What have I been up to?

I haven't gotten any sewing done since I finished the jammies, but I have been doing some sewing-related things.  For starters, there was a sale on McCall's and Simplicity patterns for $.99 each, so I took advantage of that.  I picked up a few patterns for Iago with little girl's tops & bottoms for play clothes plus a couple that were for dresses.  Sly picked out a vest pattern and a satchel pattern.  I grabbed a couple more jammie patterns (for little people and for big people).  I tried to get a pattern for shirts and shorts for boys but they were out.  Oh well.

Later I went back to the store and picked out some fabric for a shirt and shorts for Iago.  Unfortunately, after washing/pre-shrinking the fabric and then squaring it, I was a bit short of fabric.  Today I used a coupon to go back and get the bit more of fabric that I needed, plus I picked up some remnants that I can make into either tops or shorts for one of the little ones.  All in all, I spent $16 and saved $24, so that was a good deal.

Now I just gotta find some time to start sewing again.  However, it probably won't be until after Easter. This week I want to try to finish Iago's sweater I'm knitting if at all possible and there are many outside events on the schedule between now and Easter.  I also have a bit more work to do in the garden.  But, once those things are taken care of, I can get back to knitting.  And an added bonus--my Mother In Law will be here in a couple weeks and can maybe teach me a thing or two!  Way cool!

Jammies for the little ones

Well, I did it again!  Actually, I did it twice, because first I made jammies for SB3 and then, having succeeded so well with his, I made another pair for Iago.  Here's the little ones in their jammies, and then I'll try to share the info/details down below.  

The pattern I used was New Look 6170 from Simplicity.  I choose it partly because the jammies were cute, but also because it had patterns for sizes from 1/2 to 8, so I'd be able to use it for both kids not only now but for years to come too.

I choose flannel fabric because I like flannel, and I choose the skateboard pattern because it was a boy-theme that would work for my son AND it was on clearance.  I choose the spring-y pattern for my little girl because it had ladybugs on it, and it happened to be on sale too.

I prewashed and squared my fabric.  I was a little concerned that I might not have enough fabric after that for SB3's jammies, but after doing some more measuring of him I decided I really ought to make him the size 4 instead of the size 5.  Looking back on it, I should have made his pants in a size 3 even.  He has tons of room to grow.  For Iago, I did make that adjustment making her pants a size 2 but her top a size 3, and she does still have plenty of room to grow.  I'll continue to get better at measuring and fitting, I'm sure, but this time I wasn't going to do any adjustments to the pattern and I did want to make sure they were big enough to fit (better too big than too small!).

I ironed my pattern paper to smooth out the wrinkles and creases before transferring my pattern from the tissue paper to something else.  Rather than transferring the pattern straight to the fabric, I instead transferred it to printer paper, and then cut the printer paper pieces out to pin to the fabric and cut around.  That worked very well for me.  My first couple of tries I was using brown paper bags, but I just couldn't get the tracing paper lines to show up on the brown paper bags, so I switched to the printer paper and it worked great.  I of course labeled my paper cut-outs and hope to save them well for using again the future.  Oh, and instead of pinning the pattern tissue paper to the printer paper I instead weighted the tissue paper down with a big, heavy textbook.  For the smaller pieces I used a smaller hardbound book.  That method worked very well for me.  I did use pins to fasten my printer paper cut outs to the fabric when I was cutting, though.

So, anyway, I figured out how to trace my patterns and use them without cutting up my master copies, and then I got my pieces cut out of the fabric.  I did have to make sure to have my pieces lined up correctly on the fabric, folded or not folded, depending, and face up or face down, also depending.  Just be sure you double check before you start cutting, and make sure to leave room for cutting the notches outward too. 

The first piece I sewed was the boy's jammie bottoms.  That was super easy.  I kind of wish I had a "tag" to sew into the back so it's easier to recognize the back for getting dressed.  I'll probably add one in later.  But I did learn that the bigger notch (which is also the higher notch) was for the back center hem, so I can still tell the front from the back (but the tag would sure help the little ones).  Sewing the elastic casing was just like sewing it for the sheet I made, so that was a piece of cake too.  Granted, when I was making the girl's jammie bottoms, I repeatedly managed to get my elastic twisted and had to redo it.  It was driving me crazy!  I don't know what my problem was, but I finally got it straightened out--literally!

