BTW..

If anyone's noticed, I dropped a couple lil items into the Etsy...it was looking pretty empty. :p

I love these little skirts. I think they are so cute. :p I just have no little girl left to dress in them. Such a shame. lol

The first two are vintage prints and polkadots, the second is all new fabric. I actually still have to add the last one in yet.

For Gabby..

A good friend of mine is currently in Ethiopia...meeting her brand new daughter for the very first time. It's been an amazing journey to follow. I am so happy for the both of them, and rest of her family (three boys and a girl already), and wish them luck in the coming days of adjustment. :)

I decided I needed to make my friend a baby outfit, for her new baby. I picked out my favorite Ottobre outfit, Ottobre 2/2005 design 11, as usual (I know, it's getting boring how often I make it, but it's SO CUTE! lol), and then altered and adjusted, as usual. The pants are from Girly Style Wardrobe, I think, somewhere, and then I altered them to work for what I wanted. (The pic is not spectacular, sorry...I forgot to take it before I gave it to her, and then had to quickly toss it down and snap one before I forgot, and she took it home with her.)


I had a bunch of different girly prints strewn around my sewing room, trying to find the perfect print for the perfect gift, and then finally, I had this lightweight, crinkly solid white fabric, that I couldn't stop picturing against beautiful Ethiopian skin. I had to do it. 


My favorite part, though...I got this grab bag ages ago, that included all these scrapbooking ribbons...I found one I just had to use. I tested it out for durability and color wear, and it seems to hold up. I certainly hope it will. But, you can see why I just thought it was absolutely perfect for her:

Happy life together, Heather and Gabby and family. :)

Crossfront Tut coming...

I made this ages ago, for demonstrating a tutorial on how to make a crossfront swing top out of a basic t-shirt pattern (I hope there is interest for it, cause I've already done most of the work! lol). Apparently, I missed a couple of pics of the construction, so the tutorial is on hold til I track the outfit back down (because I went and gave it away BEFORE organizing all my pics) and retake them. In the meantime, here is the outfit.


It used to be an Ottobre toddler knit t-shirt. Now it's a woven crossfront swing top. It fits perfectly on the recipient. I am so proud. :p

The shorts were also Ottobre, but one, I don't remember which ones, and I can't check cause they are all stuck in storage somewhere, and two, I resized them up about two sizes, and then changed them up a little, so the pattern number is almost irrelevent by now.

Lost track somewhere..

I can't remember the pattern number, from Ottobre, but doesn't really matter, cause either I messed up bigtime somewhere, which I can't figure out where, or the pattern is wrong somehow. Haven't quite figured out which, yet.

Meant for a 2yo, but I have none around me to see if they are still wearable, since they might be too far off to actually fit that size. :( So, they go into limbo. Oh, well.



And yeah, the pockets are a little off....I lined them all up, pinned in place, careful careful, and there they are, visibly wonky. Sigh.

On the plus side, isn't that the cutest fabric?? Was a little remnant, sitting around, and I thought it'd make the cutest pants. And I was right. Too bad they are useless now! :vent:

It's a girl...

Yet another baby girl born into the extended family...



(Excuse the terrible pic..the sun decided to vanish just in time for pic taking time...and then the dog decided to run away, so I couldn't just wait for some more..dumb dog!)

Same pattern as I used here, Ottobre 2/2005 #2. I think I forgot one tier...I have these strips of fabric left sitting next to my machine, with no obvious other use. Ooops. :p The pants are Ottobre 2/2005 #3, but extended, and then two tiers of ruffles added. Cause you just can't have too many ruffles if you are a girly little girl, right?? :D

Japanese swimming....

Well, that's what the poor little girl will be doing, when she wears these. Swimming. In my first Japanese pattern.


