Project Run & Play, week four and final. "Oh, Just ZIP It!"

Can you believe it? It is the fourth and final week of Project Run and Play and I am still here. 

What a trip this have been. As fun as it has been, I can't wait to return to regular living life. You know where you take your kids to the playground, make dinner (okay, at least a few times week) and get a shower every day. Yup, after a crazy period your normal boring life always seems more attractive. In other words it is always good to have things put in perspective!

This week is signature style week.

So what is my signature style?

Cosy and comfortable clothes with clean, urban lines that looks stylish by focusing on a great fit, quality materials and techniques plus a few smart details here and there. 

Yup, that's it! That is the way I dress both myself and what I make for my kids.

To me knit dresses is really the essence of comfortable and stylish clothes. Everyone looks AND feels great wearing them. Of course an adult woman has to find the model that fits her specific body type. But kids they can pretty much wear anything, right. My kids certainly love wearing them. 

And when they can twirl like this one - SCORE!

The back has a rounded yoke.

I love the look from the back. You can so clearly see the lines of the dress.

I made this simple scarf with a sweater knit from Jo-Ann's.

The green cotton knit is another buy from Fabric Weekend, LA.

This is actually the very first knit dress I ever made. I mean, not this particular one of course, but the design with the significant and contrasting front V, the long raglan sleeves and the almost full skirt. Originally it was of course a woman's dress because I did not have kids back then and therefor (apparently) no interest in kid's clothes. And I gave it the very obvious name the V-dress....yeah, I wonder why too, ha.

It is really a mystery to me why it has taken me so long to make it into a kid's dress. Oh well, it is here and Wilma has already ordered one too.

The navy knitted belt is by the way from the original adult dress. I have a friend with a knitting machine and he knitted belts to the first ones before I had it produced.....all this a looong time ago. (Did I just make myself sound a 100 years old or what?!) 

Nothing can add style to an outfit like a great jacket. 

I choose to make the Study Hall Jacket from Go To Patterns because it has a relaxed look and fit.....but still stylish! But also because it is such a great basic with potential for the smart features that I have added.

The original pattern have long sleeves but I really wanted to make a short sleeved jacket because it would be perfect with the long sleeved knit dress under. But let's be honest....short sleeves kind of limits the wearability and we are talking kids clothes here. 

Soooo what will satisfy both the designer and Mom in me? Long sleeves with zippers that easily transforms them into short sleeves course, yeah!! I must say I am pretty happy with that detail!

I hid the zipper under a little flap. I think that looks the best.

A detail shot inside the short sleeve.

And the long sleeve attachment. 

And Celina actually said something really clever when she saw this coat. You might actually be able to stretch this coat's use for two years because usually it is the sleeves that becomes too short on the growing kids and with this detail you can simply just make new and longer sleeve attachments. I mean...hello!

The other big thing I changed - and this is more of a design feature than a practical reason - I changed the front of the jacket from an exposed zipper to a build-in hidden zipper.

This requires quite a few changes to the pattern but I thought it was worth it.

Love that the zippers are exposed in the pockets though.

I decided not to put a patch of the wool on the visible part of the pocket bag like you normally would, because I really like a peek of this striped lining. 

Which is also visible in the hood so it all makes sense.

The pattern suggest to put an elastic in the hood opening which I think is a really neat feature to keep it in place when it is up.

Woohoo, facings and lining.

And there we have it....my signature style!

And let me give the last words to Evelyn (and Celina):

You can vote HERE.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Project Run and Play, week three. The Little Queen of Plaid.

Wow, the emotional roller coaster also called Project Run & Play has come to week three and I am still on board.  Phew. A big thank you to those who voted and to the judges who gave me some scores for the last challenge that made me blush and VERY proud. Thanks!

This week the theme is PLAID and I proudly present my Little Queen of Plaid.

When I think of plaid, I think wool, autumn, cosiness and warmth but also country life, horses, fields aaaaand a gold crown - naturally! So what is it with that gold crown? Well, I once saw a documentary about the British Queen's (extra) castle in Scotland and the whole thing just had plaid all over it - not the actual castle but like the vibe. And that documentary just popped up from a far, far place in my brain when I was thinking about what to make for this week.

Working on her queen face.....or something like that.

So what have I made?

Yup, Queen Evelyn is exciting about it in case you wondered.

I found this great dusty lilac wool plaid at Hancock Fabrics and worked from there.

The fabric screams pants with lots of great details to me BUT since this little Queen does not wear pants (unless it is leggings and under a skirt or dress) I knew that would be a waste of time and quite possibly a painful photo shoot. 

SO what is pants (shorts) but looks and feels like a skirt....yeeeees, culottes.

I have a post about drafting culottes HERE.

