Project Zero: Sew Along & Tutorial of Pull-over polar fleece jacket

Ok, another challenge for sew alongers and others happening over at Winter Wonderings Wanderings and Whatnots. The challenge is to sew something for zero dollars. Luckily, I had just sorted out my younger daughters drawers and closet. I trashed the stained items and had a donate or sale box left in my closet. Now my girls need jackets for the upcoming cold weather. So I went through the top of the pile and found this:

When looking at it the size was a 24 months and my daughter has jumped to a 3T..almost a 4T depending on garment. Sew, I thought why not turn this into a pull-over polar fleece jacket by adding just a few inches? And that is just what I did. First I cut the bottom legs off at about where the snaps start.

Then I compared it to a 3T size T-shirt to see how much I should add for a pull over.

After that, I made my plan of attack for cutting and altering. I knew it would probably be best to add a few inches underneath the arms on both sides to make the garment the width it needed to be.

Also, as you cut, ensure that you cut off the old serger/seam allowances. This helps form a new seam and not bulk the sides up with extra un-needed fabric.

After you cut, place the garment back together and measure from the sleeve to the bottom of the pull over. Here is a picture. As you can see mine measured around 22" (inches).

This means that my new fabric to insert would need to be around 22". Here is a picture of my ruler next to the width of the new fabric. As you can see, folded in half, the knit I choose was right at 22"!!!

Next, you need to cut a piece the width you need to add to the pull-over. I wanted to add 4 inches on each side of mine and that included seam allowances.

After this you pin one side of the new knit fabric to the side of the old garment. (See pictures). Then you pin and stitch down one side from wrist to waist.

Repeat the above process for each sleeve (X3 more times). After stitching this new piece in place, your garment will look something like this:

Now, this looks pretty cute but for me I needed to add to the length of the sleeves since my daughter's arm length has grown too!! So I used material from the legs of the old sleeper and converted it to a smaller ruffle on each sleeve. (See the next few pictures)

Above: I cut the snap parts off of both legs to create enough material for ruffle.

Sew above you can see the finished sleeve with the ruffle attached and the side material on the side to add width. I also hemmed the sleeves and adjusted the bottom of the pull-over to the length it needed to be. And here is the finished product!!!

Sew...do you have something you could make for ZERO?? If so, you might want to join the Flicker group on Winter Wonderings. Just follow the link above and get sewing!! I also have some more ideas with some other sleepers but I'll wait to share those at another time....stay tuned and come back Sew Hungry For More!! AKH

On the Cutting Board...

Today was a great inspiration for me. I attended the annual Quilt Fest in Jacksonville, Florida. (For more info click here.) It's "Sew" neat to see all the vendors, the fabrics and THE QUILTS! My Grandmother was a quilter til her 80's and I can remember the hours of hand quilting she would sit and sew during the snowy season up north. But wow, have we come a long way...stamping fabric, dying fabric, applique, beading, attaching beads and iron on crystals. I'm sure there's more but that's just the half of what we are now doing in quilting. It's just amazing all the possibilities. Sew anyhow, I did buy some fabric. I also came home to match up some stash fabric for some of my possibilities. Here's a sneak peak:

This was purchased at the quilt fair from Loose Threads Quilting and Sewing Center out of Harriman, TN, USA. (Here is a link to their store.)

The teal colored fabrics are "Blank Quilting" from a local quilt shop called Country Crossroads. The brown cordoroy is from my stash bin.

This is Zebra Cordoroy from Joann Fabrics and a new Robert Kaufmann fabric from Paula's Fine Fabrics here locally as well.

