A Harry Potter Halloween!

This was NOT Cordelia's first Halloween, but it was the first time she could actively participate in the gathering of candy. There's a big difference between being a 5 month old and a 17 month old! I like the idea of making a costume, but knew I probably wouldn't have time. So when Nana asked about Cordies costume, I sent her this link of a Harry Potter costume from Marissa of Rae Gun Ramblings. A few weeks later the cutest costume showed up at our door! Legwarmers from GigglePoo, and headband from Brilliant Sunshine, also on Etsy.

Looks like she's walking to the Quidditch pitch...

Our little Hogwarts baby (Hermione Granger....?). Of course, getting the costume on was a bit of a struggle, especially since it was dinner time, but once it was on, Cordelia loved it!

 

 

 

Just for fun!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! Thanks to Nana for the costume, and Marissa for being a great seamstress lady!

 

Posted with Blogsy

You're sew inspirational!

Hey Booooger!

I wanted to start off by thanking you for sharing your exploration in sewing with me!  I know we did a little bit of sewing when we were little but it's nice to put relearn some of those skills and apply them in a practical matter, who ever thought those culottes looked cool…

Your idea of making a wedding gift was what really got me hooked.  The quilt you made for Leana and Dan was beautiful!  So I decided to start by venturing into the world of quilting as well.  I learned some basics with Amy Gibson's Block of the Month 2012 class on Craftsy.  It's a free class and covered all sorts of basics in quilting.  The outcome was a purple and bicycle themed sampler quilt that I sold for my fundraising efforts with Team In Training this summer.

I decided to skip some of the blocks that had slightly more advanced skills (I'll get to you later, curves) and just repeat some that I enjoyed, it turned out well!

Seeing some potential for fundraising I adapted some of the bags I learned on a Craftsy mini class, Bag Making Basics, and decided to sell my newly made items at a local county fair.

The fair was not much of a success, living in rural Missouri the fair was pretty small and didn't have a crowd looking for homemade goods.  However, Failure is alway an option (Mythbsuters, anyone?), so I decided to open a shop on Etsy, BagsByKiloTango, and sold about half my items in a few weeks.  Thanks Mom for being a great marketing agent!

Now I'm eager to explore the world of sewing apparel, I can't wait to work on our sew-along dress.  I'm also about to start on a quilt for a friend's wedding and maybe some more maternity items…. we'll see where my imagination takes me!  Thanks for your inspiration and I look forward to our sewing adventures together!

POOOOPYKINS

A finish for KCWC-the Sadie Grace nightgown!

Remember my plans for KCWC (or Kids Clothes Week Challenge for the uninitiated)? Well, they were a little ambitious, especially seeing as this was my first time participating! Aim high, right? I had plans to make the Junebug dress, baby boy romper, Sadie Grace nightgown and possibly the Charles pants. Needless to say it didn't all get done, BUT I'm so excited to show you one finish! It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it :)
The Sadie Grace nightgown!

"I'm so happy to be cleaning" is what it looks like Cordelia is saying, and I wint discourage that sentiment. And no, I did not coerce Cordelia to multitask and do chores during our little photoshoot- she spontaneously picked up the broom and tracked down the dustpan all by herself like a good girl (I have it on good authority that a grandparent has gotten her a child sized cleaning and broom set for Christmas- shhh, don't tell the bambino!).
This pattern is supposed to have a keyhole with the bias tape (colorful binding in this pic) hanging down- I messed up and bound the whole neckline, but with a 1.5 year old it's probably a good idea not have loose strings. I sewed up the 1-2 year old size, and when my skinny Minnie tried it on, it was off the shoulder! You can see my original neckline below.

I really wanted Cordelia to wear it to bed tonight, and to finish our little photoshoot, so I did a quick fix by pinching together some if the fabric and sewing on a bit of 1/4" elastic.

Then I secured the bottom of the pinch with a few stiches- very technical sewing terms, huh?

I think the result is sort of a kimono style hack, and I like it! I can easily undo it when Cordie grows older.
The bias tape is 1/4" bias tape I made from cotton lawn for a future project for moi. I love th color. I didn't follow the directions in the pattern of sandwiching the bias tape around the neckline. I think I learned this from my first quilt (to be posted at a later date!), but you can open up the double fold bias tape and sew it in one side and then the other- for visual leathers, that won't help, I will work on a tutorial for the future, as it took me a long time and reading many different sources over the past few months to figure it out.

