Project 12 – August: Mini Bloomer PJ Set

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Jodi

That was a bit last-minute!  Although I am posting this in September, I did finish it the evening of the 31st.

This month was a busy one with LOTS of traveling and after the effort of finishing up my July project I wanted something easy.  When I saw Dana’s summer skirt, I thought I might be able to give “the ugly skirt one more go”.  So I ripped off the waistband and the zipper, hemmed and went crazy with the elastic thread. It certainly fit the bill for “easy project”.  But try as I might, I could NOT make myself like it. Even my super supportive husband said “the fabric wasn’t his favorite.” BOO!!! Then inspiration struck, what If I wore it as a shirt? It worked.  I’m not one to wear tube tops in public and so I decided to make it a baby doll top of a pajama set.

For bottoms, I made Madeleine Mini Bloomers (free from Colette Patterns!).  I’ve had my eye on them since I saw Adrianna’s over at Crafter Hours.  The fabric requirements call for “Lightweight fabrics such as silk or rayon crepe, chiffon, georgette, lightsilk twill, silk habotai, jacquard”. In other words, shiny stuff.  I did not want shiny-ness on my butt. So, I took a risk and went for this beautiful purple jersey.  It is so wonderfully soft and I love the drape.

A word of advice on the jersey.  I don’t think all those rows of stitching on the waistband would have gone as well if I hadn’t used a walking foot. I’m pretty darn proud of how that turned out. I could have used a serger, to finish my seams, but honestly, I was so exhausted when I was sewing this I didn’t feel like setting it up. :) I also skipped out on the ribbon ties for the leg openings.  I used elastic instead.

So this project turned out really lovely! You will have to trust me on that because I don’t feel comfortable posting pictures of myself wearing itty-bitty PJs on the internet.  Trust me that it looks adorable.  The top is just short enough that the bottoms of the bloomers peek out underneath.  Just like I envisioned. It is super comfy too! I tested them out last night.

Exciting things about this project

  • Resurrecting a failed project!
  • Having some lovely PJs for a change.
  • Taking a risk with fabric and not falling flat on my face.
  • Making an item from a Colette Pattern.  Her patterns are so beautiful!
  • The genius of using a walking foot on knits!
  • My husband thinking I look super cute. ;-)
Posted in Completed Sewing Projects, Project 12, clothing | 2 Comments

uh oh.

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Jodi

Where did August go?!?!  Better start sewing tonight or I won’t have an August Project 12 project to show you.  eep!

Posted in Project 12, WIPS | Leave a comment

Twitter…

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Jodi

So… I’m trying out twitter.  And I need to find more crafty twitter type people.  Any suggestions?  Find me here.

Posted in ramblings | Leave a comment

Project 12 – July: Eyelet Shirtwaist

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Jodi

Wow!  It’s done.  I really did it!  I’m definitely having one of those, “I’m so glad I stuck through with this” moments.  There were definitely a couple of times when I wanted to throw in the towel and call this quits.

My mother in law was good enough to come down for a long weekend and guide me through the dressmaking process.  She helped with the fabric choice , giving advice about what would work, but allowing me to take it in whatever direction I wanted to go with it.  I decided on a black eyelet lined with black batiste.  Then, she gave tips for adjusting the bodice, held my hand while I laid out the pattern pieces because I was a bit short on fabric. But most importantly, she took care of the kids while I cut and sewed like a crazy women for 4 days.  I am really blessed by that woman, and I know how lucky I am to be able to say that.  By the time, she left I had the dress and the lining assembled.  It then took me another month to put them together, finish the arm holes, add button holes and buttons, and hem the skirt.

