Stylish Kids Patterns For 2013; My Big List

Are you getting ready for kids sewing this spring?

I am really excited about some of the fashion forward kids patterns available online.

I have a few pattern picks if you are planning on sewing kids clothes for the upcoming spring/ summer season which is just around the corner!

Girls sweatpants and tunic by Burdastyle

Girls knit pullover by Burdastyle

Boys leather jacket by Burdastyle

Leopard jacket and  boys skinny jeans by Burdastyle

Molly schoolgirl skirt and blouse by peek A Boo Patterns

Varsity cowl neck pullover by Peek A Boo patterns

Peter Pan dress

Knit jacket

Lucy Tunic by Shwin Designs

Go To Shift Dress by Go To Patterns

Button jumpsuit

Boys shorts and shirt by Burdastyle

Banyan by Figgy's Patterns

Sunki by Figgy's Patterns

Perfect Polo  by Blank Slate Patterns

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McCall's 6440 Black Slim Pants

McCall's 6440

I am now OK with these pants but that's only after  a lot of tweaking. First off I cut the pants in the recommended size 12 . I could see right off they were going to be baggy on me. They are probably more like a size 8 now. So if you are planning on making these, cut them in a smaller size.

The blouse I made a couple of years ago from some silk by Anna Sui. I still wear it a lot.

Simplicity 2599 from late 2010.

I placed a pair of stretch cargo woven pants I like on top of the pattern and traced around them onto the pattern. I ended up taking several inches off of the width of the legs, tapering them more.

Then I had to spend some time shaving down the length of the rise which was way too long and looked weird.

 It took a bit of work to get these pants to look similar to the envelope.

When I laid my good fitting pant leg on the cut out pattern I could see how much larger the cut out pants are.....

This is a great way to get an idea about how a pattern will fit before you even sew it up.

The good thing about this pattern is there are extensive instructions inside for how to adjust the fit of pants and I learned about lovely things like crotch rises (ick... ) and butt fitting by studying the instructions written by Patty Palmer, the author of  a well known fitting book Fit For Real People.

The pants have a really high waistline. Although high waist lines are coming back in fashion I feel like this is just too high. What do you think? Maybe I will get used to it. 

There are some wrinkles in the rise but they were much worse before. If you get wrinkles across the front of your pants it means you need to let out the seam in the middle. And if the rise goes down too low you need to scoop out the bottom part of the rise. Pants fitting is very complicated but I think I am getting the hang of it. There is a lot to learn and there are some ladies on the Pattern review boards who are real experts. I have always been lazy about making pants and stuck to easy thing for myself, like skirts and dresses.

But this is my year to challenge myself more.

Here is a link about fitting pants with a rise that hangs too low. 

Notice how I have gingerly avoided using the word crotch. I just hate that word! 

Now here is the bad part. I sort of hate these seams going up the back of the legs. So 90's! Although having the seam going up the middle makes the pants easier to fit around the derriere and hips, I think it looks ugly.

Yes, I am brave to show a picture of my behind like this, but I love my readers so much I want them to know the good, the bad, and the ugly about every project!

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McCall's 6650 Silk bowtie neck blouse

McCall's 6650

A tie neck sleeveless blouse I made in a silk charmeuse print.

Total cost: About seven dollars.

A black background with brownish feathers on it that I found in the garment district for an astonishing five dollars a yard.

I still have 21/2 yards left and am syill deciding what I will use it for.

This tops looks great under my black Chanel style boucle coat.

 This is a very easy pattern to sew together and I made it in a size 10 instead of the recommended size 12. I usually make most patterns one to two sizes than recommended for my size for them to fit how I like.

I have been wanting a bow tie blouse since last season and this sleeveless version is casual but can be dressed up with a jacket over it.

I'm actually taking this top apart and removing a little length from the bottom from and tightening up the pleats on the band after seeing these photos.

Then it should be perfect.

I would definitely make this again and since I bought this at the Joann 99 cent pattern sale it was a great bargain!

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Sew & Tell Saturday

WELCOME TO SEW & TELL SATURDAY!

I'm trying something new here and I'd love to hear your input.
Since this is a small party and it's a lot of work to put up a linky party every week, I thought I might leave up the linky party for the whole month.
For instance I will post it every Saturday, and leave it up for the weekend since I don't blog on the weekends. I'm trying to balance my life a little better.
Your posts from the week or weeks before will stay up all month and when you add a new link I have the photos ordered so the latest link shows up at the top instead of the bottom.

