KCW: Croquet in Black and White

K. (age 5) insisted before Christmas that her favourite colour was no longer purple but black (!!) so when Form and Fabric had their free shipping promotion, I let her pick a couple of prints.  I think she has a good eye!  This is Stylized Flower and Damask from the Shades of Black line.

I made size 7 because this kid is growing like crazy and I want it to fit in the spring, too.  I'm going to try to save it for a trip we're taking but that might be tough because she knows I've been working on it and is always excited to get a new dress.

She's having a tough time choosing a button so the back is not finished yet.  (our collection is so huge now we *almost* have too many choices!)  And the skirt looks strange because the elastic is all bunched at the back but I didn't have the patience to fiddle with it today.

It might be the only project I get time to work in in Kids Clothing Week -- we have a case of lice in the house so I've been spending lots of extra time cleaning and washing hair, etc. Yuck.

Fabric:
Stylized Flower 1 yard (with just scraps left over, yay!)  $7.56
Damask 1/2 yard $3.78

Notions:
elastic: $1
button: stash

Pattern:
Croquet Dress: $11.95

Total:  $24.29

Valentines 2+2 Blouse

In December, Form and Fabric had a free shipping promotion.  Usually when online companies advertise **FREE SHIPPING!!** the small print says something like "in the continental United States" and it still costs an arm and a leg to ship to Canada but that wasn't the case with this sale.  So I placed an order.  Then I placed another order.  Then I sent an email asking if I could purchase an extra 1/2 yard of one of the fabrics (sale items were only available in one yard increments but this was the last yard and a half of that fabric) and they sent it to me without charging me for it.  So all in all, I was a very happy camper.

The fabric is Lacy Heart from the Flirt Collection and I love it.  It's cutesy but subtle and perfect for Valentines Day and hopefully beyond.   The pattern is the 2+2 Blouse from Oliver and S and I think it was one of the first of their patterns that I bought.  I've made the skirt a couple of times but never the top.  I'm happy with how it turned out but had a couple of head-scratching moments along the way.  The instructions are good but the newer O+S patterns do a bit more hand-holding (or maybe it was just me!).

I also had some confusion over the sleeve shape and didn't see any discussions in the forum about it.  So I went to Nicole's blog (fiveandcounting-motherof5) and of course, being the fantastic and generous sewing resource that she is, she had an explanation and pictures.  (I guess I have an early print of the pattern and there is a triangle cut out to reduce bulk at the seams).  Thanks Nicole!

It's a size 6 with some extra length.  I only used one button and stitched up the rest of the back placket because my girl likes the back of her clothes to be free from any lumpy bits (!).  I think (I hope) that it will still fit over her head.



Pattern:
2+2 Blouse, used before: $0 (cost per use about $6)

Fabric:
Lacy Heart, used just over a yard: $8.20 US
blue polka dots: stash

Notions:
button: stash!

Hopscotch Month!

I seem to be on a hopscotch kick: my first three projects of the year have been made from this pattern -- last week the skirt, and this week a top and a dress.  But as a special bonus, this weeks' projects have already both been worn, yay!

I was originally going to make J. some leggings but when I gave her a choice of fabrics, she chose this one and asked me to make her a dress.  I had my doubts about her wearing a dress in this print but I try never to turn down requests if I can help it. So I traced my patterns and started laying things out.

I only had 1.1m but thought I could squeeze something for K. out, too.  Unfortunately (or fortunately if my hunch was right!) I grabbed the wrong piece and the first thing I cut out was a size 7 hopscotch dress back.  Since I knew I didn't have enough for two dresses, I called J. in and told her what I'd done.  She said she was okay with a shirt instead.  With some wrangling, I managed to cut a size 10 top and a size 7 dress out of my yardage and was just left with scraps.  It's so satisfying when that happens!

No modeled pics but here's J.'s top:

And K. is always a moving target or a goofball so here are some stellar ones of her.  This print is dizzying at high speed!

And following the wise advice of Lightening McStitch, I will take this opportunity to gloat about how little these cost me to make -- $4.24 for the pair of them!

Fabric: Heaven and Helsinki from Fabricland $4.24
Pattern: Hopscotch Skirt and Top used before $0 (cost per use: $4.03)

Hopscotch Skirt

Unless you count the three fleece neckwarmers I whipped off minutes before we were due to head out the door for a skate on the canal on New Year's Day (which I don't), this is my first sewing project of the new year.  Not a very auspicious start but it can only get better!

The fabric is corduroy but some kind of blend that resists pressing, which made making this pockets for this skirt a pain in the *&%. It also attracts lint like crazy and still smells musty even though I washed it twice.  I bought it a couple of years ago when Darrell Thomas Textiles was having a charity fundraiser - they were selling random lengths of fabric for $2.00 a piece.  I guess you get what you pay for in this case!

