Boys' Knit Fakeout Tee Link

Oops!  I somehow forgot to add this post to my "Kids Clothing" page! If you were looking for the Boys' Fakeout Henley, it can be found here, and I've also added it to the Kids Clothing page.

This shirt was chosen as one of Girl Charlee's Knitpicks!  Thanks!

Easter Sundress!

I planned to make this dress a very, very long time ago.  I bought the fabric well over a year ago (I was trying to decide what to do with it here), and it took me months to decide to spring for a pattern to  make it into.  I decided on this lovely Gathered Pocket Sundress pattern from Pattern Runway on Etsy, and FINALLY got the guts to cut into my beautiful, beautiful fabric that came all the way from Mood.

 The pattern photos looked like this:

Photo from Pattern Runway, found here

I KNEW I'd be making something that had pockets in it, and I loved the look of this dress even if I was a little scared to death in my heart about the invisible zipper, seamed bodice, fitted waistband, etc.

And it turns out I may have been right to be scared.  But it all came out okay in the end.  Here's my final result:

Not bad, eh?  And here's the back:

Not terribly exciting.  BUT look how well I matched up the pattern!

I don't have great photos of the pocket detail, but I did really like the way they came together.  There is slight gathering across the front of the dress, which continues along the contour of the pocket.  And I like the method used for binding the pocket, even if the way the pattern explained cutting out the bias strips was confusing.

However, you will notice that I am wearing a belt in all of these pictures.  I do like the way it looks belted, but that was not my intention as the dress already has a fitted waistband.  But I will only ever wear it with a belt, because of the issues I had constructing the dress.

I haven't sewn many things from patterns, and the things I have sewn were mostly for children and were mostly pretty forgiving, loose dresses.  So for this one I really paid attention.  I mean, I paid actual money not only for the fabric, but also for LINING FABRIC that you don't even SEE, AND for a PATTERN!  This one isn't turning out to be cheaper than buying a dress at all!  So I wanted it to be perfect.  I took all of my measurements and compared them to the measurements given in the pattern and cut out the sizes recommended for the pattern pieces.  I was really careful with my seam allowances.  And this dress came out HUGE!  I could tell after assembling my bodice that it was too big, so I took some fabric out of the back (about an inch on each side) while inserting the zipper, but it wasn't enough.  I had to take another inch out of the front and sides to keep things even, which made my waistband wonky--enter the necessity of the belt. I reduced the size of the bodice by over 4 inches all together, bit by bit, which was really frustrating.  Especially because the directions are mostly easy to follow and give you really nice finishes--so even more frustrating when you have to take it apart and hack it up.  I normally wear about a size 6, and according to the measurements in the pattern I was a size medium for the waist and hips, and a small for the bust.  I wasn't too worried about the hips, since it's a loose skirt, but I figured I should be pretty precise for the fitted bodice.  I guess this is why people make muslins, but ...I just don't have the time or patience for that (or the spare fabric), and, never having done it before, how does that even work?  After you get the muslin to fit, do you take it apart and use it for pattern pieces, or what?

OK, FINE, you can see my head.

Anyway, I still do love the fabric, and it feels absolutely lovely.  I lined the skirt as well as the bodice because I didn't want to worry about a slip, since the fabric is pretty thin.

And how about this--I swear, I did not even plan for our family to be so coordinated.  My red necklace was a last minute addition, and my husband's red shirt was a surprise to me.  But I am impressed with myself, as I sewed most of the garments in this photo!  Iris's dress is the Cece Dress from Popolok Designs (I did a pattern test for it), and Liam is wearing an upcycled button down and a pair of pants modified from the Kids Pocket Pants from Made.

Oh, hey, if you have a minute?  I've entered this dress into the Project Sewn Sundress Week contest.  Would you be a dear and click over there?  The "sewalong" links are at the bottom of the post.  If you like mine best (YOU LIKE MINE BEST), vote for it!  I could win fame and prizes!  Voting opens on Friday, May 17th.

Upcycled Girls' Nightgown!

