Another Art Smock

:: I've been catching up on some sewing projects ~ things that have been sitting in my inbox for far too long...

:: here's another art smock from the Oliver + S book

:: in the fall I sew one for school, this one is for home

:: the fabrics are turquoise & white damask from JoAnn's and green/blue Russian nesting doll fabric from Denmark... that Russian nesting doll fabric has been a lot of fun ~ other projects from it have been a purple skirt, a red/pink skirt, & a red/pink tablecloth for my sewing table

:: have a sweet day !

Sewing 2011 Reflections & Predictions

 Sew, Mama, Sew! is asking bloggers to answer these questions about sewing... 2011 reflections & 2012 predictions... here are mine, keeping in mind that I'm more a sewist (of children's garments) than a quilter... here we go... 

1) What did you make that you’re most proud of?

1) 4 Princess Rapunzel dresses (above photo), Girls Charm Pack Skirt from the Stitch by Stitch book (that's where I tried a new to me gathering method ~ zigzag stitching over cording & it is now my preferred gathering method),

 I followed my first sewing pattern in the French language with Suzanne from Citronille,

 Abby Jacket,

 for our living room couch the patchwork pillow from the Sewing Bits & Pieces book,

 & just for fun a Tomte Stuffy from the Scandinavian Stitches book.

2) Looking back at the 2011 sewing scene, what trends stand out in your mind?

2) Ruffles, ombre, chevron, grey & yellow color combo, mustaches, exposed zippers, more sewing for charity when natural disasters happen (quilts for Japan, etc).

3) What were some of your favorite things related to sewing this past year?

3) Project Run & Play (season 1 & season 2), Elsie Marley Kids Clothes weeks (there's one in the spring & one in the fall).

4) What sewn projects have you seen this year that you absolutely love?

4) Skirt as Top, she sewed some lovely little girl ballet skirts... check out her 2011 sewing recap blog post. 

5) Are there any trends you’re over and done with?

5) Chevron, owls, mustaches, screen printing or freezer paper stencils on t-shirts?

6) What are your thoughts about social media? How is it going for you? What do you love or hate?

6) I really enjoy the online sewing community learning & inspiration through tutorials & sew alongs. I blog, I'm on flickr, tumblr (which is where I have visual bookmarks of ideas from the web), & ravelry... I'm not on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, although I do browse Pinterest from time to time.

7) Do you have a favorite sewing book or pattern from the past year to recommend?

7) Oliver + S Little Things to Sew book by Liesl Gibson.

 So far, I've sewn the tutu & 2 art smocks. 

8) Did you have a favorite fabric collection or print in 2011?

8) JoAnn DS quilt collection: Sugar Creek Whimsy Bouquet Meadow & Picnic Dots Red/Pink. I sewed 2 projects using these fabrics: an art smock

 & a purse.

9) What do you predict for 2012 in the sewing industry?

9) I really don't have a clue, but I'm hoping for more DIY, more repurposing (taking old clothing, vintage sheets, etc & turning it into something new).

10) Can you tell us what to expect from you in 2012? Any big projects or life-changing goals?

10) More sewing:
:: for charity.
:: with denim.
:: on paper.
:: from patterns in French.
:: with fabric from my stash & buying less brand new fabric.
:: with repurposing ~ I so enjoy the challenge of taking a used piece of clothing & turning it into something new.
:: for my daughter, she for sure wants a pink princess dress, if she had it her way it would be 'all pink, all the time', but hopefully I can squeeze a few other colors in there. I'm currently taking part in the Project Run & Play sew along & I plan to take part in Elsie Marley's Kids Clothes week again this year.
I would like to dig out my serger & learn how to thread it & use it.
Also, I will continue to submit my creations to sewing books & sewing magazines & we'll see what happens...

Octopus Hoodie

UPDATED TO ADD: the Octopus Hoodie Tutorial is here
*****
{Project Run & Play Season 3 Sew Along}

This week's challenge is Boys' Week. I've mentioned in the past that my 2nd son's favorite animal is the octopus... so there have been various octopus related projects for him... there was the:
:: knitted stuffed octopus
:: knitted octopus mittens
:: octopus themed 8th birthday party

So the octopus was my inspiration for the boy challenge this week. I came up with an octopus hooded pullover long sleeved shirt.

 I repurposed 3 boy shirts for this project: a long sleeved blue polo shirt & 2 long sleeved yellow t-shirts.

The hood is the head of the octopus & there are 8 octopus legs coming down, one on each sleeve, 3 in the front & 3 in the back. The 3 octopus legs in the front & the 3 octopus legs in the back form letters with octopus leg font that spell out his name !

My son's favorite color being yellow, I chose the octopus to be yellow & the undershirt to be blue for the water since they live in the ocean.

Tutorial on how I made this coming soon :)

Go to the Project Run & Play flickr group to view all the Boys' Week creations.

 His octopus collection... there are 8 ;)

The third week's challenge: Sewing Through the Decades

Jingle Bell Dress Tutorial

 As promised here is the tutorial on how I sewed this Jingle Bell Dress.

