Category Archives: In the Sewing Nook

Tova Muslin

Posted on by

In the past year, I’ve tried to add to my wardrobe, but I always get discouraged shopping. Everything at the stores is so cheaply made or way too expensive, and I don’t have a lot of kid-free time to browse consignment and thrift stores. In my dream life, most of my wardrobe is from Alabama Chanin. While I am making my own organic cotton Alabama Chanin clothes, hand sewing a garment is slow going. I realized I should spend more money and time on machine sewn patterns and fabrics, or else my wardrobe is always going to be in a sad state. It’s gotten cold here quickly (there was a freeze warning yesterday and another one today though we were in shorts on Tuesday), and my cold weather clothes are probably the most pathetic part of my wardrobe. Since I was at home this week with my son who is on Fall break, I pulled out the Wiksten Tova shirt/dress pattern I bought a few weeks ago, and started on my muslin. As I’ve learned more about garment sewing and sewn a few items for myself, I’ve realized I always need to make a muslin first. Even when I choose the right size, there is always an adjustment or two I wish I had made once the garment is done and doesn’t fit as well as it could. Plus the anal sewer in me likes to have a practice piece for troubleshooting the tricky parts before making the real thing. For my Tova top, I bought a really nice cotton shirting fabric my local fabric store labeled Steven Allen. I wasn’t sure if they meant Steven Alan, but Google yielded nothing about this fabric nor the proper spelling of the designer’s name. I didn’t have any throw-away fabric similar to the shirting, so I made my muslin out of one of the 10 bolts of quilter’s cotton I bought at auction a few years ago. I knew the quilter’s cotton wouldn’t be quite right and I wasn’t that fond of the floral print, but if the muslin came out okay I figured I might wear the shirt sometimes.

The sewing of the pattern went well, and I felt the muslin came out better than okay (though I was right quilter’s cotton isn’t the best choice as it’s too stiff, and a fabric with similar right and wrong sides is better for this pattern). The size I chose was perfect, and the only adjustments I will make will be to take in the sides slightly and to hem the top shorter. Jenny did a great job with the instructions, drawings, and photographs (though a few are a little hard to understand due to the photos being in black and white), and I learned a couple of new sewing tricks from her too. Despite always liking this top/dress pattern in the myriad of fabrics Jenny and others have used, I was a little reluctant to buy it as the cost was more than I wanted to spend on a single pattern. But I kicked myself for not buying it the first 2 times, thus couldn’t click the buy button fast enough the 3rd time. I have a feeling I’m going to make several of these tops and maybe even a dress, so I should probably invest in a roll of oak tag. I know my improved wardrobe will appreciate it.

It’s raining today…

Posted on by

but it doesn’t matter because the raincoat is finished!

Kids Clothing Week Challenge was the perfect excuse for me to stop procrastinating on hand sewing the raincoat lining to the exterior and just get it done. Of course once I started, it didn’t take me that long at all – maybe two hours – and I wondered why I had put it off for months. Don’t I say this about nearly every project I do?

When the Oliver + S school days jacket pattern came out 1.5 years ago, I fell in love with the raincoat versions made out of the new coated cotton laminates starting to enter the market. I had never thought about sewing a coat much less a raincoat, but once I saw the example raincoats I had to make one for Agnes. Unfortunately, the Anna Maria Horner laminates (which Liesl used in both the floral example raincoats) sold out almost as soon as they were stocked, then never went back into production. Luckily Anna Maria’s next line Little Folks also included some laminate options, and I bought enough yardage for Agnes’s raincoat immediately just in case the new fabrics went out of production as quickly as the old ones (which they didn’t – so many fabric stores still carry them).

The jacket pattern has a more difficult rating than the other Oliver + S patterns, but I found it really wasn’t hard at all. There are a lot of pieces (more than twice as many as most of the other patterns) and a lot of steps, but the sewing of the jacket isn’t complex. The laminate was a little tricky, as you have to be careful with keeping your pins within the seam allowance and you must use a walking foot on your machine, but the only part that was truly hard was sewing the hood onto the jacket without bunching up the lining or the exterior. In my case, third time was the charm as I used twice as many pins as before. Several girls in my sewing group can attest to the difficulty (and swears coming out of my mouth) with this step.

