My inner Grandma.

This dress is definitely part of my inner Grandma-style. I have had this dress in my head for a while - at least kind of this because like I have said before, designs change for me during the process. I wanted to make a loose jersey dress with some kind of gathered waist, snaps all the way down, a shoulder yoke and a ribbon neck. The color block only came in the process. I have actually drafted the pattern with snaps all the way down but right before cutting I got nervous that the elastic shirring would pull the front opening from each other and decided to cut the front waist and skirt piece to fold. I have already cut another one (with one of the fabrics I bought from Spoonflower.com) and this time I am putting snaps in top AND skirt piece....I think that will look cool too(?)

This dress is made on the most magical day. Remember in my last post where I was complaining about not having the time and energy to draft new more complicated patterns from scratch at the moment?? Well, I guess it helped to give me the needed push because I started the following friday evening (yes, ME the most sleepy evening bear worked in the evening) and after getting up saturday morning I went straight to the sewing room and worked almost non stop on it. Finishing the first draft, cutting and sewing a muslin, having the fitting on Wilma, making the changes on the pattern after fitting, finishing the final pattern, cut the dress and then FINALLY sewing it.....at 10 pm it only needed snaps and hemming.

I have not since I had Wilma 5 years ago sewed that much in a day. Where was the kids you might wonder? Well, they were around and that was what I meant about the most magical day. They suddenly played really well together for more than 15 minutes at a time or happily by themselves. Don't worry they did get fed and attention when they needed it.    

I love how the color from the yoke continues out on the top of the sleeve. I originally drafted the sleeve to be loose and then gathered with a wrist ribbon cuff and that is why fittings are so smart (ahem). Because the dress is so loose a more narrow sleeve looked better to me.

Wilma loves this dress and even though it is a bit hard to see on these photos the colors scream dress-for-a-redhead. She is beautiful in it and even though I am definitely not going to look like Wilma in it I still want one myself. Let's cross fingers for another magical day soon!

I tried my new twin needle for the first time and as you can see on the hemming it made it a bit bulky between the two stitches. I could not seem to solve the problem not even with ironing. I wonder if anyone have any advice? My own would have been to loosen the tension for the bobbin thread....normally there would be a little screw to do that....but my JUKI domestic machine does not have that (I think???). Anyone??

Stay tuned for another version of the dress in THIS fabric....paired with two other colors. Do you want to take a guess at those two other colors?? Sorry there is no prize but lots of RESPECT if you can read my mind.....and a little bit spookiness I guess. Oh, and maybe your own TV show...who knows these days, right!?

From pants to skirt.

Yes, I am alive - and to add a little drama: barely. My husband and I have 'planned' our children so well that not only does their birthdays fall in January, right after Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas madness, they are also only two days apart. They turned 3 and 5 years old and this year we held separate birthday parties for the first time. Wilma the 5 year old wanted a non-sleepover (okay I decided the non-sleepover part) slumber party with glitter tattoos and freeze dance and there was just no way that would mix well with Evelyn's young friends so two parties it was. Phewwwww, I need a vacation now AND to sew again. But as they say you don't get everything you want here in life so here is the skirt I sewed.

Do you remember THESE pants that I made for Wilma heavily inspired (okay, kind of directly copied) from a pair of Celine pants? Since I made them I bought this great organic cotton twill and wanted to make her another pair.....and suddenly it hit me that the model could very easily be made into a skirt....for me, horray!

It has side pockets (you can see the burgundy peek out) but is otherwise made just of retangles. I love sewing clothes like that. The drafting of the pattern is easy, there is no need for making a muslin and there is barely any fitting involved during the sewing process. I guess in that way you can call me lacy. It's funny but the better you become at sewing and drafting the longer everything take. You know you can get a perfect result inside and out but you also know that requires not skipping any steps, taking your time both getting the fitting and the actual sewing right and redo when things does not look up to standard. And this is where I come with the usual excuses about how I rarely have more than 1-2 hours continued sewing time and mostly just 10 min here and there during afternoons with the kids so working on a project that will take weeks is just not for me at the moment blah blah blah. But I am really trying to be better because I really want to go back to making other things to adults than skirts with an elastic waist....even though my next project is already in the making and yes, it is another skirt, ha......I said trying!