I busted into my vintage sheets (I bought some more since that post), and tried out a pattern from a book I saw around awhile ago, and HAD to buy ...Girly Style Wardrobe, Pattern G, ISBN 9784579111329. OMG....I have used Ottobre mags for years, and Topkids (similar, but Australian, out of print now) for longer, and even traced a Burda pattern or two...so I am not exactly a total noob at tracing patterns. But trying to trace those Japanese ones, I swear to God, I was going crosseyed, and my eyes actually HURT the next day, from the strain of it! Not to mention how freaking hard it was to even find the right pattern pieces, even WITH the identifying letters next to the pattern pieces!! Even after double, triple, and quadruple checking, I still managed to cut one of the pieces from another pattern, instead of the right one. I got it in the end, though. Finally. On to the next problem.


Since the patterns are in centimetre sizes, and I don't have the little girl around to measure, I tried to use the Burda conversion chart, over on SewingMamas, to pick a size three. Okay. So. I have no idea what happened. I traced super carefully, and cut just as carefully, since I didn't want any problems I might encounter be a result of my own sloppiness; so I know it wasn't that. But somehow, I ended up with two little tops that look like they will be short little swing tops for a 5 year old, rather than a little 3 year old. These things are SO wide. I don't know what happened! I double checked pattern pieces, sizes, measurements, etc, and everything matched up; but I still have these little oceans to swim in. :( Very annoying. I'm going to send them anyway, since I know they at least won't be too SMALL, but what a disappointment. (I have just finished googling, and apparently that is a common problem for these patterns..they run wide and short. Hmm...)


The yellow top, btw, is using yellow polka dot fabric. Which I never found yet. I gave up and bought more. So somewhere in my sewing room, there is some rogue yellow polka dot fabric.


The pink and blue was is also a little bit of a disappointment....when I planned it out, I envisioned it with a binding and ruffle in the green on the leaves..it looks fantastic in my head. But I couldn't find that green at all when I went looking, and had to settle for the gingham..it was the right color, at least. But just doesn't have the pop I was looking for.

So there you have it. Two cute little tops, that still managed to be disappointments. That isn't stopping me from itching to get into it and try another pattern, though...when I got past all the tracing problems, MAKING them was ridiculously simple, even WITH making all my own bias binding!!!

Credits:
1 and 2: Pomadour24

I get it now...

So if anyone is wondering, I *did* get all those diapers done, at least the first set, anyway, sent off on time, and everythings hunky dory. Til I have to start the next size. Yeesh. :p And yepp, that's how I sent them. Threads totally unclipped, and hanging everywhere. How lazy is that?? lol

And I get it now. I read a fair amount of sewing forums, blogs, email lists, etc. And a lot of them have to do with sewing for kids, since that has been a main focus for my sewing for about 14 years now. :p So I see a lot of SnS's (that's Sew and Shows to the uninitiated) featuring a diaper, and I would just be like huh..okay, it's a diaper. Yay. But. Having sewn ninety million of the mindnumbingly boring things, I get it. When you finish sewing them, you feel like you deserve a prize for getting through it, or at the very least some acknowledgment!!! So you put it up for the world to see, all 20 diapers, 10 inserts, and 10 pockets, cause that was a LOT OF WORK, DAMMIT!!! :p

2 Days Old....

A better pic of the little sweetie pie, on day 2.




What the heck..another one, too...

Welcome, Miss Talika..

Welcome to the world, baby girl! After 7 days of labor, my newest niece was born via C-sec last night!!


This is the best pic I have right now, since 7 days of labor in the hospital and moving house during off hours at home has left everyone relatively fried. I can't even tell you if she has a middle name!!! :o

But she was 8lb 8oz, and looks remarkably like my ds when HE was born...ie, absolutely, completely adorable. She's not even squished and red. She IS amazingly alert and aware, though!! I watched her for a little while on webcam (bless this modern age!! :p ), and if I didn't know she had just been born less than 24 hours old, I would have thought she was a month or two old!!

Welcome to the world, sweetie pie!! Your diapers will be there soon!! :D

A new life....

My sister is in labor....good luck, kiddo!!! :D

I, on the other hand....as of yesterday, I had three diapers sewn. Now I have a couple more. Good thing I wasn't making the newborn size, isn't it? :p


I don't even have the threads clipped. Lemme tell ya...diapers are a real creativity killer. I am getting NOTHING done while I avoid them, lol. Oh, well, time to get over it, and get sewing!! They are getting sent over on the 6th, and I still have a million to do! :o

Rings n Slings

Okay, so am just having to cross my fingers and hope I got these right. Two ring slings for my sister's kiddo.