I had just enough to cut the whole skirt but then my plackets were too short (I must have lengthened the skirt but forgot to lengthen the plackets) so I had to recut them the wrong way.  Bad idea!  I should have just increased the hem.  The new plackets stretched all out of whack when I was sewing them no matter how many pins I used and are wonky at the top and bottom.

The buttons were part of the collection sent to me by my mom's friend.  J. had admired them and asked for them to be used on something for her.  With the way this skirt was going, I couldn't face doing all those buttonholes so only the top one opens. Because of the elastic at the back (and the lack of hips!), it slips on just fine.

Despite the buttons, this skirt went over like a lead balloon.  I'm not sure if it's the colour, the style or the fabric but I don't think J. will wear it.  And K. told me flat out not to expect her to ever wear it because she doesn't like buttons down the front of skirts (!!).

I've always admired this design and as I was sewing this up, I was making plans for another in an easier fabric like chambray or quilting cotton. Unless I can think of someone else who might like a cute skirt, it wont be happening any time soon!  bummer.

2013 Recap

This year I started keeping track of how much I spent on supplies thinking that would keep me from "overspending".  And it did for awhile.  I used an excel chart so I could easily total it up and did that monthly for the first few months.  But then I stopped adding it up and got a little crazy with some of my projects (like ordering three different fabric options for my attache dress!).  Now the amounts are so shocking that I was only able to glance at the totals without really absorbing them.

I will continue to keep track even though it didn't really make me stick to a budget.  I do like being able to figure out approximately how much my projects cost to make.  It's also made me realize that when I don't have time to sew, I don't stop buying fabric (in fact, I tend to buy more fabric when I'm spending hours sitting at my computer working because I order lots of fabric online) so lots of what I've bought this year is still waiting for me to turn it into to something. Unfortunately, I also seem to have a short attention span so will often be distracted by something new before getting to the "old" (usually not even started) projects.  So, I will not be publishing what I spent (or even really acknowledging it to myself!) but here are my sewing totals for this year, (83 items all together!):

Clothes for my kids:
dresses: 12
summer hats: 2
skirts: 3
t-shirts: 4
tops: 5
jackets: 1
shorts: 2
costume: 1
leggings: 4
winter hood:  2
pjs: 4

Items for me:
tops: 7
skirt: 1
dress: 1
purse: 2
scarf: 1

Gifts:
loot bags: 10
dress: 1
purse: 1
winter hood: 3
placemats: 1
tissue cozies: 14

Misc
curtains: 1

Of the things I made for the kids, the most popular by far were the dresses, most of which I made for J. but ended up in K's closet.

Topping the list would have to be the dotty ombre fairy tale dress.  J. wore it for a couple of months and loved it but it got tight under the arms quite quickly. K. happily adopted it and wears it for everything from playing with flubber to playing outside to going to the theatre.

 

Another dress that's been worn lots is the pinwheel slip dress.  Not by J., though.  She seemed excited about it at first but never wore it so one day K. asked if she could.  The speed with which J. gave it up made me realize that she wasn't really comfortable in it.  Generally K. just wears the slip without the top.

K. also adopted the ombre seashore dress after I added huge snaps and even bigger buttons to the straps.

(gotta love pinterest for photo ideas!)

K. definitely likes novelty -- I think I've got a hit on my hands but it turn that it's just because it's new.  She loved her class picnic dress and her birthday dress at first but then hasn't worn them in months.  I'm hoping the same thing doesn't happen with the chambray playtime dress or the knit playtime dress.  She wore the Sally dress in the summer and wore it the other day with a sweater so it seems to be a winner.

I've had a hard time sewing for J. this year.  She likes the t-shirts, especially the banyan tees, and the circle skirts.

She also loves her secret agent trench.  She felt really special when she started grade three and learned that the "theme" for her class for the year was spies!

The dresses have all gone to K.   She hardly wore any of the woven tops I made or the two pairs of shorts.  She didn't like the pleats in the banyan shorts and didn't even try on the linen field trip shorts.

We'll have to see whether the essex linen playtime dress was just a one-time wear.  She seemed excited about it but hasn't worn it since Christmas Eve even though it's been washed and hanging in her closet.  She also seemed thrilled with the tea party ruffle skirt I made her for Christmas and has worn it a couple of times already.  

As for the things I made for myself, I'm calling my attache dress a success even though I've only worn it twice.  And I live in my tovas in the summer, spring and fall.  I made another linen one this summer with a yoke in the back.  It wasn't in quite the right spot but I wore it lots (just didn't get a picture of it).  I love, love, love my renfrews, especially my first.

I haven't touched my machine in over a week as I was feeling burnt out with all the Christmas rush but going through all the stuff I made in the last year is inspiring me to get back at it!