Is It Summer Yet?

The weather here has been great so for this week's Project Run and Play theme - sportswear - I decided to make a fun spring-summery outfit.  When I think of sportswear, I think comfort.  So of course knits were in order.  Using some old t-shirts I've saved through the years, I made this Butterfly Tunic and the Is It Summer Yet Pants.

It feels sort of cruisewear-ish which is perfect for DC this time of year.  I added the sketched butterflies, flutter sleeves, and ruffles on the back of the tunic so it would add a little girly whimsy to the outfit and not feel so adult.

But lets talk about the pants, shall we?  Bean is a cloth diapered baby so fit is very tough when it comes to pants.  Everything commercial seems to be made with very little bum room since all the disposables are so trim these days.  She has a hand me down pair of jeans that are adorable on her, but once she's in them they are so tight in the butt that she can't stand or crawl very easily, hehe. 

So knits it is.  Lots and lots of leggings since they stretch over that whole diaper area.

lots of room for movement

I wanted to make her a pair of pants that were comfy but a little stylish as well.  These have plenty of room to crawl, stand, and (eek!) run - once she decides it's time.  I made them a little loose so there's room to grow as well.  The v-shape details in the front and back as well as a slight boot cut make these pants look fitted vs just a pair of comfy sweats.  To be honest I drafted this pants pattern a couple of months ago, but I've been tweaking it to fit just right over a cloth diapered bum and this seems to be the best in terms of fit. 

Even though the fashion gods have deemed it no longer improper to wear white after labor day, my husband still insists on abiding by that rule.  It cracks me up that he has his light khaki work pants in a different section of the closet until it's "okay" to wear them again.  For that reason I named these the Is It Summer Yet Pants.  White pants on a baby is not exactly the smartest idea, but I have so many old white t-shirts around and I thought a white pair of fitted pants would be so cute.  The pink stitching details is my favorite part.

Drafting the top happened yesterday.  My older sister was visiting this week and left on Wednesday, so I didn't get a chance to sit and make a pattern or sew until yesterday morning.  Well, the real reason is that I couldn't decide what I wanted to make for a top.  I really wanted to make the pants and I started them last week, but the top was running around in my head changing shape over and over again.

A tunic seems best for Bean at this age since it will fit in terms of length for a long while.  She could certainly wear this with shorts, a skirt, or even just bloomers once it gets crazy hot here - and it will.  The color blocking came about when I was looking through the t-shirts and found three different colored shirts that when put together had this Caribbean beachy feel I really liked.  A flutter sleeve added to the butterfly theme and is really my favorite type of sleeve for summer - just a hint of something to protect the shoulders from the sun, but airy enough to stay cool.  The butterflies were cut out on a whim without drawing a pattern or anything and I like the sketched feel of how I stitched them to the top.  I wanted more than just the ruffles on the back to add some youth to the tunic and I think this was a great touch.

The perfect outfit for singing, blowing bubbles, and eating mama's camera case, hehe

We're officially ready for summer here.  Grass stains, and all! Linking up to:
  

Summer Shromper

I knew exactly what I wanted to make for this week's Project Run and Play sew along as soon as they announced the themes.  I had never used Dana's circle skirt tutorial before, but it seemed like my idea would work using it.
The resulting Summer Shromper with removable ruffle top was exactly what I was picturing.

My style usually consists of simple lines and solid colors with accents of bright patterns here and there. This jean colored shromper is perfect for that. It can be paired with any bright color and look great, but the shromper itself has clean lines and a simple shape.

The front has a straight top while the back has an elastic encased to allow for growth and easy in and out for Bean.  The straps have snaps in the back so they can be worn crisscrossed or straight as she grows.  For now I twisted them and then snapped them to make sure the front didn't slip down.

There is also an elastic casing around the waist where the top and bottom were sewn together.  This was also for ease of fit and getting a baby in and out, hehe.

The legs each have a finished hem and then elastic to make them puff a bit.  There is a snappy crotch so I can change Bean's diaper without removing the whole shromper.

I'm so happy with how the top came out. I plan to make more in other colors for mixing it up. Yellow is next in line (I've already dyed the elastic, hehe) but I can see it working in lots of fabrics.  It was made using the circle skirt tutorial.  I used Bean's chest circumference for the inner circle and a width of about 3 inches.  The elastic was dyed a pretty pink color too.  I decided to add ruffled straps to make sure the top stays in place.  Bean does a lot of twisting and turning these days and I didn't want to turn around and find it around her knees, hehe.

So far everything seems to stay in place.  I made the shromper pattern from scratch during Bean's nap so I didn't have her around for measurements.  Luckily the fit turned out well.  The circle skirt top is really cute when it blows in the breeze.

Let me know if you're interested and I'll post how I made the shromper.

I think we'll get a lot of use out of the Summer Shromper this year.  Especially with the weather we've been having.  We're due for 80s this weekend.  Bring on the summer!

