Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Spinning gold out of cheap cotton

above: Annamoa and Barnslig I
below: Barnslig II, the Cecilias

Warning: this entry is strictly for fabric nerds and/or people who care to read my random thoughts about project design. No finished projects here, folks.


...will be one of this winter's challenges. I returned from an outing to Ikea with five new friends: two pre-cut Barnslig fabrics (3 meters = $8!), a one yard-plus chunk (clueless clerk seemed unfamiliar with concept of remnants and gave me what was left on bolt) of birdy Annamoa, and two one-yard cuts of Cecilia (this one and this one). Buying fabric at the Ikea counter involves stepping out of the store's seemingly flawless Northern Europe efficiency and into a dark corner of some second-world nation: there are no employees staffed to the area, and when you give up ringing the broken bell and find someone to help you from elsewhere, they spend oodles of old-fashioned effort to measure, cut, hand-search a binder for the product list, replace the bolts on shelves (while you wait? but of course!) and hand-write the barcodes and yardages on a plastic bag. I guess this is the fate meted out to those of us who stubbornly refuse Ikea's pre-sewn wonders and insist on turning to our machines. If any Ikea executives are reading this: please visit a national chain fabric store. They use machines that do all this work for you!

Okay, so on to what will come from this fabric. Herein lies the challenge. All but the Annamoa is thin cotton (flimsy or gauzy, depending on one's mood) and thus better suited to bedding than children's garments. But children's clothes are my thing, so I'm thinking about:

• linings for outerwear made of fleece or corduroy
• quilts that call for printed fabrics (I got this book for Hannukah and am scheming...)
• travel bags for dirty laundry
• quilt backings
• appliqués
• summer tops, pjs or shorts
• overalls or pants for pre-mobile babies

For the Annamoa, which is more of a home dec weight, I can imagine overalls or a spring/fall coat (with warm lining)...but the pattern is so large, its punch will be lost on a small body. This may be better suited to a wall hanging or large bag for a grown-up.

A few more baby gifts are in the works. If I get my son to nap properly in the coming days, I'll post again before I return to work.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Seeking Saner Baby Gifts

In the past - BB, Before Baby - I handknit a sweater for every new baby who was born in our social circles. Not custom work, just a steady stream of projects that alternated between vaguely girlish and vaguely boyish. I kept the finished creations neatly stacked in our back closet, ready to go. When Jonah was born, I had a few girl sweaters left in my stash. Now the stash has been empty for at least a year and I've been searching for a new baby gift that I could make on a more working-mom-friendly timeline (say, in one evening!?). So far, I've tried appliquéing store-bought clothes (which felt like not enough craft-love for a newborn), sewing felt booties (which I know from personal experience have a very short period of usefulness, although they are adorable), and now combining a simple hand-sewn project (elastic-waist pants) with an appliquéd store-bought onesie (ordered by the dozen). This début project just went out to Miss Micah Mandell, whose parents sent us the most amazing onesies (Jonah is *still* wearing one of them now at 17 months - whoa!). The fabric is an aqua print with tiny monkeys from RetroDepot. While the pants are generous (I used a Burda pattern and it seems too full around the ankles), my poor photography accentuates that even more. Everything's sized for 6 months, in which time spring should be arriving in Chicago...

Saturday, August 29, 2009

First Day of School Dress

This summer I cleaned out every closet in our house (sounds impressive, but there are only four closets total and they weren't so so messy). The best thing I unearthed along the way was this dress, all cut out and ready to be stitched. I wish all projects started at this stage - it really speeds things up! It's a lined dress (Butterick 5510) with a crossover bodice, empire waist, cap sleeves, bias-cut skirt and side zipper. I made it from a lightweight, sheer Indian print cotton and lined it with a basic pink cotton. The wonderful surprise was that the dress fits perfectly. Perhaps I altered the pattern when I cut it out a few years ago? I have no idea. Whatever the reason, there's no pooch above the tush in the back, the armholes are the proper size, it's not at all low-cut (key for middle school teaching!), and the zipper is laying flat as a pancake along my side. I think the bias skirt is part of the great fit, and I'm wondering if it's possible that I haven't made another bias-cut project ever? Could that really be?

I look forward to wearing this dress on the first day of school. Dresses convey that no-nonsense, all-business image I'm going for in the classroom! And that I try, unsuccessfully, to get away from in other aspects of my life!

Friday, August 28, 2009

What a hoot!



I love this simple little overall pattern and thought it would be a make a lovely back-to-school outfit in wildly patterned cotton corduroy. The styling easily accommodates a cloth-diapered bum and is a snap to put together. Speaking of snaps, the crotch is all snap tape. I'd like to find a supplier of snap tape who places the snaps further apart, though, since Jonah's father and daycare provider both cannot be troubled with all that fussiness. As I did not take the time to match the front pieces, there is one owl who is bisected in a rather tragic way - otherwise, I am very happy with the results!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Synthetic Synthesis

I have Complicated Feelings about polar fleece. My basic rule for fiber arts is, if it's worth making yourself, it's worth making out of natural fibers. This probably goes back to my mom's imposition of all-cotton undies as a child, reinforced by Elizabeth Zimmermann's vehemence on this topic ("For people allergic to wool, one's heart can only bleed" - Knitting Without Tears). And yet. Fleece is warm, stretchy, easy to care for, and in the winter, lets us keep the heat a lot lower in the apartment than I'd otherwise tolerate. It even repels baby spit-up, as I learned last winter!

