Me Made May 2015

It's that time of year again, Me Made May is upon us! 2013 was the first time I took part and I loved it - the sense of community, the friendships made and the inspiration from other people's makes was incredible.  Last year my pledge was to try-on or wear everything me-made and sort out my sewing plan. Well I did wear all my spring appropriate me-mades but didn't get much documented, didn't have much time to take part in the community, and certainly didn't get a sewing plan sorted out! This year I've been doing more sewing (so far for my wee boy mostly) so I thought I'd change up my pledge and try and encourage myself to do some more sewing for myself.  So my pledge for this year?

'I, Kathryn of Kathryn's BusyTown, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear me-mades or re-fashioned clothes 3 days a week for the duration of May 2015. In addition I will make myself 3 items of clothing during May 2015.'

I'll probably post photos on Instagram as well as the Me Made May Flickr group and a round-up post at the end of the month.  I'm looking forward to taking part this year, hopefully see you there!

Kids Clothes Week round-up

Well that's Kids Clothes Week over for another season and I really enjoyed it! I managed to sew every day except the two days I work and by the end of the week had made four See Kate Sew Recess Raglan tees. The first one I showed you on Friday. The other three are all for Harris. It's so nice to use all these scraps of fabric, especially the bird fabric (if it looks familiar it's because I made a kimono tee from it which I still wear).  The short-sleeved blue t-shirt with the design on the front is my favourite though as Harris pretty much picked out the transfer himself. He kept pointing and laughing at the squirrels on mopeds so I just had to use them on a t-shirt for him. I added the birds as he loves pointing at birds too. These Sukie transfers are just so good, I can't wait to use more of them!

There isn't really anything else to say about the pattern except... be wary of the neckbands & cuffs! I lengthened the neckband piece on all these versions in order to make them fit over his head. I also had to cut the cuffs off the bird fabric one as they were too tight. I decided just to leave it uncuffed as Harris doesn't like anything tight or too long on his arms. Id say this is partly to do with the stretch content of the fabric I used but to my, admittedly inexperienced, eye the neckband piece looks pretty short anyway.

close-up of the squirrel t-shirt

I did have other sewing plans for the week - two pairs of Oliver + S sunny-day shorts I've cut out and an Oliver + S sketchbook shirt which is also cut out. I will get these sewn up but I think it's time to do a wee bit of sewing for me now - Me Made May is on the way and I've so many sewing plans! If you've thought about taking part in KCW but haven't before then I'd really recommend it, it's a great motivator!


Kids Clothes Week...so far

Sewing for one hour, every day, for one week. That's the aim of Kids Clothes Week. I'm doing pretty well so far.  Since Monday I've sewn, or prepared for sewing, for at least an hour a day, usually longer.  I braved it on Monday and started sewing during naptime (otherwise I'd never have got any done) and Harris didn't wake up - yay! So that's me got some sewing time now, for as long as he has a naptime, and I'm going to make the most of it.  Yesterday I didn't get anything done as I was working during the day then my husband surprised me with concert tickets for Grouper in the evening - a lovely surprise and such a good gig!

See Kate Sew Recess Raglan knit tee

I've finished one t-shirt - a gift for a 3 year old. Once again I used the See Kate Sew Recess Raglan .  A few years back a friend bought me a book of Sukie transfers which I'd been meaning to try out for ages.  Her daughter's third birthday seemed the perfect occasion to break them out. I did a few testers on scraps of this peach jersey, to see how long to hold the iron on & whether it would wash ok.  I put it through a 40 degree wash and it came out fine which was a relief as there'd be no point in a child's t-shirt that couldn't go in the wash!

This really is such a simple make and even done in little segments of time, it doesn't take long at all.  I used the vari-overlock stitch on my Bernina to finish all the seams neatly, and used a twin-needle on the hem.  After messing up the hem on my plantain tshirt (unblogged) I've learned to do a test with the twin-needle now to get the tension right. The only alteration I made was the same as last time, to lengthen the neck-band piece. This time I got it right first time. Let's just hope it fits the recipient now, fingers crossed!  I'm really happy with how this top turned out though looking at it now I wish I'd placed the tree slightly higher up but that's a minor quibble. Here's hoping the recipient likes it!

Pile of things to sew!

Still another 3 days left of KCW and I've a huge pile cut out & in varying states of sewing. 3 Recess Raglan's, an Oliver + S Sketchbook shirt & 2 pairs of Sunny Day shorts - all for Harris!  Hopefully I can get a wee bit done tonight.  I love how this challenge really makes me appreciate even the odd 15 minutes at the sewing machine and I feel like I'm so much more productive, here's hoping I can keep it up after the week is over!  How's it going for you if you're participating in KCW this time?

Recess Raglan #1

Some more children's sewing from me - a Sew Kate Sew Recess Raglan tee.

I am so happy with this one. I love the colour combination and the fabrics are both really nice and soft. Also they're both left-overs from t-shirts I made myself, so good for the environment & for my wallet. I would really recommend this pattern as the instructions were clear, it's a bargain price at $8 for ages 18 month to 8 years, and there is so much scope for exciting fabric combinations.

I sewed up the 3/4 length sleeve with sleeve bands option.  My only issue with it was the neck band piece seemed very small and once attached it was too small to fit over his head.  I went up one size for the neck band plus an extra couple of cm and after 3 attempts, and some tantrums on my part, I finally got it to fit. This pattern works well as a sweatshirt too and I'm sure I'll make lots more versions of this. It felt so nice to sew something for my boy and see him wearing it. I know he's too young to tell me whether he likes it or not but if I'm sewing him things that are comfy to wear and bright and cheery then I'm sure we're both happy!

I'm really looking forward to Kids Clothes Week and would like to try and sew something to tie in with the Wild Things theme. The 'In the forest' post on the KCW blog particularly appealed, I love the applique foxes! I'm sure most readers here read So, Zo... what do you know? but in case you missed it she did a brilliant two part post on independent children's clothing patterns, part 1 and part 2.  I also love Elena's DIY mini-Hemlock tee for her wee boy so I might need to try that too!  Any other kids sewing patterns you'd recommend?