Friday, February 25, 2011

Ottobre Raglan T-shirt 2/2005 / sewing pattern kwik sew

Raglan TShirt 2/2005
So the race is now on to make ds1 a stash of tshirts for summer as he doesn't have any that fit him. I unofficially vowed to make him his wardrobe this summer as 1. i love seeing things on him that I make 2. it's cheaper than even used sometimes, although I always acquire more stash fabric this way ;) which is still a bonus 3. I just want to see if I can do it. I think that this is do-able. I already know that he has enough shorts so he doesn't need any of those, although I am planning on making him at least one pair to match this shirt.

I did make this tshirt in size 98cm which is roughly a 4t (although ds is 3) but found it a little bit wide even for a 4t. If I were to make this one again I would use the 4t length but maybe go down a size or two in the width. I did love this pattern though. It went together nicely and effortlessly. Another great pattern from ottobre....geez....you'd think that I work for this because that all I sew from for the kids (LOL)

This shirt was done in a 98%cotton 3%lycra and I have to agree with a lot of other sewists on this one that I love the feel of the cotton with the lycra. It cost me $3.98 a yard and I used maybe a 1/4 of a yard (guessing though) So it cost say $1 to make which is a lot cheaper than $4-7 dollars of used tshirt that they want from our local consignment store. Yes, if you take into account the time factor well it's not really worth it but I love sewing, and it's an enjoyable hobby. Although I have to admit I also do it to save the family $$$ which is always an added bonus.

I also appliqued some prewashed lightweight linen that I will use to make ds1 some shorts in the near future (I already have pattern traced although might have to trace it in a smaller size). The applique turned out pretty well although I would strongly advise using a medium weight linen and not a lightweight as it frayed from the embroidery needle that I had to hand stitch anyways. I'm also not so happy with the location of the frog. I intended for it to be higher up on the tshirt but once again wasn't paying attention when I was hooping it (to busy trying to get it done well dh was watching the children) . Ah well, lesson learned. I did however learn that instead of using spray adhesive (which I despise now as it's all over my floor and counter and cutting mat-which is not coming out) I hoop a heavy weight cutaway then ironed on tearaway stabilizer to the back of the shirt and pinned it onto the hooped heavy weight cutaway. It worked perfectly which no offset stitching. I will definitely use this method again.

6015g6e_19
Onto my excite find of the month! I got over 120 vintage kwik sew patterns from kijiji today. There are also doubles of most of the patterns for each sizing grade. There were a lot of men's stuff in the lot which I was seriously lacking in my patterns. I really don't think that I will sew all of them but it's great to have around my sewing room, especially for birthdays and such. I picked up the whole lot for $40. Well worth it if I sew at least 4 outfits from them. Nowadays kwik sew patterns range in price but average is around $11 per pattern.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Jalie 2918 - DS1 Dino Shirt

Jalie 2918
Here's DS1's new shirt. He loves that I can go downstairs and whip him up a new shirt. He's only 3 and picked out the embroidery design, ribbing and shirt material. The shirt is made out of black interlock and organic cotton ribbing in green. It's coverstitched with orange which you can't really see in the picture but is a really nice contrast. He said to me the day that I made this, "ma, I need new shirt, go downstairs and make new shirt, pleaze!" I couldn't resist him he's a little angel when he wants to be.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Apron

P2160018
Here's a apron that I whipped up for my sister-in-law the other night. It's made out of a linen / cotton blend that I purchased from fabric.com. It cost $3.19 per yard. The whole apron probably cost less than $3 only because I didn't use quite a yard and I had flower print left over from another project. I'm not overly excited about this project. The one thing that I loved about this project was the embroidery design that I used, as it was just so cheerful.
P2140005
Currently I've been working on a shirt for ds1. He desperately needs some shirts and it's cheaper for me to make them. They want $4.00 for a used shirt at my local consignment store.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Burda 8501

Unfortunately, I had to rush DS1 to the hospital last night as he had a pvc pipe (from his minnie hockey net) in his mouth and fell on it. He turned out to be alright, no stitches required but it did leave a nasty gash both under his tongue and on his soft palette. He's on antibiotics to prevent infection and a fluid diet until it heals. Poor little guy! So, I wasn't able to complete my tunic yesterday but I did get it done today.

