Archive for the 'KCWC' Category

April projects

Published on 01/05/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, KCWC, Paper piecing and Patchwork. 10 Comments

I’ve just realised that it’s the 1st of May and therefore Fresh Sewing Day, I’m not sure how it sneaked up on me but it did!

I started the month with the And Sew On BOM, this I think is my favourite so far:

After winning the Aeroplane Bag pattern I thought I’d better get on and make it:

Kids Clothes Week was on this month, and I had a productive week along with a few mistakes:

Trousers for Mathias, shorts for the girls:

and pyjama bottoms for Bethan and Mathias:

If you’re interested in fabrics and/or pattern details see this post.

I helped out a lady in distress over missing bee blocks.

Again despite the chaos I’ve managed to get quite a lot of sewing done. Building work is nearing completion; we need doors and windows, more electrics and plumbing work, most of that will be done for us but we do need to paint the plaster work before we can put the kitchen in, I’m hoping that next month we’ll have made great progress!

Linking up with:

KCW round up

Published on 28/04/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, Girls and KCWC. 5 Comments

I had a vague intention to blog more frequently this week on my Kids Clothes Week progress, but after the fail so soon after the start I focused on sewing rather than sharing!

So here are the shorts I made, the top 2 pairs are the pairs that due to the printer scaling the pattern turned out more like a size 5 than a size 8. Fortunately for me I have 2 daughters and these do fit my younger daughter and she likes them!

The bottom 2 pairs are the size I intended them to be , they are now shoved in Bethan’s drawer waiting for the sun to shine! It is still pretty chilly here so rather than getting the girls to wear them for a photoshoot (not so great in our building site of a garden) I pegged them up. No prizes for spotting the difference between the pairs but it’s enough for me to know which pair belongs to which child when they come out of the wash!

I also made half of the Goodnight, sweetheart pjs from Sewing for Boys:

Yes I went for the easy part first, the bottoms. I have cut the pieces for the top this afternoon but not yet had time to sew it. I used some lovely soft flannel from the Children at Play line by Sarah Jane Studios.

I hesitated about what size to make these, Mathias is 3 1/2 and his height is below average for his age, but the pattern comes in a 2/3, 4/5 and 6/7. I was worried that 2/3 would be on the small side and the 4/5 would be way too big. Fortunately my sounding board (aka Tobit) suggested 2/3 would be fine and I’m so glad he did, without the cuffs turned up they fit Leah (almost 6) pretty well so with the cuffs turned up 2″ they are on the big side for Mathias!

I sewed a piece of blue ribbon in at the back of the waistband to help him know which way on they go (I opted out of the faux fly).

Bethan was very taken by the sight and feel of the flannel pj bottoms and requested I make her some! I didn’t have enough flannel in my stash to make a pair so we had a browse through the flannel section at Pink Castle Fabrics and were very tempted by most of what was on offer especially with 20% off this weekend (code EVERYTHING20). I got the feeling that Bethan wasn’t really prepared to wait a week or so for fabric to arrive and then I remembered that I had found some flannel at the car boot a year or so ago. I wasn’t expecting her to like it but she loved it, so I quickly cut out the pieces and sewed them up, probably the fastest garment I’ve ever made!

These were too long on Bethan so I turned up the cuffs 2″ and they fit better, so hopefully both pairs of pyjama bottoms will last the children a good while!

Again a piece of blue ribbon at the back.

So all in all after the near disastrous start to the week I’m really pleased with how productive I’ve been, especially with plasterers, builders, roofers and electricians working in and on the house.

It was a trying week, seriously; I got back from the school and preschool drop off on Friday morning to discover the contents of the under stairs cupboard all over the living room and the electricity turned off for almost all the morning! I’m hoping that I can get on with the other half of the pyjamas tomorrow but I’m not holding out too much hope as the electrician is due here again!

Now the only thing to decide is whether or not to go and buy some of that delicious flannel from Pink Castle Fabrics ready for next time…

I hope you’ve had a productive week whether you’ve been sewing for children or sewing for something/one else.

Linking up my Sewing for Boys project with:

KCW – #fail

Published on 23/04/2013 by Mary in clothing, KCWC and projects. 7 Comments

On Sunday my eldest daughter chose some fabrics from my stash that she wanted me to make some shorts with.

I’ve used this pattern a number of times before, it goes up to age 8 but I didn’t have the pattern printed in this size so printed it off, cut out the paper pieces, stuck them together and on Sunday night cut out the pieces from fabric.

