More pants

I made Primrose a pair of the Dortje pants and now I have my sights set on making up the Avalon jacket pattern in matching corduroy for both girls. I need more flowered corduroy and more bright green, so it's off to JoAnn.

I SO need a freakin' dress form!

I'm never going to make anything that actually fits me if I don't have a dress form to work with. I don't have good mirrors and I can't pin on my own back while wearing the clothes that I'm pinning. I'm just going to have to come up with the $300 to make myself a dress-form or give up on making clothes for me and just make them for the kids. At least the kids keep growing (and wrecking their clothes), giving me a constant market for making new things. I'd really like to sew for me though!

Rant over.

Dortje Trousers

These turned out great!

The red corduroy is from my stash and the flower stuff is from the new line at Joann. I had to redo the front knees a couple of times and was afraid that I would completely fray the corduroy. You can still see the chalk marks on the front where I marked the false fly before I sewed it. I may need to hem them up a bit to fit well. There is a bit of elastic in the back of the knees to pucker up the pants a bit. I originally meant to leave it out but I ended up putting in quite a tight bit of elastic. I'm going to make a pair for Primrose as well, she wants flowered corduroy with a green solid color instead of red.

Update: Well, Willa tried them on and says that she doesn't like them. She doesn't like how they "flop around her ankles". I could make them less flared...or I could put them away for Primrose. Guess which I'm going to choose?

And more imke

I've had quite a rash of Imke making. I believe that Primrose now has enough long sleeved shirts to make it through the winter. The butterfly imke was made out of two brand new but still rummage sale t-shirts. I cut the center front of the butterfly shirt into a sleeve and used the left over butterflies as appliques. The brown Imke with roses is half new and half recycled fabric. I bought the brown rose fabric new for a shirt for Willa that never happened. The blue heart Imke on Willa was made out of a Goodwill top-sheet. I made one shirt for Willa and one for Primrose out of it and I still have half a sheet left. I'm planning leggings for both of them from the Riviera pattern from Sewing Clothes Kids Love. If there's enough left, Primrose might also get a dress.

FYI, the crab pots that Willa is posing in front of belong to the Wizard from the Deadliest Catch TV show. Willa is a huge fan and was overjoyed to spot one of her favorite reality tv stars, Ragnhild, at the Fisherman's Harvest Festival in Ballard.

Tie-dyed fleece jacket

This is the Burdastyle pattern muslin that I made up for Primrose. It's very sweet. She wore it unfinished to the Burien lantern festival. It was very wet and rainy but she stayed warm. I am planning to make it or something very similar for her out of the giraffe fake fur. I still haven't made the buttonholes on the tie-dye though and I think it might be one of those things that keeps it from ever being worn. Maybe I should just put on some snaps under the buttons. At least she'd get to wear it while it still fits.

flee

Sewing along

OK, well, my jeans are progressing. I need to put in the zipper though. I have made 2.5 imka shirts for Primrose, two with hoods, one without. I put a collar and cuffs on the hoodless shirt. I could do a better job if I started putting the collar on before I sewed up both shoulders, I'll remember that next time. I also made Primrose a tie-dyed polar fleece coat. It looks very cute and is just waiting for it's button-holes. The fleece was my muslin though. I am planning on making her a coat from some gorgeous giraffe print fake fur that I got in the remnant bin at Joann. I also ran up a quick draft of a medieval hood, I am thinking of making it up in some lovely brown cashmere that I got in a grab-bag at Goodwill.

OK, I'll post pictures soon.

Jeans

I really have been sewing. I just haven't been posting about it. I am currently working on Burda 7863, trying to create the perfect pair of skinny cords for myself. The pattern specifies stretch fabric, but I have a ton of gorgeous corduroy which isn't stretchy, so I'm making a slightly larger size. I made a muslin which probably would have been great in a stretchy fabric so I ripped the seams and sewed it again with a smaller seam allowance and it seems pretty good except for the butt, where I want a bit more room. I'll be adjusting the pattern and trying again.

I picked up the pattern at Joann's on sale, and I looked at their stretch jean fabric but it was all too expensive for a muslin. So I stopped off at Burien Goodwill on the way home and voila! two lovely lengths of fabric for under $10. Gotta go sew!

Our new addition!

