Pajama Party

Thanks, Karen, for inviting us!

When Tasia released the Tofino pattern a few weeks ago, I put it in my cart immediately without a second thought.  Sewaholic?  Yes.  Pajama pants?  Hell, yes.  Ooh, a pajama party?  Sure, why not? I've got stash fabric just waiting to become pajamas!

In the mean time, my helpers and I went to the fabric store for flannel for new baby gift, and for their assistance, they demanded fabric of their own.  Considering all the selfish sewing I've been doing lately, who could resist such sweet smiles?  

Like all good pajama parties, we stayed up way too late watching terrible movies 

and eating popcorn in our jammies.

Three Ninjas Knuckle Up (truly a terrible movie) was on, and how better to celebrate new pajamas than with popcorn and ninja moves of our own? 

Popcorn!

All the ninja moves we need to know we learned from tv.

The Details:

E's racecar jammies:

Pattern: Simplicity 9499
Fabric: cotton flannel from Joann's
Notions: 1" elastic for waistband.

Notes:
These are the boy's size small, and are just about perfect. He is a tall and thin boys size 6. I put in a narrow hem 1/2" double turned hem, as I'd like them to still fit come Christmas time.  Also, the pattern calls for 1/2" elastic in the waistband, but I used 1" because that's what I had.  I sewed an X on the center front waistband so he can tell front from back.

I think this version is out of print, but this pattern looks to be the exact same one with a new number.   Weird.

B's Robot jammies:

Pattern: McCall's 4643
Fabric: cotton flannel from Joann's
Notions: 1" elastic for waistband

Notes:
I don't know how this happened, but I managed to lose both the pattern instructions for E's pants AND these.  Good lord. Not that I needed them for pants, but I sewed the robe in the pattern as the baby gift.  Luckily, I'd made it before as well, and could figure it out.  Also discovered you can download the instructions from printsew.com. It looks like this is also out of print, though.

Sizewise, he's three, and I sewed the 3, because who wants to wrestle with measuring a wriggly ninja? I ended up hemming them to size them based on a pair of his pants, and even then, they are too long.  Also, again with the X on the front of the waistband for marking.

My Um-I-think-they-might-be-leaves Jammies

Pattern: Sewaholic Tofino
Fabric: clearance quilting cotton from Joann's
Notions: 1" elastic-->I did this at 11pm

Notes: 
This pattern is awesome.  I'm considering these wearable muslins--I used quilting cotton that for some reason I was thinking was lawn, but as I started cutting it, realized it was not. *shrugs*
I omitted the piping due to time constraints, but did topstitch the front and back seams.  Which you can't tell at all, but at least I don't have floppy pajama seams.  I also used 1" elastic, and aesthetically, they really need 1.5" elastic. I ran by the store today for wider elastic, and my next (yep, I said next) pairS will be good to go.  These are a straight size 8, and fit pretty perfectly.  AND, I hemmed them to capri length.  It's like 100 degrees outside, and who wants sweaty ankles?

So, thanks again Karen for the party, and thanks Tasia for the great pattern.  When my husband sees Sewaholic on the bank statement, he can't help saying under his breath, 'Yes. Yes, she is.'

Me Made May: The Final Days

I've been lazy, and in all honesty, lovin' every minute of it. Summer comes, and some days, I don't even fix my hair.  This is the real joy of teaching.

Day 23: The Beginning of the End.  Burda Heidi dress in bright green Swiss dot.  This was my last day of work for the school year, and at this point in the day, I was ready to be out of those shoes.  Looking at this picture, I'm not sure I even like those shoes anymore.  

 Day 24: First day of vacation, can't be bothered with  pictures.  Wore the same Burda 3/4 sleeve shirt (previously pictured twice) with shorts. Maybe I put on shoes, who knows.

Day 25: More vacation laziness.  Again, not pictured, but as I wore the exact same outfit from last Saturday, I'm including it here, and we'll all just pretend.

Day 26: It is amazing how quickly you (I) can lose track of days of the week. Burda gathered raglan sleeve shirt, the short-sleeved version, plus crazy-old Old Navy shorts.  

Day 27: Yay!  I finished a project and can show you something other than my old ratty shorts!  New shorts!   These are the Maritime shorts by Grainline, made out of some cotton twill from my stash.  They look grayish in real life, too, but I swear it was described as 'distressed navy'.  Hmm.  I will blog these separately later; I do like them, although they may be a little on the shorty-short side.  I also may lower the crotch seam a smidge.  I have plans to make more of these in stretch twill.

Day 28, Day 29, Day 30?  I have no idea what happened.

