FO x2!

I'm on a roll, friends! Another sewing project has traveled from start to finish since I last wrote. One motivational strategy that I use frequently while sewing or knitting is to immediately start a new project when I finish something. Once that "Blouwolff design" label is put in place, I head straight to the dining room table and cut out a new project. I always find it easier to dive back into sewing when I know I have something all cut out and ready to go. Then, when the urge (or baby's naptime) hits, I'm ready. In this spirit, I cut out two pairs of pants, one pair of tights, and a tunic-dress a few days ago. More on the pants later once I've restocked on stretch fabric needles for my machine.

Here's the scoop on the tights and tunic that you see above.

The tights pattern comes from my favorite blog and is a snap. Find the pattern and excellent directions here. I used some ultrastretchy rayon/lycra that I found on sale at JoAnn's a few months ago. I also bought this fabric in deep purple, so I'll make some tights in that color very soon.
The tunic is a combination of McCall's 5739's dress (mostly) and top (the long sleeves). It zips up the back, but since it's a 6-9 month size I think this will present less of a problem than it would for newborns. The pattern includes a really amazing coat and beret which I definitely want to make soon. I used some super-special stashed fabric that I bought in Panajachel, Guatemala back in 2002. There's a narrow teal stripe in the design that matches the tights perfectly. The girly aspects of the pattern are well-tempered by the stripey fabric and I think the jewel tones flatter Miss Quetsch's complexion. This whole tights n' tunic thing is new to me since my older child is a boy, but I've been watching the bigger cuties at daycare and I am enthusiastic about the possibilities.

FO (finished object)

I finished something. It took about a month, sewing a seam a day here and there - the kind of thing that drives me crazy! This retro romper (Butterick 5326) is made from ultra-lightweight cotton seersucker, with a tiny bit of silver metallic thread mixed in. I love the elastic at the legs, which I think will compliment Liora's chubby thighs, but am less keen on the back button closure (although I traded buttons for velcro in an attempt to improve it). Personally, I think all baby clothes should open in the front. The tacky pink bow is attached to the clothes hanger, so please don't worry that it's part of the garment. Hopefully Liora will fit into this soon and I can add a picture of her modeling it.

A girl to craft for!

So, to update you all on the past several weeks (and to explain my absence from the blog): we had a baby girl on March 25! I was very surprised to have a girl, and my thinking went something like this: #1 No bris (circumcision), woo-hoo! #2 I will get my friend Arianne's awesome hand-me-downs, double woo-hoo! #3 I can finally craft the full spectrum of baby clothes, triple whammy woo-hoo! For those of you who don't follow the world of crafty books and blogs, it is a very, very girl-centric world. There aren't many patterns for boys and what's out there is pretty boring (although one of my heroes, Rae, took a stab at improving this over the winter: see here). Now all the twirly skirts, sundresses and ruffled tunics are mine to try at home!

I haven't been sewing very much. At all. But at six weeks, Liora is at least starting to fit into some of the stuff I sewed her before she was born. Here's the kimono I blogged about back in January. It fits a chunky baby this age very well and I like it much better on her than I did when I finished sewing it.Even the bias tape side ties, which I found a bit bulky with this gauzy cotton, look just fine now:
Hopefully I will have a new post soon about some postpartum completed projects!

Dotty chicks

Update from June 2010: here is my daughter wearing this outfit at 12 weeks of age. I wrote this post a few days before she was born.


Well, I may yet reach the bottom of my unfinished projects pile before the week is out! Today I sewed up a vest and overalls set from Simplicity 2523 (amazingly, a commercial toddler pattern for boys that I hadn't yet tried). The project was delayed a few weeks ago when I cut out the back of the overalls with the birds upside-down. Whoops. Of course this was unusual fabric that had to be mail-ordered (again) to correct the error. Ugh. About a year ago, I bought the original supplies for this project: Urban Flannel by Valeri Wells from Free Spirit and Kaffe Fassett (?) dot at Portsmouth Fabric Co.

I'm not too happy with how the vest turned out. The neckline and armholes aren't cut away enough, so it looks more like a shirt. In the future, I'd recommend cutting the seam allowance off these edges before encasing them in bias tape. At first I thought I'd missed something in the directions, but I went back and checked to be sure. Secondly, I found it impossible to get the bias tape to lay smoothly around the pocket curves. This left me with two puckery pockets, each a slightly different size and shape - too homemade-looking for my taste. That despite having gathered the bias tape in advance of coaxing it into a curve with the iron. Finally, since I didn't put buttons on the front over the velcro (redundant, right?), I've got visible seams on the outside where the velcro is attached within. Next time, I'd sew the velcro to the lining in advance to hide those seams. Or I could get up off this chair, go out, and buy three buttons to cover the velcro.

The overalls are more promising, in my opinion. I altered the design slightly by making the cuffs and pocket in contrast fabric (pattern calls only for contrast facing). They look to have ample room for a cloth-diapered tush and the snap tape at the crotch will be quite handy. Since I made the 1-3 month size, there aren't too many snaps - hopefully this will encourage my husband and our daycare provider to actually close the pants completely after diaper changes.