And of course they needed pockets. I have been obsessed with these ruffled welt pockets ever since I saw them the first time on The Sturdy Hall Jacket From Go To Patterns. And I think they fit wool culottes perfectly. And if you are interested in making these side seam welt pockets I have a tutorial for the non ruffled version HERE. 

They also have a comfortable and toddler friendly elastic waist and belt loops.

I fully lined them plus I made the inside of the waistband with a cotton so there is no scratching on the sensitive skin that all kids have. For the same reason I made cotton facings to hem the pants so there is absolutely no wool on the inside. The lining is slightly longer and closed up with the hem facings the same way you would close up a winter coat. That way the lining will have some 'streching' abilities and not pull the outer layer out of shape.

To compliment the culottes I made a shirt and a vest.

Let's talk about the shirt first, shall we.

This shirt is made from a self drafted pattern and it is one of my favorite shirt patterns.

This is one of the patterns I had in my women's collection, you know, way back when I did such thing back in Denmark. And I have since made it into a kids pattern (shirt and dress).

I absolutely love love love the shirring around the neck.

It is kind of a simple detail but with such a big effect. 

There is also a single row of shirring in the end of the sleeve to add volume to the sleeve.

The shirt have darts in the back and a front buttoned placket.

Here is a closer look at the neck shirring.

When you are wearing it, your shoulder will of course stretch out the shirring and the weird v-shape the shoulder seam have now will disappear, promise! 

And then we got the vest with ruffles in this very queen worthy pre quilted gold fabric.

Even though I have drafted this pattern myself I am not going to pretend that I have invented this model at all. I have seen this vest on other blogs. Plus adding ruffles instead of a small sleeve is used a lot in Japanese sewing books. BUT I still totally love it.
And I really really love that my vision, about having the piping follow the arm hole and then continue on the outer edge of the ruffle, succeeded. 
To do it this way I had to first sew my ruffles on the fabric and the cotton lining. Then the piping and then the outer and lining together. 
Touch down in the geeky sewing department, yay!

Here is a look inside the ruffle lined with this really lovely woven striped cotton fabric I have had for years (in other words I have no idea where I got it from, ahem). It is the same fabric that is used for inside the waistband and the hem facings for the culottes plus inside the crown hat.

A look inside the vest. Again, like the culottes, the lining is a bit longer to avoid it pulling the outer fabric when wearing it. And gold facings all the way around for sturdy edges and a nice look. The neck facing is nice and big with room for a label if this was going to be produced. Not that I have any plans of that....but you know, ha. Old habit I guess.

And then the crown hat.
It is made from the Oliver + s' Bucket hat pattern.
I narrowed the brim to make it more 'real' hat and less soft sun hat looking and then I extended the sides to make the crown shape and made a pattern part for the short inside part of the triangles where the oval top got sewed onto. 
I added the black piping to make it more sturdy and of course to accentuate the crown shape and simply make it more visible.

And there you have it....The Little Queen of Plaid.



Again thank you to Celina for giving me advice before taking these photos, helping me edit them afterwards and basically gather my thoughts on theme and inspiration - in other words being my mentor. And to Olga for moral support, hilarious commentary and general cheering. And to ALL OF YOU for voting and leaving comments I will cherish FOREVER. Seriously THANK YOU!!!!



And speaking of voting...what are you waiting for...the voting is over at Project Run and Play. 
Vote for me, please!

Project Run and Play, week two. All Wrapped Up!

Phew, made it to week two of Project Run and Play and this week's theme is CANDY.

Let me present to you my look: 

All Wrapped Up!

At first I was a 'deer in headlights' when I realized that week 2 had a candy theme. But suddenly I thought of this amazing neon fluorescent vinyl I bought like 6 months ago.

I hope I am not the only one thinking about candy wrapping paper when I see this vinyl!?

The whole time I had plans of making rain jackets for the girls with it but hmmm, I guess I got busy with other things and pushed this 'big project' ahead of me even though Wilma asked me every week when I was going to make it. Soon sweetheart, soon! Ahem!

I used the Oliver + s Secret Agent Trench Coat pattern as a base for the rain jacket. It has raglan sleeves and well, since it is also a jacket pattern I knew it had the right shape and size too. It even has a girl version with a gathered waist but I decided to go with a detail I have seen in several Japanese sewing books where you sew a wide ruffle on the outside of the fabric to finish off the jacket. This creates a small ruffle above the stitch that I just love.

And in this case with the fluorescent ruffle it is even more perfect than I had anticipated. The vinyl is super fluorescent from the edges and I just love how it stands out. I was a bit worried how I was going to sew it on because I could obviously not sew in gathering threads and my gathering foot did not work with the vinyl either so I simply had to hand fold and gather as I sewed. It worked, phew. Only a bit sweaty afterwards. 

