Kids Clothes Week - February 2016

Aren't these trousers just the cutest?!

Back view of Purl Soho Baby Pants

My plans for February Kids Clothes Week this year didn't quite get off the ground properly unfortunately, due in main part to a poorly toddler who needed all my attention. Thankfully, for him and me, he was feeling better by Tuesday so I could get on with these incredibly cute trousers, or baby 'pants' as they're called on the pattern.  These are a present for the daughter of a friend of mine and I made the 3-6month size in the hope that it will be warm enough between March - June for them to be worn as the fabric isn't very thick.  This is the free Baby Pants pattern from Purl Soho and on the whole it was a very easy pattern to use. It's only 3 pieces and comes together relatively quickly. The only difficulty I found was in attached the cute bum patch, or 'rear gusset'.  As it's quite a tight curve it was really hard to keep it from puckering and it required a pretty crazy amount of pinning!

The dark chambray is left-over from the Stylish Dress Book Dress D and is from Merchant & Mills. The stripy fabric is an Ikea pillow case - more of which was turned into bias binding for my recent quilt.  I also had the 1/4" elastic so this was another make entirely from the stash.  All these recent makes should have led to a significantly smaller stash but I just spent some birthday money on some gorgeous fabrics from M is for Make and Faberwood last week so eh, it just kind of balances it out, doesn't it?!..

My other makes this week are 2 t-shirts from pattern no.10 from Ottobre magazine 1/2013. I hadn't tried this pattern before though so I sized up to the 98cm as the last Ottobre tshirt I made Harris was a 92cm and it's too tight now.  However the 98cm is actually a bit too big but he'll grow into it.  The navy and white stripy fabric is an old M&S tshirt a friend gave me as the neckline had stretched out too much. It is really good quality cotton and I was able to use the original hem band, sleeve bands and neck binding (though I had to cut and re-sew the neckbinding) so this was such a quick make!  

The blue, white and pink t-shirt, well you should recognise that pink fabric by now! So far I've used it for a plantain, a Marilla Walker Sailor Top, some recess raglans and now this.  It's almost all gone now but I'm sure there's enough for one more toddler project!  The blue and white stripy fabric was a medium Gap t-shirt I picked up in the charity shop thinking I could wear it but it was a bit misshapen.  Again I was able to re-use the hem and the neck binding but the t-shirt wasn't big enough to get sleeves from and I like the contrast pink anyway.  It still surprises me how large a t-shirt you need in order to get enough fabric to make a toddler t-shirt. I kind of thought the medium would be enough but really you need a large or xlarge if you're doing long sleeves.

So, a bit late in posting my makes but once again Kid's Clothes Week was a great motivator! I'm looking forward to making some spring clothes next - toddler shorts are so cute!! 

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?