Yesterday I had a child free morning so got sewing, it all came together as I expected it to and then it was time for preschool pick up and no more sewing was done until after their bedtime.

I started to become confused when attaching the waistband to the shorts. I discovered that it was too big, you can see from the photo below the stitch line on the right with a SA of 1/4″ but I need to make the piece smaller and you can see the stitch line on the left which I had to use to make the waistband fit.

At that point I pulled out the pattern piece for the waistband (which I hadn’t reprinted) and checked that I had cut it right and yes I had.

But I had suspicions that the shorts didn’t look big enough for age 8 so I pulled out all the pattern pieces. And it was then that I realised that my printer must have scaled the pattern. The piece on the left is the original piece that I used at age 6 a few years ago. The piece on the right I thought was age 8 but as you can see it is significantly smaller than the piece on the left:

So major meltdown happened here, I was so cross, gutted and annoyed. A mistake I know but I should have checked.

This morning I confessed all to Bethan and she said ‘don’t worry mum I forgive you’!! Leah is almost 6 and she didn’t turn her nose up at them so I’ll get them finished today and hope they fit her:

They just need elastic and ties in the waistband and hemming. The pockets were cut from the original pattern at ‘real’ age 8 so are a little big for the shorts but I’m NOT unpicking.

Oh and the slightly better news is that I probably do have enough fabric of both prints to make the correct size shorts for Bethan!

Have you had any sewing disasters this week? Please help me to feel better (Moira shared hers yesterday).

Gearing up for Kids Clothes Week

Published on 22/04/2013 by Mary in Boys, clothing, KCWC and Upcycled. 5 Comments

You may know that this week is Kids Clothes Week (KCW). I’ve joined in this event in previous years and had quite productive weeks sewing clothes for my children.

Inspired by the thought of the week ahead and the fact that my little boy now goes to preschool on a Friday morning (as well as Mon and Tues) I decided to do some preparation work:

I pulled out my Sewing For Boys book with a plan for making another pair of Treasure Pocket Pants for the boy. I made a pair for him just over a year ago – size 2-3 years and they just about fit him now (aged 3 1/2):

In this photo from last year they are turned up and he’s wearing a washable nappy which probably helped them to stay up!

So on Friday I rummaged around in our rather full loft and found my bag of old jeans, I selected a pair of mine and a pair of Tobi’s and got cutting. I also pulled out a piece of gorgeous Ann Kelle corduroy that the lovely Fiona from Patchwork Delights sent me when she was clearing out her sewing room.

I tried to get a bit of sewing done early on Saturday morning (7am) but realised that the facings I had cut from the pattern were not long enough. I seem to remember this happening before, so after lunch I measured around the hem opening and cut my pieces to that measurement rather than the pattern piece.

So a pretty quick make and while he’s not tried them on yet he seems rather delighted that mummy has made him some more trousers!

I have more plans for the week which involve shorts for the girls and maybe some more trousers; are you joining in? what do you plan to sew?

I’m linking up to Ange’s monthly book challenge:

KCWC days five and six

Published on 28/04/2012 by Mary in Boys, clothing, Girls, KCWC and Upcycled. 5 Comments

With two children being proud wearers of treasure pocket pants the big sister was feeling a little left out and yesterday Bethan decided it was definitely time for her own pair. I offered up a pair of old Fat Face cords from this pile:

They are quite flared which is possibly why they are now in the upcycling pile, I was thinking that they would therefore be wide enough to accommodate the pattern pieces. She was happy with them (phew!) and then asked about what fabric could go with them. She really likes the fabric I used for her mini crayon wallet last summer, but I we decided that it wouldn’t look so great with the beige cords:

So I bravely offered up some Echino scooter fabric, I bought some almost two years ago to make a lap top case for Tobit and have been closely guarding the remains ever since:

Bethan has recently shown an interest in learning to sew and wanted these trousers made quick. So after dinner last night I got the Sewing For Boys book out and gave her a lesson in pattern tracing:

I then cut out the main pieces and when putting her to bed she said I could sew all evening and get her trousers finished! Funnily enough I didn’t. But this morning she was keen to sew again, she was working on a project of her own (which I’ll show in another post) so we finished that off and then moved on to the trousers. Bethan was desperate to sew, so I let her do the straight lines and with some help she did ok. Anyway by dinner time they were finished:

She was quite delighted and put them on straight away, the light wasn’t good (in fact it’s been gloomy here all day) but we managed to get a couple of photographs before bed:

As you can see Leah was keen this time to get in on the photographs:

I’m not sure how high Bethan was wearing them on her waist but they do look almost a bit short! I cut them at the largest size 6/7 yrs and she is 8 next winter. I guess if I make her another pair I could just add an inch to the length as I think they fit fine everywhere else.