Burda 8501 Front (untied)
I did view A of the pattern in a lightweight linen that I got from fabric.com after Christmas when they had a huge sale. I love this shirt. Please pardon the right shoulder seam, as I have not pressed it yet and it's just not laying right because of it. It really doesn't look that puffy.

Here's the shirt tied up.

burda 8501 front (tied up)
I can't wait to be able to wear this. It's so freaking cold here right now, that I can't wait for Summer to come.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Sewing plan Update - Burda 8501

I started the Burda tunic pattern 8501 that was first on my list, last night. I decided to first make a muslin mostly because I didn't want to ruin the nice black linen that I wanted to use for it. I'm so glad that I did. I started out with a size 36, mostly because it was already pre-cut from the hugh lot of sewing patterns I got a few weeks ago, but also because I'm a C cup size and the description said that it was closely fitting. So I thought that I would be generous with the sizing. This was the result.


Photo on 2011-02-07 at 22.50 #2
Closely fitting? I don't think that describes this!

Photo on 2011-02-07 at 22.50
In RTW clothing I'm an xs-s in shirts, however I usually buy knits for shirting because of my "Fitting issues". I am very petite but have a large bustline (I'm not complaining) which makes it very difficult to fit clothes properly. I hardly make things for myself, mostly because I enjoy making things for the boys (hubby included) but this year I made a vow to make a few summer things for myself. I decided to take off I think about 1" from the front seamline and shorten the length by 1", which nicely moved in the bust dart to the exact location of where it should sit.
Funny thing was that I was surfing the net, to find other finished projects with this pattern and came across Burda 8516 here. This pattern is identical to the pattern that I am currently working on. The only difference is that they leave off the darts in the front and add elastic to the empire waistline. I was shocked to see something so similar but really shouldn't be.

Today I was able to get most of the shirt completed. I finished all the darts, shoulder seams and side seams. I still have to set in the sleeves, finish the neckline and hem. I really have to admit thought, that their directions for how to finish the neckline is very difficult to understand. I will figure it out, I will, I will , I will! But I still think that it's a foreign language yet to be discovered. Hopefully, I'll have completed it by tomorrow.


Thursday, February 3, 2011

Spring/Summer Sewing Plan

UPDATED: Feb 22/2010 **** Yesterday I found out I am pregnant again with our third child. So I will have to revise my sewing plan because well there really isn't a reason to make anything for myself until I know for certain how far along I am. I'm assuming that I will be like 6-7months along in the summer so I might need some tshirts and tanks but until I know for sure I'm postponing stuff for myself.

I haven't been sewing at all in recent weeks because I'm overwhelming myself with all the stuff that I want to accomplish but haven't. I haven't sewn very much for myself and thought that I should start only because I have never had anything properly. I have decided that I need to make a plan. Everything starts somewhere. Here we go!




1. Burda 8501 view A (Completed)
- Fabric: Black lightweight linen
- design details: white machine embroidery at bottom hemline


2. Vintage Simplicity 6615 view #2 (Shirt only)
- Fabric: Yellow linen
- design details: no sleeve cuffs, embroidery to neckline

3. Short (no idea what pattern or fabric)


4. Vogue V2907 View B
-Fabric: ?
-Design details:?



1. Ottobre Design Magazine 3/2009 #23
- Fabric: Olive green Lightweight linen
- Design details: frog at bottom left pant



2. Ottobre Raglan Tshirt 2/2005 #5 (Completed)
-fabric: blue with brown ribbing
- Design details: frog on shoulder


3. Ottobre Plaid pants 2/2003
- Fabric: Linen/cotton blend, brown plaid
- Design Details: add strip to interior seam at 3/4" and buttons to roll pants into shorts


4. Kwik Sew 3298 - Men's underwear (Completed)