Sorry for the ugly plastic hanger. Husband is working and my kids, though a year older, not old enough to handle the camera...or model the skirt. I just really wanted the latest post on my blog to be from the year we are actually in, okay! Oh and that big purple polka dot on both skirts photos....I have no idea what happened. Reflection from the sun maybe?

A skirt with a lower band like this calls for a nice hemming, right! Sewed from the outside of the skirt. The seam allowance on the inside is folded 8-9 mm instead of 10 mm which in theory gives the result on the inside as you see above - it might take a little practice though (it certainly did for me!).

Crazy pants!

I have a feeling that these pants are even love or hate. Well, I LOVE them....even though this pair has some mistakes. One I was able to correct (there is a tutorial later in this post) and one I semi fixed and have corrected on the pattern for the next pair.

I mentioned in a Facebook status for Sewing Like Mad (you do 'like' this blog on Facebook, right!?) that I am totally unplanned making my own mini series called knocking of all J.Crew's pants. Yes yes it is just a joke BUT my two latest posts has been J.Crew pant knock offs and I thought this was going to be one too.

However while making this blog post I decided to follow the 'trail' on Pinterest where I found this photo of Jenna Lyons (J.Crew's Executive Creative Director) wearing these absolutely stunning pants and it turns out that they are from Celine. Oh well, my mistake for being a bit quick with the conclusion that Jenna only wears J.Crew. But the style totally looks like their Cafe Capri. Anyway knocking off a pair of Celine pants is fine with me. 
My version obviously has quite a different look since they are converted into kids pants in more practical materials like denim and corduroy. and with both wider and longer roll up legs. 
Another difference is the colors. I totally love love love the original colors and mine are made with what I had in my fabric stash (in other words maybe not my very first choices). I did have black fabric but decided that blue denim was more suited for children. What do you think?

So what it is with the mistakes and that tutorial? Let's get into it:
First mistake I could not correct because I did not have enough fabric to cut new front pieces. But when I drafted the front pockets I did not think about that the side of the front piece was not actually the side seam (the side seam is obviously the middle of the orange side panel) so the front pocket is way too far towards the middle and both looks silly and make the whole top front piece bend out as soon as Wilma bends over just a little bit - or sticks her hands in the pocket as you can see on one the photos above. I guess these pants would really works for boys too, ahem!
My semi fix was to close the top of the pocket opening with a stitch. That worked kind of okay(-ish) and she can still get her hand in the pockets.

Second problem did I unfortunately not notices when we took the first set of photos (the ones above). That required more action and movement. So it was only at the playground I noticed that the back waist was not high enough....in other words Wilma was climbing around on the jungle gym with a lovely a$$ crack showing. Argh!
Okay and now to the solution - remember I was out of big pieces of denim AND there was no way I was replacing that back piece with those piped pockets I spend what felt like hours on any way. Soooo I added a back yoke so I could rise the back waist. (Kind of lucky they were made of denim since all jeans have back yokes*. 
In this case I am not using the yoke's normal purpose (see note) but solely to have an excuse to add a (higher) piece of fabric without it looking like I added a piece of fabric.

So I took my original back pattern, traced the top part, added 2 cm (almost 1 inch) to the center back top, faded the new waist line down to the 'side seam' (the seam that meets the orange side panel) as smooth as I could and finally decided where I wanted my yoke seam on the pants (obviously somewhere over the already sewed piped pockets). They also usually go in some sort of v-shape so that is what I did. You can see it all in the photo above......I hope!

You can also see I traced the original too low waist line on the pattern (the dotted line). The reason for that is that I needed that line when I was going to cut off the top of the original back piece to make room for the new yoke.

On this photo above I have attached the yoke pattern to the original back piece BUT first I have folded the lowest part of the yoke pattern up 2 cm (I am sewing with 1 cm seam allowance and to make sure there is also seam allowance on the original back piece to sew on the yoke I have to cut off the back piece 2 cm higher than where the seam between yoke and pants is going to be). Sorry I am not sure how good I am explaining this - please ask me if you have any questions!