That way when you stop by you can take your time going through the projects.
And more readers who are just stopping by will see your posts too.

I will do my featured linked projects once a month on the first week.
I hope I'm not being confusing!
What do you think ?

Rules:

Please only link sewing and handmade fashion projects. As much as I love to do crafts myself, I like to keep the focus on fashion for this party. 

Link from your blog post.

Please give a link back, either a text link in your post or you can copy my button html below and place it in your post, your sidebar, or your party page to let your readers know so they can come and join in too!

Don't forget to paste my button on your party page or post! Or you can jjust do a text link if your don't like buttons.

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Jeggings and turtleneck

I was going to share this feather print silk bowtie blouse blouse I made for myself, but I had a rough day dealing with tween drama and was not photo ready..... Plus it was raining. Come back on Monday!

However, I did finish these jeggings and striped turtleneck outfit I had left unfinished for weeks for Gigi.
It's not very exciting but kids also need basics like this, right? Right.
Just an every day, run of the mill basic outfit.
OK , enough excuses....

The cool thing is that most of Gigi's clothes are handmade now. She wears something I made almost everyday and it's so fun to hear people compliment her clothes that I made.

I want to always say, "I made it!" but I try not to because that can feel like you are a little awkward when a stranger says, "What a cute dress!" at the grocery store and I say "Thanks, I made it!"

I drafted the top but sort of messed up and slashed and opened the pattern too much. So I added a band to the bottom which makes Gigi look a little floppy. I flared the sleeves and added elastic to them.

The pants are a test pattern I sewed for Andrea from Go To Patterns. They are big in the crotch and I will have to shave the pattern down in tha department when I make another version and I will becuase this pattern is really great for kids and has a lot of cute variations and pattern pieces that come with the pattern. I like that they don't have side seams.

That little girl of mine can pose can't she? She was adamant about doing her own poses but somehow I thought most of them were a little too cheesy to be blogworthy but his one is OK . I think...

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Painted & Vintage Wallpaper Mod Podged Wood Cubbies

A little white paint and some vintage wallpaper took my cubbies from ho hum to happy!

Recently I wrote a post about how I got a new decorating book called Homespun Style and how I was inspired to add more color and more handmade punch to my home decor. 

I have been trying to fix up the house and have these old wooden cubbies that the homeowner before us left behind. About twelve in all of from the Pottery Barn. These wooden cubbies are great for storage, especially in kids' and craft rooms, but the brown stain on them was not doing anything for me, or Lily who has had them in her room for a few years now.

 I have been meaning to paint them for quite awhile....actually since I inherited them!

I don't know why I put this off for so long as it was really easy to do.

I used my electric sander to rough up the finish, then painted the units with two coats of Glass Of Milk paint by Martha Stewart.

I had some vintage wallpaper samples I bought on E Bay that were just perfect to apply to these cubbies.

I glued them on with Mod Podge and brushed a coat of it on top to seal the wallpaper.

I love it!

Well.... Operation Homespun Chic is well underway and I will be posting projects as I go!

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Sewing For Men: A Neglected Subject

A rambling story on the subject of sewing for men, finding a decent pea coat pattern, and feeling guilty about not sewing for the guys in my life.......

So this past weekend was a bittersweet one for me as my husband and I dropped off our son at his new home for the next few years, UC Berkeley.

Dropping off Oliver.

We got him settled in and took him out for a nice sushi dinner and stayed in a nearby hotel. The Hotel Durant is a great place to stay if you are ever in Berkeley. I spent the evening tossing and turning and worrying that my son had forgotten about a million things. A random guilt provoking thought popped into my head that night as I tossed and turned. I had never sewn for him in the past few years since I started sewing clothing......or for my poor husband who pretty much pays for this passion. Did I mention I'm Catholic? We feel guilty about things a lot.

The next morning we had a farewell breakfast with Oliver and I steeled myself because I was taking my husband fabric shopping at Britex fabrics in San Francisco! I worried about him sighing heavily the whole time as I shopped for fabric....you probably know that feeling if you have ever taken someone fabric shopping who doesn't sew.

The boiled wool from Britex fabrics Richard picked out for his coat.

A very rustic looking coat it will be!