That I think is it for this Spring KCWC for me, have you joined in? Have you been inspired to sew for children?

KCWC days 1 and 2

Published on 27/04/2012 by Mary in clothing and KCWC. 3 Comments

OK so I’m a bit late to the KCWC party! I knew this was going to be a busy week so on Sunday afternoon I traced the pattern pieces for the Treasure Pocket Pants from Sewing for Boys in a size 4/5. Ever since making a pair for Mathias, Leah has been asking for a pair.

So another pair of my husbands old jeans cut up. Leah is most definitely not a girly girl so rather than make something she won’t wear I chose some fabric I’ve been hoarding from David Walkers Robot line for Freespirit, which means that in a couple of years they’ll be worn by her little brother!

Leah didn’t know I was making these for her, I didn’t want to mention it because I feared she be asking every 2 minutes if there were finished yet! But with the pattern traced I was able to sew these up on Tuesday and gave them to her after school on Wednesday (they have to wear school uniform so I thought showing them to her in the morning might end up in a squabble over what she was wearing to school!), she was delighted and put them on straight away, and phew they fit!

She wasn’t so keen on participating in a photo shoot, straight after dinner and before bed she was tired (and it shows):

I really like this trouser pattern, the treasure pockets are great, just right for a toy aeroplane:

So that is my effort for KCWC so far, funnily enough Bethan has now decided she would like a pair, so that might be a job for this evening depending on fabric availability and her choice! I have a pair of old cords ready for cutting which I think might be big enough for a 6/7 yr old pair…watch this space.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

Published on 28/03/2012 by Mary in Boys, clothing, Dress a Girl Around the World, Girls and KCWC. 1 Comment

Have you signed up for this?

Twice a year over at Elsie Marley, Meg runs a week where she challenges you to sew for an hour a day for your children (or someone else’s), that hour might include tracing patterns and cutting fabric, or for the more adventurous designing patterns!

I took part last spring (I had too many other things on in the Autumn) and it was a great incentive to sew for my children. I’ve just had a look back through what I did (starting here) and am amazed at how much I achieved! In fact part of my sewing was for Dress A Girl Around the World so if you don’t have children to sew for you could still join in.

So I’m starting to think about what I might sew this time around, do you fancy joining in?

Summer Sewing Plans – mid term review!

Published on 10/07/2011 by Mary in clothing, Dress a Girl Around the World, KCWC, Patchwork, Quilts and T-shirts. 2 Comments

So, back at the beginning of May I signed up to Summer Sewing Plans hosted by Sarah at Fairy Face Designs. I’m now just reviewing where I am with those plans!

I’d already signed up for Kids Clothes Week Challenge and during that week managed to sew 2 pairs of shorts, finished 4 more pillowcase dresses for Dress a Girl Around the World, here’s Leah modelling one:

sewed 2 more pairs of Big Butt Baby Pants for my boy as he’d almost grown out of the ones I made last year.

I finished the appliquéd t-shirts that I had started and they are being worn a lot, I think the girls like the dog one particularly because Mathias says ‘gog’ alot (which means dog) and it makes us all laugh!

I wanted to make myself a bag (read more about it here) and I did! I use it most days and I love it!

One of my more ambitious plans I felt was to make myself a top. At the time of writing in May I really didn’t think I could do it and then I came across the Sorbetto Tank Top pattern by Colette a free download so what had I to lose? If you were reading last week you would have seen my post about it, well I started another one on Friday night and would have had it finished that evening if it weren’t for my lack of attention! I sewed the bias binding on the right side rather than the wrong side which meant I needed to undo it. However our delightful children obliged with an early morning call on Saturday and once I’d sorted breakfast for them at 6:45 I got on and finished the top (yes still in my pyjamas!). Here it is:

I’ve done this one differently, reversed the front pleat so it’s on the outside and only stitched it part way down rather than all the way to the bottom. I quite like it. I’m debating whether or not to add some buttons to the front, will have a look and see what is in the blue button jar! The fabric came from a dress my mum passed on to me, I’ve already made Bethan a pair of shorts out of it!

