... and yet more sewing for children!

I had a very busy Easter with five days at home to sew, sew, and sew!  No doubt, my sister N, will be somewhat annoyed that most of the sewing was for the children - although I am pleased to report that I have actually made something for myself in the last week - and I even like it enough to wear out....

First up was a little jacket I made from a pattern in one of my many Japanese pattern books

I had initially intended to sew this out of a relatively expensive Echino fabric but the last Japanese pattern I used for Miss L did not last very long before she outgrew it.  So I made up a trial jacket just in case this too proved to be a little on the small side....

I liked the little flaps on the jacket and used my freezer paper technique to ensure they were both identical

Unfortunately, I probably should have made the next size up as this jacket is a "little bit tight" according to Miss L's mum.  Phew, at least I didn't waste the Echino fabric!

I also made another version of the Birthday Party dress from Oliver and S 

and another Ice-Cream top (also Oliver and S) for Miss L

I didn't like the instructions for how the yoke and lower back pieces were stitched together so I made an alteration to the pattern:

I made the lining and yoke piece as instructed resulting in two free edges at the centre back.  However, I then unpicked both pieces 15mm from the bottom edge and stitched the lining fabric pieces together and then the main fabric pieces together (as I have tried to demonstrate here)

  

This allowed me to treat the back yoke piece in the same way as the front and I sewed the lower back piece to the lining and then folded over and topstitched the yoke in place.  This left a much more professional looking and neater finish on the garment edge.

Another Oliver and S  design that I completed was the Puppet Show Shorts Pattern

I used a distressed looking quilting cotton and I think they look quite funky.  The pockets are gathered, have a band attached and and are stitched on the side

The Oliver and S patterns are a good fit for Miss L and certainly appear to be a better bet than the Japanese pattern books.   I like the Oliver and S style as it is a classic look and generally the patterns are well written and easy to follow.

There were also a couple of long-sleeve tops for Miss L:

 Ottobre 1/2012 number 16 with its ruffled sleeves (with the very original title

 of "Funny Sleeves")

From the creative workshop t-shirt pattern for kids

I used my binder on my coverstitch machine to apply both of the neck bindings and think they worked out pretty well

I used the creative workshop pattern to make one of the boys a long-sleeve shirt also.  The fabric and binding came from Dots N Stripes and I think these two work really well together

And, I used the Kung Fu pants pattern to make Master T some shorts 

back pocket details

I also whipped up a few items for Master A using a few of my favorite Ottobre patterns 

 It was fortuitous that I had a huge amount of this fabric as Master A has outgrown his "favorite" origin t-shirt and desperately wanted another!

This hideous interesting material has been in my stash for many years (what was I thinking?!?) but actually didn't look too bad made up into a little boys t-shirt.  And it has all those things that boys are made of (slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails...) or lots of other creepy crawlies...

This weekend I made a (little girl's) skirt out of material I found in my stash.  It is the Indigo skirt (number 18) from 01/2011.  I didn't need to buy a thing: the denim was a left over from another project; the zip and button were in my stash; the topstitching thread was a King Tut quilting thread from Superior threads; and the plaid was something I think I bought about 12 years ago to make myself some shorts! Luckily I never got around to it.

I used my embroidery module to do the back pockets

I have also been doing some knitting and, although I bought the wool in Berlin and started this at Christmas time, I didn't get around to finishing this jumper until about 2 months ago!  

There are no pictures of MY top yet but if I am brave I may actually take some photos and put them on the blog. 

I started a new quilt pattern which has a very retro feel to it - but in a good way - and I will show it when I have completed a little more of it.  However, I imagine that it will go on the back burner until later in the year because the first week in May is 'Sewing Week' where sister N will venture south and we will sew, sew and sew and wriggle with excitement at all the lovelies that we will create....

What have I been doing?

The last four months have not been devoid of craft activities.  I have made several items for the children that I usually sew for including a number of t-shirts for the boys:

All are Ottobre 3/2011 number 12

And two t-shirts for the bigger boys in Melbourne:

Another Ottobre basic made from the same dinosaur material I used above because I inadvertently bought it on two separate occasions from the internet site Dots N Stripes!

And a Kwik Sew 'Muscle' shirt that Master T requested for his Saturday morning family workouts

I have also made a couple of t-shirts for the girls:

This is the 'Rosalind' t-shirt (number 29) from Ottobre 3/2009 and the material is also from Dots N Stripes.  I finished the sleeves with a rolled hem and then used shirring elastic to make the gathers:

I made a second version using a very cheap remnant (with a sparkly sheen) and added the buttons to the neck edge like the original pattern:

I also made a pattern from a Japanese pattern book 

 I was able to use one of the sparkly buttons from Melbourne for the back closure.

For many of the t-shirts I used the binder on my coverstitch machine to get a nice ready-to-wear finish.

Apart from the knits I have also sewn a few shirts for the Melbourne boys

Both of these are number 21 from Ottobre 3/2009 which is my favourite shirt pattern for boys.  It ranges in size from 62-128cm so there is a size to fit just about every little lad.  It also only needs about a metre  of material and sews up in about 1-2 hours. I have made a number of these using 1 yard pieces from eQuilter.com in a variety of fun prints.

There have also been some dresses,

Oliver and S Birthday Party Dress

and tops,

Oliver and S Ice Cream Dress pattern

and a skirt with matching bloomers

 Skirt is Ottobre 6/2011 number 10

Bloomers are from Tea Party Sundress pattern

I also knitted a jersey for a little boy from the Noro wool I bought in Mendocino last year.  It was quick to knit up and knitting was a good evening activity while I was on holiday over the Christmas-New Year period

Obviously it won't be to everyone's liking but this variegated wool has really grown on me and I plan to get more (to inflict on the parents of little boys and girls... although I do provide an opportunity to opt out if the parents really don't think they could put their kids in this!)

Finally, a quilt for a friend who recently gave birth to a little girl.  My friend liked a duck-egg blue and brown color combination but the duck-egg blue is much harder to find than you would imagine.  The pattern is Sparkle Punch Quilt by Elizabeth Hartmann.  The instructions are on her website www.ohfransson.com 

I liked her zig-zag/lightning bolt pattern and did the same to quilt the top:

I used 4 different fabrics to make the back

These fabrics probably fit the color brief a little better than the fabrics used for the front and my friend could use either side, if desired.

I really like the Sparkle Punch Quilt pattern and think it would look fantastic in a range of brights, or perhaps some Kaffe Fassett fabrics for a more girlie look.   It is certainly a quilt pattern for all age groups.