing was simple except that I had to take care to finish seams before they raveled. The jacket fabric was worse than the dress fabric in this regard; I ended up serging all the pieces separately, before I began construction.

My favorite part is the purse (3/2008 #28). So cute! She chose a subtle cotton print from my stash for the lining. It calls for a sewn in snap closure, but I only have the tiny ones. Easy enough to add later. . .

Easter dress progress

Less than three weeks until Easter. . .unless I grow lazy, I will not be sewing hems after Holy Saturday service this year. Actually, the only thing left on my dress is the hem! I’ve been altering the dress I made for Easter 2005, when Silly Boy was a baby, removing the nursing openings and excess ease as well as redoing sleeves that were never quite right. Now I just need Larry to remark the hem so I can sew that back in place.

Twirly Girl chose cotton suiting from my stash (probably almost as old as my dress!) and we were able to tweak a pair of Ottobre patterns to work. I traced and cut those out this past weekend. On the left is the fabric for her sleeveless dress, using design #18 from 3/2008. On the right is the fabric for her jacket, design #13 from 2/2002 (with shortened sleeves and a redrawn neckline). The sewing should be simple and straightforward, but I’m worried about raveling, particularly with the jacket fabric.

Cozy

A couple of recent projects for myself. . .

My new bathrobe is a pattern that was intended to be a wraparound tunic or dress, designs #9 & 10 from Ottobre 2/2007. I used the length of the dress but omitted the collar, and I altered the sleeve to be 3/4 because sometimes I end up cooking breakfast in my robe. The fabric is a lovely ribbed cotton sherpa that had been in my stash for far too long. I used quilting cotton for the ties (with serged rolled hems) and neckline facing, and added a patch pocket. I’m seriously considering making a second robe with this pattern, using cotton jersey or interlock–it would be perfect for summer and easy to pack for travel use year round.

I actually started my slippers before Christmas but I kept ignoring them. I only have straight needles in size 15 and this project reminded me how much I dislike straight needles! I need to get size 15 circulars before making a pair of slippers for Twirly Girl. . .but I digress. These are the French Press Felted Slippers that came to the top of my Ravelry searches for a slipper pattern, and I do like them very much. The yarn was left from my shaped vest, with red straps because I didn’t have quite enough brown yarn left. This was my first time felting something that needed to end up a particular size and it went fairly well (read: they are wearable but I made a few mistakes along the way).

Robe

More fuzzy sewing. . .but Twirly Girl wanted a bathrobe instead of a shirt. I bought this floral cotton velour for her several years ago but it seemed too “old” at the time. Now it’s just right.

She chose Ottobre 4/2005, design #19. I made it a few sizes larger than her measurements so that she’ll be able to wear it as long as possible. I used ribbon for the belt loops but made no other changes, other than she opted not to have a contrasting band or belt.

My next project would have been a new robe for myself but. . .as I was finishing Twirly Girl’s robe, the presser foot lever on my serger broke. Again. A new lever has been ordered, and in the meanwhile I’ve started on a different project–one that only needs the sewing machine.

Fuzzy shirts, part 2

I finished the last two fuzzy shirts over the weekend.

Boy Genius had chosen dark green velour, and when I showed him design #37 from Ottobre 4/2010 he immediately went back in the closet and got the black velour for the contrast panels. Good choice, as I had plenty of black ribbing for the neckband.

Baby Boy’s shirt isn’t quite as fuzzy but I really really wanted to use the rest of the tools french terry before he outgrow it. In fact, my remnant was j-u-s-t long enough for his shirt; I had enough left for sleeves, but he wanted those to be blue. With tools at the bottom. Hmmm. I ended up using the same pattern as for Silly Boy’s fuzzy shirt, # 15 from 4/2006, but I shortened the sleeve and added a contrast band as from Bouncy Boy’s shirt. I used rib trim instead of binding the neck and added a tools patch on the left sleeve, but he wouldn’t stand still long enough for that to show in the pictures.

