Me, Myself and I

Since I started sewing a little over 3 years ago, I have rarely, if ever, made anything for myself.  I've made tons of clothes for E and her little friends, but for some reason, I've always been too intimidated to make clothes for myself.  It's actually a bit silly when you think about it.  I'm not a petite woman by any stretch, and I have a difficult time finding clothes that fit me properly, especially across my bust, so you would think that the first thing I'd make would be my own clothes!  I finally decided that it was about time I got over this particular hangup and set out to make myself a summer wardrobe.

I started out with some simple A-line skirts.  Using the guidelines from Sew What! Skirts (a fabulous resource - I highly recommend it), I drafted a simple pattern and made 2 skirts with side zippers.  The first one is a bottomweight cotton print.

[I normally despise posting pictures of myself, but I realized that it's hard to get a sense of how these items look unless they are on, so bear with me and excuse the filthy bathroom mirror. :p]

Have I mentioned that this was also my first time putting a zipper in a garment?  It was way easier that I expected!  I don't know what I've been waiting for.  The second one is similar, but not quite done yet, so I'll post it when I get around to finishing it up.

 

It's impossible to get through a Texas summer without spending a lot of time at the pool or sprayground (for all you Northerners, it's basically a park or playground with water features for the kids to play in).  And even with a generous coat of sunblock, it's hard to keep from getting burned.  So inspired by a caftan my friend Valerie picked up while in Miami, I decided to try and make my own caftan-style swim cover-up.  It's basically a giant rectangle of printed cotton gauze that I sewed into an oversize "T" shape and then added a casing and ribbon drawstring.  I rolled all the edges too, mostly out of laziness. ;)

  

I do wish that the shape of it was a little more flattering on my body, but it serves its purpose well.  The bonus of using gauze is that it's super lightweight, so even if it gets wet, it dries very quickly.

 

Last, but not least, I made my very first top!  It's Kwik Sew 3610, in case you're wondering.  I always used to see tops like this in the store, but could never find one that fit me properly, particularly over the bustline. 

 

This was also my first time working with this kind of shiny, silky fabric, and I have to say, I did not enjoy that part at all.  It was extremely difficult to keep lined up while sewing (even with a billion pins), and it also did not hold pressed creases very well, if at all.  The pattern was otherwise super easy to make though, and I think I may try it again with a super lightweight cotton woven or knit instead.

Serge-a-licious!

Yesterday, with the aid of my handy new serger, I managed to whip up this little hoodie in just a couple hours!  It's the raglan tee pattern from Kwik Sew for Toddlers, an awesome pattern book that my brilliant friend, Jacki, turned me on to (it's also mentioned in this post).  If you're interested in learning to make clothes for your kid, I highly recommend it.  Don't be scared off by the horrifyingly dated outifts on the cover.  It's got very solid, basic garments that are easily adapted to your own style.

For this shirt, I traced and cut the raglan tee/sweatshirt pattern in 3T.  I didn't want to do cuffs or a waistband and my daughter has a long torso, so I lengthened the sleeves and bottom hem by a bit.  I also added a hood, partly because she is obsessed with hoodies, and also so I wouldn't have to make a neckband. ;)  For the hems, I serged the edges, turned them other and then top-stitched with a twin needle.  Easy peasy!

As you can see, she loved it and wanted to wear it immediately. 

It's a bit boxy, so I may try making it a bit more fitted next time. I may even go down a size in the body and adjust the hem & sleeves accordingly.  I think the sleeves here are a little bit short, so I may end up adding a cuff there after all.  Also, the hood isn't nearly deep enough, so I'll definitely lengthen that next time too.  Not bad for a first try though! And it was way easier to make than I anticipated, so much so that I'm kicking myself for not trying it sooner!  I'll definitely be making more of these in the near future - next up is a zipped hoodie sweatshirt.  Then maybe some short-sleeved hoodies for spring, maybe even a dress or two.  Hoodie-mania!

Pants, pants, pants!

For a long time, I've been intimidated by the thought of making pants. Or bloomers. Or pretty much anything with a crotch. It mostly stems from the time I tried to make a little romper for E and the crotch turned out just awful. Weirdly misshapen, with a point in the back, almost like a deformed tail. I've avoided anything crotch-y ever since.

My uber-crafty and ultra-wise friend, Jacki, kept telling me how easy it really was and pestering me to try again and I finally decided to give it another go last weekend. She even traced a pattern for me and wrote out detailed directions. Of course, she was totally right (as usual). In fact, I knocked out these three pairs of flannel toddler pants in an afternoon! The sheep ones are for a friend's daughter. I also happened across a t-shirt I'd bought for either tie-dye or applique, but never used, so I put a little heart on that with the same sheep fabric as a bonus.

The owl pants are for E. She also picked some ladybug flannel out of my stash for another pair of pants, but I realized I needed to wash the fabric first, so I'll probably do those another time. I'm thinking these will mostly end up being pajama pants or just lounge-around-the-house pants, especially once the weather gets cooler.

And just in case you're wondering, the pattern is from the Kwik-Sew for Toddlers book, which I also got on strong recommendation from Jacki. It has really good, basic patterns for shirts, pants, etc., and they also give you instructions on how to alter the patterns to make them longer or shorter as needed. Perfect for my tall, skinny kid. So if you can look past the grotesquely dated fabrics on the cover, it's a really good book to have. I'm really eager to try and make some knit easy-pants and leggings next so I don't have to keep buying them from American Apparel!