Time For School Capsule Wardrobe Sew Along

Even though I started over a month ago on the preschooler's wardrobe, I'm going to follow along with the Time for School Capsule Wardrobe Sew Along.  I love the idea of a limited wardrobe based mostly on items made at home.  Of course Nana has helped out with RTW items such as shoes, cardigans, and jeans.
My goal is to post a photo of each outfit on this one post and have them all in once place.  This may take me awhile to compile as certain little people seem to keep needing things like food and diaper changes.

Anna Lap Dress with Stretch Leggings

Buffalo Print from Girl Charlee  Black and White Polka Dot from JoAnn's

RTW pink tee and purple cardigan

30 minute reversible Frozen skirt

Mama Made Six Months Later

Remember when I blogged this dress here in January and I thought it was too small?  I was wrong.  The dress I'm speaking of is the blue polka dot one on the preschooler.  The pink striped one is cute too, but not mama made.

 It wasn't too small at all.  In fact, it fits just right now, in July.  The purple backdrop was the preschooler's addition to the photo shoot.  It's a one yard cut of knit that I like very much, but so does she.

 Just thought that for once I would share my work in action and the toddler's mad dancing skills.

Emotional Baggage

If something has been a UFO for two years, there is probably a good reason for that right?  I made this coat when we lived in our old house and even moved it with us.  I thought my hang up was finding buttons.  Yesterday I found buttons I loved.  This morning I put aside easy to do leggings so I could finish this.  The buttons weren't the issue.

 After 47 tries and a screaming fit I learned that you can't button hole fleece.  Some websites recommended stabilizer.  That didn't help.  The button holer just couldn't do it.  Actually, it did it once.  Just once.

 I tried to save the coat with snaps but the snaps were misaligned and there was no way to pick out all the old button hole threads.  So...that's it.  In the trash it goes.  I can't keep looking at this coat.  Moving on.

Merida the Brave Peplum

Last night I couldn't sleep.  So of course I started trolling Craftsy.  What did I find?  This Pippa Peplum by See Kate Sew.  Oh how I loved it!  Oh how I don't want to spend another $9 on a pattern.  And then...I noticed it's just a t-shirt with a gathered skirt.

What did I do?  I drafted my own after reading a few tutorials on Pinterest.  I took the next size up on the Alex and Anna Winter Pajamas AGAIN and shortened the torso.  Then I cut out a circle skirt to add to the bottom.

And Voila!  A Peplum dress.

 At first I thought this teal plaid was too much to handle.  Now, I think it looks great with the preschooler's red hair.  Right now the top is a little big in the shoulders.  That's ok.  I want her to be able to wear this all winter.

 The toddler is not wearing a Made by Mom dress but we can't leave her out of the photo shoots.   As soon as she hears the words "take a picture" she starts running around saying "Cheese!"

This is what happens when I ask them to kiss each other.  So much love.

Nudist No More

The child who refuses to wear pants to eat dinner, decided tonight to wear her flannel pajamas in 90 degree heat.  Somebody please explain.

I did brush her hair today, but that was before she played in her bucket of water on the deck.  Don't ask.  Please ignore the ketchup on her face from dinner.  She is her own person.

I Couldn't Take it Any More

Ahh! the stretching and gaping and curling!  It was mocking me.  So I hacked it up and tried again.  The Anna Lap Dress top portion just isn't working for me right now.  See, isn't it hideous?

I took the top of a pajama top and cropped the torso length.  The toddler modeled it for me because the preschooler is going through a nudist phase.  Hopefully she works her way through it by the time school starts again.  Oh, and we always stand on the dining room table to try on clothes.

Unplanned Greatness

It wasn't my plan to make a perfectly assembled pair of summer pajamas yesterday, but the preschooler is without any due to an overnight growth spurt.  After I finished a planned project, I quickly threw together this Alex and Anna Winter Pajamas altered version.

The sleeves and pant legs were shortened.  I had bought the flower knit a few weeks ago, but then thought it was hideous.

What ended up happening was pure magic!  The collar came out perfectly.  You know how you always have that one thing in a project that bothers you?  Not this one.  Also, I'm not sure what this knit is but it was so easy to work with.  Maybe a little heavy for summer but the preschooler wore it all night no complaints.  The pants on the other hand came off as soon as the photo shoot was over.

The younger child here is a girl despite the boy's t-shirt and short hair.  She does own lots of real pajamas, and she does have pants.  Neither of which are reflected in this photo.  

Pluses and Minuses

 The pre-baby sewing marathon continues now that we are back from Up North.  I got to work on another Anna Lap dress.  Some good things happened.  

One:  I did not overstretch the neck.  

Two:  The pre-schooler tried it on and said she loved it.

Things that make me grumpy.

One:  The plaid does not run straight of the grain so the plaid runs downhill.  I'm hoping you don't notice this when it's worn.

Two:  The dress is way too big to be worn to school just yet.  This could be good though since I want the preschooler to wear it through the winter.

I'm also working on my labeling system.  I'd buy labels from Etsy but there are so many to choose from I get overwhelmed.  So I won't buy any!

Parsley Pants Hack

 I've been on a pdf pattern buying binge.  Eee!  Don't tell DH.  Last night I saw the Parsley Pants by Made By Rae.  I WANTED them.  I NEEDED them.  I just can't buy one more pattern.  There are tons of pants patterns in my stash.  Really all I wanted was the pockets.  So I tried my hand at pockets.  And it WORKED!!!