Fuzzy shirts

It all started when I told Silly Boy his purple terry shirt needed to be retired. . .you see, I had made it for Drama Boy back in 2003 and it was positively threadbare in spots. So I had to promise to make him a new “fuzzy shirt.” Well, before I knew it I had three more boys queued up wanting fuzzy shirts too! Here are the first two sewn:

Since the original purple fuzzy shirt was my first-ever Ottobre project, it only seemed natural to pull out my stash of magazines to find patterns for these shirts too. First up was Silly Boy, of course, and he wanted a red shirt with a white star. I ended up using design #15 from 4/2006, which coincidentally included a star applique although I chose to draw my own. I used variegated embroidery thread to satin stitch it in place and added a reinforced straight stitch outline inside and outside the star.

Bouncy Boy was next and for him I chose design #26 from 4/2008. He helped me decide how to arrange the colors, and the satin stitched M on the pocket pertains to his alternate super hero identity. I made sure all the topstitching was in contrasting colors, but the effect is mostly lost in the pile–oh well. I really like the sleeve edge trim on this design, and it was very easy to do.

I love being able to sew things that make the kids smile! And being able to use up stash fabrics at the same time is an added bonus.

Pink twirly skirt

Sometime this past summer I stumbled upon a can’t-resist wool sale at fabric.com. I ordered a tiny pink houndstooth suiting for Twirly Girl, and some red crepe for myself. I haven’t quite decided on a dress pattern for my wool. But I manage to sew up the pink houndstooth in time for Christmas services.

Twirly Girl was away at camp during the sale, so I ordered enough to make either a jumper or a skirt and vest. She chose skirt and vest. She decided right away that I should use her recently drafted circle skirt pattern, but it took longer to find a suitable vest pattern.

Finally we found Ottobre 5/2006 #17. Technically, a boy’s vest, but as you can see here, very easily made into a girl’s vest. The only real change I made (beyond reversing buttons and holes) was to lower the neckline a bit as we only had three buttons. I did use wool instead of lining for the vest back since we had enough, and ribbon for the back tie just because.

July sewing

After a very slow June, I started July off with a dress in the first weekend.

And then. . .nothing. I might have done some mending but I’m not sure. I bought thread and patterns for a couple projects. I did start on swags for the living room, but at the moment I’m stuck until we put up the hooks and I can test what I have so far. This week? Hopefully. . .

Fourth fun

It worked out nicely this year, having the 4th of July fall on Larry’s day off. We slept late and relaxed most of the day. Our meals were low key but we added a few special touches here and there. At noon I made vanilla pudding from scratch, served with plenty of fresh blueberries and strawberries. To wash down our supper, Drama Boy found a recipe for Mint Lemon-Limeade–the mint came from our front yard and the lemons and limes came from recent produce baskets.

Mmmmm. . .red, (creamy) white, and blue!

Larry and Bouncy Boy spent their afternoon in the garage working on projects for his Wolf badge.

Boy Genius got drafted to help try out the two man walker. . .

. . .and then Twirly Girl wanted a turn too.

Later, the boys played two on two soccer in the backyard. I assume Larry was referee but I wouldn’t know–I was inside playing piano and singing with Twirly Girl. After the game they came in and we twiddled our thumbs together until it was finally dark enough for the town fireworks show. This year we decided to stay close to home: we grabbed our lawn chairs, walked a couple blocks, and found a quiet spot with a good view. Literally quiet–we were far enough away to have a conversation about light traveling faster than sound. Which was fine, because some of our children usually watch fireworks with their hands over their ears. I have no idea where they get that from–I usually close my eyes for part of the show.

As you may have seen on Facebook, my Kodak order is hung up somewhere in the mail system. So I spent some time over the weekend sewing instead. . .a new dress to wear on Monday. The kids always wear patriotic colors for the 4th, but right now my red clothes are for winter. I like the print very much (a retro quilting cotton) although the whole time I was sewing I worried it would look like a muumuu. For the curious I used Ottobre 5/2008 #3, adding length to make a dress, gathering the front instead of making pintucks, and draft my own belt which buttons in back.

Red, white, and. . .muumuu? I hope not!!

April sewing

• White cotton slip for Twirly Girl to wear under her Easter dress. I used Ottobre 1/2005 #19 because it has a dropped waist as does her dress. I eliminated the upper ruffle and lengthened the lower ruffle to be a couple inches shorter than her dress. She didn’t want the bulk of a zipper in her slip, so I used a single button and thread loop to close the back instead. This was the perfect project for me to work on while being available to answer her sewing questions, as we could take turns with the white thread.
• My lace insertion dress and slip, already blogged about here.