Tag: sewing

Tiger Sewing: Matching Outfits

On By iswimlikeafishIn sewingLeave a comment
Yellow, orange and blue spotted tiger stripped dress.

Unlike yarn, I have yet to become immune to fabric fumes and can still spend hours looking at different patterns. On the one hand, I still tend to buy fabric when I have a project in mind, on the other hand, it’s still very easy for me to want all the fabric and to impulsively buy some. Several months ago, I opted to make our daughter four cribsheets when Joann Fabrics was having a sale on nursery fabric. If I’m being honest, I actually purchased enough fabric to make five, but “accidentally” purchased a non-flannel fabric that I didn’t end up using. This means that I’ve had vibrant multi-colored tiger print cotton staring at me, waiting patiently to be transformed into something.

Then I found out my sister was pregnant with her second and everything snapped into place, that is after all why one stashes right? I knew I wanted to reuse an overall and dress pattern I put together recently, so I printed out the PDFs, cut out my desired sizes, and got to work! Since there was a little bit of fabric leftover, I threw together two scrunchies as well. I’m not sure if they’ll be used, but it was surprisingly easy to throw them together.

Yellow, orange and blue spotted tiger stripped overalls and two scrunchies.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself it’s that I start to lose interest in a project when the project requires a higher level of focus. In other words, when the end is in sight and all the final steps are small detail items. This used to happen with knitting projects, so I can only hope that as I become a better sewist I’ll dread the final steps less and less.

Some Ponyo Love

On By iswimlikeafishIn sewingLeave a comment
A pinafore dress patterned with Ponyo running on top of giant waves laying next to a pair of matching baby bloomers.

When we first found out we were pregnant, I enthusiastically purchased 3 yards of gender-neutral patterns from Spoonflower. A yard of firefighter fabric in their organic cotton knit, a yard of kiwi bird fabric in their organic sweet pea gauze and a yard of Ponyo Fabric in petal signature cotton. Then, I enthusiastically set off to find gender-neutral patterns to work each of the fabrics up in.

For the firefighter fabric, I made a pair of easy-knit overalls. The kiwi bird fabric became a bubble romper. Ponyo, however, sat staring at me for months because I couldn’t find a gender-neutral pattern that fit what I wanted to make with it. There isn’t a good reason as to why, but for some reason, all I wanted to do was make a Flutter Pinafore Dress out of the material. Honestly, it wasn’t even that the dress had ruffles (especially when you consider that I didn’t even add ruffles!). Something about the fabric just screamed to me that it wanted to be a dress and not overalls or a romper.

So I sat on it, occasionally taking the adorable fabric out from time to time to see if I could find a pattern that excited me as much as the Flutter Pinafore Dress. Trying to decide if I should cut my losses and make the dress for a friend or if I should compromise and convert the dress into a romper. In the end, I spent a lot of time knitting and sewing other things. Allowing my mind to forget about Ponyo until about a week ago when I started to have enough energy to start thinking about being creative.

The back view of a pinafore dress patterned with Ponyo running on top of giant waves laying next to a pair of matching baby bloomers.

I would be lying if I said that the Flutter Pinafore Dress was not enthusiastically printed and taped together. Due to looking for alternative patterns for so long, the Ponyo fabric was going to become this little dress no matter what, it was just a matter of who was I going to make it for (and I was sort of hoping to keep this one).

Monica Bacon is a fantastic pattern writer for beginners because each step shows an image of what you’re meant to do. In true Paige fashion, I hated gathering the skirt but am happy with how it came out. The only thing I would do differently would be the addition of the elastic on the back of the dress. For starters, using 1/4 in was too small to synch the back completely (but I had so much of it leftover from making crib sheets that I couldn’t help but commit). The other thing I would do differently would be to thread the elastic through the back instead of attaching it before sewing around the waist (which is what the pattern called for). In my mind, I would have less sewing to do and less ends to clip, but in the end, attaching the elastic early lead to a finicky five minutes. I also added a decorative star stitch to the bottom of the skirt, which would have looked even cuter if I had considered the color of starfish instead of using white thread (but hey it’s still cute!).

I love this little dress and wish I had the skill set required to convert it into adult size.

Ballerina Crossover Pinafore

On By iswimlikeafishIn patterns, sewingLeave a comment
A size 6 month pinafore dress with a repeating ballerina pattern laying next to a pair of matching baby bloomers.

A few times a year, not specifically in honor of the new year, I sit down with my fiber and fabric stashes and look through them. Am I still inspired by the materials in each stash? Do I still see myself working with them? Fabric and yarn are meant to be used and enjoyed, if I am no longer the person doing those things I like to think that I’m releasing them to find the person who will. While going through my fabric stash this time around, I stumbled on the half a yardish of fabric that I used to make my first Cleo Skirt.

Honestly, I forgot about this fabric and how much I enjoyed working with it the first time (which is why I like to sit with my stash from time to time). Occasionally, I rediscover leftover fabric (or yarn) and let it go because I don’t see myself making something out of it a second time. Sometimes because I didn’t enjoy working with the material the first time, others because I’m happy having made the one thing. Even knowing that the fabric can get a little wrinkly when worn, I instantly knew it needed to be a crossover pinafore. The frog one I made a few weeks ago came out super cute and I can’t help but smile at the idea my own little girl with little ballerinas on her. Combine that with by the time she’s 6-12 months the weather will be warmer and I couldn’t cut the fabric fast enough.

Back view of a size 6 month pinafore dress with a repeating ballerina pattern laying next to a pair of matching baby bloomers.

My straps came out better than the first time I made this pattern, but honestly, they’re still not perfect. As with the first one (we didn’t know we were having a girl, so I’m thrilled that she’ll be rocking the little frogs instead of it going straight to a friend), I used some leftover black fabric to make the linning and had just enough fabric left over to squeeze out a pair of bloomers.