Feathering the Nest

Baby crafting right up to your due date provides not only distraction, but also a great motivation to complete projects. In that spirit, I passed some Braxton-Hicks moments this weekend by wrapping up the following:





The impending baby's fetal name is la quetsch (a small Alsatian plum). These plums are commonly used to make eau de vie and fruit tarts.

Two items for Jonah as he comes a big brother (which we keep talking about, although I can't tell if it makes any sense at all to him!). All of these appliqués were made with scanned/found-online images that I printed onto printable fabric sheets and then adhered using Steam-a-Seam before encasing edges in zigzag stitch. This technique has a lot of potential!

Baby bunnies

(Update from May 2010: here she is wearing the pants)






I bought this fabric at least a year ago at Portsmouth Fabric Company - a nubby Japanese cotton that reminds me of Runaway Bunny and a complementary orange-red quilting cotton with a delicate gold print. At first I planned to make something wonderful for Jonah. Then time passed. Now another baby is on its way and I wanted to make at least one very special (my husband would say, very outrageous) outfit for la quetsch. This is like the purple corduroy and Guatemalan striped ensemble I made for Jonah, i.e. one lined jacket (size 3 months) and two pairs of coordinating pants (size newborn and 3 months) all from Simplicity 3582. That feels like quite a lot from just two yards of fabric. Modifications: added two additional tabs for closure (having just two at the top is weird for a baby, in my opinion), used contrast fabric for the pocket flaps, and used contrasting red thread (which adds pressure to do an extra-good job top-stitching). I think the collar could be a bit taller but otherwise I adore this pattern.

Onesie trio +

A trio of onesies in anticipation of la quetsch's arrival, including a seasonal options for Passover, a Shabbat top, and a duo to wear to one's baby naming or bris. Specs: long-sleeved cotton onesies from Carter's, Electric Quilt Company printable cotton, Steam-a-Seam Lite, various scrap fabrics (vigilant readers will wonder where the adorable flannel bird came from...upcoming post will reveal all!).
Oops - forgot about this one from a few weeks back. Make that a trio PLUS. I guess the baby will have two Shabbat onesies. As above, except with a felt elephant from a Kwik-Sew pattern (not too sure how it will fare in the washer or dryer...).

Remakes

My friend Priya sent us a big box of wonderful toddler clothes a few weeks ago. Most of them went straight onto Jonah - a few got remade (sans brand names, sans footballs) as you see below:




This is the best one, in my book. It's a combo of some scrap fabric and a Carter's message that I'd peeled off a baby romper I just bough:

Lemongrass Quilt

I started this quilt at the end of January, to kick off my baby crafting for "la quetsch" (gender unknown, due 3/24). It's the Lemongrass Quilt by Laura Ducommun from the book Quilts, Baby! Here's her version: The inspiration for the colorway came from some Ikea fabric (Barnslig) that I bought in December: raspberry, lime, orange, and a slate-ish blue. These fabrics (Anna Maria Horner, Westminster/Rowan, Joel Dewberry, etc.) came from my LQS in Wellesley. The palette is quite a bit brighter than Ducommun's version, and avoids the large chunks of white which seemed unwise for a baby quilt.

One part of the quilt that I found challenging was cutting my perfect rectangles into random trapezoids (see below for after & before shot). This required wasting a lot of fabric and letting go of my usual tendency to set everything at right angles. Clearly the left side is more interesting, but I found it hard to do.

Initially, the directions are easy to follow and well-illustrated. My only complaint there is that the amount of fabric she calls for to make the orange rectangles (1 1/2 yards) is more than twice what I actually used (5/8 yards) - an unfortunate waste. I plan to use the remains for the binding, since the raspberry and blue are almost gone (she should call for more of these if she expects readers to make the binding from them, as she does).

As I continued to piece the blocks, however, I ran into serious trouble. Turns out that Ducommun's directions about the maximum size for orange rectangles can, once you've added even the skinniest permissible borders, leave you with blocks that are far bigger than the 11 x 14" finished size. I blindly followed her initial measurements (isn't that the point of buying a pattern with directions!?) and ended up in a quandary. Not being the start-over-to-do-it-right type, I settled for some borderless blocks (i.e. no lime on the outside) and one pathetic pentagon. Having to cut down my original blocks and retrofit them made piecing the front very time-consuming. For some reason, I had a really hard time planning how to size the lime strips to get my off-kilter blocks back into rectangles - something weak in my brain there. As a result, I had add little scraps of lime here and there to get everything to the right size. Oh, and another bonus - the amount of lime fabric she calls for is insufficient, so I bought another 1/4 yard. Here's where I ended up once I'd finagled everything I could:

Then I pieced the blocks together, made my sandwich with batting and backing, and spent two long nights watching the Olympics and basting the whole quilt in a spiral shape:

The next adventure was a really neat one: I tried free motion quilting for the first time! It took me some time to read all the good internet tutorials on the subject, buy the right canary yellow thread (not what I expected would match the lime sashing, but there you go), and figure out how to lower the feed dogs on my old Bernina. Then I dug out the table attachment, turned down my stitch length to 0, and started to sew concentric circles all over the quilt. I have terrible right/left coordination (can't rub my belly and pat my head simultaneously), so moving the quilt manually while using the right speed with the foot pedal was a huge challenge and yielded wildly varying stitch lengths. Other challenges included: the weight of the quilt pulling it off course and getting little jags in my lines every time I paused. Even being on vacation and home alone, it took me three days to get through this process.