Welcome Clyde! This morning Rose's baby brother (contrary to my previous information, apparently they are not twins) arrived. Well, actually, Willa kidnapped him off of my sewing table two days before her birthday and just kept him, but officially, he arrived this morning. He has a comfy red sweatsuit and a blue wool suit (for those more formal days). I picked up a $2 box of fabric at a garage sale which has all of these wonderful little bits of wool fabric. There is an absolutely gorgeous soft brown that I already made some pants for Clyde in and I am going to make a matching jacket for him. Or maybe a vest. I also made him a blue pinstripe shirt out of the remains of my all time favorite men's shirt from my college days. I got it at a garage sale in Olympia and wore it incessantly. It's nice to see it put to good use.

Self-Sewn Underwear!

I've done fairly well this month just wearing my homemade t-shirts but today I'm adding something new --homemade underwear! I'm slowly working on making my own bras but in the in the meantime I whipped up a pair of bikini underwear. They look homemade, but I'm a hippie and I love that look. My inspiration was a lovely pair of underwear I saw for sale at Folklife a couple of years ago. They were just gorgeous. Mass produced underwear just doesn't come in the colors and shapes and sturdy fabrics that I would select if I had the choice. And now I have the choice! I went to bed dreaming about block printing with acrylics on my new undies. The possibilities!

What I'm working on.

So yesterday I used my t-shirt pattern to whip up two more t-shirts! Another one in brown, and a lovely teal (I'm wearing it now and it appears to have something sticky on the back). I also finished topstitching the hem of the lovely Silverlake jacket that I just finished. Yippee!! I can't believe how much I've learned in this year of sewing. The importance of clipping the seam allowances for one thing. The Silverlake jacket has as many as 8 pieces of fabric all clumped together on the bottom hem. If they're not trimmed back it is absolutely impossible for my machine to traverse them. I am also (somewhat tardily) starting on Clyde, the twin brother of Rose, Wilhelmina's Waldorf doll. I realized when I sat down to sew Clyde up on the machine, that I needed to use a zig-zag stitch, because he's made of a knit. That's when it occurred to me that the reason that Rose has blown so many seams is because I made her with a straight stitch --because I'd never sewn knits before. I'm so glad that I know how to do it correctly now. So now here I am, not stitching, but instead I'm carding wool, because I need 10 oz of carded wool to fill Clyde and I only have 4 oz carded so far. I guess I know how I'll be spending my weekend. Only 3 days before Clyde needs to be ready to go, with at least one wearable outfit. And, if at all possible, Rose could really use a bath. There have been way too many camping trips where she ended up face down in the dust.

Kappogi apron

I made this apron a year or two ago. I never really used it. Today however, I put on my handmade brown t-shirt and, rather then get it all grease spotted doing dishes, I decided to put on my apron. It really looks good. I may start using it more often. I think that I was really trying to make a housedress of sorts, an all purpose coverall that would look good in the house or out. I have another pattern that I'm planning to make up but this apron is still very nice and deserves more usage. I got the fabric at Hancock's store closing sale. I don't remember how much it cost. The apron closes with two ties in the back. I placed the bottom ties a bit too low I think. I may move them up a tad, closer to my natural waist. As it is the apron tends to gap a bit in the back.

I made this apron using this pattern. If I did it again I think I would straighten the bottom of the  apron and I would leave off the fancy pleating at the top.

Trench Topper muslin

I don't know if it works. Maybe it sort of works, but not in this fabric? Denim is difficult, we all know that. And maybe I would like it better if I wasn't wearing jeans with the denim jacket (ewwww!)

I am certainly not getting very far with self-sewn September. So far, all I've used is the summer purse that I made. I should be making myself some more t-shirts or a pair of pants, but right now I'm working on a skirt for Willa. (Cause what she really needs is more clothes).

Not my craft

I love this sweater. I may love it better than anything I've knit for myself. I picked it up at St. Mark's Rummage sale for $1. I love the trees, I love the soft and lightweight wool. I don't especially love the color, but you can't have everything. Thanks for knitting me my new sweater, fellow crafter. It's wonderful.

Old and new

This morning I dressed Primrose in these lovely dragonfly pants that I made her at the beginning of summer. The denim is from the wonderful rummage sale of fabric by the box and the dragonfly trim is left over from the blackout curtains I made for the girls room. Wilhelmina then added the smock to Primrose's attire. I made the smock for one of my little sisters, probably 25 years ago. They look great together.

The pants pattern is from the book Carefree Clothes for Girls. I had great hopes for the book, but the only thing that I've actually made from it is the pants pattern. I have made those pants over and over, 4 or 5 times this summer. I like how it hangs. The other patterns in the book, I like them initially, but when I look at them more closely, I'm just not interested enough to make them.