Riley Blake's Unicorn material, glitter stretch Cordoroy from Joann Fabrics and another stashed knit of mine. Sew, I'm excited. This will make 4 new outfits for the girls. I'm just trying to decide what for which one and which design...ahh, the possibilities are endless. Sew, what are you working on?? Have any favorite fabrics for this fall or winter? I'd love to hear from you.... Until then stay tuned and come back Sew Hungry For More! AKH

PR&P Mad for Plaid Challenge : Mod Plaid Outfit

Hello all. I hope you are enjoying this season of Project Run and Play as much as I am. This is the third week of competition and there are a lot of us sewing along as well. The challenge this week was "Mad for Plaid". The theme goes right along with fall weather, but here in Florida we still have sunshine and hot/mild weather. There is only one month out of an entire year that we wear wool coats with mittens!! So I decided not to use wool or heavy material. For this challenge I choose something soft, cozy and warm for our neck of the woods. I used a plaid flannel and a navy knit. I call the look Mod Plaid because of the color blocking. I also did design the top and the insert of the leggings. Otherwise, I used a Kwik Sew knit pant pattern for the bottoms. Here is the finished look:

Sew I hope you all enjoyed this challenge. Next week is signature week and I'm still debating if I want to sew along or get back to some other things I am working on. But please come back Sew Hungry For More...AKH

PR&P Sew Along: Candy Inspired Look - The Sugar Plum Fairy

When thinking about this challenge, I was sort of stumped. Mainly because my older daughter has had an outfit with candy corn or candy canes for most years of her life!! And since I try to do hand-me-downs, I wasn't going to make another one for little sissy. So this was a think out of the box one for me. I tried to think of different outfits and dresses but was just wishy washy about which one to do. Then as my girls decided to play ballerina in the living room...it hit me. I needed a halloween costume for the older one and well what it's more candy inspired than the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker. I researched the web for pictures of some real ballerina costumes. Here is one from the New York ballet. (source: http://www.danceinforma.com )

Now even though most of us think of a plum as purple, most all of the costumes I researched were pink and we all know ballerina's are pink, right? (According to my oldest this is fact that a ballerina is pink. haha) I also wanted a costume for her that was modest and warm enough to wear if there was a cold breeze on halloween night. I came up with the idea of using a t-shirt pattern and making an applique leotard on top of the t-shirt. It gives the appearance of the costume and of "skin" where the costume ends. I used pink satin for the skirt with an overlay of ballerina stretch see-through knit. To give the ballerina skirt that puffy appearance, we placed her old handmade tutu underneath. (That tutu is one away from the trashcan so this is a great way to recycle it one more time!) Ok, enough talking....here is the outfit in it's finished form:

And yet another photo:

And here is a photo of little sissy as she dances in a hand-me-down made for Big Sis a few years earlier... (Too busy to stay still!! haha)

Of course, I didn't get it finished until today. Little Sis had a fever and it was impossible to try and finish it Thursday when she was still feeling miserable. Oh, well..hopefully I'll get it together for this next sew along.. Visit frequently for Sew Much More to Come..AKH

PR&P Sew Along : Challenge #1 Pattern Remix TIMES TWO!!

For those of you visiting my blog...I thought I would start fresh by once again sewing along with Project Run and Play. This season sounds fast and exciting. Only four weeks of challenges! You can visit the PR&P blog by clicking on the ad on the right hand side of my blog. They have some great links to other exciting sewing blogs as well. This first weeks challenge was a Pattern Remix of Oliver + S free pattern called "Popover Sundress" which also includes a cute matching doll dress with it. (Visit this link for the free pattern.) My mind went spinning when I looked at the pattern...so open to possibilities. I thought of several but decided to do only two of my ideas for this remix. I also had a few yards of a new Riley Blake material called "Hoo's in the forest". The material is a red and green apple which looks perfect for our "Fall" season here in Florida. My other materials were a red cotton from Joann Fabrics and a vintage swiss dot material. ("Swiss Dots" were 1970's to 1980's. The dots are of a white flocked material so they actually bump out from the rest of the material.) The first idea was a cute basic skirt with pockets! I also made a plain white T-shirt and decided to do a handmade "screenprint" from freezer paper.

Now here are some detail shots of the pocket and the t-shirt stencil...

After that outfit, I also decided to do the traditionally look of ruffle pants and alter the dress by turning it into a blouse. I created a peasant sleeve but kept the originally ties to the top to make a unique look. The pants are a basic pattern for ruffle pants which you can find/download all over the internet in some shape or form. This outfit did better in pictures than the first...

And here are again is a detail shot of the top to show the straps and sleeves...

So first challenge finished. Movin on to the second challenge which has a candy theme. Check back then for Sew Much More!! Also good luck to all the contestants and all my sew along buddies. AKH