Fun and Exciting Things about this project

  • Fitting, adjusting the pattern, rinse, repeat. I graded the bodice pieces 18 to a 20 and the waist pieces a 20 to a 22.  After putting it together, the bodice was too big under my arms and I had to take it in to a 16. Then we took it in a bit more at the waist after assembling the dress, because it was still very roomy.
  • Matching “plaids”.  I bet you didn’t know an eyelet is kinda like a plaid.  It has a horizontal and vertical pattern.  So I took the time to line it up nicely on the bodice. Loads o’ fun.
  • The fact that it is a dress.  It is SO hard for me to find a dress that I like how it fits.  My extreme triangular measurements explain it.
  • This skirt is SO TWIRLY!!!!!!!!! I am having a blast dancing around with my kids while wearing it.  I can hardly wait to hit the dance floor at a wedding in a couple of weeks.

Tips for those who would like to use Vogue 8577.

  • DO IT!  Do not be intimidated by cutting out 46 pieces of fabric and sewing them all together. Yes, it is a lot of work, but it was so worth it!
  • Yes, you do need to interface the pocket lining.  I was worried that the pockets would be too poofy if I did, but I think it would have helped with the drape of the skirt.

  • If you are adding length to the skirt, be sure you have enough fabric.  I barely squeezed out all the pattern pieces with what I bought.
  • It was marked “easy” but it sure wasn’t “FAST and easy”.  I am very glad I took the time to make it.

And now if you would excuse me, I have a wedding to attend. :)


Posted in Completed Sewing Projects, Project 12, clothing | 11 Comments

Finished!

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Jodi

I finished the dress!  It is magnificently twirly and despite the minor flaws I feel absolutely amazing wearing it.  I will post pictures as soon as I can snag my husbands help.

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So close!

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Jodi

I am so close to being done with my dress.  I have all 10 button holes done, and 10 buttons sewn on.  I do need to re-sew a couple of misaligned buttons.  But really all that’s left is the hemming!  phew!  I’ll be looking for volunteers for helping with that once I find some shoes to wear with it.

Any who, I can’t just think about one project at a time and when I  saw this tutorial I wondered if I could resurrect the ugly skirt.  As much as I love pockets, I think those are too much for me.  In seam pockets would be handy without adding too much poof.  Also, as I look around, it seems that poofier skirts need to hit more above the knee to avoid frumpness.  Major inspiration found here.  Also, your comments were helpful. :)  So to make this skirt, do I just cut rectangles of fabric according to my hip measurement plus ease? Or do I need to make it more of an a-line?

Also, there’s the problem of the lining…. does it need it?  If it does, I could use very specific suggestions of an appropriate lining fabric I could find at Joann’s.

Posted in Project 12, WIPS | 2 Comments

T-shirt Bloomers

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Jodi

There is nothing sweeter than a pair of bloomers peeping out from under a skirt, but more importantly, bloomers let girls be active while not showing off their underwear or diapers to everyone around.

This project needed to be easy and cheap and I think I achieved it.  The material is from an old men’s t-shirt.  T-shirt jersey doesn’t fray and therefore none of the raw edges need to be finished. If I hadn’t been interrupted (HA!),  it would have taken me no more than 20 minutes start to finish.

I used McCall’s 5416, as the pattern, but any shorts pattern would do. Then, instead of finishing the legs with a standard hem, I left the edges raw and gathered the leg openings with a couple of rows of elastic thread.

It turns out, t-shirts make great shorts material.  I made these play shorts an old college t-shirt of mine.

I hemmed the leg openings to give it a more finished look, but you could skip that if you wanted.

So, here’s to active little girls!

Especially ones who are too busy dancing to hold still for a picture.

If you would like more details on the construction, you can find the tutorial here.

Posted in Completed Sewing Projects, clothing, for kids | 7 Comments

Tutorial: T-shirt Bloomers

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Jodi

This is a tutorial of how to turn an old Jersey t-shirt into a pair of bloomers. It is a super easy project that takes me no long than 20 minutes (when uninterrupted).  No serger required.

Materials:

  • Old jersey t-shirt
  • Coordinating thread
  • 1/2″ non-roll elastic (or other width if your pattern indicates)
  • A child’s shorts pattern.  If you don’t have a pattern to use, you can make your own copying another pair of shorts.  Dana (of MADE fame) has a tutorial showing you how.
  • Ball point needles (if you don’t have any don’t sweat it)
  • Elastic Thread

Start with a men’s t-shirt. This is size L and it was plenty of fabric for my 2 1/2 year-old.