It's back!

Project Run & Play starts again this week and I am aching to see the designers' takes on each week's theme.

There is a great group of designers this time and I'm eager to become more familiar with the ones which are new to me.  That's always a lot of fun. They are also doing another sew along so I'll be participating again each week. 

This first week's theme is pattern remix and the pattern is Dana Made It's circle skirt. I have a fun vision in my head so we'll see how it plays out this week. There's dye involved which is as much as I'll reveal for now, hehe. 

 I'm off to pattern draft! It's great to be back.

Bean's Bishop {How To}

When I was looking for inspiration for the special occasion theme week at Project Run and Play, I stumbled upon (or rather was pin-pricked by) this cute dior bishop dress.  I hadn't really thought of what type of dress this style was, but dior is calling it a cap sleeve.  I just thought it looked like a cute style for my little girl. 

I looked around some more and found that the style is indeed called a bishop dress.  I finally found one page which had a simple layout of the construction of a bishop dress.  But the specifics they gave left much to be desired and the pictures aren't quite zoomed in enough to figure out what was going on.  So I made up the parts I didn't know, hehe. 

The basics of the design (as far as I could tell) are taking five (Is anyone else obsessed with english "rules" like any number ten and under is supposed to be spelled instead of using the actual number?  Just me? hmmm) rectangles, sewing them together, and then gathering or smocking the top (or both) to get the poofed out shape.  Smocking seems to be the traditional method. 

I didn't have a pattern and Bean was sleeping so I just made up some measurements when I cut out the rectangles.  I figured there would be lots of room for error so I took a guess.  I think I ended up cutting the front piece about 15 inches by 30-something inches which was ridiculous.  The width worked out perfectly, but the length was chopped off later.  Especially when it became my signature look.  I wanted a cute little short dress.  The sleeve rectangles were about 5 (I think the number writing rule does not apply when giving measurements or writing out math like 2+2.... but maybe I just made that up since the teacher who taught me the number rule didn't mention what to do when writing a blog tutorial.... this was also back in 1989) inches by 12 inches which worked out perfectly for both width and length.  The back pieces were cut just shy of the front piece size in width which was CRAZY.  The were way too wide in the end.  I was worried about the dress not fitting properly when Bean is seated (since she's not up and walking around yet there's lots and lots of sitting) but I could have easily made the back widths 9 or 10 inches each and the fit would have been fine.  As it was, I just gathered the back neckline more than I would have otherwise.  So there really IS a lot of room for error with this type of dress.  And by error, I'm also referring to these pictures where the fabric wasn't even ironed before cutting or sewing it, hehe.

Using french seams was the best way to go with this fabric since it was so light and frayed really easily.  I didn't finish any of the horizontal edges before sewing, but if I made this again, I would have hemmed the sleeve rectangles or added some sort of edgeing at this point to make it easier later.  But not doing it now didn't cause too much trouble.

Once the five rectangles are sewn together it was time to smock the top edge.  I chose a lattice edge design since I liked the dramatic look to it.  It was (of course) more complicated than the normal honeycomb smocking.  I'll write a specific smocking post about how it came together next week.  For now, here is a picture of the right side (left) and the wrong side (right) of the fabric after smocking.

Now we move on to sewing the side seams.  I again french-seamed since I was worried about it being worn (and seams shredded) by a baby (look at those tiny hands just itching to shred and shred).  Ignore the sleeve rectangles and sew the front piece to each of the back pieces, leaving the back open for now.  This is why it would have been nice to finish the sleeve edges previously, but at this point I still thought I might leave them to fray.  I kind of liked the way they were looking.

The smocking didn't gather the neckline as much as I had hoped, mostly because I didn't tighten the stitches as I got closer to the top edge like I probably should have.  Honeycomb smocking would be easier to achieve that with, but I also wanted the lattice to look somewhat uniform so I chose not to.  Instead, I gathered the top edge using this method, which I saw pinned by googiemama and I seriously will never gather any other way again.  Why aren't we all doing it this way???

I gathered more in the sleeve sections since I wanted them to poof up a bit and really, I wanted the front neckline lattice work to be preserved.  I also had to gather the back more than I would have liked since I cut the pieces too wide and didn't have the heart to cut into the lattice smocking I painstakingly(!) sewed.

To cover the gathered neckline, I used more of the fabric using this neckline method that I just love.  Technically it's for knit fabrics, but I find it works just fine for this cottony fabric as long as you cut the strip a little shorter than the actual gathered neckline.

To finish the back I knew I wanted to have two buttons at the top so I made a button placket all the way down.  I just sewed up from the bottom the section I didn't want to open, leaving enough room for Bean to get her head and arms through.  You could make buttons or snaps open down the length if you wanted.  This picture was one of the best to show the placket.