I planned vaguely to sew a bike basket for my daughters 4th birthday – that was last month and I didn’t do it, Leah has taken the basket off Bethans’ bike and both seem happy about that so I don’t think I will be making one now!

I have made some progress with the Kaffe Fassett handkerchief corner quilt – some of the blocks have been sewn into strips so it could be finished before the end of the summer. I think it will just depend on what else distracts me and I suppose the fact that there is now only 2 weeks before school and preschool break up and there are a number of end of term events in the calendar at which a parent should attend!

I’ve not yet made a start on making an Amy Butler ditty bag for my boy, I’ve got fabric that would be good for it…

Ok, so that was everything on my list, only 3 things not done/finished and there is a whole load of other stuff that I have been doing that wasn’t on my list. I’ll see if I can finish the quilt and make a ditty bag before the summer ends!

KCWC – day 7

Published on 15/05/2011 by Mary in Applique, clothing, KCWC and T-shirts. 1 Comment

The last day of Kids Clothing Week Challenge what a relief, but what a challenge and inspiration it has been! Thanks very much to Meg at Elsie Marley for her organisation and inspiration.

So today I’ve not done a lot, Tobi found time to take some photo’s, even better was the fact that we had a compliant child willing to be dressed in Big Butt Baby Pants! And yes he is wearing washable nappies this time!

I think I got the length just about right and the hems are quite deep so I’m anticipating them doing for next summer too! By which time I hope he will be out of nappies altogether and have a cute little butt to put in them!

A photo to show how big that butt is! Good job I reinforced the seam around the bottom!

And a bit of a stretch, he also had great fun with the pockets, a hairbrush and spoon went into them so maybe not such a crazy idea!

A close-up of the bicycle appliqué from yesterday:

So onto today’s sewing, I’d started a t-shirt appliqué for Bethan a few weeks ago, it was all in place just needed stitching, so I got on and did that this afternoon while they went out to the park. She had requested a dog and wanted it to be the same as the ones I did back here, so now there are three girls of varying sizes all with the same applique on their t-shirts! But, each t-shirt is a different colour so not to much for me to cope with!

That’s it KCWC is over! That is me done – well for tonight anyway! I’ve bought a dress pattern off Etsy today so I can make Bethan a summer dress. She has grown out of her favourite one that I bought 2 summers ago and has nothing that fits her for this year, I’ve got plenty of fabric but whether she’ll choose any of it is a different matter – we may have to go fabric shopping!

KCWC – day 6 taking it easy!

Published on 14/05/2011 by Mary in Applique, clothing, KCWC and T-shirts. 0 Comments

Today is Saturday, I always think on Friday night ‘what a relief, it’s the weekend, no school run, we can just chill out’ then at 6:00am at least one child awakes, this morning it was two. The day starts here! Far too early for my liking but not a lot can be done except get on with it!

We had nothing much planned for this morning, by 11:00 Leah was ready for a sleep – unusual for her but sometimes a good thing, within 10 minutes Mathias was also asleep! So I took the opportunity to squeeze in an hour of sewing!

I started this little project in the Easter holidays, it had been on my mind for a while and I needed to get it out! We get a lovely amount of hand-me-down clothing most in excellent used condition. When I find a plain t-shirt in a box or bag I often have a think about adding something to it. This is a mini Boden long sleeved t-shirt that I thought would look a little brighter with something on.

So I had a think about what to do, I tend to go for something gender neutral on unisex t-shirts thinking that Leah can wear them and then Mathias can have them next. I’ve been wanting to come up with some new designs and a bicycle is one of the things I wanted to crack. I did some sketching, thinking, looking and this is what I ended up with:

It’s quite subtle, not too detailed, part of the art of it I think is knowing when to stop! I wanted to add spokes and then couldn’t decide how many etc so decided to leave it without and I like it – but that’s not to say I won’t add some next time!

The wheels were out of my scrap bag, cut out from behind the bubbles on this quilt;

I saved the pieces and knew they would be useful one day – ok I’ve only used 2 of the 72 but it’s a start!

The rest of the design is mostly just stitching. I cut out the middle of each wheel very carefully to reveal the fabric behind. I also cut away the t-shirt fabric behind the remainder of the wheel as it was possible to see the stripes through the dotty fabric.