I'm going to continue with the pj's theme here:

It's amazing how something that on a grown woman could be a little...hmm.  Frumpy?  Old-lady?  Can then, in miniature form, look so sweetly vintage on a little girl.  This woman's nightgown, of a variety I feel like you could find fairly easily at a thrift store, was pretty easily converted into a nightgown (that goes long-long to the floor, of course) for my little girl. Before watching the movie Annie, I don't think she knew that pj's that were actually dresses were even an option.  When that red-headed moppet headed towards her big bed at Daddy Warbucks' house (the silk--no, the satin sheets I think), Iris was totally fascinated with Annie's nightgown.  How could I resist, when I had this nightie in my "to upcycle" stash?  Now she wants to wear these to bed every single night, and with the exception of when they are in the laundry, she has done so.  I would call that a winner of a project.

The only supply I needed other than the original gown was a little bit of double-fold bias tape--just enough to go around the underside of the armholes.

I knew I wanted to preserve a few things from the original nightgown, namely the lace bodice, the straps, and the pintucking at the hem.

Original bodice

Original hem

So the plan was to remove the straps, resize the bodice (front and back), and cut a new body of the gown reusing the original hemline.

I started by separating the bodice from the straps and the gown. In the photo below, I hadn't altered the bodice pieces yet but I had cut the new gown front and back.  Based on my daughter's measurements (she's an on-the-small-side 3-year-old) I cut it about 20 inches long (at the sides--the middle is a little lower on the front panel as you can see).  For the width I just eyeballed what I thought looked good, but you could use the hemline of an existing gathered skirt for a guideline.

I left a little tab at the bottom of the button placket on the front bodice piece--enough to fold under and sew
down when I attached the skirt.  Also, as you can see, I mimicked the "v" shape of the bodice panel in my front  gown piece.

I had a bodice pattern that fit her pretty well that I used as a guide for cutting down my bodice.  I wasn't worried about seam allowance on the sides because I used double-fold bias tape to finish those edges.

I used the printable Playdate Dress pattern from Craftiness is not Optional,
but it's not an exact match by any means, just a guide.

I cut just one side at a time then folded my bodice in half and
used my first cut as a guide to do the other side.

Then I lined up the back bodice piece and cut armhole curves using the
front piece as a guide.

Next was gathering up the skirt.  I basted two rows at the top of the back and front gown pieces, then gathered them to the length of the bodice pieces.

Before assembling, I ironed the raw edge of the lining under (where I had removed the bodice) so that it would be finished on the inside.  Then I sandwiched my gathered skirt inbetween the lacy bodice and the lining.  I pinned carefully to make sure they were lined up exactly so that I would catch all three layers with one seam.

All pinned and ready to go

The inside of the bodice--making sure to catch the lining with my pins too

 I did the same thing with the back bodice piece, except that I had to iron both the bodice piece and the lining towards the inside, since there was no pretty pleat to hide my seam on the outside.

This time I sewed the lining to the skirt first:

Then flipped the back bodice piece over and sewed the outside down.

Then I sewed up the sides of the gown, making sure to stop when I got to the armholes.

I did have some issues with attaching the straps, so the photos below are not how the straps actually ended up.  I'll try to explain so there's less confusion later on--the straps were just too wide to place them proportionally on the nightgown and still leave enough room to get her head through without unbuttoning the placket.  I wanted it to slide over her head,so I ended up pleating the straps a little, and it gives the finished strap a little bit of a cap-sleeve effect that I think works.  There is a close-up photo of the finished strap later on, so scroll down to take a look so you know what I'm talking about.  If you are using a narrower strap, you may be able to attach it flat like the photos below.

Ok.  So.  I first sewed the straps on so that they lined up with the armhole, and sewed them to the bodice as well (this is where you should pleat the strap if you're going to do that.)

Then, I cut a piece of double-fold bias tape for each opening.  I folded it under at the top of the bodice and pinned it into place around the opening, stopping at the back of the strap and folding it under there too for a finished look.  Make sure you pin the slightly narrower side of the bias tape to the outside of your nightgown, so that you have an easier time catching all of the layers when you sew!

