KCWC Day Six and Seven: Pajamas

I burned out after a week of sewing and on Saturday sewed just because I had to not because I wanted to. Some bloggers are sad that it's over but to be honest I am kind of relieved. I could not do it any longer. Having three little kids and finishing one thing a day was a little hard. That being said I am glad that I've done it and I will definitely do it again when the time comes for the KCWC Fall (and hopefully I have all my stuff by then).

For day six I tackled the Sleepover Pajamas by Oliver + S. I've done them before so I was hoping the project will go fast. It did indeed go fast but not without problems. As I said I burned out and I had to drag myself to finish with dignity. I made some mistakes but was not ready to go back and fix them. Good that mistakes were minor and didn't require me to redo things. I could have but I didn't.

This is the only picture I have of the PJ's as my camera's battery died in the middle of taking pictures. Emma refused to take her pajamas while I charged the battery and then spilled pizza sauce during lunch on her pajama top. So there will be no pictures ever until I do the laundry and iron pj's to make them presentable again.

As I said the pattern is Sleepover Pajamas from Oliver + S. I made size 5 again as I already had the pattern traced in this size. I made it out of a thrifted sheet. It was my first time sewing out of a thrifted sheet and I loved it. It was big enough for the pj's (with quite a lot left) and so very soft and all for $1.99. Great! The yellow polkadot fabric for the facings and cuffs is from JoAnn's.
For day seven I just sewed the buttons on and called it done and done.

Now back to real life. I am sure Matt is happy to have me back and I am thrilled can get back to making dinners and doing laundry.

That's pretty much how the place looked throughout the week. And it's just the morning.

KCWC Day Five: Paperboats Top

I think I am getting tired of sewing everyday. Or to be more precise I am getting tired of making a thing a day. It's too much pressure. Usually I cut the fabric out then procrastinate for a while before finally getting to sewing it. On average it takes me a week to make something. So this week has been crazy. I've been spending a lot of time at my sewing machine. I made five clothing pieces so far and have one more to go. I have Sleepover Pajamas cut out and ready to be sewn. I am also going to cheat and count it as two projects for Day Six and Day Seven.

So for Day Five I decided to make something easy-peasy. You can tell I am getting to the end of my rope. Ha. I had some fabric cut out for one top from Everyday Girls Clothes book. It was a breeze to sew and turned out cute.

The pattern is top #15 from Everyday Girls Clothes. The fabric is from Children's Lisette line. I really love this line. The cotton is very soft and light. It is also super cute. I made the biggest size they had in the book which is 120cm.

Emma loved it and insisted on wearing it even in the rain with a jacket on top of it.
I think Emma had a change of heart and now she is more willing to wear stuff I make for her. I know how sensitive she is to anything inside of her clothing and try to make changes with that in mind. I made almost all the KCWC things with french seams so E wouldn't complain. So now instead of complaining I get a happy smile and lots of twirling. Gotta love that!

KCWC Day Four: Seashore Sundress

For Day Four I planned another thing from the Oliver + S.These patterns are just so easy to put together and I don't have to strain my brain to read the instructions. Before the challenge started I had to come up with the things to make during the week. Emma came into the room, found fabric that she liked and asked me to make her a dress. Right away I thought of the Seashore Sundress. I bought the pattern last summer and then recently got the same pattern for smaller sizes to make matching dresses (I know, lame, right?). I will be making this dress again in sizes 3T and 18 months.

The girl could not be happier. She's been asking me for a cute dress for a while now. I think letting her pick the fabric from my stash makes it even better.

I made size 6 because Emma is quite tall and I did not want it to be short. It fits her great. I made the facings and pocket lining out of blue cotton and it looks very nice. I also added some topstitching in some places. I love Emma's fabric choice as it is very summery.

KCWC Day Three: Ayashe Blouse

So for the Day Three of KCWC I decided to make Ayashe blouse. I've been seeing a lot of them lately on the blogosphere and all of the versions look very cute. I bought the pattern long time ago but put it away waiting for the perfect time. So when the KCWC rolled in I decided that this is the perfect time to make the blouse. I went with the short sleeved version with no strings at the neck or waist and no elastic at the waist. Just a simple and straightforward little blouse.

Pattern is by Figgy's. I also have her 'Tee for Two' pattern but haven't made it yet.
So this was my first time sewing something from Figgy's patterns. After Oliver + S patterns it was a wake up call that not all of the patterns created equal. The instructions were minimal and I had to re-read couple paragraphs more than five times to get what I was supposed to be doing. I had a hard time making the collar so I just winged it. I did it backwards first and so had to rip it out. Then I just somehow attached it to the blouse but I am not proud of it. I was too tired and frustrated to rip it out again and so I left it as it is… with ugly stitching and all. Thus I do not have a picture on the hanger because it looks quite bad inside of the blouse.

I made size 4/5 with 6/7 length added to it but as you can see it is still a little on the short side. Either Emma is too tall for this blouse or I did something wrong (which can really be true when considering I was a little frustrated).

KCWC Day 2 - Linen Dress

I am still sewing and kicking. I finished a dress yesterday but it was too late to get a picture of it. I could barely wait till the morning to take a picture and share. The only problem is that I was very busy today and did not have a chance to sit down and write a post about it. After dinner I went to the sewing machine again and sewed for a couple of hours. Then I started making mistakes and when I made a big one I just turned everything off and was done for the day (let's just say tomorrow will start with lots of ripping). So Day 3 is done but I am a little behind on posting and will be sharing the dress from the Day 2 today.