Of all the garments I’ve sewed, I’m probably in awe of this one the most. Sewing a raincoat sounds impressive, and the resulting coat looks impressive (I am trying to be modest here). I love how cute and colorful it is, and all the details like the pockets, the toggles with the leather cord loops, and the hood make it stand out from anything you could buy. I purposely made the raincoat in a larger size when I began it in the Fall, as I didn’t know how long it would take me to sew. Agnes is now a very tall 3 year old, and the 3T size is still a little big on her. I’m glad she’ll be able to wear it for at least the next year and maybe longer if I’m lucky.

I shot all these photos last night before it started raining. Agnes loved wearing the coat so much, she didn’t want to take it off for dinner. I hope today’s rain will help get the raincoat wearing out of her system, or else I’m going to have to come up with some good reasons why you can’t wear a raincoat to bed.

The Pink Version

Posted on by

I had so much fun making the hopscotch knit dress, I decided to make another one the following day for KCWC, and I rarely sew the same thing twice in a row. I needed more knit fabric and wanted to try out Liesl Gibson’s interlock, so Agnes and I took a trip to my local fabric store (which is only 2 miles down the road – how am I so lucky?). I told her she could pick out the fabric. Big mistake. She only wanted pink. I tried to steer her to the blue or orange polka dots, but her answer was always pink. Ohhhhhkaaaaaay.

The dress was even easier to sew the second time around, and I cut out the notches correctly too. For fun I added a lettuce hem to the sleeves and skirt edge using Liesl’s tutorial for the sewing machine. I love learning new techniques, and it’s even better when they turn out to be easy. Poor Ely, I don’t think he is going to end up with any clothes by the end of Sunday and KCWC. I’m having too much fun with simple girl things right now.

Sewing as Cure For Broken Heartedness

Posted on by

I’ve been really sad for the past week. I was already down about the tornadoes and the flooding in West Tennessee (and Arkansas and the Midwest), and then my friend’s husband died suddenly. He was 39 years old. Two weeks ago she was planning out the details of his big birthday trip at the end of the month, and this week she wrote and gave his eulogy. I still cannot believe he is gone.

You know those cliches about death and loss putting your life in perspective, and about how you appreciate and love your family more? Well, they are cliches because they are true. Very little about my day to day life has bothered me in the past 8 days. Late bus, tantrum-y kids, hot and humid weather – whatever. The 13 year cicada plague is here now, and I don’t even care that much.

Today, I was in an especially bad funk. Once I got home from work, I decided I needed some sewing therapy. Maybe whipping out a dress for Agnes would put me in a better mood. It did help a little. Actually, it helped a lot. Sewing was a good distraction, and I needed a good distraction.

I had never sewn with knits before, but once I got my ziz-zag stitch to be the right length it went swimmingly on my sewing machine. This dress didn’t even take that long to sew, and I am the slowest sewer on earth. If I had had a serger, I might have been able to finish this whole dress in an hour or two. I’m not sure I’ll be in a better mood tomorrow, but I do know that seeing my little girl with her curls in a new momma-made dress will put a smile on my face. Right now I need all the small happy things I can get.

Speaking of sewing as therapy, has anyone ever made something for a family following a death? I was thinking about making a quilt for my friend and her two young children. I thought they could use something soft made with love to surround them and keep them warm right now.

Spring Kids Clothing Week Challenge

Posted on by

I haven’t sewn for my kids in a while, so next week’s kids clothing week challenge is just the kick in the butt I need. I participated last Fall, and it was awesome to end 7 days of sewing for one hour a day with some new momma-made clothes for my children.

Here is what I’m going to work on during the challenge:

  • finish Agnes’s raincoat – for months now all I need to do is slip stitch the lining hem to the exterior
  • make the hopscotch dress (or shirt if I don’t have enough fabric) for Agnes – this will be my first time to machine sew with knits and I’m excited to use this fantastic fabric I bought in Missoula, MT over the Summer
  • oilcloth aprons for both children – I just got Little Things to Sew (my mother’s day gift to myself) and I’m considering using the bias trimmed apron pattern – I need to buy some boyish looking oilcloth/coated cotton for Ely’s apron
  • make some lazy days skirts – I can use up a lot of 1/2 yards of fabric this way

Of course everything I want to make is an Oliver + S pattern, no surprise there. I’m sure I won’t get to half the items on the list, but a few items of clothing sewn are better than none. Maybe I’ll be really smart and cut out all the pattern pieces this week.