I dug this 2 piece bridesmaid dress from Watters and Watters out of my closet. I didn't use the top, just the full a-line skirt which is made of Dupioni silk, it's size small & fully lined.

To make the Jingle Bell Dress, follow this free pattern & tutorial, the dress features a trapezoid center bodice shape with double breasted button closure.

 I cut out the dress pieces according to these diagrams I drew.

 The dress pattern is in size 2/3 & I needed size 4/5, so I drafted my own pattern. I did drop the waist down a bit so there was room to add a cumber bund, so do add a couple of inches to the bottom of the bodice.

 After sewing the bodice together...

 I placed the trapezoid shaped bodice piece on top.

 By hand I sewed on 15 tiny silver jingle bells down each of the 2 sides of the trapezoid piece.

 I made the Jingle Bell Dress sleeveless & covered the raw edges by sewing on bias tape. I cut 1 inch strips from the leftover fabric...

 then used a 1/2 inch bias tape maker & an iron to make the bias tape. Then I sewed the bias tape around the raw edges of the arm holes.

 When attaching the skirt to the bodice I put 3 inverted pleats in the front & made it gathered in the back. The gathering method I used was zigzag over cording, but you can use your preferred gathering method.

 The same technique was used to make both the head band & cumber bund which is...

 Sew right sides together (I used 1/4 inch seam allowance). Turn right side out, I used a smoothie straw & a chopstick as my turning tools.

 Press with iron.

 Sew on the sequin trim.

 The finished head band:
20 inches long & 1.25 inches of .75 inch elastic were used.

 The finished cumber bund:
24 inches long & 1.5 inches wide, 1.5 inches of velcro were used.

So how much did this cost to make?
$3.99 !!!
It was $3.99 for 1 1/3 yards of silver sequin trim (there are a few inches leftover), long silver skirt was from my closet (skirt & top (a gift) were bought on consignment for $14 (that's what the price tag read), only the skirt was used for this project, so I still have the top for a future project), 30 tiny silver jingle bells were from my stash as well as the elastic for the head band. Oh, I guess I forgot to add the cost of the 1.5 inches of velcro whatever that small amount would be...

So although this dress might look expensive, it actually didn't cost that much to produce, yeah !   Gotta love that :)

Also one last note, about the hair, to achieve this look we did sock bun curls.

PS Many thanks to the Project Run & Play sew along judges who picked my Jingle Bell Dress as the winner for week 1 :)

Dorothy Junior

 {The Wizard of Oz}

I'd been wanting to sew my daughter a Dorothy costume for awhile. Having her big brother perform in the Wizard of Oz musical was the final push that forced a deadline.... I finished sewing the dress an hour & a half before we were off to see The Wizard of Oz musical. While we were there my daughter got lots of attention... people weren't expecting a little Dorothy to come see the show. Now she has a fun costume, so she can play Dorothy whenever she wants.

 I used the Simplicity 4139 pattern. If you're interested in sewing a simple Dorothy costume, try this one. I also think the All-Ages Classic Jumper (which goes up to size 5T) from One Yard Wonders book could be easily made into a Dorothy-like costume.

And here's Dorothy dressed up as the lion !

I will share that this dress wasn't the most money saving project with $16 for the materials + $6 for the pattern = $22 total... although there's some fabric scraps left, a lot of blue rick rack left, & I can reuse the sewing pattern again. The zipper was from my stash. I found it kind of ironic that it cost that much for such a simple looking dress.

3 Lullaby League Skirts

 {The Wizard of Oz}

Next up for the Wizard of Oz costumes were 3 lullaby league skirts... the choreographer wanted 3 flower skirts meaning circle skirts with a scalloped hem, this was for 3 different sized teenage girls which was a new experience for me since I usually only sew for my 4 year old daughter. The choreographer wanted red, orange & blue (primary color) skirts and all the materials had to be as inexpensive as possible due to the tight budget since there were 100s of costumes just for this one production.

The 3 lullaby league girls wore bright green leggings (so their legs were the stem of the flower) & bright yellow t-shirt (pollen of the flower). I decided to dye the wide elastic yellow (following this how to), giving the option of tucking in the yellow t-shirt which turned out to be a good idea because they did end up tucking in the shirt.

 For the circle skirt I followed this tutorial, but here are some other things I found helpful.

 This isn't an exhaustive tutorial, there are many great scalloped hem tutorials out there, I used this one. So I won't go into too much detail & let the photos show how I did it, but I'll just mention a couple things. The most time consuming part was the scalloped hem, especially all the clipping around the curves before turning them right side out. One thing I did was add a little piece of Peel 'n Stick (I love that stuff, it's my new best friend) to every other scallop to secure it & looking back I wish I would have added one to every scallop. Every other scallop drooped down, I'm sure no one else noticed, but I did.

It was fun to sit in the audience & watch 'my' flower skirts performing on stage, even if they were only on stage for for the Munchkinland part of The Wizard of Oz musical :)

See you tomorrow for one last Wizard of Oz costume...