KCWC prep

It's Kids Clothing Week time again - yay! And there's now a dedicated blog. Fancy!

I think this may be the third (or fourth?) time I've participated. It seems to come around so quickly, and sometimes it's a good timing for me whilst other times it's not. This time is not so great in that it's school holidays and so the kids are going to bed late, I'm extra tired each day and there's often prep to do for the next day's activities. But... the kids could do with some autumn clothes and I do love being part of the KCWC community - so much inspiration and fun!

So, here's my wish list to date. I'm sure it will change but gotta start somewhere:

* Pull-over parka for the big girl from this Japanese pattern book: Happy Handmade Home vol 2

* maybe another little cap for my boy after the one I made him last year went missing :-( Don't you hate that!

* Leggings for both girls

* Pyjamas for all 3

Phew! Well that all won't happen, but here's hoping that at least some of them materialise.

I would also love to sew the Sugar City Village Frock while my littlest girl is still small enough, but she is notorious for not wearing clothes that I have spent many hours labouring over, and this looks like a lot of work!

Are you doing KCW? Do you plan or just go with the flow?

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KCWC wrap up: more shorts

On the last 2 days of KCWC I finished off these shorts, another piece to add to my big girl's spring wardrobe. I also started a couple of new bags for my girls but they'll have to be finished later... ah, so many things to sew, so little time!



The pattern is from the Japanese Happy Homemade vol 2 - kids book, "L - Knee length shorts". Though they're not knee length, as I ran short of fabric, and also my girl likes them short.


I used a plain medium weight denim so that hopefully they will go with lots of tops.

I only just squeezed the pattern out of the small piece of fabric from my stash (used also in my Minoru jacket and my boy's pants). As I didn't have enough for the pockets I used a blue linen from the stash, then thought I'd trim them with some ric rac, sandwiched in between layers, to add a bit of interest.

And instead of the square pockets on the pattern I used the curved design from pattern "M - shorts with a back pocket" to give a slightly feminine feel.

This was the first time I'd used this book and I enjoyed it - the pattern instructions take a little to work out, as they're incredibly concise, so I'm not sure they'd be great for a beginner, but for anyone with a little experience I think it would be fine.


I had to include this twirling pic, even though you can't see the shorts under the cute flowy top (not mama-made)...

and this one too - never one to be left out, her sister got in on the twirling action too :-)

Even though I didn't finish my wishlist for KCWC I'm pleased with the pieces I've finished, I learnt some new tricks, and best of all (as it always is with KCWC), I've been inspired and delighted by all the amazing things people have made. I have quite a few new things on my 'to do' list now! If you haven't already checked it out, have a look at the amazing stuff in the Flickr group. And thanks has to go to Meg for hosting it once again!

KCWC progress: halter top

For those of you in the northern hemisphere these pics of my big girl might make you shiver, but here in Aus we are heading for a hot summer, so I'm getting us prepared (well, that's my excuse!).

My big girl loves halter neck tops and dresses, so when I was coming up with ideas for KCWC making one was on the list.

I based the shape on Oliver & S' free ruffle halter pattern. Do you know it? I made one of these lovely tops for each of my girls early on in my blogging days (here) and they still love them. It's a really great pattern.

This was a test run before I use a more substantial fabric. And I'm glad I did the test run as there are a few things I'll change for the dress version. I tried out a circular pocket on this one to add some interest, something I'd been wanting to try for a while.

Well, I've got some shorts on the go for KCWC and something little in mind. Hopefully I'll get them done and not run out of steam before hand!

I'm playing along with my creative space again this week (belatedly!). Head on over here for more creative goodness.

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KCWC kick-off: shorts

After a not-so-great start to KCWC where I felt uninspired and couldn't get one of my original ideas to work, today I decided on the spur of the moment to make something not on my wish list but practical. So the other project was temporarily shelved and I cut out and sewed these shorts for my girls while the littlies played in the back yard with worms from the garden (as they do!) and their water play toys.

This afternoon the girls' gymnastics classes resumed for the term and they desperately needed some new shorts. So I got out the pattern I'd used for leggings from Meg McElwee's lovely book Growing up sew liberated and altered it to give the legs a bit more room.

I used stash fabric for the big girl shorts, a cute orange and grey fine striped knitted fabric, adding a yoga-style thick band and a ribbon for decoration. For my little girl I repurposed a thrifted t-shirt (she squeeled when she saw the rainbows :-) with a longer leg length (re-using the original hem of the t-shirt), a folded and elasticised waistband and decorative ribbon.