Strap skills aside, this is still a pattern I can see myself reaching for time and time again. The fabric requirements are low and the total time from start to finish is so fast! Even if our little one doesn’t end up wearing a pinafore every day this summer, it’s definitely become a staple baby shower gift.

Hippo Baby Bunting

On By iswimlikeafishIn UncategorizedLeave a comment
Pattern envelope for Simplicity 9215 showing a baby in a fleece bunting.

While I spend more of my time knitting than sewing, it’s safe to say that I tend to reach for both with a mentality of either “this will be fun” or “I could make that”. While perusing baby patterns last fall, I stumbled across Simplity 9215 which offers the sewist the ability to transform fleece fabric into a jacket, pair of pants or baby bunting. Combine that with Joann Fabrics having a sale on fleece during the upcoming weekend and it felt meant to be.

Now, the pattern envelope claims that this is an easy project. Having just curned out a wonky looking baby bunting I think it’s safe to say that the pattern pieces were finicky and the instructions left a lot to be wanting. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the indie patterns I’ve been working with or perhaps I’m simply not in a place where I can picture how what I’m about to do will translate into the finished garment. Either way, I will aknowledge that my beginner sewing status played a role in the wonkiness of the finished garment as well.

For starters, the zipper is one of the first items that you sew on rather than the middle or last steps as I’ve previously worked. This is tricky because the instructions have you working with the front and back piece without the extentions in one step and then add in the extension in the following step. Honestly, it would have been easier to either attach everything together and to attach the zipper after sewing the shoulder seams and inserting the sleeves. In the end, I skipped the extensions (I’m still unsure how they fit together with the final grament, which is ok because I opted for a contrasting zipper on purpose) and was able to manuver my sewing machine around the extra bulk caused by installing the zipper so early. Also, my 14 inches zipper was a little smaller than the length of the body, I should have opted for 17-20 inches.

Another modification to the instructions I would have made (and highly recommend) is sewing the toe piece to the front before attaching the front pieces to anything. The area you’re manipulating is so tiny that any reduction in bulk is going to make it easier. Then, while I would like to think I could try pinning the bottom of the foot in such a way that I could sew around the foot and then up the side seam, the reality is that the bottom of the foot really can’t be attached until both leg seams are completed. So this step would indeed need to wait until closer to the end.

Finally, I couldn’t wrap my head around how to attach the mittens to the sleeves in a way that would make them usable. Now that the project is over, I think I would be able to if I were to rework the pattern? The directions here left a lot to be desired, but I’ll chalk this one up to being a newbie.

Would I make S9215 again? Perhaps in a larger size than 0-3 so that the manuvers are easier to make, but I also don’t see myself making this as a gift for anyone until I’m a little better at sewing. Luckily our little one will be small enough that the sizing won’t really matter (the feet in particular didn’t work out quite right). All in all, happy that I worked through the pattern (I learned a lot!), but a little bummed that one foot is smaller than the other and the larger foot is a weird shape.

A hooded baby bunting made of fleece with a hippo pattern on it.

Firefighter Knit Overalls

On By iswimlikeafishIn patterns, sewingLeave a comment

A while ago now, I stumbled across a firefighter-inspired print on Spoonflower and purchased a yard of it in their organic cotton knit. The theory behind this purchase was twofold: it’s a super cute pattern to make something for a baby and it would give me the chance to work with their organic cotton knit without committing to an adult size project.

Sewing with this fabric is like sewing with butter. Seriously, there were parts of this project that were 4-5 layers thick and my machine didn’t even skip a beat. Plus, it’s softer than I was expecting and one can’t help but imagine a pair of pajamas or an everyday dress being made with a different print.

In terms of choosing a pattern for the fabric, I knew that I wanted something on the gender-neutral side. As much as I love the Germanium Pattern as a dress workhorse, even using the sunsuit hack limits the sewist to a more feminine garment. Not that baby cares! Let’s be honest, baby will wear anything that you dress them in at this stage of the game. It’s really the parents that you’re sewing for at this stage of the game and, even though my husband and I are the parents for this one, I really wanted to add another workhorse pattern to my arsenal.

I don’t remember how exactly I stumbled upon OhMeOhMySewing Patterns, perhaps a Pinterest search for baby sewing patterns put them on my radar? While they have many patterns that have quickly earned an “ohh I want to make that someday”, I knew I found the pattern I was looking for when I saw their Knit Overalls Pattern. Cute little pocket on the front, the ability to choose between snap or button closures… it was perfect for filling the hole in my pattern collection. I also love that it goes up to a size 5 years!

Initially, I meant to sew the 9-12 month version in pants because it’s going to be chilly by the time our little one can wear that size, but I wasn’t paying attention when selecting pattern pieces to cut out and ended up cutting out the front and back pieces for the shorts instead of the pants. Completely my fault and not a reflection of the pattern.

All in all, these little overalls came together super quickly and I’m thrilled with the final result. I may modify the bottom closure next time in order to incorporate snaps for easier diaper changes, but otherwise, the only change to the pattern I made this time around was to add topstitching to the top edging in order to help the lining stay in place after washing.

Having sewn the pattern using a knit fabric, I’m confident that the shorts version of this pattern could also be used when working with woven fabric (and you could probably lengthen the legs to turn them into a pants version). That being said, if you’re someone who works more with wovens than knits, OhMeOhMy also has a Woven Overall Pattern.

In case you were wondering, I’m already jonesing to make this one again. Perhaps another shorts version for my niece’s upcoming birthday?

Toddler sized overalls with yellow buttons and a firefighter pattern printed on them that includes hoses, fire extinguishers, hats, boots, axes and fire hydrants.