Here we are at the same operation but I have just turned the pants around so you can see how the pants are placed on the other side of the paper.

And here we are with the final result. I realize the center back looks very steep but it will work in the end (haha). This photo is taken before the elastic has been put in. 

And when a round behind comes in it will align even more and look totally fine.

By the way if you are wondering what in the world is up with those pockets? Well, that is why there is normally some kind of buttons in pockets like this because when the round behind come in the pockets become 'smiling'. Oh well I think I was just done with these pants at this point....maybe next pair.

             

Here we are with an action shot and no visible body part that no type of action should show, phew!

And I swear I did not ask her to pose like that....that is the position she put herself in in the middle of the soccer game to take a sip of water. Oh dear! I was surprised she even wanted to play. Normally she chooses to be the cheerleader - yes, I do try to explain to her that the game is more fun when there is more than one player on the field.....

Note:

*) A yoke is an alternative way to add shape to the pants - like darts. They both eliminate the difference between waist and hip and help the pants to follow the round behind.

Another knock off....

As soon as I saw these pants from J.Crew I 1) pinned them. 2) I thought why have I never thought of this. It is such a simple way to twist the classic tuxedo pant and make it new yet recognizable - I love clothes like that. 3) I got to make some like asap.

And here we are.....Wilma needed pants anyway so she got a pair first.
The flower fabric (they are both corduroy) was Wilma's choice. I do love that fabric but I would probably have made them less romantic. But it is Wilma who is going to wear them so I guess it make sense I put my designer dreams in the background and let her take that decision.....as long as I can live with it, ahem!

I added some nice details like sewed on front pockets with a contrast color bias band in the opening.

Back pockets also with a contrast color bias band in the top opening. 

I made them a size 6 yrs even though she is only turning 5 in January - in other words I want her to wear them for a loooong time - so I decided to make the waistband adjustable with buttonhole elastic the classic way like you see above.

I knew they were going to be too long for her here in the beginning. So since I knew they were going to be rolled up I decided to make the roll up look nice by covering the seams with bias band. 

Here you can see a photo of the lowest part of the pants inside out. I did not put the bias band all the way up because I was afraid it was going to make the seams too stiff. And I want to come with an advice that I learned the hard way (as in redo-it-all-way). Don't use a bias band that is made of too thick fabric because that makes the roll up too bulky. Argh!

And they are playground approved too!

And if anyone wondered about the title ('Another knock off') it must be because you missed this guest post on Elegance & Elephants where I am part of the series Knock it Off and is knocking of another pair of J.Crew pants - YES I LOVE J.Crew....a lot!  
Hmmm and actually when we are at it I am already working on a third pair of J.Crew knock offs that will come on the blog soon. If you are curious you can see if you can find them on my Pinterest 'Favourite' board.

And remember if you like what you see and read on this blog you have several ways not to miss another post. See the right side column for Facebook, Bloglovin' and Google Friend Connect options. I would love to have you onboard! 

And to the best part (who does not like a feature):

Knock it off.

Today I am not here, I am HERE participating in Elegance & Elephant's great series Knock it Off. In all simplicity I (and a whole bunch of other talented ladies) have been so lucky to be asked to find an outfit, garment, or accessory that we love - and copy it be inspired by it and make it in kid size.

Below you see the pants I made but if you want to see more photos, the pants I am inspired by, a tutorial to draft the type of pocket these pants have and some sewing tips to take it from good to great you have to click HERE.

(And yes that is grosgrain ribbons along the leg - I am kind of obsessed at the moment.)

Sewing with grosgrain ribbons.

I don't like if clothes is tooooo cute and I think a perfect way to add a little coolness is grosgrain ribbons. I am also not at all done with the add-a-little-neon-to-everything trend (even though being a child in the 80's you should think I was cured for life?!) Well, guess not! And since you can buy grosgrain ribbons in neon colors (and lots of other beautiful colors) we have a popular product in my book. I bought mine at The Ribbon Retreat.

Wilma asked if I could make her a skirt in this star cotton fabric and I suggested we added some grosgrain ribbons - I guess it was my lucky day because she agreed.

Below I will show you how I ended making quite a fancy hem despite the lack of planning before I cut the fabric.



