KCWC: Day 4

Charlie’s dress, another version of Simplicity 4927.  I lied and put on sleeves anyway, which I think looks better with the ruffle down the front.  I’m not sure what the fabric is, some kind of shirting I think.  It was very thin, and puckered easily so I had to unpick and restitch both sleeves.  GOOD TIMES.

As I was pinking the seam on one of the armholes, I cut through the sleeve.  I was so mad I almost punched a kitten.  It was only 1” by 0.5” but it’s in the very front of the sleeve.  If you look closely, you can totally see it.  I made a quick patch by cutting out a rectangle of fabric and used some stitch witchery to glue it over the hole.  Whatevs.  A better person would’ve cut out a new sleeve, but that is not the way I roll.

I like the ruffle front (it looks crooked in the picture but it’s not, pinky swear) but I’m not sure if it’s too heavy for the dress.  The dress fabric is really thin.  It may hang weird when Charlie wears it — I’ll have to see.  I fussy cut the leftover fabric from this dress so that the red design would show down the front of the ruffle.  I really wanted to do a solid red or pink, but I didn’t have any in my stash.  So sad.

Not sure what I’ll be making for tomorrow’s challenge yet.  Maybe some t-shirts?  I had an idea for cutting up some of Thea’s baby tees to use as the gusset on more monkey pants, but we’ll see if I can find where I stored her stuff — I may have to dig through a lot of boxes.

KCWC: Day 3

Whew, what a day.  Marissa turned 13 (OMG!), I had a dentist appointment, went grocery shopping, and completed day 3 of the challenge.  Today I made a dress for Phoebe which I really love.  I’m very happy with how the sleeves and facing turned out.

Pattern is Simplicity 4927.  I’ve made it before for Phoebe, but wasn’t very impressed.  I saw this entry, though, and decided to give the pattern another shot, this time with a little pizazz.

I used the leftover fabric from these jammie pants, and added the patch pockets from these shorts.  Originally I was going to go with an orange printed fabric for the pockets, but it looked too bright, so I used some green scraps I had.  The husband thought using a print on a print was a bad idea, but I like it.

The back facing caused me some grief — I ended up with an unsightly wrinkle on either side at the bottom of the opening, so I had to unpick and restitch.  Most of the time I’m too lazy to bother getting out the seam ripper, but the way it pulled in the back was nasty and had to be fixed.

The set-in sleeves on this dress are one of the main reasons why I have the pattern and haven’t really used it — I HATE set in sleeves with a fiery passion.  This tutorial helped, though.  I literally pinned the sleeves in front of my computer, looking at the tutorial pics the entire time.  Evidently, it worked.  I need to do them more often so I can get better but they’re SO damn time consuming, and I’m a very lazy seamstress.

So. KCWC day 3 down.  Planning another of these dresses for tomorrow for Charlie.  This time *without* sleeves, because did I mention that I’m lazy? Yup.

Thirteen

Thirteen years ago today, I gave birth to my oldest daughter. She made me a mother. She taught me what it means to walk around with my heart outside my body, and what it means to love someone more fiercely than I ever thought possible.

There are no rules to this mothering gig. I’ve made them up as I go, and I’ve learned a lot along the way. I’ve learned that sometimes kids will break your heart, and you’ll break theirs. I’ve learned that being their friend isn’t the most important thing, but you have to have honest, open communication and trust. I’ve learned that it’s not just about what I want for her, it’s about what she wants for herself. I’ve learned that we both still have a lot to learn and a long way to go, but that no matter what, we have plenty of love.



Happy birthday, darling daughter of mine.

KCWC: Day 2

Shorts for the middles.  Used super easy Simplicity 3743, and added patch pockets to both.  The pockets on the grey ones are a little high, so I need to be more careful if I add them to future shorts.  Or I may try these pockets instead.

I could’ve sewn more today, but we were working on sorting things for the move and impending yard sale.  OH THE HORROR.  The conclusion: we have way too much crap.

So, as much as I would’ve rather spent all day at my machine, I actually had to do something, you know.  A little more productive.  Boo.

KCWC: Day 1

Pleated Tunic tops from Heidi and Finn.  They’re a little more tunic-y than I was envisioning originally, but I fell in love with them once the girls put them on with leggings. 

I used some of the unbleached muslin from the bolt that I got for Mother’s Day (LOVE!).  I like that the tops are lightweight and airy, but they definitely look a little plain.  I may dye them and/or add some sort of freezer paper stencil later on. 

Pattern was very easy, it didn’t take me very long to put these together.  I think I may also shorten the length in the future to make tops that they can wear with shorts or skirts once it starts getting really hot.

Day one of the challenge down.  Hollah!