The next piece was the boy's jammie top.  For the top, I had to do a lot of looking things up online to understand what I was doing, how, or why.  First, I looked up Stay-stitching, which was pretty simple and straightforward.  Then I had to figure out working with bias tape.  I already understood how to make bias tape, but I didn't understand how to use it, and the pattern instructions weren't making sense to me.  The light bulb came on when I found this link on how to apply single fold bias tape to a neckline.  I didn't actually make my own bias tape, btw.  I just used some ivory colored bias tape I bought at the store with a 40% off coupon.  

I wasn't very happy with how my button loop turned out on my boy's top, but it's good enough.  I did better with my girl's top, but it still is far from perfect.  It's funny how some of the simple things can throw you!  Honestly, I think I may try to do something other than a button loop and button on future jammies.  Maybe some kind of snap, or hook and eye or something.  I'll think on that one.

Sewing the rest of the bodice on for the boy was no big deal.  For the little girl bodice I had to do some gathering, which I also reviewed online just to make sure I was doing it right.  However, after easing the sleeves in, gathering was pretty anti-climactic! lol!

The most challenging part of the whole project was definitely easing the set in sleeve into the shoulder arm hole.  Honestly, the pattern instructions for that were just lousy.  I mean, on the single fold bias tape thing, the instructions weren't bad, but they just didn't make sense to me until I saw it demonstrated and explained somewhere else.  But on the sleeves, the pattern instructions simply stated "Ease-stitch top of sleeves between notches.  Stitch underarm seam."  Sorry, but that's not very descriptive, and there wasn't even a drawing/picture of the sleeve attached to the bodice.  It's like I sewed a bodice and then sewed a sleeve, but there were no instructions to attach it!  Frustrating!

But again, the internet was there for me.  I had to look and look, and I read through a few threads, and chased a few links, and finally decided I understood what I was supposed to do.  I needed to gather the fabric at the top of the sleeve to make it "fit" in the arm hole, and I needed to match the underarm seams, the notches, and the "dots" between the sleeves and the bodice/arm hole.  All of that is done to allow the sleeve to hang properly from the arm hole.  After I did the first set of jammies, I looked online again to review ease-stitching the sleeve, and found this link that seemed to be the simplest and clearest explanation to me of how to ease-stitch a set-in sleeve, without chasing through a bazillion video links.  But I must admit, I initially learned what to do through much frustration filtering through a set of very short videos which subjected me multiple times to a super-annoying commercial I couldn't skip through.  But the videos were helpful despite the commercials, so I'll include two particularly helpful links too:  Basting Stitches for Sleeves and Sewing in the Sleeve Underarm.  That's how I learned what to do, and once I "got it," it wasn't that hard to actually do it.  

Finally, I added some pink rick rack across the yoke front on the little girl's top sleeve hems, and pants hems, but I did not add decorative ribbon to the boy's jammies because, well, they're boy's jammies!  I will probably use this same patten to make another set of jammies using that fabulous pink ladybug flannel and include an accent strip of the white flannel with pink polka dots at the yoke, just like on the pillowcase, but we'll see.  

Anyway, I actually did it--I managed to sew my little ones some jammies, and I learned oodles along the way!  I'm not exactly sure when my next project will happen because I have a LOT of collards to pressure can over the next couple days and I have to get the garden planted too, and then we have a camping trip, and then it's Easter, and I have two book studies I have to get caught up on for small groups, and I have Iago's ladybug sweater to finish knitting too.  And my family would appreciate it if I started paying attention to them again at least a little bit!  But stand -by, because I will have a short blog post coming up soon on a little project my husband made this evening!  

How to apply single fold bias tape to a neckline: links

I love the internet!  It never ceases to amaze me that so many people seem to have nothing better to do than to write blog posts or make videos that answer my questions and teach me what I need to know to be able to proceed with something new or confusing to me!  It's just amazing!  And not only do they do it, but they do it for free (to me)!  Yes, I know some of them get some money through advertising, and some use the little free tutorials or samples as advertising to sell you something bigger later.  But wow!  It's just amazing just how much you can learn for free on the internet!

