Sunday, September 29, 2013

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

Friday, September 27, 2013

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

Thursday, September 26, 2013

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

Saturday, September 21, 2013

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

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

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

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Ugh...Life is definately in the way of sewing...

Just wanted to update all of you....our family is in transition now. I haven't had a lot of time to sew. It is now exactly 2 months before my daughter starts homeschool kindergarten. My other daughter's second birthday is fast approaching. We are still working on renovating our new place...which my husband keeps promising it will be done "soon". And then if Life wasn't enough....MY MACBOOK CRASHED...yup..the hard-drive fried!!! So now I have to see which photos I have on back up disks and if I need to pay for recovery of files!! (AGH!) What's really bad is I am not sure how many baby pictures I even have of my second daughter because we were constantly uploading to the Mac. So I pray we will get them all together and not miss a beat. (The good thing is both Grandma's have photos as well so we at least have SOME. - But I am not sure how many pics of sewing projects I still have other than those on my camera card! YIKES.) So be patient with me...I hope to start posting more this fall. I have some exciting things in mind and can't wait to share them....but in the meantime, I need to get school ready, the house ready, plan a birthday party and try to sew a little for back to school the first of August. WHEW. Sew Stay tuned for Sew Much More to come...

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Two True Southern Belles

This Easter was quite busy.  Two weeks prior, our family had a loss of my husband's grandfather.  Things have not slowed down since.  I raced to finish these dresses early but somehow, life just got in the way.  So here are my daughter's Easter dresses with my triangle fabric origami design on the front bodice.  I designed the rest of the dresses myself....but that pattern will have to wait.  Here is the long awaited tutorial for a bodice front using the triangle origami design.


Materials needed:

-Solid backing material - one fat quarter to 3/4 yard depending on size of dress.
-Extra fabric from two or three cotton materials used in your dress or jumper bodice.  I would suggest about two fat quarters for a size 2T and probably one more fat quarter per additional size.  Or use your rotary cutter and cut two strips of each color/print.
-Iron on fusible webbing - I used a roll of clover fusible webbing found on quilting aisle.
-Your Steam Iron
-Your bodice pattern of choice - one where you can insert a rectangle of fabric.


Determining the size of the bodice insert:

Use a pattern with a standard bodice front, no pleats and no darts in front piece.  Lay out the bodice front and trace the pattern.  Cut one bodice front on muslin or newspaper or tracing paper.  Open the bodice front pattern.   Cut a rectangle out of the middle of the bodice.   This is the size to lay out your triangles.   RE-DRAW your original bodice pattern to include insert and 1/2" seems.   You will end up with a right front, a middle rectangle and a left front bodice - almost like princess style but without the curves.

Cutting the triangles:

Cut each fat quarter or strip into 4" or 5" squares using your rotary cutter and mat.   I wish I could help you calculate how many you need, but it is easier to just cut the squares and have lots of extra just in case you need to add in more.

Now for the ironing....and get ready to sweat and give yourself a nice steam facial at the same time!! Haha.


Square folded and ironed in half
Step One: Fold each square in half and iron it!



Step Two: Place the "fold" of each square at the top.   Take the top corner and bring it to the middle of the square forming a triangle.  Iron it -- Steam it until crease forms.


Step Three: Repeat Step Two with other side.  Add a strip of iron fusible webbing or adhesive in the middle of the triangle to hold it down.


Step Four: Take the rectangle from your bodice pattern.  Press.  Finish top edge as desired.  I folded it down and just hemmed it to match the finished look of my bodice.


Step Five: After you start ironing your triangles...start playing with placement on the rectangle bodice.  If you noticed I turned mine upside down so the "seam" does not show.  I also used a dotted material which helped easily align my triangles as I layered them.


Step Six: After you "play" with your look - layer your triangles and iron them to each other using fusible webbing (like a 1" square) between each layer.  If you notice I was trying to see if I wanted the blue or the yellow triangles to match together.

Step.....well I won't lie....this layering takes time.  A 2T only took like 16 triangles.  But my daughters size 6 took a lot longer.  This is the finished look of the insert for your bodice.


After layering and using fusible webbing to secure each triangle to each other...pin these down carefully and start stitching.  I just went zig-zag - up one triangle and down and then back up and down the triangle beside it.  I actually do the top row and then do the bottom row -- this keeps the other rows in place...otherwise you can have the webbing de-fuse and fall apart!!  So be careful.

After trimming off edges...this is how it looks.

Now you sew this piece right sides together with the right and left front bodice pieces.  And Viola!!  You have your exclusive handmade triangle origami bodice.  I also added trim to the front - lining up over the triangles to give even more detail.   Sew enjoy and feel free to leave me feedback.

Here are some more pictures of the final dresses.  I did a shirred back, double gathered skirts with petticoats underneath for fullness and a simple tie top.  



"Ahh, the Shade!"

"I'm tired Daddy, Can we go inside?"