Though I like sewing with stretch fabrics I never feel super confident that the garments will last the distance. My old machine is great in every other way, but as it doesn't have a stretch or zig zag option the stitch doesn't always work out well, and I was a bit nervous that a seam would split during their class! But these pics were taken after the class, and they held together thank goodness, but I did find some broken stitches :-( I'll have to go and do a bit of finishing on them so they don't fall apart soon!

OK, now hopefully those other projects in my head will turn out over the next few days, hmmm... How are you going? Sewing like a demon or feeling out of inspiration?

PS. Those tummies so need a raspberry ;-)

Pleated girl's skirt

Hi! Long time no post... the school holidays have kind of thrown me off routine lately, as they always seem to. And a heap of other little things have been getting in the way (that I won't bore you with) but also a not-so-boring fabric-based exciting crafty project has been sucking my time up. I'll share it with you as soon as I have some decent pics... but for now I thought I'd show you a skirt I made for my big girl a while back...


I had pinned this cute tutorial from Madame Zsa Zsa a while back, and finally decided to try it. The instructions are not in english but there's a cute little hand drawn diagram and pics, so that was enough to get by on.

Basically it's just a rectangle of fabric, measuring about 3 times the circumference of the child's waist, plus a few centimetres added on for the side zip. The length is up to you. To make it up you insert the zip, pleat the waist, finish the waist with a length of bias binding (long enough to hang over and tie into a bow). Then finish the hem however you like. I folded it under twice and hand stitched it, but you could machine stitch or use more bias binding.

I love the cute, simple styling and the lovely detail that the binding gives, and in my opinion it's a perfect little skirt for an active girl. Mine went scootering in hers after our photo shoot (not such a successful shoot though - oh well!). It could also be dressed up for a more formal look, using different fabrics and bindings.

I'm very keen to make more of these skirts. They'd be great for using up spare bits of stash fabric (a colour block panelled version might be nice). And seeing as it's KCWC time again soon - woo hoo! - I'm positive there will be more. Are you participating in KCWC this time? The timing is good for me so I'm planning to. Fingers crossed for no sick children or disasters of any kind that week!

KCWC day 4

Yesterday for day 4 I made another Urban Unisex Hoodie for my boy. I cut out the fabric during his nap, then did the sewing after the kids had gone to bed... I think I've KCWC'd myself out, so tonight I'm giving myself the night off :-)

This one's another mish-mash of thrifted and new fabrics, with a yellow and grey colour scheme that I seem to be addicted to at the moment... and everywhere we went this morning we seemed to come across more yellow and grey, which made for a few photo opportunities.



I did longer sleeves and hem this time, but the sleeves annoyed him (hence the rolling up in the shot above) and the hem looks a bit long and weird, so this one is in for a few minor adjustments.

On the whole though I like it and it sure is an easy wear style for an active kid. The first one seems to have washed up well and I think if I can get a third one made (half cut out) then he'll almost be set for cooler weather tops. I'm definitely feeling a bit over it though, which I guess is the down side of making yourself sew each night. And I just can't get out of my head the Tova I want to make for myself... can't wait for more selfish sewing ;-)

 Have a lovely weekend, and if you've been doing KCWC, have a nice rest!

KCWC day 3

Yesterday I made a diversion from my Urban Unisex Hoodie fad and made my little girl a pair of simple pyjama pants. Again I used scraps of knit fabrics, so unfortunately don't have enough of this cute chocolate brown and multi coloured spot jersey to make a top. But that's OK, it might have been overkill anyway. I think I'll use a plain colour and match the ribbing to tie them in.

The pattern is another from the book Growing up Sew Liberated ( you may remember I made the basic pocket pants from it recently). The pattern is called Sleeping Johns but Meg notes that it makes great leggings too. I altered the pattern slightly by lowering the waist and adding a yoga-style band rather than the casing and elastic method. My little girl can be quite sensitive about things digging in or being uncomfortable in any way (ie: refuses to wear them and has a tantrum), so I have done this sort of waistband before and had success with it, as the tension of the ribbing holds them up rather than elastic. I also used this method for bands at the ankles just to keep the warmth in and keep them neat.

I'm hoping to make the book's Crossover Top for the pyjama top, and down the track I'd like to make some for her brother and sister too. May looks like it's going to be a big sewing month here ;-)

See you tomorrow for day 4.