What else did I change from the original pattern? I added a wide front placket with room for double rows of snaps. 

I added a hood - I mean no rain jacket without a hood, right! 

I changed the pockets into sort of a kangaroo style pocket. And I changed the sleeve straps a little bit by making them straight.

When sewing the sleeve straps I used a technique used when sewing with leather. That worked like a charm.

You basically fold the seam allowances on the top strap and put it directly down on another layer of vinyl, stitch 1 mm from the edge and then cut the extra of the bottom layer after sewing, as close to the seam as possible. This way you don't have to sew the two layers right against right and turn inside out...because I am not sure that would have worked very well with this fairly stiff material. These straps have completely square corners and are just the way they should be.

Oh boy my new Juki industrial sewing machine from Gold Star Tool totally saved me from disaster here. The vinyl was harder than I thought to sew in and there was no way my domestic would have made the same result. I am not even sure it would have been possible.... even with the teflon foot I had ordered. It was super nerve racking to sew this. The needle made fluorescent holes so I had only one chance for all the top stitches, ahhhh! And since you can't iron it I had to top stitch everything to make the seams lie down. Phew, it was like a workout to wrestle with it.

I also made a lollipop sweatshirt - I could not make an entry without a bit of color blocking, could I?!

The pattern is self drafted. The shape is classic sweatshirt with raglan sleeves and rib in the neck, sleeve and bottom opening. I tried my best to have the stripes follow all the front from left sleeve over the front to the right sleeve - it aaaalmost worked. 

It is also continuing over the left shoulder and then all the stripes are being faded out on the center back neck seam so the right shoulder is all pink front and back.

Both fabrics are soft and comfortable French terry.

Wilma kept on this clothes after the photo shoot which is always a good sigh, right

Last but not least did I make these super comfortable 21 wale cotton corduroy slouchy pants in this beautiful soft baby pink. The fabric is from Kaufman.

The pants have pleats in the front and a waistband with adjustable elastic. 

Side pockets with a decorative buttoned flap.

 Back welt pockets also with buttons...but this time actually with a purpose....to keep the pockets in place. 

Those buttons...aaaamazing! Wooden painted buttons from, yes you guessed it Lots of Buttons. They have a ton of this type and sooo many cool ones.

And a tapered leg with a fixed fold up at the end of the trouser leg.

In the little intro on the Project Run and Play site I promised you a little funny story on how I realized that I basically just designed (well, it is a classic shape but you know what I mean) and drafted the Figgy's Pattern's Banyan Trousers. 

So I had help editing my photos from the amazing Celina Bailey and this sunday we were basically constantly in contact. She editing photos and me writing on this post, answering her questions so the photos ended up looking in a way I liked and so on. Lots of fun and for SURE less stressful than doing it myself. I think we all know were my strength is...and it is not photo editing (I wish, but nope).

SO I was writing about these pants and was not sure what the correct English term for that fixed fold up that the pants have was, so I thought I would ask Celina if she knew. She came back to me saying she was not sure (her first language is not English either remember.) but I should check Figgy's Pattern's Banyan Trousers and see what they call it. 

Ooookay, I thought, that was a very specific and detailed answer....you know compared to "try google it" which is the answer I usually give when I don't know the answer to something. So I go check them out and haha, besides for the pocket details these are basically the trousers I have just spend quite some time drafting the pattern for (altering an old trouser pattern I made for my daughter). The pleat in the front, the adjustable waistband, the tapered leg and the fold up (as they, and now me, call it). Oh well! 

And why did Celina have that answer right on hand. Because she had just sewed a pair for her post in my Sewing for Kindergarten-series. Too funny! Well, now we know that I for sure will like what she has made....like I ever doubted that...I LOVE everything she makes! Including her editing.

I mean look what she did with this photo of Wilma looking a bit hmmm thoughtful.

Yes, the storm is coming (the voting storm, hahaaaaha) but first I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to Celina Bailey from Petit a Petit & Family for editing my mediocre photos into these little masterpieces this week. Wow, you are talented my lady!

And to Olga my blogging BFF from Kid Approved for keeping my spirits up when last week's voting results took me by surprise and shocked me for a few days. Don't worry I am over it now. Expectations can be a tricky thing!
By the way she has been sewing along with the candy theme too. You should go and show her some love HERE.

And thank you to all the rest of you blogging friends, real life friends and family and blog readers that came with encouraging comments and fantastic compliments on my week one entry. Of the bottom of my heart - THANK YOU! You have no idea how much it meant!

Oh, and don't you just love those clouds, rain drops etc that Celina added to the photos! Well, you can get them HERE.

Yup, don't you forget it!

Thank you SO much for coming over!

Now head back to Project Run and Play and give me that vote, please!