With these contradictory emotions spinning in my head, I bought a very cheap remnant of sage-colored fleece at JoAnn's several months ago. After succeeding with my first hoodie, I decided to make another out of fleece. It was satisfying to repeat the same pattern just a few weeks later - I remembered to stitch closer to the zipper so that less of the tape would show, and I correctly made a flat felled seam (rather than a French seam) on the hood.

I also got to use up my grandma's vintage plaid bias tape, which has been hanging around the sewing basket I inherited from her for at least 20 years. This was one of those beautiful moments that reinforces all of your hoarding - I had *exactly* the right amount of tape to cover the zipper and make the ties for the matching cap (see below). Erma was smiling on me from heaven, clearly - and she was not such a smiley lady!

Another fun garnish was a sheep appliqué that I bought at the Droguerie, a fabulous French craft shop, in Strasbourg in July. I usually find appliqués tacky, but honestly, there is nothing tacky about the Droguerie. C'est très classe!

I also made a bomber cap with some of the leftover fleece (same pattern, Simplicity 5316). I am still feeling guilty that last winter, I sent Jonah to daycare without a hat that stayed on (I just really wanted him to wear the hat I'd knitted, you know? And I didn't have anything else...). So I spent some time in the sweltering August heat making this, to prevent any mishaps this coming winter:
I am sure these articles will look adorable on baby Jonah, but it would be cruel to dress him in fleece on a day like today. Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures when the weather chills out a bit.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Funked Out Peasant Blouse

My sister said she'd buy me this Lila Tueller pattern for my birthday if I promised not to make it out of super-crazy fabrics. I may have broken my promise! I found it difficult to choose the right trio of fabrics for this top (perhaps the companionship of my impatient toddler added to this).

Now, about the pattern. I had a rough start. There are no directions for layout and cutting. The upper front piece is missing the notches that are shown on the directions. And the first sentence of the pattern contains an error about where to baste (it's at the lower edge, not the upper one). HOWEVER, it was all uphill from here. The top came together nicely and the details were clearly explained. It would have been nice for Ms. Tueller to do the math on the proper length of elastic for the neckline (so as to avoid waste) and the circumference of the blouse in different sizes, but I made notes on the pattern for my size so that I can refer to them next time around.
Here you can see the details at the top:
And here's the side zip, which does not bend or pooch at all! However, the stitching is a bit wobbly. And that's with more than 20 years of sewing experience, honors Home Ec. included, alas.

My individual touches: I didn't have elastic thread (and didn't realize at the time that I could buy it at my local hardware shop, rather than drive 30 minutes to JoAnn's!) so I made an inner casing with twill tape and ran 10" of 1/4" elastic through the casing. I did add elastic to the front under the bust, which is an option listed at the end of the pattern. This improved the fit quite a bit. I made a size 12 and it fits well - the directions explain that these sizes run very small, which is true since I'm usually a size 4 at the store.

Next time I'd like to make the top in closely matched neutrals for a more sophisticated, monochromatic look. I'd also choose really soft, thin fabrics so that I get more drape and less stiffness around my bust and elbow gathers.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Blouse in translation



Feeling ambitious, I requested a pattern book for my birthday that's written entirely in Japanese. Thanks to my mother-in-law for indulging this silliness! I immediately learned a few important things about Japanese sewing techniques when the book arrived (some of which you can find on this blog or this one):

1. Japanese pattern pieces are all printed on top of one another, in a crazy overlapping map of lines. For a book with 20+ patterns, there's just one page of pattern pieces. You have to recopy each piece onto tissue paper so that you can use it. Oh, and don't forget to add your own seam allowances!

2. Japanese sizes are very different from U.S. ones (no big surprise here). A size L fits me well. In America, though, I'm an S.

3. Only a few steps are illustrated in the pattern directions. The rest is left up the imagination. Rather like French cookbooks...

Feeling thoroughly intimidated, I decided to start with the simplest pattern in the book - a long-sleeve shirt with only three pieces. How hard could this really be, people?!

I spent an afternoon cutting out the three pattern pieces. Working with tracing paper and a good quality eraser reminded me of a particularly hellish 8th grade social studies project I once completed.

I learned to make my own bias tape from various web tutorials. I can't tell if this is what the pattern intended, however. Perhaps you could just use ribbon.

The only difficult thing about assembling the blouse was mitering the bias tape in different angles to accommodate the asymmetrical neckline and hem. This added quite a challenge, in my opinion.

I made this blouse out of white polka dotted cotton from JoAnn's (ick, I know). The trim is a conversion of our old kitchen curtains, which I got from Reprodepot a while back.