I just realized that anyone that didn't read my signature look post has no idea why the dress fabric has changed colors, hehe.  When I changed this dress to represent my signature look instead of just the special occasion look, I dyed the fabric, hemmed the sleeves, and added the crochet trimmed neckline.  I'll post about the crochet details next week as well.

To finish the dress, I just sewed on the buttons and then hemmed the bottom edge.  I used a 1.5 inch or so doubled over hem in case Bean sprouts up too much before the weather is nice enough to wear it.

I hope this is enough information to get you started making your own bishop dress.  I will definitely make another one since the construction is so easy.  If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments.  I may have skirted (hehe) over a detail or two so let me know.
Linking up to:
I Heart Naptime     

Signature Look

I'm back and set for the final week of Project Run & Play.  We were asked to make a signature look.  I wasn't sure at first if this was something I was interested in, but I decided I was up for the challenge. 

Basically, I didn't complete the look I was making for the special occasion week but I was really excited about finishing it.  A lot of work had already gone into it so I was planning to finish anyway.  Then they announced that there would be one last look and it was to be our signature look.  I realized that all the effort I put in to the dress I was making was bringing out something that really represented my style.  A few tweaks to the original design and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. 

Imagine {Update}

I promised a Monday update on the "Imagine the Impossibilities" challenge over at The Cottage Market so here we go.

Bean is taking a crazy long nap this morning (!) so I had some time to tackle the stash.  Several big ziploc bags and a few tubs emptied later, it's not finished, but it's looking better!  (before pics here)

Entrance to the closet space

The top shelf will be saved for my scraps. 
I have plans for some fabric bins to sort by color, yay!

Hopefully I'll have some more time to work on it today (afternoon nap fingers crossed) and tomorrow so I can update for the linky party tomorrow. 

Impossible?

Well, I haven't made much progress on the "Imagine the Impossibilities" challenge over at The Cottage Market. 

I *did* take some before pictures though, hehe.  Technically I still have a few days to get it together and I think I can at least make a dent.  I'm holding on to hope! 

I'll leave you with just a few pictures to show just how crazy the situation is.  Keep in mind that there are several more bins with bits of fabric here and there as well.  I'll post again on Monday to see if any progress was made this weekend.  Wish me luck!

entrance to the closet under the stairs where I'll keep my
organized fabrics.... hehe organized...

here you can see there is quite a bit of room for lots of fabric to live.

sewing table (notice my machines aren't even on the table!)

Just two of the many bins of fabric/supplies I have.
The funny part is these are the most organized of the whole stash, hehe.

Chevron Fleece {Project Run and Play}

I'm excited to be done with Outerwear week at Project Run & Play by Thursday afternoon instead of taking it down to the wire Friday morning like I have the past few weeks.  I knew when they first announced the theme weeks in December that Outerwear would be one I enjoyed. 

For Christmas, Bean got a nice L.L. Bean fleece suit that she's been wearing which we love.  It's fits nicely now, but she's growing like crazy so I want to have a back up for when her arms and legs inevitably outgrow her current one. The fit is loose now, but it's exactly as I was hoping it would turn out.  Lots of room to grow!

A couple of years ago I did a promotion on black Friday for Macy's and Ocean Spray.  They gave me a gigantic bright blue fleece to wear and since it had both of their logos on the front AND didn't fit I knew I'd never wear it again. 

But there was so much of this nice fleece that of course I couldn't just throw it away.  So add it to the stash I did and it turned out it was perfect for this project.  I forgot to take a pic before I cut it all up, but you get the idea, hehe. 

I added some purple fleece that I had small pieces of in my stash.  My mother once gave me a big bag o' fleece bits that she got from who knows where.  There are some good pieces in there, but also a lot of crap.  I found this nice purple color that I thought would make the fleece jumpsuit a little more girly.

I had fun making a chevron on the front and on the back of the fleece.  So even though the color combo feels very 80's snow suit to me, I was hoping the chevrons would give some interest and modernity to it!  I also used a green blue knit fabric in my stash for the hand, foot, and head edges hoping for the same effect.  There was something about that color blue and the pastel purple that killed me until I added the green blue to it.  That helped bring it back to 2012.  Or at least it did for me, hehe.

You'll also notice above that I used a two way zipper for the front so that I can easily change Bean's diaper without unzipping the top of the jumpsuit.  That makes me feel a little better about those occasional chilly car seat changes.

I brought Bean outside to take a few pictures and she was SO happy to be out.  She loves being outdoors and we haven't done it too much in the past few weeks due to weather.  I am looking forward to the spring when we can be outside almost every day.

In other news... she's sitting up on her own now which is cute, hehe.

The following pics were barely taken before she was trying to take off.  Even though you can tell the arms and legs are too long, it didn't seem to impede her!

Lastly, I did crochet her a hat too, but I forgot to bring it outside with us.  Oh well, it's just as cute on her inside, hehe.

Linking up to:

I Heart Naptime