The chaos that us my kitchen sewing table at the moment. There's my handy dandy bias maker tool and the purple bias tape (turquoise bias tape on the left is store bought). There's my nicely packaged pattern, a picture of calm within the craziness!
But I know you want more pics of my cute model with the nightgown in action.

Sweetly reading a goodnight story to herself. She loves turning the pages! You may also notice some matching prints- yes I made this nightgown from some old flannel sheets- the fitted sheet of what you see in our bed was past it's primed but still had some salvageable fabric. Very Sound of Musicesque....

Great view of the kimono style- really it's just a hack, and not a true Kimono style, though a "true" kimono style top is in my "want to make" list.

Sweetly reading a bedtime story (Red is Best, from our dear Canadian friends!) with DaDa, ready to go night night.
By way of quick update, thank you to my sis Katie/Poopykins and Melissa of A Happy Stitch for the encouragement about my almost complete baby boy romper. I thought all was lost and I'd have to wait til I saw my sis for Veterans Day weekend to sew the buttons, but I found my buttonhole foot late last night! Who am I kidding, I will probably wait til she can assist me, she is an engineer after all (thanks, Poopykins, love ya!).
Thanks for following along for my first KCWC! Thanks especially to my Mom for indulging me in my new fabric obsession (G Street fabric, anyone?)

Linked to:
Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, You Flew! @ Feather's Flights, Creative Tuesday @ creadienstag.de, & October Kids Clothes linky @ Kiddikram, Make it Wear it @ The Train to Crazy, Friday Feature @ Blissful & Domestic, Wow Me Wednesdays @ Gingersnap Craftsand We Did it Wednesday at Sew Much Ado

/>Posted with Blogsy

KCWC day 3- Baby Boy Romper's almost there!

Hello!

Sleep beckons and my romper is not done. But fear not, the end is night! I only need to put in the "hardware", the snaps and the buttons. My snaps are sew on (not hammer on or whatever), any suggestions on securing those? Also, I can't find my buttonhole foot for my sewing machine and my one attempt at trying to sew a button hole without said foot was a disaster, eek! Anywho, here's the almost finished baby boy romper:

(Snaps will go in at crotch, and buttons will secure the straps at the top)

Any hardware installing tips from my engineering sister or other smart sewers are appreciated! Hopefully I'll finish it before the end of Kids Clothes Week Challenge!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

KCWC faves from Day 1&2

Since not everyone has a profile on the KCWC community, I just wanted to link below to some of my faves below:

Elephant pants and sweatshirt from LaughterHouseMama

Cute monkey PJ pants and matching top from Sweet Puddles

Bimaa hoodie from Naeh Connection (a German blog!)

Ice cream dress from While She Was Sleeping

Cord pants from Dorottary

Giraffe vest from Climbing the Willow

Retro romper from kukaa and bubu - absolutely adorable!

Awesome, right? Let's see if I can finish my romper tonight....it I just may go to bed early!

 

Posted with Blogsy

KCWC Day 1

Dear Poopykins,

You know how sometimes you have to sew something to figure out if you're doing it right or wrong? Well I was in the middle of doing that when I called it quits with this:

Uuuugly, huh! FYI, if this ever happens to you, do NOT just pull on the thread until it breaks- open up the bobbin area, pull out the bobbin and shuttlecock (is that the right terminology, or am I thinking of badminton...?), and you will probably see where one thread has caught- clip that, and then the mass of threads on the top should gently be able to be pulled out sans trouble.

So, does this:

Look anything like this?specifically the crotch and leg seams. That's where I as having some trouble. But before that I was trucking along on Melly Sews free baby boy romper:

 

I mean, look at those flat felled seams! My first attempt! I sewed four seams like that in the romper, by the end I was getting better- the seam below is my best! I think it's a nice touch, especially if you top stitch in the right side, so it looks kinda like those cute seams on overalls.