KCWC day 2

Yesterday in day 2 of KCWC I finished off my boy's Urban Unisex Hoodie and he wore it today, obligingly stopping his play now and then just long enough for me to take a couple of photos. He's at that age where he says and does some pretty funny things and has opinions on things you'd imagine he wouldn't even think about, in this case he was impressed with the buttons on his new hoodie. Ah, design potential maybe? ;-)

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out in that I like the way it looks, though I think I'll adjust the fit on the next one: deeper cuffs would be a bit more cozy for him and also a bit more length would help keep at bay that potential tummy gap between hoodie and jeans. In truth I probably should go up a size in the pattern but we'll see if I can be bothered to print and trace the pieces again... normally I trace patterns off the master onto interfacing, but in this case I thought I was safe - sods law.

The other thing I did in the name of KCWC yesterday was to drag the 2 littlies to my favourite local thrift shop, the one where you pay by weight ($8 per kilo). You see even though I'm still trying to stash bust, when I went looking in my 'knits' box mostly what I found was either unsuitable (thick fleece) or saved for 'something else' (a nice petrol blue jersey for me). And this pattern uses quite a lot of fabric for a child's pattern as it's fully lined. So I didn't have much to work with from the stash, hence the 2 different greens. I think those cute buttons ended up tying it all together, but there's no way I'd have enough fabric to make another hoodie, which I'd like to. Because even though it was a bit more work than I'd normally like to invest in a child's everyday shirt, which lets face it could be stained/ripped/lost or outgrown in the blink of an eye, I really like it.

So... at the thrift shop I quickly grabbed myself 6 garments to cut up and re-use (while the kids ran laps of the clothing bins and I tried not to catch the eye of the staff, bad parent ;-). I was after grey and yellow tones for my boy but then found myself also with gelato colours and a cute cloud/rainbow print dress that I thought would be perfect for girl pyjamas.  Most of the fabrics are jersey or interlock, and also a couple of merino wool tops with thoughts of making leggings for my dress and skirt loving little girl. And I also got in that lot a little grey velour winter dress for my little girl - what a score for $8!! Now to actually do something with them... I've promised myself I will NOT let them languish in my stash!

See you tomorrow for the run-down on day 3, hopefully.

KCWC day 1

I decided that the best use of time during KCWC this time is to make my  boy some much needed everyday clothes: some trousers, a hoodie (or 2?) and maybe a little cap if I can fit it in.

Last night I got sewing on a pattern I bought ages ago but hadn't made yet, Heidi & Finn's 'Urban Unisex Hoodie'. I bought the pattern with my little girl in mind but she's such a girly girl (skirts, dresses, pretty shoes etc) that I don't think she'd wear one of these. But it looks perfect for my active boy.

I had hoped to finish it last night, but after a day of looking after 5 kids (my friend's lovely 2 girls along with my 3) I had to admit defeat. I'm hoping to finish it tonight, so maybe I'll have some photos tomorrow.

Are you participating in KCWC? How's it going if you are? There are so many things I'd like to make but restricted time - ah well, something is better than nothing, right? :-)

* And thanks to the lovely Fran I'm dying to make another Heidi & Finn pattern - the Cowl Neck Jumper Dress. My little girl would adore it but perhaps it will need to wait til after her brother gets his winter wardrobe sorted.

KCWC wrap-up +

I'm rather late with this one as KCWC finished last weekend, but I just thought I'd show you a little messenger bag that I started last week and just finished for my little boy. As he's always taking his sisters' bags and wearing them around the house I thought he'd better have one of his own.



I used my usual self-drafted pattern but made this one a bit smaller than I usually do as he's little. Apparently noone has told him he's only 2, I'm sure he thinks he's 10 - he's so independent and just has to try to do everything his sisters do (3rd child syndrome maybe?).

And what better fabric to use for a dog-loving 2 year old than this Michael Miller "Mutt" print. I teamed it with some repurposed denim for a bit of strength and durability.



I was considering reserving the bag for Christmas for him (which is approaching scarily fast - arghh, someone slow the year down please!!). But as we are going away on a little break for a few days soon I'll give it to him for that - for taking some cars and trucks away with us, or maybe collecting shells on the beach?