Happy hoodie




This hooded sweatshirt comes from Simplicity pattern 5316. It includes smart, careful details like bias tape along the neckline and zipper facing, elasticized cuffs and patch pockets. I used a teal 100% cotton interlock with lilac zipper and bias tape. Definitely a pattern worth making again and again. My only question is how to make the zipper fall straight down, since mine waggles a bit to the right.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Shabbat shalom onesie, updated


Recently I bought a bunch of plain onesies, with the goal of making a series of "shabbat shalom" onesies for new babies. I was trying to improve upon the early attempts I made for Jonah, which were a tad stiff and placed too high on the shirt, causing the decoration to bunch under the chin unattractively. For my first redo, I sewed four strips of fabric around the printed message, trimmed the whole thing to an oval shape, applied lightweight Steam-a-seam, and then stitched around the raw edge to finish it. Using only one layer of lightweight adhesive made a big difference. This version is going out to Arielle (Wasser) Gish, hopefully before she is too big to wear it!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

New overalls



I recently used some of my precious Alexander Henry fabric on these overalls for Jonah. The pattern (Simplicity 5316) has a higher bib and snap crotch, both features lacking in the earlier pattern I'd used. These are great qualities if you're sewing for a crawling baby, since a low bib or one with thin straps will sag unless the baby is already standing.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

More sailor pants




Having discovered that the beautiful details of this pattern are easily lost in a busy print (see previous post), I bought some plain Jane chambray and made these pants a second time. The result is crisper and easy to match with basically anything. Next time I make this pattern, I need to remember to make the rise a bit longer to accommodate a cloth diapered tushie.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Fabulous New Pattern!


I spent a good part of my vacation week shopping, something which I do not have time for during regularly scheduled life. My best purchase was online, for an Oliver and S pattern for sailor top and pants. This is such a well-written, complete pattern with clever, adorable details and super-clear directions. What a pleasant change from my previous project (see striped raglan in April).

I used some cool fabric I got from ReproDepot, thanks to a gift certificate from my sister-in-law. The pants are a bit busy, but hey! Got to keep the little guy stimulated, right? The onesie is a cover-up of a tacky vacation souvenir someone gave us, which happened to match the pants very well.

The top was less of a smashing success. It seems to fit a bit tightly and you have to unbutton all four neck buttons to get it over the head. I used some cheapo fabric from JoAnne's that's lightweight and will be cool in summer. The photo is terrible because Jonah is in a phase that requires vigorously shaking everything he holds.



Friday, April 24, 2009

Pull raglan

This sweater pattern, from Chic Knits for Stylish Babies, is a major pain in the neck. I hate lazy authors who don't bother to spell out directions in clear language (example: for sleeve decreases, the pattern tells you to copy the front decreases for one side of the sleeve and the back decreases for the other). Also, the neck is enormous. Nonetheless, I chose this pattern because I loved the stripe pattern, had leftover yarn, and found the raglan zip clever; and it has proved to be cute, thrifty, and easy to wear. Although it's quite warm today, I made Jonah wear it briefly this morning since he was already dressed in matching pants.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Yummy fabrics










































I have collected some pretty nice material over the past months (thanks to my sister-in-law's Hannukah present, a gift certificate to ReproDepot; and a recent visit to Portsmouth Fabric Co.). In an attempt to start turning it into clothing, I photographed the pieces this afternoon. I am planning to make an outfit from a new Oliver + S pattern I just ordered, a lined jacket and matching pants, a kimono-style top from the Amy Butler baby book, and more overalls. Perhaps these plans will evolve when I receive the two Kwik Sew books I ordered used from Amazon today...

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Overalls

I saw these overalls on Hannah's Flickr show and felt that they were a good improvement over the pattern I used when Jojo was just a little baby. I also read online that they have room cloth-diapered babies' ample derrières. The lightweight corduroy comes from The Textile Co. in Greenfield and the pattern is Burda 9772.

I found fringing the knee patches to be time-consuming and messy, but I wanted to follow the pattern slavishly the first time through. Turning the edges under would have been an equally tedious operation, I know.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Painless booties




The second attempt at the Butler booties was actually rather pleasant. These are for Shalev David. I think booties may be my new gift for new babies. Sweaters are just not realistic at this stage of the game.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Dotty Shoes



These booties, from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones, were a nightmare to sew. If you are a visual learner, beware Ms. Butler's long paragraphs of explanation and wordy remarks on pattern pieces. There was only one picture in the three pages of directions for this project! The first shoe took me about a month, since I did each step wrong at least twice, thus causing me to seriously consider the possibility that motherhood has damaged my brain. Happily, the second shoe took a small part of one morning. They are very cute and easy to put on, a rarity for baby shoes, but Butler could use a clever sidekick to rewrite her directions. Mine are made from leftover polka dotted denim and lined with Kaffe Fassett shot cotton.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Jack Flash

This is another sweater in which I attempted to use up my endless supply of Debbie Bliss cashmerino in ultrapale pink. I love this pattern, which is one of my oldest failproof baby patterns: Jack Flash jacket from Tiddlers and Tadpoles. The buttons are wooden hearts. Combined with the pink and brown colorway, I'd like to think they complete the gender neutrality and baby perfection of this cardigan!