And then while sewing the top part of the romper together, I had a revelation that will help me the next time I sew a little bodice! Remember when i was having trouble figure out how to neatly enclose the seams on the front and back and lining on the bodice of the itty bitty baby dress? Well, the way Melly took her pictures I. Her romper tutorial finally helped me to visualize that method. Who knew bodices and rollers were so similar?? Here are some photos below to help you visualize:

 

 

Hopefully this help a teensy bit. So even thought do t have a finished product to show for day one of KCWC, I sewed for at least 2 hours, figured out a method that will help me with lined bodices, and sewed my first flat felled seams! Not bad, tomorrow is the hardware, the metal snaps and the buttons, wish me luck!

Love,

Booger

 

Posted with Blogsy

Preparing for Kids Clothes Week Challenge

dear Poopykins,

When I started sewing about a year ago I pretty much obessessively began reading sewing blogs....let's just say I'm much better at reading sewing blogs than sewing (and blog) itself! A recurring theme on many sewing blogs that had anything to do with kids clothes was a mention of "KCWC". I had no idea what this was- a secret club or something! After a google search I discovered that it is Kids Clothes Week Challenge, a challenge started by Meg of The Elsie Marley blog.

This will be my first time participating (I've watched from the sidelines for about 2 or 3 iterations), but from what I gather, KCWC encourages sewers to sew for at least an hour a day....for kids! KCWC has a new blog and a community- so you don't have to just be content with posting/browsing in Flickr (although that has its own merits...). Find me on the KCWC community as Joolz123.

This past week I've been printing a bunch of PDF patterns, most of which i got from the recent Sew Fab pattern bundle. When my mother in law was visiting and saw all my patterns, she helped my devise an organizational system for them. It's highly sophisticated- Manila envelopes and Washi tape!

 

Cordelia helping me set up the little photo shoot- completely unprompted, I might add!

Here's my stack of nicely ironed fabric:

The doll fabric is Story Book Lane by Kelly Lee for Andover Fabrics- my Mom took me to G Street fabric and we got it there! The purple is also from g street , and the black owl fabric is by Doodle from Joann's.

With the owl, I plan to make the Little Boy Romper, a free pattern from Melly Sews (the brains behind Blank Slate patterns), for sizes 0–3 months.

The kinda ugly brown and cream paisely flannel (an old bed sheet) is destined to be a Sadie Grace nightgown from Seamingly Smitten.

The doll and purple pattern are slated to be the Junebug dress from Craftiness is Not Optional. I have not yet decided the ratio of doll fabric to purple, or even if I should use the purple at all- thereate some many permutations out there!

Finally, I'd like to make the Charles Pants, a free pattern from Compagnie M, but I'm not even sure where to begin, and am still struggling to piece together the PDF pattern- where's my engineering twin when I need her!? There was a sew along in May, so reading through that might help. Because of the potentially complicated nature of this project, it's probably last in my KCWC queue- but it is very cute!

Wish me luck!

 

Love,

Boooger

 

Posted with Blogsy

Sewing for my Bumpkin!

Hi Poopster!

So I just sewed my first item for Cordie-bug, so she no longer feels left out I mean I have made a few baby items- an itty bitty baby dress (from Made by Rae) and am still attempting a little Geranium also from Rae- don't ask why that's taking so long! Now Cordelia needn't languish in neglect-----

Presenting The Mama made Bimaa sweater from EmmyLouBeeDoo!

 

Isn't my bumpkin a doll?? I do think you have the cutest niece if I may be permitted to say so ;) Though Cordie is 16 months, I sewed up a size a 12 months since she's a "pocket-sized" baby! But check out that belly- a milk belly as we say....

It's the shawl collar version of the sweater, which I really like- not too much fabric for a little girl to get lost in. EmmyLouBeeDoo just finished up a blog tour for her Bimaa pattern, and most everyone sewed up a hoodie or cowl neck version, so I'm excited to see that my shawl neck turned out great! It was pretty easy, though I'm glad that my Mom in law was around to help guide me through sewing on the shawl collar- all those raw edges encased! Those little thing make sewing a sometimes exhausting sport!

Just for good measure, here's a pic of the fam above.

PhewM this blogging thing is hard- I hope that as my twin you appreciate my e- letters to you- I'd love to hear what you're working on!

LOVE,

BOOOGER

P.s. I linked up to.....

 

Posted with Blogsy