KCW Spring 2014: Day 3

Gosh, is it already day 3?

I'm back for a lightning progress report. I can hardly believe it but I actually finished L's Sketchbook Shirt. I put the final button on this morning with L looking on excitedly. I'm hoping to take pictures of the boys together wearing their shirts. I think I'll do a dedicated post on making the shirt later on.

On a completely different note, today is a big day for my husband as he is taking an important exam for his career. It's also a bit like a competition. Whoever gets the best scores gets the degree. I was so touched when he wore the Negroni Shirt I made him as a way to have me with him. Good luck, my love!

Ok. Must dash. I've got a Nature Walk Pullover to cut and some markings to transfer!

A demain and happy happy sewing!

KCW Spring 2014: Day 2

Just a little check-in to report on my progress. Yesterday, I talked about starting on an Oliver + S Sketchbook shirt for my little boy and I'm happy to report that the the shirt is moving along nicely.

 

In fact, I think all the practice I got last week sewing my husband's Negroni shirt is making a world of difference! Not that my first two experiences with the Sketchbook shirt were bad ones. Far from it. I love those shirts and I think they look great (sadly, L has now outgrown them) but I feel so much more confident about my abilities to be precise, follow AND understand the pattern.

For today, Day 2, I'm hoping to get close to finishing. First thing to do today: edgestitch that collar!

Well, off I go. My sewing machine calls. Happy sewing and hopefully I'll have another update for tomorrow!

KCW Spring 2014: Day 1

It's here! I can hardly believe it but it's Day 1 of KCW Spring 2014! I'm looking forward to a whirlwind of kid sewing this week and I've planned for far more sewing than I can ever hope to accomplish in one week. But isn't that part of the fun?

These are the fabrics I'm hoping to use this week but we'll see how far I get as the week progresses. Gah, I really would like to get to those knits!

So, for today, Day 1, I'm starting with the KCW theme, mini-me, by  making a mini version of the Negroni dress shirt I made my husband last week. I had enough fabric (it's the second from the bottom in the stack pictured) leftover to comfortably cut the pieces for an Oliver + S Sketchbook Shirt. And I still have a bit of fabric left!

Well, I better be off to get some sewing done! Hopefully, I'll have a few moments to spare tomorrow to give a progress report!

Happy sewing, everyone!

Sewing: A Negroni Shirt for my love

 Pattern: Negroni Shirt by Colette Patterns

Fabric: about 3 meters dark purple cotton (not exactly sure what it is)

Notions: coordinating thread, 9 buttons, interfacing

Size made: M

I mentioned a little while ago that I was hoping to sneak in an extra surprise birthday present for my darling, which is, I am most happy to announce, exactly what I did!  It definitely got down to the wire but I sewed on the final button late late late the night before. Success! He was able to wear it on the day of!

I purchased a 3 meter cut of this 100% cotton fabric at my local marché for 10€. The fabric has a beautiful hand, slight drape, and feels lovely, light and soft, and happens to be one of my husband's favorite colors! Otherwise, I don't know much about the fabric apart from what I found out by working with it. It holds creases very well, so I must be very careful whilst ironing because it holds the right creases just as well as the wrong ones. (I'm not sure how to say it in English. In French they are called 'faux plis') The fabric also stretches quite a bit on the bias so I was particularly careful sewing curves so as not to stretch the fabric out of shape. Time will tell how this fabric ages.

I've made a few dress shirts for my baby boy but this was the first time I made an adult sized dress shirt. I felt a little daunted because I thought it would be so much harder to get it to look right because it was on a much larger scale. I was cautious and measured and re-measured again and again to make sure that the shirt would fit correctly. I even pulled out his nicest shirt to compare the sizing. All that led me to ascertain that a size M with sleeves shortened by about 2" would be ideal. I think all that measuring led to a pretty good fit! I also put only one pocket.

The pattern includes some wonderful seam finishes such as a flat felled seam for the shoulder seam and the side seam to give a clean, comfortable, durable finish. Folding over the sleeve edge before sewing in the sleeve was a revelation for me. I'm still such a novice at sewing! Inserting the sleeve was also incredibly smooth by using the technique of readjusting and repositioning the sleeve every couple of inches whilst sewing. The result looks really nice!

Everything came together really easily, which surprised me, and to my even greater surprise, my machine absolutely adored making buttonholes on this fabric! (What!? You mean I don't have to coax, beg, force you to make them?!!) My husband is really pleased with the shirt and his official verdict upon trying the finished shirt was "I feel really good in it". Yay!!! 

All in all, I like the pattern but I'm not too sure about the collar. It's not quite a classic collar and I think I would like that a bit more. The facing also seemed rather wide. That said, I think I would make this pattern again. The instructions were really good and I'm glad I started my first adult-sized shirt with it because I feel much more confident in making a shirt pattern with fewer instructions and explanations.  And since one of my husband's other shirts tore at the sleeve just the other day, I have an excuse to make another shirt!

Happy birthday, my love! I hope you'll get a lot of wear out of this!

(If you're wondering, the artwork in the background is a hooked rug my mother made specially for me. Oh, and please excuse my ironing! L damaged my ironing board and I'm just not so sure how to iron that collar to get it to sit nicely! After looking at pictures of the shirt on Colette's website, I guess it is supposed to just be kind of flat.)

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Kids ClothesWeek is around the corner! Monday, April 7th to Sunday, April 13th and I am so excited about it. I'm hoping to get some super sewing time in but most of all, I want to enjoy this coming week of sewing!