Armhole

Both straps, ready to go

 Here are a few pics where you can see the pleated strap.  She was not really in a modeling mood that morning, so I had to snap a few while she sat at the breakfast table:

Tell me more, Iris!

How's that peanut butter waffle treating you?

And I just can't resist showing you all of her stages of bedhead--I thought first thing in the morning would be an appropriate time to get pics of a nightgown, and I just love seeing her nest of hair first thing in the morning!

That collage also shows you the straps before I unpicked them from the bodice to put in the pleat.  A little off, see?  But that hair!  It kills me!

Upcycled Big Boy PJ's!

Whooee--it's been over a week since I posted! Sorry about that!  I've got lots of projects to show you, but I just keep making them and not blogging them.  I may have to skip doing tutorials for a bit so that I can just get some stuff up here.  That said, I will throw in a few tips for making these big boy pj's:

The sudden onset of summer weather made me realize that the boy only had 2 sets of short-sleeved pj's. I had to pass on all of his 5T shorts sets from last year when I realized that they were sort of like sausage casings when he squeezed into them.  But it's harder to find pj sets bigger than 5T--AND when you do, they cost double!  So it was time to try my hand at making some.

I had an old pair of men's pj pants that my dad had passed on, so that was my starting point.  I loved the idea of these cuffed pj pants from Behind the Hedgerow. I used a pair of slim-fitting knit pj pants for my template, but widened the legs by about  1.5 inches (cut on the fold, so 3" total).  Then I cut them off a smidge shorter and added cuffs made from fabric cut from an old t-shirt.  For the waistband, I used this time-saving method of adding elastic without making a real casing.  It was pretty cool!  But I felt like it looked a little bunchy for pants (it's meant for skirts), so I did end up adding a seam at the bottom of the elastic as well and I like it better.

For the top, I used his slim-fitting pj top as a template to cut out a shirt from an old tee of mine.  I had used it before as a paint shirt, so there were some splatters on it, but it was the only one I had that matched the colors in the printed pants!  I had planned on adding some appliques from the leftover fabric anyway--I just had to be careful of my placement so I could cover the worst of the splatters.

That's levitation, homes.

Yup, there was paint on the back too.

Here's a good tutorial from MADE on making a kid's tee--if you're upcycling then cut the body and sleeve pieces so that you can reuse the original hem on the shirt and sleeve and save yourself some time!  PJ shirts are typically cut a little slimmer,so keep that in mind. Also, if you're upcycling a tee that has a ribbed neckline, like I was, you can cut off the rib knit right above the seam and use that for your new ribbing.  It will end up a little smaller than the original ribbed binding, but then you don't have to measure, cut, fold, and iron a piece of rib knit for your neckline. Another time and money-saving win for upcycling!

One problem--the knit in his pj top was thinner and stretchier than the tee that I was cutting up, so the top ended up tooooo small.

Mom, aren't PJ's supposed to be comfy?

Couldn't resist posting this pose.

So, I cut out the side seam all the way up the sleeve and side of the shirt, and added a strip of the same fabric I had used for the cuffs and binding the neckline. Now it fits perfectly, and I think the racing stripe is kind of cool.  Might do it on purpose in the future!

Bleach Gel Tea Collection Knock-Off!

I love the look of this dress from Tea Collection:

As a matter of fact, I love pretty much everything from Tea Collection, but unfortunately I can rarely afford it unless I find one at a consignment store.  But the one pictured above got my attention, because the design reminds me of this idea I saw on Pinterest, to use a bleach pen to create designs on a t-shirt.

I had a perfect t-shirt to upcycle, as it had some grease spots near the hem, so I started by trying out the bleach.

I bought a bleach pen for this very reason a while back.  I tried it on an old shirt of mine, and the results were okay--but that shirt has been relegated to the pajama pile.  This time, I followed the advice of the blogger I linked to above, and ironed some freezer paper on to the wrong side of the t-shirt.  HUGE difference.  The thin knit fabric wasn't pulling in all directions while I tried to draw with the gel pen, and I was happy with the results.