I went for girly, and commando girly. :p The first one is a light lawn, double layered, perfect for nice Hawaii weather. The second is a light drill...a camo print, but the camo is flowers...you think the dad'll be a little less shamed to wear it? :p I bought the superstrong, marine grade rings from Bubba Earth, if for some reason, you happen to live in Australia, happen to be looking to make slings or diapers (I also got TouchTape there, too), and happen to be poking through this here blog. They were great...total communication, ordered Saturday night, sent Monday, arrived Tuesday morning. Nice. I used the instructions over at Maya Wrap, totally clear and relatively easy to follow for a complete visual person like me. :p They even have a vid on how to wear it properly if you need. I probably should have looked at it, cause I am not sure that doll is supposed to be sticking out that much, lol.

DD's Josefina doll did duty as the model. I was SORELY tempted to stick the puggle in, cause, well, it would have been funny. :p But somehow I didn't think the soon-to-be-parents of a precious bundle of joy would have appreciated a dog ass in their little treasure's cocoon...being not quite new parents and all, they don't have a true understanding yet of JUST HOW FAR your standards slip once the little poop machine joins the family. Seriously. Manj, if you are reading this, you REALLY HAVE NO CLUE what you will find yourself doing in the coming years. You think you do, but you just don't. This is going to be fun. :p

(Photo is headless cause after five tries, we gave up trying to get a decent pic, and just photoshopped. :p )

Designer duds....

I would like to take a moment here to thank my Grandma for the Christmas gift she gave me this year:


Without that lethally sharp pair of scissors, which have me living in fear for my fingers, there is no way I would have survived cutting out 40 sets of liners and soakers for the 40 diapers I am making for my sister's coming baby. And I haven't even got to the outer fabrics, inner fabrics, and pocket fabrics.



And what makes them designer?? So, I am whaling away on the huge stack of thick towels I am using (all from St Vinnie's, soaked for a day in Napisan, and then a week on the line in sun and thunderstorms...these things are CLEAN), and then one is a terry robe...I have the whole thing chopped up, almost completely used up, and I reach the right front:


Yepp, that classy little logo is somewhere in the stack of cut out bits, destined to be wrapped around a baby butt. Living it up, I tell ya...

Pink is back...

Still going on the pink stuff....


Same pattern as Fairy dress, but with the ruffles done right. Did the button closure the same way, too. Next dress is the same pattern, too, but skip the ruffles, and extended the rest, to make it long enough.


The hem IS even...the pic is off. :p Same old linen fabric as before, with the same old stripey stuff...it's still the only stuff I have that remotely matches it.


This is what these dresses STARTED as, before I morphed the pattern out of recognition. For once, I didn't do anything to this pattern, just made it as is. Only the front has the shirring, so it looks funny not on someone.

This dress, I made up from scratch.


DD suddenly decided she needed a new party dress two days before the party, so we pulled out the fabric, and got going on it. I just draped fabric on her, and marked where I wanted to cut, and then put in darts to fit. It's a little old, so it's a little tight; it's got a zip and then button straps, so we could still squeeze it on, lol. The bodice is fully lined, too, and curves on the top down to a lower depth in back. I was really proud of how nice it looked for no pattern, and only a couple hours work, since I worked for a few hours on the first day, left it for a day, and then finished the zip and hem the morning of the day of. I LOVE the fabric, and wished it was my colors, lol. It's a satin, and I was really surprised with how easy it was to work with. I swear this was some designer offcut, too, since it was really beautiful to work with, and the print was awesome. :p

And since I have crafter's ADD, and can't focus on one task at a time, I took a break from the pink, and made myself some warm pants for the coming winter, since my house is an ICEBOX, and I have thin blood from growing up in Hawaii. :P They are mega basic, and in fairly cheap fleece, since I was just seeing if it would work, since I have issues with sewing for myself, but I think they came out just fine, for lounging around the house. lol


I used the pattern sloper I created in patterndrafting class, and then laid a pair of pants that I knew I liked over them, to get dimensions I knew I wanted...I have gained weight since the pattern drafting class (UGH!), but since this was for stretch pants, I knew it would be fine. Even then, it still came out a little baggy around the waist. And they aren't hemmed, since I messed up and cut one side a little short during the drafting of the new pattern, and they were the perfect length just as is, without taking up any. Anyway, I was happy enough with them, and now I have a new pair of warm, snuggly pants to get me through the misery of winter! lol Too bad I forgot to suck in my two-babies-and-two-c secs tummy for the picture. :eyeroll: :p

Three things...