I'm looking forward to making a few of these bags to sell at the upcoming school fete, then hopefully I will finally get my act together and reopen my Etsy shop with some more bags... that is if I can finish making the pair of these that I am happily fussing over :-)

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In other KCWC news I was thrilled to be featured in Meg's wrap-up pics - yay! It's over here in case you want to have a look, staring my little girl as no. 6 ;-)

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In unrelated goings on, I have joined the handprinted fabric swap going on over at onegirl. I'm really looking forward to thinking of a design to print and also seeing everyone else's.

Coincidently my friend Lamina from do a bit recently very generously lent me one of her screens to try out some screen printing of my own (and reminded me of the print swap - thanks Lamina!). After doing a course recently I've been keen to try it out. I'll have to have a few practice goes before I do my swap pieces so I don't send my poor partners anything dodgy!


If this sounds like your kind of thing the sign-up is open until tomorrow so pop on over to Onegirl.

Lots of interesting creative spaces over here today, go visit and enjoy :-)

KCWC: big sister's turn

It was big sister's turn for some new clothes after the little girl scored a new dress, skirt and top (whether wanted or not!) from my KCWC sewing. Thankfully, this girl is easily pleased, just happy to be getting something new and some attention from mama too, I think ;-)



Same peasant top, sans tie, and repurposed skirt (I had 2 women's denim skirts waiting to be re-used).



I love how prettily the fabric sits in this style, just as nicely as it does for the little girl's dress. I'll be sad when it's all gone.

Well, I'm glad KCWC is over again, I did get through a few things on my list but missed others. I'd still like to make a wrap dress for the big girl and maybe some shorts for the boy, but they can wait. (The boy did get something, I'll show you soon).

Next up I would like to sew a summer kimono-style t-shirt for myself before I get onto my sewing for the craft stall at the annual school fete, but I'll see how I go... there's a house that needs cleaning, clothes that need folding and people that need feeding first, shame about that ;-)

KCWC peasant top & repurposed skirt

When I spotted a sweet peasant top with a little tie at the hem I thought it would look great on my little girl and decided to make one during KCWC. I used this pattern for the top, then the tutorial from the link above for the tie (follow the links and it's all explained).



I'd been given this cute orange and white spot print fabric by my sister-in-law's mother (hi Margrit, if you're out there, and thanks!). It's a lovely medium weight cotton with a stripey texture. I teamed it with an unusual print for the tie, also from Margrit. The tie is a nice way to use up small scraps or feature interesting fabrics. I'll definitely try it again in future.



For the skirt I was inspired by this tutorial for refashioning a women's skirt into a girls one. I'd bought a denim skirt in a big bag from my favourite thrift shop (the one that sells unsorted clothes by weight) and I liked the wash but the fit wasn't right on me, so I thought I'd put it to use. The waist front is flat and there's elastic in the back, for easy dressing. It took a bit of adjusting to get the fit right for her but eventually it came together.



Just as an aside, in another thrift shop I recently came across these rolls of thread that I've been using for top stitching. I don't know if that's what they're for but they do look thicker than ordinary weight and work well with a size 18 machine needle. The brownish one at the front looks very similar to regular denim stitching.



Our conversation after the little photo shoot:
Me: "You look lovely sweetie, that top is so cute on you!"
Her: "Yeah. 'Cept I probly won't wear it coz the sleeves 'noy me"
OK then...

KCWC paisley dress

I found this purple paisley-ish patterned light weight cotton in my mum's stash last time I visited her and instantly envisaged a dress for my little girl. Not sure where it comes from but I seem to have a bit of a thing for paisley, and when colourful little flowers are added it makes for a design that's kind of crazy but sweet at the same time - a bit like my girl ;-)



As my girl loves to dress herself and gets extremely upset if she can't get something on (she is 3, after all) I wanted to make it as simple as possible (unlike this one) so made the front section elasticised and then stitched down the bows so that they are purely decorative - no more "mum, can you tie it up" ;-)



There are plenty of patterns and tutorials around for this style of dress known as the 'Pillowcase Dress", but it's pretty easy to make up if you've made anything like this style before. I traced the basic shape of the armhole and length from one of my girl's existing dresses, and used this tutorial for the elastic & bias binding combo.



To stop it looking too much like a nightie I added a little gathered pocket to the front and bound the top in matching bias binding.



And despite the 'sooky-la-la' look on her face in the above pic she loves her new dress and wore it happily today.

I also made something else from this fabric, hopefully show you tomorrow, as well as a repurposed skirt that's not gone so well but I'm hoping to salvage. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!