I thought I might try to trace a design onto the shirt, so I freehanded a simplified version of the Tea Collection design onto a piece of paper, but the one downside of the freezer paper was that once I had ironed it onto the shirt, I couldn't really see my design to trace it anymore.  So I went for it and freehanded with the gel pen, and I'm happy with the result!

Something just occurred to me--you could probably draw your pattern right on the shiny side of the freezer paper before ironing it on, so it's visible through the knit (if it's thin enough, like the one I used.)  Might try that next time.

OK, so because I didn't want to cut up the shirt but I did want the design to go all the way around, I had to do this in two parts.  I don't know why I was hesitating to cut it up--since I ended up cutting it to make the dress anyway, it would have been SO much easier to bleach it in flat pieces.  Anyhoo, the photo I just showed you of my bleach job was on the front of the shirt.  After it set, I rinsed it out and threw it in the dryer with an old towel, and once it was dry I repeated the process for the back.  With one small hitch--my bleach pen ran out.

Uh oh.

In my neighborhood, bleach pens cost about $3 each.  Since I had only done one other shirt, this project suddenly got more expensive--$3 for 1.5 projects isn't going to do it for me.  I did buy a new bleach pen to finish this project in the interest of continuity, but for the future I am going to try this lovely post from Me and My DIY on how to make your own bleach gel.  It seems like maybe the glue bottle would be a little harder to to control than the store-bought pen, but definitely worth the savings.  In any case, here's a close-up of how the finished design came out:

Once the bleach design was done,  I just made mine into a simple dress, but if my original t-shirt had been bigger, I totally would have gone all the way with my knock-off and used this CINO tutorial for a very similar Tea Collection style.

A couple things about my dress--I decided to do short sleeves instead of the cap/ruffle so I could avoid binding the raw edges of the armhole.  Also I added some bleach design to the sleeves, just because I liked how it looked.  I used the full width of the t-shirt (a Gap women's medium) for the skirt, and cut the bodice pieces from the top of the front and back so I could use most of the original finished neckline.

Tada!  

Here are some more shots of the finished dress:

The back--I think I left the bleach on a little longer here, oops!

Side view, or just an excuse for another cute picture of my kid?

We'll call this one a close-up on the sleeve detail.

I actually had to redo the sleeves, because I made them too small on the original attempt (shown below).

I had to cut these sleeves out and try again.

And you can see that my seam at the front bodice is a little wonky--I was kind of off my  game putting this dress together.  I just got so excited about the bleaching that I forgot about the sewing.  One thing at a time for me, I guess.

Alas!  My bodice seam is wonky!

Cap Sleeve Copycat Tee

This is just a quick post that I'm getting in under the wire for Made by Rae's Spring Top Sewalong!

I decided to use this bare yard of the lovely Retro Botanical Mix printed cotton knit from Girl Charlee to recreate one of my favorite tops in my wardrobe.  The features I love about it are:

1.  Slightly gathered cap sleeve
2.  Longer than your average t-shirt
3.  self-belted

So I just cut around the shape of that top to get my pattern, making sure to extend the shoulders so I could make a gathered cap sleeve, serged the side seams and shoulder seams, did a zig-zag hem at the bottom, gathered the shoulders slightly, and added a binding using this AWESOME method from Kitschy Coo.  Then I made a little tube of fabric out of the same knit I used for the binding, and decided not to attach it to the top or add any belt loops so that I can move the belt around for different effects:

To be clear, I still have a waist in #3--just no waistband ;)

Since the knit was stretchy enough, I just sewed it closed so I have to slip it on over the shirt, but I decided to do it that way instead of making a strip long enough to tie because the knot always bothers me when I'm leaning back against something.  But a  strip long enough to tie would work great too--and then you'd have the option of tying it in the front as well!

Here's the back view:

This may just be my favorite thing I've sewn for myself yet!  Thanks for the inspiration, Rae!