Day 31: Pulling my self back up for a strong finish. Completed this week: another Simplicity 2215 skirt made out of gingham seersucker from stash.  I recently finished reading The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean, and I REALLY REALLY liked it (read: stayed up way too late reading until I finished it), but it did leave me feeling a little slouchy in my ratty shorts.  This fabric had been in my stash for awhile, and I think I really did intend to made a skirt when I purchased it, but just got sidetracked by other new, exciting projects instead.  This is not a very flattering picture, but it is tornado season here in the Midwest, and the humidity is wretched on hair.

What I've learned:

• My summer wardrobe is completely different from my work one.  If I were to do this next month, too, I'd need to get crackin' on shorts and t-shirts.  I do have two pairs of shorts and two new t-shirts planned, fabric pre-washed and ready to go.
• Wearing me-made clothes is not hard, and I've started thinking about how to re-work what I have to prevent orphans.  Pictures were hard, but also totally useful.  I 
• The crazy weather we've had this year helped out; I was able to wear the more winter-y clothes I had made, adding to the choice.  
• We got a lot of jeans days this month at work.  I am not yet ready to make my own jeans, but I am more frustrated by where RTW ones don't fit.  One of my resolutions for the year is to make a pair of pants, and I've got my pattern traced off, but it is on the back burner for summer sewing.  I think shorts count as a warm-up to pants, don't you?

Most of all, though, the whole experience was amazing!  I loved seeing what everyone else made and how they styled it, and I have so many ideas for future projects!  Everyone was so supportive.  My only regret is that I had a hard time keeping up with others' pictures, and I felt like I missed so many in the group.  There were a lot of beautiful pictures posted in the group, and I think next year my goal will include keeping up with group photos as well. 

So that's it, back to regularly scheduled blogging.  Maybe I'll have on shoes.

MMM Week 3: The one in which my Renfrew Obsession is Apparent

Whew!  This past week has felt like 3 whole months!  Thankfully I've got photographic evidence, because I don't think I could remember this on my own!

Wednesday: not pictured.  I wore a plain white bamboo knit short-sleeved Renfrew previously shown.  

Thursday, Day 16.  Repeat orange tencel Renfrew with Boden jeans skirt.  Not my classroom.

Friday, Day 17: Maria Denmark Day to Night drape top.  No joke, I downloaded this pattern earlier this week, but was finished with the shirt from cutting out to wearing way before bedtime on Thursday night.  New. Favorite. Shirt.  After finishing the coat, I NEEDED something quick and easy.

Saturday, Day 18: working in the yard.  Red Renfrew made out of Laguna stretch cotton.  I have a problem in that I don't order swatches, I just order a yard of a fabric.  If it doesn't work for what I'm planning, I figure I'll find another use later.  Which I realize is exactly how stashes are born, but honestly, I can't tell from swatches.  They're like carpet samples, which FYI, look two shades darker when they're covering the floor from wall to wall.  This fabric is amazing stuff, and I've since ordered more in different colors.  It's stretchy, but also thick enough to wear a lacy bra under it without outlining every seam.

Sunday, Day 19: Admitting you have a problem is the first step.  Short sleeve Renfrew, dinner out.  This one is an example of fabric that does not work with the pattern.  It is a light-weight slubby cotton that on its own is great, but not right here.  The waist band weighs it down, so I cut it off, but then the shirt borders on too short.  Also, I can only wear unadorned undergarments underneath.  It sucks, but sometimes this is how I learn best: jump in and make mistakes.  Which is a fine learning strategy for sewing, but not when learning how to drive.

Monday, Day 20: Modified Lisette Market blouse in cotton Swiss-dot.  I used the basic shell, redrafted a lower scooped neckline, and added a Peter Pan collar.  I also left off the sleeve bands, and hemmed the gathered sleeves to cap-length.  I added a small box pleat at the back of the neckline to take in some gaping, and it actually looks intentional.  You can't tell from this picture, but there is a small slit placket in the front joined by a small shell button.  This is a jump-in-and-figure-it-out success, but admittedly, really only gets worn with jeans.  Wearing this made me realize I need to come back to this pattern.

Wednesday, Day 22: Sassy Librarian blouse, made out of cotton lawn with vintage buttons from the stash.  I  added a small snap right at the neckline because the overlap drooped, and it drove me nuts, but I think that is only because I chose such a lightweight fabric.  Please excuse the hot wrinkled mess, I had just woken from a 45 minute couch nap when I remembered I needed a picture.