Softly (you)...again

Pattern: Softly (you) by Solenn Couix-Loarer

Yarn: De Rerum Natura Ulysee in colorways Poivre et Sel (3 skeins) and Baleine Bleue (about 40yds)

Needles: US 3, US 5

Size: 2 yrs

Here it is, my second sweater knit from Solenn Couix-Loarer's pattern, Softly (you) (the first one is here) As you can probably tell, I really really like this pattern. And most important of all, my son adores this, well, both sweaters! There was pretty much the same reaction as the first time. "Pull, pull" (L is saying sweater in French.) He's very much into trying to dress himself right now, so of course he tried to put it on himself. Not entirely successful, but oh so cute! I wish I had a photo of it!

I used the same yarn, De Rerum Natura's Ulysse in the identical color for the main body: colorway Poivre et Sel. For the stripes, I used a navy blue, also in Ulysse, called Baleine Bleue, which I had bought quite a few skeins of to make a sweater for me, which I hope to share in the coming weeks once it's finished. What can I say? I really like this yarn. This is (counting my unfinished sweater) the third time I use it.

I have a slight preference for the yellow version of the sweater because of the cheerfulness of the yellow, but truly, they're both lovely. I'm very pleased with both, and I'm surprised by the fact that I knit the same pattern twice in practically the same colors shortly one after the other. I think there's about a week between the two! But I guess seeing how thrilled my baby boy was, was motivation enough to dive right back in!

(If the sweater looks a little askew that's because I got him dressed in a hurry for a doctor's appointment.)

Dotty Shirt

Pattern: Chemisier à Col Mao in the book Jolies Tenues Pour Fillettes Coquettes by Akiko MANO

Fabric: Leftover bits of Nani IRO Colorful Pocho ( I believe from 2011)

Notions: Off-white thread

Size: 100 cm graded down to fit 2T

Doesn't it look like candy dots? I have to say that I love this shirt- it's so darn cute! I was inspired by this shirt I had seen last year and as I had some leftover pieces of this dotty print, it happened! With a bit of fiddling with the pattern to grade it down for my almost 2 year old and some artful and at times mischievious cutting (some of those edges are the selvedge edges), I ended up with a most pleasing shirt! It was meant to be a birthday shirt...but he looks so cute in it. I don't think I can wait!
 
This was a first time using a Japanese pattern for me (although my copy of the book is the French translation, so there isn't anywhere near as much puzzling out to do.) I took a bit of width out, using some other patterns as reference for size. The book is intended for girls but I think a few of the patterns are just fine for boys, although I did take out the gathers at the sleeves in this one.

Creative cutting allowed me to get the dot placement pretty close to where I wanted - that central white area framed by the red dots was one of my goals to showcase the rows of stitching at the center front. Ah yes, the center front. That part required some serious attention. These lines were 0.7 cm apart and 0.2 cm from the outer edge. I think I was cross-eyed by the end but so pleased! I kept showing it to my husband after each new line of stitching. "See, see!"

The only thing I had an issue with in the pattern was the finishing. The pattern calls for zig-zagging edges but this fabric was fraying a mile a minute, so zig-zagging was not going to cut it. I did French seams and flat felled seams. Hopefully that will keep it together!

I love the final result! And it fits him really well. Oh so adorable! I have a few very odd scraps left. We'll see if I can get creative with them and find a way to use them. (The pants he's wearing in the pictures are a pair of Art Museum Pants by Oliver + S that I made last year.)

Bicycle PJ's for L

 Patterns: Top - Fieldtrip Raglan T-Shirt by Oliver + S

               Pants - Nature Walk Pants by Oliver + S

Fabric: Jay Cyn Designs for Birch Organic Fabrics, Just For Fun KNITS, Bike It - squeezed out of 1 yard

Notions: Off-white thread, 3/4" elastic for pants waistband

Size: 2T for both

Little L was in sore need of new jammies. He's outgrown all of them and don't even mention the ones with feet! They're ridiculous! We were about to go stay at Grandpère's for a bit (seriously, we were leaving first thing the next morning!) and I wanted to have a set ready before we left. Unrealistic, no? But I guess sometimes I am so tenacious that it just works out. I picked up the fabric while I was on my last vacation in the US, hoping I would obtain good results from it. And I haven't been disappointed!

Sewing with knits is actually not such an intimidating thought for me since some of my very first sewing projects were with knits.I was cautious and read up a lot before starting with them and to my great satisfaction, those first projects turned out very well, and are still holding up beautifully over a year later! Even with my very basic sewing machine, where I use a small zig-zag. Knits, here I come!


 I wanted a very comfortable set of pyjamas that would be quick to make, as I had a ridiculous deadline, so, to hope to achieve my goal, I selected the Oliver + S Raglan T and Nature Walk Pants. It was my first time making both of the patterns, but with the combination of excellent instructions, drafting, and a very cooperative fabric, I was done in record time in what was a really pleasurable sewing experience!

 I was most nervous about the neckline but that too went without a hiccup. I carefully read the instructions and reminded myself of Made-By-Rae's posts on knit neckline's that I had read a few days before. I carefully stretched the piece to fit and stretched it as I sewed it in, and it fit perfectly. Sheer joy! The pants were a breeze. I reinforced the crotch seam by sewing it a second time and the few pieces needed came together effortlessly.

Just one last thing: twin needle stitching for that professional-looking finish. But just when I was about to bring out the twin needle, I remembered it was broken, so I ended up stitching both lines with a single needle and carefully, and I mean very carefully, keeping the lines the same distance apart. I actually hemmed at this stage. I think it looks good, despite having the extra work to do a double line.

L seems to like these as they don't restrict his movement. But goodness does that boy have the wiggles! Pretty hard to get good photos. Most of them came out blurry with an arm whizzing by! His jammies were quite a hit with the other kids at Grandpère's since they have bicycles on them. Oh, I nearly forgot, but they work well, even though L is still in diapers.

 He almost looks like he's counting here.