As I made this latest batch, I was thanking the Lord for three things:

1. Sergers. One of the BIGGEST reasons I am being so prolific right now is because how easy and awesome it is to use a serger, and get it all down in record time! And it all looks so...FINISHED! lol

2. Rolled hem foot. I would say 80 percent of everything I am making here I am using that foot for. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I've never had one before, and OMG is it easy and professional looking!

3. The Interwebs. Without it, and the kindness of strangers who post tutorials for techniques I haven't tried before, I would have been left in tears, and feeling like a total flop and failure, as I stared at my limp, floppy, retarded looking shirring for the first time. Because if I just went by the instructions on the pattern, that is all I would have had. LUCKILY, I had read up on it ahead of time, and already knew that STEAM STEAM STEAM is the key to making it work! Who knew?? Not the people writing the instructions for the pattern, apparently!!

On to the clothes. The pink saturation is slowing down.



Finally a new pattern! Woohoo! lol Ottobre 2/2005 #2, Changed very slightly, for once. Just dropped half the tiers and made it a top instead of a dress, and added the little contrast piping.



Nothing new here. Same patterns as the other ones. I'm still not totally sure about how the stripes look, but it was the only fabric I had that looked remotely right. I love this fabric. I got it at Spotlight, on clearance, for mega cheap, and I swear it is some designer end roll or something. It is a MEGA soft linen, with a BEAUTIFUL drape, and the print looks very well done, too. I don't know what it is from, but I am mourning the fact that I am reaching the bottom of it! :(


Apparently my oldest niece is a girl after my own heart..her favorite colors are greens, oranges, and browns. What a refreshing change from the usual pink! :p

I am not totally sure whether this is too much, though...I don't know her well enough to know how adventurous she is in her style, lol. I HOPE she is, and will wear this!! Made from Simplicity Lizzie McGuire 5396, but with the sleeves cut down. The green is a crinkly one, with lines of some sort woven in, and then silver threads shot through; then I put red and white polka dot bias binding around the neck. *I* would wear it, if I liked bright lime greens; now just to see if *she* will, rofl!


A word about the pattern here...I usually HATE HATE HATE Big Three patterns with a mad passion, but the Lizzie McGuire range is surprisingly good. The patterns are simple to put together, the sizing comes out well, and the fashions are trendy enough for an image conscious ten year old. I do highly recommend them, if you are looking for that kind of a pattern. Except for the deplorable lack of detail in getting perfect shirring. :p


Same pattern as above. Fabric has lines of umm...for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called, but the lines of open weaving where you can see through. How's that for technical? :p

Cherries and Fairies..

A few more little girly dresses...

I made this first one at Christmas, and somehow completely forgot to post it here! I actually made three, but since they all look the same, I will spare you. :p


Ottobre 1/2005 #19. I dropped the zipper, and made a kind of button loop closure at the back, instead. This is just the back, the only really interesting part. The front is just basic round neck tunic, and I am pretty sure I did something awfully wrong on the bottom flounces, but it still came out okay. The fabric is this voile, with even finer weave in between the flowers, so it comes off so delicate, but it's still relatively sturdy. The wings were made from this stiff, sheer green stuff, that had these plastic silver and clear dewdrops scattered in waves all over, and silver holographic bits stuck on as well. Very cool. I didn't have to do anything to stiffen them, except hem the edges, which gave them a little body. Then I gathered the middle (started out kind of like a rounded rectangle), and sewed them down. I hope they keep working.