Week 3 Realizations:

• Still heavy on the tops, but I've actually possibly run out of unworn garments.  I'd considered making some skirts to round out my bottom garment selection, but since I only have one more day of work this school year (!!!!), I'm instead planning shorts. 
• I've deselected a couple of me-made garments from my closet when I wouldn't even consider wearing them.  One I contemplated remaking into something else, and it ended up not working for what I had in mind. I like the fabric though, so I'm still working on that. The other 2 items will be recycled into something else, possibly napkins.
• Wearing my own garments hasn't been hard, but getting photos every day has gotten harder.  I am officially less picky about the quality/photogenic-ness of said pictures.  Sorry.

Goals for the future:

• Recycle unloved garments
• Make shorts.
• Enjoy summer.

A Post of Its Own

So last week I posted this picture for Me Made May.  I wore it two days in a row, then Missouri weather hit, and we were in the 90's.  Did I stress?  No.  I know that the weather will swing the other way before too much longer, just as unpredictably as ever.  It took a couple of days to get some better pictures, and I still don't know if I've gotten them.  

The facts: 

Pattern: Sewaholic Robson trench

Fabric: 4 yards of 60" wide Organic cotton twill (similar fabric here)
Notions: medium weight interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply, 5 packages of Wright's 1/2" wide bias tape, 1 + 1/2 jumbo sized spools of Guterman thread, 16  7/8" buttons.
Time to complete: 3 weeks of sewing in 1-2 hour bursts
Total cost: about $37 for fabric, $18 for the pattern, $10 for buttons; maybe about $70?  That sounds steep, but if you're considering a trench coat, quick Google-fu reveals new ones run about $250; used about $130 on ebay.

The Details

First off, the pattern is well drafted, and everything fit together nicely.  I was a little stressed when I realized that it is rated an advanced pattern after I had ordered it, and honestly, I wouldn't considered myself any better than intermediate; some days even less than that.  What made it advanced?  I don't know.  It wasn't HARD, but rather intricate, in that each and every seam is bias bound and top-stitched.  That means 4 passes for each seam.  Wrangling all the heavy material once the shell was together was also tricky, but not hard.  Most of the mistakes I made were the result of lame decisions on my part: not marking the button/buttonhole placement until after it was put together, accidentally sewing a button through the middle of a pocket, deciding to buy more binding rather than piece together my remaining bits.

So, maybe I would rate it as intermediate-plus.  Not hard, but requiring endurance.

Also, I made a straight size 8, without making a muslin.  The numbers fit my measurements fairly well, and with other Sewaholic patterns, I've used an 8.  The style is a fitted trench, and I lucked out--it fits perfectly.

I used a cotton twill, which technically isn't waterproof.  I'm still trying to decide if I want/need to Scotchguard it.

What are your thoughts on Scotchguarding?  Yes? No?

I hate floppy facings, so to avoid future Botox, I slip-stitched the facing to the jacket.  Not that my stitching is in anyway less than perfection, but if it were the case, these stitches would hypothetically be covered by the back storm flap.

I strayed from the pattern directions here in order to avoid catching my ring/watch/random finger on any part of the sleeve hem that may stick up.  The top row of stitching on the bias binding is the only row of stitching that appears on the front of the sleeve.

I used a closely spaced zig-zag stitch to anchor the belt loops. A small child could probably hang from these with no problems.

Although the pattern calls for 3/4" buttons, I upgraded to 7/8" buttons because I liked them better.  I wasn't sure if the smaller buttons would look underwhelming.  Truthfully, I like big buttons and I cannot lie.


What I'd do differently next time: 


It will be awhile before I have time or hopefully need to make another trench coat again, but here's what I would do differently:

• not attach interfacing into the seam lines of the collar and or undercollar.  That is some thick seaming there, even though it is graded and trimmed.
• Cut the belt correctly.  Stupidly, in order to handle my fabric easily, I laid my pieces out and then cut it to a manageable size.  Which is dumb, but I don't have anywhere I can lay out 4 straight yards of super wide fabric for pinning and cutting.  I KNEW the belt had to be cut on grain along a fold, but late at night, I cut off the section I was saving for the belt.  I ended up salvaging the belt by cutting a size 6-ish belt. Don't tell anyone, and they'll never know.
• Figure out a better way to bind sleeve seams.  My sewing machine does not have a free arm, as it is set in a table.  I was able to attach the binding with my machine, but had to hand finish the binding on the other side.  I'm complaining, just be aware that it takes a little something special to hand bind  a double layer of thick twill with poly blend fabric.

In a nutshell, it's not perfect, but I am elated! My friends and family were honestly surprise that I had made it (which I take as a compliment), and even though I'm coming out of trench coat season, I know it will get a lot of wear again in the fall.  If you're debating this pattern, I highly recommend it.