Crossover Wrap Top Tutorial

I decided to make this top for a friend who is due with her second baby any day now, and it just happens to be her birthday (today!  As I write this!  **I didn't finish the post in one day!  So now her birthday was yesterday!).  So I thought that a good birthday/birthing day gift would be a cute top that she could wear post-pregnancy that would allow easy access for nursing without being ONLY a nursing top.

No crazy flaps or slits, just a wide crossover vee that will pull open without stretching out.

I've been getting more confident with knits and my serger, and I thought a comfy knit top would be just the thing.  I bought the chevron cotton blend jersey from www.girlcharlee.com--so much more affordable than buying knits that are not even as cute or soft from JoAnn.  I really like the cotton blend jersey.  Silky soft, thin but not seethrough--good stuff.  I bought a cotton (not blend) jersey from them too that I am excited to make something out of, but not this particular top, because the wrap style definitely benefits from a fabric that has a soft drape.  

I used a fitted t-shirt of mine to make the pattern, and I got some tips on making a wrap shirt from this tutorial, but I wanted more of a faux-wrap--I didn't want to be dealing with ties that could get pulled out or anything.  I used almost exactly a yard and a half of wide fabric (54") to make this shirt, which is probably a small/medium.

I also decided to make a slightly longer fit than a traditional tee, and a little looser too, to accomodate post-baby belly.  But I put a band at the bottom (and cuffs at the ends of the sleeves) so that it looks purposefully relaxed instead of just baggy/too big.  I think it's something that will be GREAT for nursing/post-baby but also something that will be just a nice comfy casual top for any time.  I was so happy with the way it turned out that I was a little sad to give it away...but then I remembered I could just make another one for myself!

Mine was made from a really soft baby-knit, so I should have made it smaller because it's SOOOO stretchy that it's already bagging out a bit. But comfy.  This was more of that $1.50/yard fabric of questionable content from Walmart.

For how to make the pattern from a shirt that fits you well, check out this link for making a knit wrap top.  This is where you will start.  You will need to trace around your shirt template to create a pattern piece for the back of the shirt (cut on the fold) and the front of the shirt, NOT on the fold.  In the full wrap tutorial I linked to, you create the shape by following the point of the v-neck on the original shirt down to the bottom corner of the top.  But for this faux-wrap, instead of cutting the line from the vee all the way to the bottom corner of the shirt, you will curve the line over to about 3 inches below the armpit.

My pattern paper wasn't long enough, so I wrote "add 2 inches" to the bottom of my pattern :)

I ended up making my shoulder strap a little narrower than the original shirt to help soften the curve, since I would be adding a fairly wide binding strip to the neckline.  The side of your "wrap" will be sewn into the side seam, so it can't come undone.  To make your top a little longer, like mine, make your pattern pieces the same length as your t-shirt, because you will be adding a band to the bottom that ends up being about 2.5" long.

Main pattern pieces; you will also need a binding strip, waistband, and two cuffs.

There a few things I did differently than the tutorial (besides the aforementioned difference in the shape of the front pattern piece)

1.  I made the front pattern piece the same length as the original shirt I was using as a model, then added a band at the bottom that ends up adding about 2.5 inches of length as well as cinching the bottom in (since mine doesn't have the tie).

2.  I cut my sleeves wider then added a band to the bottom.  Just a style thing for me; I thought a slightly gathered loose sleeve would look cool.  Plus, I made 3/4 sleeves because I love not having to push up my sleeves for hand-washing or dishwashing.  This top would also be cute with short sleeves or flutter sleeves!

3.  I made my two front panels the same width as the front of my original shirt that I used to draft the pattern, but because of the wide vee created by the wrap, it ends up being wider than the original. That worked for me because I wanted that loose middle pulled in by a bottom band, but if you want a more fitted shape you'll need to compensate by making your front panels narrower, by at least an inch I would say.

Okay.  I will attempt to turn this into a tutorial now, instead of just a collection of tips.  Unfortunately I didn't photograph the steps when I made the first top (the chevron print one)--some of this stuff would have shown up a lot better on that fabric!  Hopefully you'll be able to see what I'm talking about on the white fabric.