Lay your pattern piece on top of it and pin it down.  My pattern (McCall’s 5416) came with separate pieces front and back, so I matched the two up at the seam line.   If your t-shirt has any printing on it, it is your choice if you want to include it or not. I did on the grey shorts above, but will not for these.

Then cut it out.  We are cutting through both the front and the back of the t-shirt to create two of the same pieces. Also, it is very helpful to mark the front and back seams of your pieces.  I did this with different width notches.

For sewing knits, it is best to use a ball point needle, but I have gotten away with using a standard needle before.  A ball point is best because it prevents snagging and skipped stitches.

Set your machine to sew a stretch stitch.  If you don’t have one, a standard zig-zag stitch will work fine, too.

Fold the pant legs in half, right sides together.

Sew the leg inseam.

Repeat with other pant leg.

Turn one pant leg right side out.

Then insert into second pant leg.  Their right sides will be facing. Match inseam and your front and back notches.

Sew the pant legs together along this curved edge. Pinning would be a good idea if you have never done this before.  I have used this pattern so much, I could sew it in the dark.  So, I didn’t. bad me.

Pull the pant leg out.
To create the elastic edge, fold down the upper edge of the pants.  My pattern calls for a 1″ fold.  I skip folding under the raw edge, because this is a jersey knit it will not fray.

Sew the casing ~3/4″ from the folded edge, but leave about 1″ unsewn to insert the elastic.

Cut elastic the child’s waist measurement.  1/2″ elastic is appropriate for this 3/4″ casing. Insert elastic into the casing.

Sew the two loose ends of the elastic together, overlapping 1/2 – 1″.

Sew the casing closed.

You could stop here if you like.  The knit shouldn’t fray.

Or you could hem the legs if you want a more finished look.  To hem, I turned under 1/2″ and stitched close to raw edge.

If you would like to make bloomers, continue on.

To make the leg gathers, I used elastic thread.  If you haven’t used elastic thread before, Rae has compiled a list of “shirring resources” at the end of her baby sunsuit tutorial.

Here, I switch machines. Although I love Tabitha, I can’t figure out how to make elastic thread work with her drop-in bobbins.  So here, I am using my old Bernette 50.

Load up your elastic thread into your bobbin and test your settings on a scrap piece of the t-shirt.

Starting at the inseam, stitch along one leg opening 1/2 – 5/8″ from the raw edge. Be sure to back-stitch at the start or the elastic thread will pull out.

Sew all the way around the leg opening until you reach your starting point (the inseam).

Then curve down 1/8″ from your last row of stitches and sew along the leg opening again.  I learned this method from the sunsuit tutorial linked to above.  I love it! (Conveniently, 1/8″ is the distance from the needle to the edge of the foot.)

When you finish the second row, back-stitch to secure the stitches. Then clip threads.

Repeat on the second leg opening and you are done!

Pictures of these bloomers in action can be found here.

Posted in clothing, for kids, tutorial | 1 Comment

Dreams Come True

Posted on July 10, 2010 by Jodi
Sometimes I don’t want my dream to come true.

The well decorated house, the perfect job, the handmade wardrobe, running a marathon, financial success…  We all have our dreams.  I get a considerable amount of pleasure thinking over some of mine. I work out all the little details and thinking how much better my life would be if those dreams came true.

One dream that I have been particularly passionate about, is the dream of being well dressed.  I long for quality-made clothes that fit well and flatter me.  It is this dream that has pushed me to attempt “Project 12”.  So you would think that after planning and dreaming about sewing a dress for myself, I would be delighted to be sewing it, and look forward to finishing it up.  Instead, I am finding myself getting a sinking feeling in my stomach as I continued to work on this project.  Is the dress ugly? absolutely not.  Did it fit me? yes. Is my husband totally blown away that I am sewing myself a dress? yup. But it isn’t turning out as I imagined.