I found that thread basting was a bad combination for this kind of machine quilting, because the loose basting stitches caught in the presser foot and had to be cut loose all the time. After much clipping of threads and removing of basting, I was done:


Then I used the detailed directions from Last-Minute Patchwork Gifts to do a hand-stitched double binding made from randomly pieced lengths of the leftover orange and raspberry fabrics, and gave it a wash in the machine to get some good crinkling action:

Notes for future iterations of this quilt:

1. Only buy 5/8 yard of fabric for block centers (not 1 1/2 yards), unless you want to bind in the same fabric. Buy 1 3/4 yards for sashing (not 1 1/2 yards).

2. Cut center rectangles smaller than directed so that there's room to fit in two more borders of at least 1 1/4" each. Final block must measure 11 x 14".

3. Rather than basting the quilt, place safety pins at the corner of each block. Buy special quilting safety pins that have a curve to them.

I did not want to love the monkeys

I received Quilts, Baby as a Hannukah gift and Laurraine Yuyama's Monkey Business quilt - with its nine intricately constructed appliqué monkeys - immediately caught my eye. I had to try just one. In fact, I figured that by trying one panel, I'd get this madness out of my head and be really excited to focus on my more modest, pre-existing baby craft projects. Three hours later (an exceedingly rare stretch of time made possible only by the fact that we were visiting my parents) I had one monkey, sans eyes but otherwise intact (the felt is in Jonah's room and I never remember to get it out before his bedtime). And he is so fetching. Really, just awesome.

Now, unfortunately, I'm hooked. Yes, I am due in 7 weeks. Yes, I will be working full-time until my water breaks. Yes, I already have another baby quilt (Lemongrass, from the same book) in the works. And an aran sweater. And a list of real tasks that matter - like installing a carseat and choosing baby names - that will inevitably get swept aside by this silliness. And yet:

All this could be mine!

Kimono Critique

I think Amy Butler and Heather Ross have the same learning disability. Or, more accurately, teaching disability. Both of these well-known fabric designers have published enticing books of sewing patterns, full of gorgeous pictures that just beg you to dive in and start stitching. Oh, but once you do...sewists' hell awaits! These beguiling patterns are positively poisonous: incorrectly sized, full of errors, and difficult to construct. I've already ripped into Miss Butler's ineptitude elsewhere, so today I will reserve my wrath for Miss Ross.

Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross was a lovely gift from my husband, who shopped slavishly from my Hannukah list this year (yay!). I decided to start with the baby kimono because I've been itching to make one, having seen a great tutorial on the web and considered, warily, Butler's version. Things started well: there was just enough of fabric from my back-to-school dress (which I turned out to be too pregnant to wear for the first day of school!) to make a kimono from the sheer red paisley cotton, and I happened to have some fuschia bias tape on hand. So, the project was a stash-busting freebie.

Constructing the kimono, while quick, was a process riddled with pesky problems. The shoulder seams puckered awkwardly at the neck edges when I applied bias tape to the neck opening. Ditto with the underarm seam. I have never, ever seen a pattern with this problem - how did she manage to invent it? The last straw was the side ties, of which Ross directs us to make four. That's a lot of very stiff ties on a tiny shirt for a tiny person. And, as it turns out, two of them (to your right in the photo below) could easily be replaced by a much smoother and tidier snap.

I really want to support all the young, funky women who are bringing independent sewing into the modern world. I love reading craft blogs and supporting people selling original patterns and materials. But if you can't even give directions for a smooth sleeve, then big-brand patterns have earned their place at the top of the pecking order. Having just completed a much more successful baby item from a traditional pattern, the contrast felt especially stark.

Harry Potter Hoodie

Just the thing for junior sorcerers!
I don't really understand the point of vests. In particular, I don't understand the point of a hooded fleece vest at all. I mean, if it's cold enough for fleece and a hood, wouldn't you want sleeves? Are there people whose arms just get very, very hot? I do not have this problem.

In any case, I somehow ended up sewing a hooded fleece vest this past week. Here's why: I bought this great lilac-blue fleece in December, when I thought I'd have the motivation to make a hat for a friend's toddler as a holiday gift...but it didn't happen. Amazingly, the same 1/2 yard sufficed to make a whole vest. As I've mentioned before and more than once, this pattern (Simplicity 5316) is super. I added 2" to the length this time as the earlier iterations are getting a bit cropped-looking.

The color is beautiful on Jonah's skin and the pattern has a fun, Harry Potter feel to it. Now I need to practice finding occasions on which he can wear such an odd piece of clothing.