Your main pattern pieces:

1 back (cut on fold)
2 front (make sure they are facing opposite directions--they should each have one shoulder)
1 neckline binding strip (I just cut one the entire width of the fabric, which was 54", but ended up with 6-8 inches left over.  If your fabric is really stretchy you will need even less.  Should be about 3" wide depending on how wide you want the binding to be.)
2 sleeve cuffs (5.5" tall, cut on the fold just slightly smaller than the width of the bottom of your sleeve.  I measured around my arm to see how wide I wanted it to be.)
1 waistband (again 5.5" tall, cut on the fold slightly smaller than the bottom of your shirt)

Start by pinning the bodice pieces at the shoulder (right sides together) and sewing.  Once they are attached, lay out your three bodice pieces, right side UP.

You are going to attach the neckline binding strip next.  My shirt was 52" around the neck opening (starting from where the angled neckline meets the side seam on one side, going around the neckline, and ending on the other side seam).  I cut my binding strip (doesn't have to be on the bias since the knit is stretchy), folded it in half lengthwise (right side OUT) and gave it a quick press, and serged the raw edges just for prettiness and to hold it together.

Then, with my bodice pieces right side up, I lined the serged (or raw) edges of my binding strip up with the raw edges of the neckline. Stretching the binding strip gently as I went, I pinned all along the neckline.

Oh, I should mention that on the white top, I didn't have enough width to cut straight across the fabric for my binding strip so mine had a seam.  I lined it up with the shoulder seam but you could put it right in the middle too.

I did my side seams next, but if you like to attach your sleeves while they are still open you can do that now (that's the way she does it in the tutorial I linked to above).  If you're going to attach your sleeves later like I did, here's how to do the side seams:

Choose which of your front panels will be on top in the finished shirt and line it up on the back piece (right sides together).

Don't pin anything yet, just make sure that your armhole and side seams are lined up.  If the bottom doesn't match exactly that's ok.  Next, pull down the other side and line it up as well.  Once both panels are lined up, sew down the side seams, from armpit to the bottom of the shirt.  I serged so that it would look nice but this part doesn't need to stretch so a straight stitch would be fine.

I didn't cut all of my pieces out at the same time--I waited until my bodice was assembled before cutting out my waistband.  As I mentioned before, it's 5.5" tall, and I just folded the fabric in half and cut so that it was slightly smaller than the opening at the bottom of my shirt.  Then with right sides together on the band, I sewed the short ends together to make it into a circle.

Then fold the circle in half, lengthwise,so that you have one folded finished edge on the bottom of the circle and two raw edges on the top.  Use 4 pins to mark the sides and the middle evenly, then attach your band to the shirt.  Shirt needs to be right-side out, then slip your band over the bottom of it so that the raw edges are lined up.  I put the seam on my band right in the middle at the back of the shirt.  Line up the side seams of the shirt with the pins you used to mark the sides of the band and stretch the band evenly around the bottom of the shirt.

You can sew the band on with a zig-zag stitch for stretch or use a serger.

Next I made my sleeves.  I sewed the seam on the sleeve, then cut out my cuffs.  On the white shirt, my cuffs were only 4" tall; on the chevron print they were 5.5".  I cut them on the fold so that they would be snug around my arm just below the elbow (where my sleeve ends).  Then I stretched them gently and attached to the bottom of the sleeve using a zig-zag stitch, just like with the waistband at the bottom of the shirt.

When your sleeves are assembled, turn your top wrong-side out.  Then slip the right-side out sleeve into the armhole, lining up the raw edges and the seam of the sleeve with the side seam of the shirt, and sew into place.  I just used a straight stitch on my sewing machine for this.

See the right-side-out sleeve poking out of the wrong-side-out neckline?

Once you trim your threads, you're done!  Oh wait--I guess you should attach the other sleeve first.  But then you're done!

I made this image for the top of the post at first, then decided I couldn't use this ridiculous photo of myself, even if it does show the top better than the other pics:

Ridiculous.

Oh!  And I had just enough left from my chevron print to make this baby hat (printable pattern from zaaberry here).  I'm dying from the cute a little.