This top was made from the same pattern as the fairy dress, but I left off the flounces, cut it down a little, altered the front into a crossfront, left off the back closure, obviously, and closed the inside panel the same as the little top here. I think that was it. And changed the arm and neck linings, of course.



Okay, this is the closest I am getting to the original pattern in the Factory Sewing post. :p Dropped all the petals, obviously; changed the zipper into the lapped shoulder, closed with self covered buttons (I love self covered buttons...esp on little girl clothes! :D ), dropped the neck lining, and just bound in bias binding. And the little pants are the same, I think. I can't remember if I did anything different than the pattern said, since I never read the instructions. For either of them. Oh, yeah, I added that green striped piping thing, too...dd swears it looks wrong, but I think it's so cute, and went ahead with it, anyway. :P

Still more coming..the pile looms as large as ever!!

Factory Sewing pt 1

I've got like a million nieces, and I haven't sewed for them in ages, so I am playing a little bit of catchup...except the niece that hasn't even arrived yet is getting the biggest haul, cause well, baby girl clothes are FUN to make! :p I have 17 oufits (okay, not complete outfits..some are just a skirt, or just a top, but then I also have a bunch of 2 piece sets....whatever, I have a lot of stuff cut out!) sitting around...I think I am avoiding 40 cloth diapers I promised for the aforementioned baby *cough*.

I used one pattern for most of the baby clothes: Ottobre 2/2005 #3. For reference, this is what that one is supposed to look like:



Okay, on to mine now!


Lessee...what did I change. Dropped the zipper, made the shoulder a lapped button, instead. Dropped the neck lining, and bound it. Redrew the armscye, extended the bodice down, added a band around the waist, and then added a skirt. The pants are the bloomers from the pattern, but redrawn and extended down into pants. I wanted them to taper in a little, instead of just sticking out at the bottom, so I added 2 darts on the front and backs of each leg at the ankle, to give a little shape. I took a pic on the next outfit to show what the heck I am talking about. I THINK that was all for this one!


Same pattern again. Dropped the zipper, obviously. Dropped the sleeves, too. Extended the bodice down and flared it into a top, redrew the armscye, redrew the neckline into a crossfront. Dropped the necklining again, bound the neck and arm edges, ending in ties. On the inside, I forgot to take a pic, but I added a little tab attached to the seam allowance, and put a button on it; and then on the crossfront to meet it, I ended the binding in a loop to hook onto it. I messed up on the crossfront, and one of the panels got cut backwards...luckily it's almost impossible to pick the right side anyway!! :p


The pants were made the same as the first outfit, except instead of hemming, I just bound the edges at the ankles. Oh, a closeup of what I was talking about with the darts. The pic kind of sucks, but you can still see what's happening, vaguely (I swear the binding is even..I don't know why it looks all wobbly!)


Last outfit for today: Same pattern as the other two. I had this fabric for AGES, and didn't know what to do with it. I bought it for like $1 a meter, and then realized I would never stick pink strawberries on my dd again, and I hated it, anyway, so it just sat there for a couple years, and I finally busted it out. It's super loosely woven, too, which is a total PITA!

Anyway...changes...Dropped zipper, bound neck, added lapped shoulder, redrew armscye, dropped bodice, added waistband, added skirt, added bottom ruffle, left out elastic in arms (the fabric is so lightweight, that it doesn't leave that stiff sci-fi soldier look you usually get when you do that without alterations :p ), attached the skirt in pleats rather than gathers, umm..I think that was it. The pants are almost like above, except, since it had that border, I couldn't do the little darts, and instead, redrew the side leg seams curving in a little, to give it shape again.

Wait, I lied, I had a couple more random things I made for another little girl...just a basic elastic waist skirt:



....and a batch of headbands from the Starleigh pattern. I changed that one, too....I gathered a panel of fabric in, and hemmed the edges, and then put it together with the elastic the same way as the normal way:


Nothing special, but I liked them, and I made them, so I am sticking them here! :p


Oh...our local resident lizard. He lives in the storm drain next to our house, but today he was out on our front step, til we scared him off it, accidently:


He's about 2-2.5 feet long from nose to tail. Very cool. :p