 To make my prototype I used an old pair of maternity pants that were too big.  I just had enough.  I also tried having a flat front with the elastic in back only.  The results are mixed.  These will take some practice.  Right now these pants are huge.  Maybe they will fit when the preschooler goes to kindergarten in 2017.

Frozen in June

Father's Day went something like this.  Get up, do the dishes, make DH breakfast.  Head to the basement.  Clean out room in basement, sweeping up ten tons of kitty litter.  Put toddler to bed and send DH to store with preschooler.

 Cut up and stitch together two Minnie Mouse sun dresses.  Speedy quick, no talent required project.  DH returns with sleeping preschooler and begins to install new car radio.  I then cut out Frozen flannel pj pants and have them done lickety split.  We test drove car with new radio.  Came home, cut out winter pj top and assembled before a late dinner.  In 22 minutes there is a new Masterpiece Theater on PBS.  I couldn't be happier.

Getting Ready for Baby

And this one isn't mine!  Ok, ok, I have one coming too, but right now I'm sewing for my soon to be niece.  My sister's baby is due 2.5 weeks after my own.  Since I'm covered up in baby stuff I'm sewing for her.  

Her baby layette includes, 3 burp clothes, 9 wipes, 1 bib, 2 pacifier clips, and one changing pad cover.  The changing pad cover was a first for me and super easy.  The tutorial I followed said to use 36 inches of elastic.  I had to add several inches of elastic after I took this photo.  It was just too tight.

Pattern Tracing

Often I know there is a right way and a wrong way to do something and I still pick the lazy way out.  I'm guilty of this when it comes to pattern tracing.  To save the original pattern from cutting you should trace out the size you want in Pellon.  With commercial tissue patterns this usually isn't a big deal.  The tissue will fold back easily to the right size.  With printed PDF patterns and smaller pattern company paper patterns it gets tricky.  

Finally, I broke down and bought some grid Pellon.  And guess what?  It wasn't THAT time consuming.  In fact, I enjoyed tracing out the patterns.  The next step is to find Pellon as cheaply as possible.  I feel like it use to be 33 cents a yard.  Seriously, I'm not exaggerating.  Now it's $4.  Walmart so far has the cheapest bolt of 10 yards for $16.

Red Dot Pellon

Simplicity 9095 Nightgown

 This is the nightgown that almost wasn't.  In my head this vintage polka dot sheet was a great idea.  Then when it was almost finished I panicked because it looked like a clown costume.  I stuck it out and finished it with the hopes that the blue buttons and ribbon cancel out the clownishness.

Currently the ribbon is safety pinned to the front.  I don't want to wash the ribbon each time due to fraying.  I'm contemplating putting it on with a snap.  We'll see.

Growing Like a Weed

Does it ever happen that all of a sudden your children's clothes are too small?  Like one day they fit fine and the next a belly is hanging out.
The other day I noticed Meredith's pajamas had shrunk.  After purchasing this Peek a Boo pattern I dug around in my winter maternity clothes for something to re-purpose and made a trip to JoAnn's.

The blue top is an maternity top and the fun print is from JoAnn's.  The pants go together really quickly.  I'm looking forward to making more now that I've worked the kinks out.

Beyond My Skill Set

My Grandchildren Walk All Over Me

My husband's father is turning 70 today.  It's hard to think what to give someone who is turning 70.  The girls "helped" make this t-shirt for Pops.  The lettering made me sweaty.  T-shirt art is not my thing.  I used the Live Laugh Love Font I found on Pinterest as a guide.    The white paint pen did not show up very well so I had to go over the letters with white paint.

The multi-surface Apple Barrel paint I used for the feet and white letters says it works on fabric.  I sure hope that means it won't wash out.  Painting two little people's feet with permanent paint also made me sweaty.  Mallory did come away with some yellow streaks on her face.  Not sure when that happened.

This shirt had the potential to be great or really really awful.  Considering my lack of talent with paint pens I'm happy with the result.

Izzy and Oliver

 A friend of mine has a baby girl who just turned one.  True to form, this child will get her gift late from me.  She is getting a modified pair of Oliver +S Puppet Show shorts and Izzy top.

 The top is made from Cotton and Steel fabric and the shorts are an upcycled men's chambray shirt.

 The green rectangle is my attempt at a tag in the back.  Someday I'll pay for labels with my name on them.  Every time I look on Etsy I get overwhelmed with the choices and so choose nothing.

Worrisome Plackets

This pattern has been bouncing around in my pattern box for two or more years.  Every time I go to cut them out, I chicken out.  What's been stopping me?  Plackets, or the fly.  I just don't get them.

 Finally, I gathered up the courage and bought enough yardage to make 4 pairs.  So far two are done.  I'm not a huge fan of flat felled seams either but they do look nice.  The red pair was my first and I used flat felled seams.  The second I cheated and used my serger to finish seams.  For the next two I'll slow down and do the flat felled seams.  They do make a nicer pair of shorts.

Simplicity 9095

 It's cold, wet, and windy outside so what do I do?  Sew summer pajamas of course!  My husband's grandmother gave me a pile of 1970's sheets a few years ago.  I've been hanging on to them knowing that I would NEED them for something.  The pattern was $4.99 on Etsy.  Much cheaper than a pair of store bought jammies and so much sweeter.  There is a red polka dot pair sheets that are going to be next.