Play Clothes--Simplicity 2268, Size 3

I made some more play clothes for my girl! This time I used some remnants I picked up at JoAnn's.  The top is white with lavender polka dots and the shorts are purple.  I used Simplicity Pattern 2268, size 3, and I made the top (view C) and shorts (view E).

Once again, I made paper patterns using taped together printer paper.  I need to find a place to stash these paper stencils for future use.  Maybe a manila file folder would work, and then label the individual folders with the pattern numbers.  Hmmmm.

First thing was to stay stitch the neck edge.  I also made the ties and basted them to the shirt back.  I seamed the shoulders and sides together.

Then I had another go round with making a yoke for the top, and it was a lot easier the second time around.  I also figured out the understitching for this one.  My only regret is that I forgot to add a size label to the top, but I can go back and add that later.  Anyway, I much more pleased with the finished yoke on this shirt!

For this top, there was bias tape around the armholes.  I didn't have any trouble remembering how to stitch that on, and they came out pretty nice.   I just used store-bought white bias tape.  Someday I'll make my own.

I remembered how to gather the skirt below the bodice, but had trouble with the threads coming out on the far end.  After another try and leaving reallllllly long tails, I got the skirt gathered and pinned to the bodice.  It came out quite nicely, I think.

Next I had to make a small elastic casing for the back of the top.  That was done by sewing another seam within the back seam and inserting the elastic from side to side.  The pattern called for 3/4" elastic, but there was no way that was going to fit in the tiny little seam casing.  I considered using some 1/2" elastic I had, but ultimately went with 1/4", and it came out great!  After that, all I really had to do was finish the hem.  I chose not to add any lace trim (maybe if they'd had a remnant . . . )

I cut out the pattern pieces, fabric, and interfacing on Tuesday.  I made the shirt on Wednesday.  And on Thursday, I made the shorts.  Unlike the previous pair of shorts, this pair had pockets!  Granted, they were nothing fancy, just sewn onto the front.  I did use purple bias tape on the inner edges of the pockets.  Initially I thought I'd use lavender thread, but after the first line of stitching I decided to go with purple thread instead.  I'm getting quite a collection of thread colors going, because I keep buying two colors and then deciding at home which one to actually use!

I didn't have any trouble sewing these little shorts up, unlike the previous ones, where I mixed up the side seams.  This pair was also different in that it had a separate piece to make the elastic casing.  It wasn't any trouble, and I'm pretty sure I did it right.  Once again, the pattern called for 3/4" wide elastic, but after trying to thread that through I decided it was just a bit too wide.  Maybe I didn't follow the casing instructions quite right after all, but I was happy and content with using 1/2" wide elastic instead, and it seemed to work just beautifully.  When I closed up the casing and secured the elastic in the back seam, I also attached another little size label in the waist band.  I wish I'd made it sooner and attached it when I attached the elastic casing to the shorts, but it's good enough tucked into the closing of the casing and running sideways.  I used the polka dot fabric with dark purple stitching.  I still need to make a label for the top, like I said.

One thing is for sure--sewing your own clothes, even from remnants, is NOT really very economical when there's Walmart, Target, thrift stores.  I'm definitely not saving money on materials (even using remnants) and the time-cost is huge.  But it does allow me to dress my little girl in cute clothes that aren't covered with Disney Princesses, Dora, or other licensed characters, or covered with glitter, or advertising my little one as juicy, yummy, or available for hugs and kisses.

(Again, ignore the dates on the photos--they were all taken today--4/18/2013)

Play Clothes--McCall's 6022 size 3

I finally got a chance to work on a cute little outfit for Iago!  I used McCall's 6022 and made the Shorts (G) and Top (D).  The fabric came from JoAnn's.  I'm not great at choosing fabrics/colors/etc and being able to imagine how they'll look together.  I looked a long time before I found these and put them together.  I was keeping my eyes open for ladybugs, and then I had to figure out what to put with them.  After pulling these two bolts I went over and asked the lady who sold me my sewing machine if these fabrics would work together for the pattern I had picked out.  She gave me a thumbs up, so I went with it.  I think they did end up working great together!  It reminds me of a summer picnic!