“It’s OK, Jodi!  It’s your first dress!”, my husband tells me. “Of course, it won’t be perfect.  Your are sewing these projects to learn how to sew, and you are learning and getting better!”  He is right, of course.  But my dream is becoming real, but in becoming real, it is also becoming imperfect.  In my dreams, seams are always straight, my stomach is flat, and the children put away their toys in the appropriately labeled bins.

So the question is, do I want my dreams badly enough to embrace them even while they become imperfect? Is living out our dreams imperfectly, less of a success than never living out our dreams at all?

Posted in Project 12, WIPS, fearless living, ramblings | 4 Comments

Project 12 – June: Comfy Tee

Posted on June 29, 2010 by Jodi

I don’t know about you, but I have the darndest time shopping for shirts that fit.  If they fit my chest, they are too short in the waist or cling too tightly to my stomach.  If they fit my waist they are too baggy on top.  So for my June clothing project, I decided to make myself a decent fitting basic tee.

Fun and Exciting Things about This Project

  • Ribbing
  • Everything was sewn on my serger
  • Creating my own pattern (based off of a basic tee pattern)

I used the “Crew Neck” pattern from Built by Wendy‘s Sew U Home Stretch book as a starting point.  Then I modified it to achieve the fit I wanted.  (More details below.)

The main fabric is a cotton jersey from Hancock’s and the deep purple ribbing is from Joann’s.   I was in a hurry while shopping and didn’t look closely at it until I was laying it out for cutting.  Is it just me, or are those cats with wings?! weird.

Sewing with ribbing was a fun adventure.  The standard ration of ribbing length to fabric edge is 2:3. It resulted in the sleeves poofing a bit.  It wasn’t intended but I like it a lot.  I really was out of luck trying to find information for how to sew ribbing on a v-neck.  I mostly just swung it, but next time around I will do it this way.  The ribbing isn’t supposed to be stretched on the straight edge of the neckline, or at least not stretched very much.  I haven’t had enough practice at using ribbing to give any sort of advice about it.

The thing that I am proudest of about this shirt, is that the little things that are wrong with it (like some wavy seams or the ribbing not laying flat on the neck) are all a matter of needing more practice.  The fitting and pattern turned out just the way I envisioned!

If you are curious about how I modified my t-shirt pattern, read on.

Making the pattern

As I starting point, I used the basic crew-neck tee from Sew U Home Stretch. But you could copy one of your own t-shirts using Dana’s method. I haven’t had good luck in the past redrawing the side seams, so this time around I used a “slash and spread” method.

I copied the size large pattern from Sew U (which fits my upper chest), then guestimated the bust point.  I really just eyeballed it.  I figured I was working with a knit so I didn’t need to get too finicky.  Then, I cut straight from the bottom hem to the bust point and from the side hem to the bust point.  Keeping the bust point corner in place, I rotated the cut out piece to add 2 inches to the bottom hem (a total of 4 inches total to the front). I used another v-neck to draw a new neckline as well.  This pattern piece and the next are cut on the fold.

I wanted to keep the top snug fitting.  So, I slashed and spread at the waist line for the back piece.  This time I only added 1 1/2 inches (3″ total across the back), because the thickness of my waist is mostly from my “Mummy Tummy”.  The goal is to keep the side seam from pulling to the front or back.  In a proper fitting garment, it should run perpendicular to the floor from your armpit.

The adjustments gave me a total of 7″ extra at my hips.

The sleeves were left as is.

If you want to adjust a t-shirt pattern, I recommend following the advice from Fit for Real People like I did.  Choose a pattern by your upper chest measurement.  That way you do not need to fuss with the arm holes.  It is easier to add or remove width to the torso then around your shoulders and arms.

If you have any suggestions about how to adjust t-shirt patterns for good fit, I would love to hear them!

Posted in Completed Sewing Projects, Project 12, clothing | 8 Comments