I got a problem with the hemming of this skirt when I cut the skirt before deciding where exactly to put the grosgrain ribbons. So when I decided on the placement I realized that the big hem that I prefer on skirts (and is so easy to make when the skirt consist of a rectangle piece of fabric) would require a stitch in the middle of the ribbons...what to do! Obviously I tried to convince myself to move the ribbons higher or lower but noooo my inner designer said this is where I want them. Argh, so stubborn!
Then I considered hemming the skirt first and then sew the ribbons on afterwards but then my inner seamstress was like noooo that would not make a very nice finish sewing those ends of ribbons together. The ribbon's ends have to be hidden in the side seam - where they by the way have to meet precisely. Argh, so anal! 

Soooo the only solution left was to hem the skirt and sew one of the ribbon stitches on in one stitch. Again if this was planned I could have made the seam allowance for the hem go all the way up to the top of the top ribbon. Then there would have been no visible stitches on the inside but the hem stitch but I think we are clear here that was not the case. So I went with the second best and stitched all the ribbons on the skirt and left out the bottom stitch on the top ribbon as you can see on the photo above if you look closely.

After sewing the side seam together and overlocking it, it was time to sew the two-in-one stitch. I helped myself by putting needles from the front side through the line in the ribbon where I was going to stitch and then making sure I hit the hem 1 mm from the edge on the inside.

.....and to my surprise it actually worked without giving me any problems or do-overs. I just sewed slow and made sure to stretch the fabric while I was sewing. 

Yay victory and both inner designer and seamstress was happy.

Now I am just hoping my photography skills improve so my inner photographer would be happy - ha, like I even have a inner photographer...I am hopeless! But I hope they at least helped a little bit illustrating what I have been trying to show you above.

Long sleeve version of jersey dress with vintage feel.

Nope, I should not be sewing at all and I should definitely not be sewing for the youngest of my daughters who has clothes raining down on her from her big sister. IF I should be sewing it should be for my oldest who has a closet full of too short pants and long sleeved t-shirts. 

Oh and I should definitely not be 'wasting time' blogging about it. And yet here I am with a new post of a new jersey dress for my youngest daughter - hmmmm. Some things are just more fun than others....sewing and blogging versus painting and organizing is a (selfish) no brainer for me. I keep telling myself that the reason I am not doing what I was suppose to do is that the builders are still working in our new house but the truth is that there are projects in the house that could be started now without interfering with the builders. I knew I would be bad at this house-owner-thing....useless really.

So here we are with a model I first blogged about in THIS post. The fabric is a lovely interlock knit from The Fabric Fairy that was part of my prize when I won the blog Crafterhours' Skirt Week 2012 (the judge's choice) for THIS a-line skirt. Yippie!

And why do I think you could be interested in seeing another version of this dress? Weeeell, massive changes has happened - it has gotten long sleeves. 

I did not even think about changing the sleeves until the fabric was already cut but since the short sleeve has a bit of gathering by the ribbon I originally finished it off with I thought I could just add a tight long sleeve to the short sleeve and make it into a......ehhhh okay I have no idea what that type of sleeve is called but look at the photos and hopefully you will know what I mean.

At first I cut the long narrow sleeve in the same flower fabric as the rest of the dress but that made it look like a night gown. I did not have enough of the secondary green fabric to make long sleeves but luckily my fabric stash contained this purple knit ribbon which was perfect for the job. 

At some point I was considering simply making her a long sleeved t-shirt in the purple fabric that she could wear under the dress because that would give the same 'look' and more mix and match options but I guess my laziness won.

I could have chosen to sew the purple rib directly to the short flower sleeve but decided to add a panel of green to emphasize the illusion of a short sleeved dress with a long sleeved t-shirt under.

Otherwise there are not changes from the first version beside making it a bit wider and longer....the girl is growing as you can see. 

My husband accidentally called her a baby (in the meaning that she is our youngest) yesterday and was told in a very indignant tone that she is NOT a baby she is a girl! 

Yes ma'am!

And remember if you like what you see and read on this blog you have several ways not to miss another post. See the right side column for Facebook, Bloglovin' and Google Friend Connect options. I would love to have you onboard!