For this pattern I also had to use fusible interface for the first time.  I picked that and the red rick-rack up from Hobby Lobby.  I've been making excellent use of coupons, sales, and special discounts, and I've got a small stash of remnants acquired along the way too, from which I'll make some more shorts and tops for Iago and SB3.

Initially I thought I would make Top C from this pattern, but I decided the fabric I had would work better with Top D.  It would have also been cute in a sleeveless top, but I'm not a huge fan of sleeveless tops in general.  So, I made D, with the little sleeves.  I didn't have quite enough fabric after squaring to make top A with the sleeves that have elastic around them.  Anyway, that's how I ended up settling on D, and I think it was a good decision.

The first thing I made was the little set of shorts.  Somehow or other, I managed to royally screw up and sew the waist together instead of the legs together (I don't know HOW I managed to do that!), but after ripping those wrong seams out, I got it all put together properly so they were actually wearable shorts!  On the kids' jammies, I have to stop and think every time they were them to figure out which is the front and the back of the jammies bottoms.  For these shorts, I decided to make a tag for the back!  I cut a strip from a little scrap of the shorts fabric.  Then I used the computerized font on my Opal 650 sewing machine to program in the size (that could be handy info down the road) along with my initials.  I also considered using the year.  But for this tag, I just went with size and initials.  Programming the script was easy enough.  Then I had to do a little playing around to get the size characters that I wanted sewn.  Finally, the embroidered script is actually kind of scratchy feeling, so I put the tag in the waistband such that you have to flip the tag over to see the size/info so it won't rub on the skin when Iago's wearing the shorts.  No one likes an itchy tag!  I didn't get a tag put into the shirt when I was sewing it, but I will probably go back and add a tag to it (because this particular Top doesn't really lend itself to an obvious front and back either).  Anyway, I was quite pleased with my simple creativity of adding an embroidered tag to the shorts!  (Yes, I'm easily amused! haha!)

 Adding the fusible interfacing in the yoke was no big deal.  It's amazing how something will seem intimidating until you actually do it, and then you realize it's really pretty simple.

Doing the gathering for the bodice and the sleeves was also not intimidating this time around.  I was happy that I remembered what to do from having done the gathering on Iago's jammies, but I did check just to make sure I had the spacing right.

The hardest part of doing the top was probably assembling the yoke, which wasn't really hard, but I did sort of fumble my way through it.  I still don't think I did one step of it the way the instructions said (understitching a hem or something), but what I did do ended up working just fine anyway, so I'm happy with it.

The other hardest part of assembling the top was getting those darn sleeves in correctly.  I knew what I was doing, I remembered how to do it, but for some reason it was just giving me no end of troubles this time.  I did ultimately manage to get the sleeves each properly set in and looking okay, despite the multiple times I sewed bits of sleeves into seams and had to rip them back out.  Ultimately I got everything fixed and done right (or right enough!).

The last thing to mention would be choosing the rick-rack.  I found white, lime green (matched the green fabric beautifully!), and red.  Again, I'm not great with seeing how things will look together, but my sweetie is, and he said go with the red rick-rack.  When you held them up to the fabric, the white didn't really look right, the green didn't really show up enough, but the red was great.  So, I used red rick-rack and red thread.  When I did try to tack the turned under hem down with the lime green thread (which matched the green fabric beautifully!), it looked really weird when the green cut through a ladybug.  But the red thread just looked like it was supposed to be there.  So, that was the finishing touch.  I got it finished in time to get us to church just a bit later than usual (we're always late for church!), and she was so stinkin' cute!

(ps--ignore all the dates on the photos--they were taken today, not in 2011!)