The pattern is from one of my Japanese books - Everyday Girls Clothes. I've been meaning to make it long time ago. When Emma was 3 years old I cut it out and put it away. Then when we were packing out to leave Moscow I found the fabric pieces and threw them away as Emma wasn't 3 years old anymore and I did not feel like making the dress back then. I am so glad I decided to try it again. I love this dress!

I did have a hard time with this ruffle thingie at the top. I have no idea where it went wrong but it came out a little wonky as you can see. It was my first attempt at making a ruffle like that so I had no idea how to treat it and japanese descriptions did not help with it. When I will be making it again (and yes, I will be making it again) I will take more time to figure out how to make it.

The pockets are my favorite part of this dress. Loved making them and they came out very cute. Every 5 year old kid loves having pockets in their clothes and Emma is no exception. She was quite excited about having pockets to store all her little junk treasures.

While I was making this dress I had a moment of a disappointment. It looked quite big and I thought it will end up being huge for E. When I finished it though it was just perfect. I mean, yes, it is roomy but that's how it is supposed to be. Japanese people do like to have their clothes a little roomier than us.
I am in love with this dress. And that's all I have for today. Now I am going off to bed.

KCWC Day 1

Today started Kids Clothing Week Challenge (KCWC). I woke up all ready to tackle my first project. Yay! The only problem was that my kids did not want me to do anything but cater to their needs. Thank goodness for my husband and his amazing language training schedule. We picked him up at noon and after lunch I started sewing. I started with Oliver + S pattern. I knew how easy and straightforward Oliver + S patterns are and thought it would be great to start the sewing with one of them. I was so right!

This is a Classic Picnic Blouse pattern. I cut it out on Sunday and it was all ready for sewing. It came together pretty quickly. The only problem was my perfectionism as I had to do some ripping out to make it look just right. I probably spent the same amount of time ripping out the stitches as I did the sewing. The fabric is from JoAnn's and I love how colorful it is. It just screams summer to me.

Alyssa was so happy for her new shirt! She couldn't wait for me to finish it. Then she put it on and ran to show everyone. I love how happy this girl gets when I make something for her. Sadly it probably will be the only thing that I will sew for her this time as she has a ton of clothes.

Tomorrow I will be tackling a dress for Emma from a Japanese book - Everyday Girls Clothes. It will probably take longer but I hope to finish it by tomorrow night.

I discovered a new very neat little blog named Trula Kids. It was love from the first sight. I love blogs like that with beautiful pictures and amazing mom behind it who makes clothes for her two kids. I was blown away by her creations as she sews without any patterns (I guess she uses patterns for some things). I spent an hour just reading the posts and looking at the pictures of the clothing she made. I am definitely feel inspired now to make some clothes for my kids. The only difference is that I cannot make a thing without a pattern. I am a nerd like that - I need all the directions and patterns you can get. In other news, KCWC starts on Monday. I am starting to freak out. I know it's not like somebody will be grading me on it but I feel like I should be sewing a thing a day. I told Matt that I will be sewing like a mad woman next week and that he's on a dinner duty for the whole week. Ha. He wasn't very happy about that.

That's my fabric stash all washed and ironed. So ready for cutting. I wanted to cut some things before the week starts so I would just sew next week. But it looks like I don't really have time for that. Maybe over the weekend I will get some time off and get to work. That would sure help.

Well, I am half ready myself and cannot wait to see what other bloggers create next week.

Baby Gifts

My friend just a had a beautiful little boy. There is nothing better than a new life coming here to Earth. I always get so excited when people close to me announce their pregnancy or birth of a child. The wheels in my head start turning as I think what I can make and give for a new baby. Making for babies is a pure bliss. Baby things are just so small and sweet that making them just makes me happy.

This time I asked my friend what would she want me to give her for her new baby. She asked me to make some appliquéd onesies for summer. I've never made anything for a boy other than knitting so I decided to find something cute for summery hot days on top of the onesies.

Pattern: Ottobre 2010-03 #3
Fabric: Linen blend from JoAnn's

I was asked to make size 3-6 months but Ottobre sizes are in cm. I have no idea how many cm is a baby boy at three months. I made size 74 and it was a little too big. I think it was more like for 6-9 months. So I had to make another one.

Used the same pattern but different fabric and size is 68cm. At first I thought it was light linen blend but when I started sewing with it I changed my mind. I have no idea what it is but it was finicky to work with. It is light though so should be great for summer.
I also made this romper with snaps on top straps instead of buttons.

Honestly, I like the first one better. I think fabric looks much better and crisper. The second one is lighter and softer though.

Then came onesies. One of them is a stencil and the others are appliqué. Had a fun time making them and I think they make the fastest and easiest gifts.

I am in love with a tie onesie. Too bad I have girls only because I would totally make ten onesies with different little ties on them.
Yay for baby gifts!

Birthday Sailor Dress

Oh, how I love sailor dresses. No, not for me but for little cute girls (or not so cute). I've been meaning to make one for ages now but always had too many kids excuses. Then as I was browsing some sewing blogs I noticed that there is a thing going on with making birthday outfits. I loved the idea so much that I decided to make a birthday dress for my little K. The only problem was that I had three days to complete it. So I went right to work. Remembered about my dream of making a little sailor dress, found a pattern and cut into fabric I already had on hand. And that's what came out of it.

Pattern: Ottobre 2009-03 #15
Fabric: some calico cotton I had on hand

I had a little issue with buttons. I was short of one red button so substituted it with a white one. Also notice how bottom button is not spaced right. I got too excited about making buttonholes that I did not check the spacing before making the bottom one so it came out a little lower than supposed to be.

All in all it was an easy pattern + stash fabric = cute little sailor girl on her birthday. Happy Birthday, K!