Valentine's Day PJs

Happy Valentine's Day! I am humbly accepting that this can be a fun filled holiday that I once considered fluff. Actually, I was sort of told off very publicly that children love it, so I tried to embrace it - in a less fluffy way. Z needs new pajamas because hers have become "capris" and it gets chilly at night.

 I did the old trick of using a pair of Z's pants that fit to create the pattern, which I lay out, pinned and cut of some lovely pink flannel I had. Now, this picture primarily shows how very ridiculous I can be about trying to get as much out of a piece of fabric as possible. I think it's sort of wonderful that people take great pride in being frugal these days. I've heard people boasting about how cheap they are, and it's a good thing because waste is waste.

I've made a lot of pants since Z came along and I still always get flipped about and mess up. I've started marking the fronts with safety pins and taking extra time to think. I sewed the legs together first - front to back, right sides together (as much as there is a right side of plain pink flannel), outside seams then inside seams. Also that blur is one of Z's dolls dancing over the project and spouting off things I say.

I like sewing the two legs together by inserting one leg (right side out) inside the other. I get less confused this way.

Next I formed the waist band for the elastic. I had to go back to her original pants to make sure I had it right, but that's the nice part of having them as comparison.

Here is the little opening I left to insert the elastic.

And the elastic going in.

To make the PJs something special, I used a drawing I'd done earlier of two cats with entwined tails. I printed it out onto iron-on paper and planned to iron it onto black craft felt, making it firmer and help it hold it's shape. I planned to then sew this on as an applique.

The heat of the iron melted the craft felt - live and learn.

I decided to pencil in the cats and freehand it with fabric paint.

I haven't quite mastered fabric paint, but I still think the cats are a sweet addition. Also, those paying close attention will note that I never hemmed the pants. I have to do that by hand as I forgot to do it before sewing the inseams.

Snap Wrap Kimono Style Dress Part 2

After a brief regrouping from constructing the dress, I started drawing. I thought flowers would be nice, and then cherry blossoms. I got stuck on cherry blossoms pretty quickly.

I've never used fabric paint before, but it was on sale and I am a complete sucker for a sale. Also the images of cherry blossoms I liked the most were painted ones, so it worked. Now, cherry blossoms are one of the more forgiving things anybody can draw. They are easy to recreate - simplicity and beauty, what more could I ask for?

The idea of decorating the dress was to draw attention away from my sewing mishaps.

I only used 2 colors (pink and black) of fabric paint to keep it simple, and kept the pictures I liked close by for reference.

First I squirted the paint directly from the bottle in some lines - some longer lines and then a few shorter lines.

The brush lines appealed to me more than the squirted lines, so I used a paint brush to smooth them down. That's just my preference, and isn't necessary for nice cherry blossoms.

Then I put pink dots at the end of each branch. That's it. Lines and dots. Some of the dots got smushed together to make flower shapes.

And the end result? Well my model went on strike so it was not the end.

I had a chance to look at the whole thing, often trouble.  I added some darker pink acrylic, which probably won't last through washing. And then...

I cut several small circles of tulle, which I snapped up at one point to make a tutu - whenever she gets into tutus. I layered three circles and sewed them together to add to the blossoms

And ta da!

Pin It


 

Snap Wrap Kimono Style Dress Part 1

Months ago, I made this dress for Z. It's a kimono style dress that pulls over her head instead of wrapping around. It's a pretty good play dress. And I thought it was so clever.

Some time later I fell in love with and made a Snap Wrap Dress from Prudent Baby. It is not only a great looking dress, it's easy to get on. Little Z hates getting dressed and I appreciate anything that makes the task of clothing her easier. However, the dress is not always suitable for our weather, which is mostly foggy with a chance of heavy fog. With the optimism of not knowing what I was getting into, I decided to make a snap wrap kimono dress. And by make, I mean make up from the cobbled tutorials of others. Not realizing that this was simply a kimono dress - a pattern that's been around for probably a thousand years or so.

Below is how I made the dress borrowing from some great tutorials. If you want a simpler kimono, Habitual made this lovely one. The end result is still a kimono dress, which I made rather overly complicated. It's sort of funny when I remember thinking it was going to be the greatest dress ever.



I started with making the pattern on some paper recaptured after our last art co-op. For some reason the kids did not spill much paint all over the paper we cover the tables with and it felt wrong to just chuck it. I've seen this method of getting a basic pattern on several sites. Using a shirt (or dress) that fits, I traced it onto the paper and then added some length because it's going to be a dress. I also tried diligently to follow along when ikatbag had a series of tutorials on drafting patterns. I think some of it stuck as I bravely/foolishly attempted a 3/4 sleeve. Z likes to stick her hands into everything and her cuffs are always getting ... well ... icky.


The I traced the full front and the back of the shirt on the fold. The process for this is amazingly well spelled out on Craftiness is Not Optional here. The idea is to get two almost full front pieces to wrap around.



The fabric I chose for this is a stretchy knit which should be good for playing and is in a color I love (I like purple). It is challenging fabric as seen by the curling at either end.


I do not have a serger. Frankly I am intimidated by them. I've read a lot about sewing knits. I like knits. I got out the ball point needle and trudged forward. I also hate my sewing machine. The machine knows this, and it doesn't help our relationship. The manufacturer knows this, because I've gone to them asking for help. I bought it due to some very good reviews, only to find that it has the worst tension problems I've ever dealt with. The kind people at the Brother corporation told me to always set the tension to 5 and make sure I'm threading it right. I'm going to chuck it out a window and get a machine I like as soon as I can. Anyway, at some point in every project I throw in the towel and just hand sew the rest. I like hand sewing and find it therapeutic.

This was a good day with it.


I like sewing in the sleeves this way because I admit to a lot of trouble getting them to work. Most of the things I make for Z are sleeveless because of that. I saw this method and thought it would end my troubles. And keep a little girl's arms warm.


Sew the shoulder seams first. Pin and sew sleeve in place.


Then sew the side seam and sleeve seam in a straight shot. I lined up the seams where the sleeves meet the body at the underarm.


This is where it was to get some style in the form of bias tape. In this case stretchy knit bias tape because I'm a glutton for punishment. And I thought it would look nice.

I was wrong. The combination of stretchy material and stretchy bias tape gave me a sort of warped neckline. It is easy on the neck as it is soft, but it doesn't look wonderful.

Z also seemed a bit small for the dress (not that I made it too big) and less than thrilled with wearing it. So I decided to spend her nap reworking it by first adding a panel to help the neckline. I am sure this is bad sewing form, but it did help. And I'd already ripped out and replaced the bias tape.

 

And then I decided it could work if I made it snazzier. 

Now, Z will wear this dress and not care because she's two and clothes are just something mom makes her wear. The next steps are simply to make me happy with the dress.

So back to the drawing board...

And onto part 2. >>