Tonite, I was trying to understand some confusing instructions (to me) in the pattern I bought to try to make the little ones some jammies.  I just wasn't able to understand what they were talking about when you're supposed to attach the bias tape to the neckline.  I read it over and over, and tried to understand, and it just wasn't making sense to me.  But a quick search online and, lo and behold, there are some fabulous tutorials for applying single fold bias tape to a neckline!  And after studying the first tutorial, it all became clear!  Here's the link where the lightbulb went on for me:
http://www.burdastyle.com/techniques/single-fold-bias-tape-neckline

And here's another link with a video tutorial:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkacizsdTkk

I also looked up tutorials on stay stitching and under stitching. Tomorrow, I'm going to study up online how to layout pattern pieces and use tracing paper and a tracing wheel to transfer the pattern pieces I need to the fabric I have for the jammies.  Once I understand that, I'm gonna try to get to work on sewing the first set of jammies.  The rest of the pattern instructions make sense, except that the instructions for attaching the sleeves seems to be, well, absent.  But I bet I can find something online that will help me figure out any special tricks I'll need to know!

and a Matching Pillowcase!

See!  I made it, and I love it!  After looking at a bazillion pillowcase pattern and tutorial links online, for both ideas and instructions, I decided to go with a matching pillowcase body and cuff, but use something else for an accent trim.  I considered pink rick-rack, but then I saw the white flannel with pink polka dots and thought, "hmmmmmm."  Actually I considered using the polka dots for the cuff, but my sweetie, who has a much better eye for these things, said to use it for the accent strip.  And he was right--I love it!

For this pillowcase, I made the body 27" x wof (width of fabric, which was 45" before washing, and more like 43" after), the cuff was 9" x wof, and the accent strip was 2" x wof.  There's lots of extra room in the pillowcase, so if my girl decides on a bulkier pillow someday that what she has now, it should still fit.  Lessons I learned in making this pillowcase included french seams and stitching through some really thick layers of flannel!  And tonite, my little girl gets to sleep on her brand new, warm flannel ladybug sheets and matching pillowcase!  How cool is that?  :)  Cool enough that her big brother is asking for a baseball pillowcase! lol!


And here are the two primary links I used to make this pillowcase (though I looked at a bazillion more while I was learning/planning/choosing how to make it):
http://sewingpillowcases.com/index.shtml
http://filminthefridge.com/2010/01/27/pretty-quick-pillowcase-tutorial/

I am having a blast learning how to sew!

Pink Flannel Ladybug Sheet

Here it is!  Today I finished making my little girl a pink flannel ladybug sheet for her crib/toddler mattress!

 And here's another close up of the flannel ladybug fabric I used:

There are lots of free patterns/tutorials on making crib sheets online.  Here's a few that I used to help me make this sheet:
http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutorial-crib-and-toddler-bed-sheets.html
http://www.bundlesoflove.org/sheetpattern.htm
http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/crib-sheet-pattern.html

When all was said and done, I used a piece of fabric 67"x43" and I cut out corner squares that were 7 3/4" square.  I sewed 1/2" seams in the corners then went back and overcast stitch the raw edges of the seams and of the fabric around the sheet.  Then I made an elastic casing by pressing 1/4" fold and then a 1/2" fold.  I seamed that fold, leaving a 2" opening for inserting the 1/4" elastic (80" long).  I pushed the elastic through the casing by attaching a safety pin to it and just working it through.  Then I used a two-step zigzag stitch to attach the elastic ends to each other.  Then I sewed the gap in the casing closed.  And, of course, I pre-washed my fabric and squared it before cutting/proceeding.  And it came out great!

The adventure that occurred during the making of the sheet was that somehow my presser foot ankle broke on my machine, and my needle broke.  I took the machine back to where I bought it, and they gave me a new presser foot ankle. I actually like the new one better because it's not all one color, and so it's a lot easier to see when switching out presser feet.

So, lessons learned with this project--how to change presser feet, presser foot ankle, needles, overcast stitch, zigzag stitch, and make a casing for elastic.  Now I'm back off to Hobby Lobby to buy more fabric to make a matching pillowcase!  (Soon, I'll get to work on those jammies! woo-hoo!)