The Potholders

Posted on by

Now that everyone has received their potholders in person, I can reveal a few more photos.

This was such a fun collaborative project to do with the kids – they loved choosing their little pieces of fabric, and I loved how their choices freed me from having to think. By the time we got to potholder number 5, they were done helping so I had to make it by myself – I still like how that one came out, but it doesn’t have the same spontaneity of the other four. Almost everything came from the scrap bin, and I figure if I make another hundred or so of these, my scrap bin might be cleaned out. I did mention something about wanting to sew for my home more…

Okay, I lied about the handmade holiday thing

Posted on by

The kids and I spent the morning making some improvisational patchwork and log cabin potholders a la Erin.* I sorted scraps into different piles, and they took turns picking pieces for me to sew together. They had fun “sewing”, I had fun sewing, and now we have a few more Christmas gifts.

*Yesterday the children played so well together all day long.  We were homebound – my car is at the shop, and won’t be out until tomorrow. Last year the dog needed a $500 surgery the week before Christmas; this year my car needs the $500 surgery the week of Christmas, but I’ll take a car repair over a beloved pet’s health crisis any day. Last night at the dinner table, I realized they didn’t ask to watch Blue’s Clues or Caillou on the computer once.  Instead the kids spent the whole day coming up with new playacting games – first it was baby turtles, then baby chickens, then baby worms in a worm house made of sofa cushions and blankets, then lastly it was Mary and Joseph with playsilks for headgear, our poor dog as the cow who needed to be constantly milked, and a plastic John Deere riding tractor as the donkey. The magic of yesterday was not as strong today, and after some bickering I realized we needed something fun, creative, and different to do. Thus the idea of the collaborative potholders and helping Mommy sew.

A (Student) Teacher Gift

Posted on by

Today is the last day my son’s student teacher will be in his classroom. It’s been so nice for everyone to have an extra person in the room helping and teaching the children, and she will be missed. Right after lunch and recess, they are going to have a special, secret going away party and present her with a gift. My son’s teacher asked everyone to help fill a tote bag with all kinds of supplies the student teacher might need next year in her first Kindergarten classroom.

I thought and thought about what she might need and about what I could make. Wandering around my local fabric store a few days ago, my eyes wandered to Kathy Mack’s Pink Chalk Studio pencil roll pattern and I realized that would be a great addition for the tote bag. Several years ago, I made Kathy’s original pencil roll from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, and I keep it right by my sewing table for sketching and coloring. My only complaint is that a pencil roll for 24 pencils is big, and I wanted a smaller one for just 12 pencils. I remembered that Kathy reworked the pattern and instructions when she published it as a Pink Chalk Studio pattern, and now you have the choice of a 12 or 24 pencil roll. Instead of figuring out the math on my own, I simply brought the new pattern home.

The new instructions, drawings, and hints made the pencil roll very easy to put together, and the smaller size also takes less time to piece and assemble. I was able to whip it out in one evening, which meant I had a whole day to photograph and make a tag for the pencil roll before having to send it to school. I was thrilled that a coveted Echino scrap was the perfect size for the exterior, and with my love for linen I chose a heavy linen for the pencil pocket. I kept the ties the same as the original pattern with two ribbons, instead of a single ribbon that wraps around a button to secure the roll closed. I love how the fuschia in the ribbon picks up the fuschia bird on the Echino fabric. And really – does anything look prettier than seeing all of those pencils lined up in their matching patchwork pockets?

I hope the student teacher will love and use her pencil roll as much as I do, and I also have a new go to gift for children or anyone else who might have a need for some colored pencils in a snazzy roll.

One Dress Down

Posted on by

It’s day 3 of KCWC and my Ice Cream Dress is finished, though it’s not even close to being something warm or cozy for Fall and Winter. This was not my favorite Oliver + S pattern. Maybe it was the fabric I used (linen), or maybe there were just too many stitching lines to cover with yokes and hems, but whatever the reason I’m just happy this is done. As long as I obey Erin’s 3 feet rule, it looks perfect and the big size should get Agnes through next Summer. If I make another one, I’ll probably go for the blouse version in a cotton lawn or voile.