Two little pirates

I have been busy sewing even though I have not been blogging about it.  Over my spring break from my school my kids decided that they really like to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney in the mornings.  Seeing as the only dress up clothing we had was princess dresses and my son wanted to try dressing up too but can not get the dresses on himself, I decided that I wanted to make my kids pirate costumes.  I found a tutorial on Made for pirate vests.  (sorry I don't know how I could link to the blog or the tutorial).  The hats and the headband type thing I kinda winged.  My daughter let me measure her head circumference and I guessed on how to make the hats.  The kids like them but they can only really wear them sideways.  The costumes were made with felt and some quilting cotton fabric that I made bias tape from. These costumes have gotten a lot of use in the past few weeks.

Both costumes on the kitchen table.

My son modeling his costume.  He refuses to wear pants over his diaper when we are at home.

My daughter was very excited to wake up from her nap and find her costume made!

Jeans!!!

I bought the Jalie 2908 pattern and some stretch denim last July shortly after I decided to start sewing because of all the great reviews I saw on pattern review.  I then became intimidated by the idea of making any kind of pants because I figured that pants would have lots of fit issues.  I stumbled across the pattern in my stash while looking for something or other and decided it was time to just try.  The only thing I changed was to lengthen the pattern by about an inch.

Front.

Back.

Side.

Top stitching on inseam.

Pocket details.

When I make the pattern again I will probably add a little space to the waist band and the area right below the waist band since I apparently have the same measurement around from the widest part of my hips up to my belly button and if you define the waist as the smallest part around that is up by my ribs.  The waistband of these jeans are a tight fit but there is some weird pulling on the fly that I think would be resolved by a little more space in that area.  I like the jeans and they actually fit better than any pair I have owned since having my kids.  I better make more soon because I may end up wearing them everyday.

Two dresses

I was able to load up the kids and make a 4 hour drive to see my younger sister and her children this past weekend for her youngest daughter's 2nd birthday.  The kids all had a blast swimming in the hotel pool and playing together.  I had made both of my sisters purses for Christmas that were reversible.  I based the purses on  a pattern in a book I have called One Yard Wonders.

The outsides,

and the insides.

Both of my sisters prefer for their accessories to be in neutral colors but I figured I could make the inside (or it can be the outside if they want) something fun that reflected their personalities.

My sister has been requesting for me to make her a dress ever since she saw the first dress I made for my self about a year ago now.  It took her until a few weeks ago to get her to tell me her measurements so I actually could make something for her.  Her dress made from a tutorial I saw about a year ago for an infinity dress and I can no longer figure out where I found the tutorial.

The dress being modeled by my duct tape dress form Darla.

The dress being modeled by my sister with her oldest daughter.

Since we went up to see my sister and her family for my niece's birthday we had to bring a gift and I had no desire to take both of my children shopping with me so I choose to make the birthday girl a dress.  I cut out  rectangles and parallelograms and sewed them together and shirred it hoping it would work out the way I wanted it to.  Luckily it turned out well.

She loved it.  My sister told me when she opened it that the birthday girl loves getting new clothes and shoes so it was the perfect present for her.  I also know that it will fit her for a few years to come because I tried it on my almost 4 year old to see if it would fit her.  We had a great time visiting and it was fun to sew for someone else for a little change now I think I will go back to sewing for myself for a while.

beige pencil skirt

I made a skirt from McCalls 5523.  I used view A.  I like how it turned out.  I used and invisible zipper instead of the directions that the pattern called for.  I also lined it using information I found on patternreview.com.  It is hard to get pictures taken lately because my husband has started his new job and is on the road traveling for the last few weeks and won't be home for a few more weeks.  Luckily I was able to find the digital camera and set the timer and set it on the table.

Front view.  Do the boots go well with the skirt?

Side View.

Back view.

Inside back facing and the lining.  

Lining of the invisible zip.

Busy

I have been busy with family stuff but I have still been sewing.  The things I have been sewing lately are for my sister so I can't show them yet but I will see her next weekend and I hope to take pictures of her wearing the dress that I made her.  Back to sewing I go!

Orange shirt

I made an orange shirt using the JJ pattern on burdastyle.com.  I like how it turned out but I wish I could figure out how the sleeve slit thing was supposed to go together because I know mine did not turn out right.  They look all wonky to me and were confusing to even try to put together.  I think I will have to try this pattern again especially since my husband somehow spilled candle wax on the fabric after it was cut and I didn't know about it until I was ironing and it melted into the fabric.

You can see the melted candle wax on the front to the side in between the 2nd and 3rd buttons from the bottom.  

The fit seems to be good except that it is flaring out in front under the bust and I am not sure how I could fix that.

The fit from the back.  I know there are wrinkles in the small of my back so maybe I need a sway back alteration but I am not sure how I would go about doing that with this pattern.

1st Burda Magazine Pattern

I made my first pattern from a Burda Style Magazine.  It was the 116 skirt from the September 2010 issue.  I still find it amazing that a pattern page that looks so jumbled combined with a pile of fabric and a (very) little bit of clothing sewing knowledge can turn into something that can actually be worn.  

Picture of the before. Includes the magazine and the pattern page and the pile of fabric that I used to make the skirt.

I know I don't take the best pictures because usually I can not find the camera and just end up taking pictures with my phone.

Picture of the front of the skirt to see the details made by the interesting seaming.

Picture of the back vent.

Picture of the back vent opened to show the lining.

Picture of the zipper insertion.  This was my first invisible zipper that I have used and I was surprised to find out how easy it was to do.

A picture of the invisible zipper open.

The skirt inside out to show the lining. I know it is very creased and as hard as I tried I just could not get the creases to iron out!!! It was driving me nuts and is why this fabric was used for the lining instead of something else.

Picture of the fit from the front.  Please excuse the tank.  No this is not what I will wear it with but I was excited to take a picture of the skirt because I have been wanting to make a pencil skirt for a long time now and didn't want to have to find a shirt to style it with.

Picture of the fit from the side.

Picture of the fit from the back.  

I am sure that others may be able to find fit issues but over all I am pleased with how the skirt fit.  I am sure that I will be making more pencil skirts in the future.