I had heard from lots of bloggers about how fabulous Britex Fabrics is and they weren't wrong.  For someone used to shopping in the Los Angeles garment district like myself and haggling with foreign shopkeepers to buy fabric,  this type of luxury retail fabric shopping was a new experience. There were clerks who actually wanted to help and knew where everything was and had knowledge about all of the fabrics, like where they came from.

My husband was with me and it was the first time he showed any interest in the whole business. Looking through the woolens sale, he found a wool fabric he fell in love with and we decided right then and there that I would make him a FABULOUS PEA COAT.
We walked out with three yards of boiled wool , some flannel backed coat lining and fifty dollars worth of beautiful English horn buttons to make him the pea coat he has always wanted.....

But as soon as I got home I started Googling mens sewing patterns and you know what? THEY STINK! I could not find one single pea coat pattern and I looked through ALL of the modern pattern companies , the big ones AND the smaller indie ones. Nada Zilch. Not even the historical pattern companies had a pattern for the traditional naval style pea coat as pictured below. I did find a seventies pattern, however, but ithe huge lapels and fit and flared shape weren't what Richard had in mind.......

Close but no cigar.....

He wants a classic, traditional pea coat. While Burda style seems to have hundreds of womens coat patterns, guess how many there are for men? Two!

This is the type of peacoat style my husband wants.

After searching for a couple of hours I ran across a blog written by a fellow who has been sewing his own classic and elegant clothes from a Japanese Pattern Book. His blog is called The Japanese Pattern Challenge.
I had to have that book he was using! I finally found one on E bay and can't wait for it to arrive from Japan. Here are a few shots of some of the style it has patterns for:

From the Mens Coat Making Book:

Pretty spiffy aren't they? Nothing fancy. Just traditional stylish mens clothes. Thank you Japanese Pattern book! Now I only have to wade my way through the Japanese intructions!

If you are interested in learning about some other blogs bymen who sew you can check out a few more I like.
Urbandon
Male Pattern Boldness.
That's a short list but I'd love to learn of a few more.
If any of you know of any others let me know.



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Sew & Tell Saturday

Welcome to Sew and Tell Saturday!

Where you can link up your sewing and handmade fashion posts and visit some other makers, too!

Every Saturday I will be posting this party and featuring three bloggers from the previous week's party.
I will probably be up north by the time you read this.
ONE OF MY CHICKS HAS FLOWN THE COOP!

We are taking my son to college.                                                            

His friends are at the house to say goodbye and so are my mom and dad.

His little  sisters are sad ....

But he will be back for Easter.

Well, everyone is waiting for me so I have to go!

Have a great weekend!

God bless.....

Rules:

• Please only link sewing and handmade fashion projects. As much as I love to do crafts myself, I like to keep the focus on fashion for this party.
• Link from you blog post.
• Please give a link back, either a text link in your post or you can copy my button html below and place it in your post, your sidebar, or your party page to let your readers know so they can come and join in too!

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Adding an elastic waist to an A line dress

I love to take a basic pattern and figure out how with a few changes I can jazz it up. This little striped dotted dress is the third redesign I've made from a very basic, a line dress pattern that came out of my One Yard Wonders fabric By Fabric book.

I'm sewing along with Project Run & Play this week. The challenge is mixing up stripes and dots. I had some of this quilting cotton lying around which was perfect for this week's challenge. 

Have you ever noticed how few patterns there are for little girls with elastic waistlines? Most patterns have a simple A line shape or are the classic dress with a fitted bodice with attached gathered skirt opening with a zipper or buttons.  I wanted to make a pull on dress with an elastic waist.  Just a simple everyday, comfy dress.

So I adapted a basic A line dress pattern.

I traced it and cut apart the pattern and added seam allowances to the areas I redesigned. Here is how I did it.

I started with a simple A line dress pattern. If you sew for girls you most likely have one of these lying around. It's funny how something that would look so frumpy on most grown ups can look so cute on a little kid. This type of dress is a great jumping off point for creating your own designs since it is really just a blank slate.

You have to trace the original pattern because you will be cutting it up and adding new seam allowances.

A photo above of the dress pattern,The Playday Frock, from One Yard Wonders. 

As you can see it's a simple easy to make dress with an A line shape perfect for beginners.

Here is another version I made from the same pattern. I added a double skirt and an elastic waist on this one.

This was the first version I made. I stuck close to the original pattern but added a ruffle to the front and a little hem band under the front skirt.

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