Block Print Georgia Top

Block printed and color blocked...

Purple Piped Pajamas

Although I adored the idea of the Closet Case Files Carolyn Pajamas from the get-go (and subsequently saw gorgeous piped pajamas everywhere after that- see The Mindy Project, etc.), I didn't really neeeeeeeed any pajamas when the pattern was first released. So I waited. It was only a matter of time before they became a necessity...

Technicolor Tofinos

A few months ago I stayed a few nights at my (generous) friend Meghan's apartment for several nights. While I was there, I was rocking my Tofino pajama pants (#memadeeveryday), which earned compliments from her. She liked the piping and the fun colors.

Everyday Anna and Elsa Dresses

Apparently it's been weeks since my niece, Anna, has voluntarily worn anything but a princess dress. A polyester nightmare princess dress. I wanted to make her something still princess-y, but a bit more practical and wearable. I am a practical New Englander at heart, after all. So, naturally, I decided on the dress her namesake wears in Frozen. And while I was at it, I had to make one for her older, occasionally dramatic sister, too: Elsa.

Areli in Speckled Mochi Lawn

Damn, I love the colors on this blouse!

Sewaholic Tofino PJ Pants

PJs. Pahjahmahs. Pyjamas. Jammies. Pajama jammy jams. Pajamarama. Pajamas: I made them. 

Sorbetto and Prefontaine PJs: Cat Lady Sewing Challenge #1

When Erin at Miss Crayola Creepy announced The Cat Law Sewing Challenge, I was all at once feeling delighted, excited, and inspired about sewing with cat themed fabric, not to mention mildly embarrassed by those aforementioned feelings. I dove in headfirst, making two (well, three, really) garments for the challenge.  My two garments fall on either end of the cat-fabric spectrum.  Here's my first!

  

Happy Homemade Sew-along: Pull-over Parka

When I read that elsiemarley and you&mie were doing a sew-along for one of patterns in the Japanese sewing book, Happy Homemade: Sew Chic Kids, I was pumped because I had purchased this book months ago on a whim but hadn't worked up the nerve to sew anything in it. When I read that the pattern they chose to sew was the pull-over parka, I was doubly pumped, because that was my favorite!

Why was I too intimidated to try one of these patterns?  Because, even though I purchased the English version of the book, the language doesn't matter much since the instructions are pretty much the sewing equivalent of Ikea instructions... all diagrams and arrows and craziness with very little in the way of text directions. In the end the parka really wasn't very hard to put together, but I am super grateful for the hand-holding from the sew-along!

I made Miss Z parka using some quilting weight cotton I bought at Belleboo here in Bangkok... when I bought it, I thought to myself, "Oh, cute alphabet/animal fabric. Score!" But when I got it home, I discovered its quirk: it is not the full alphabet, by any means, but inexplicably only the letters B, E, F, L and G, repeated over and over.  Ha!  I went back to the store and took a closer look at their fabrics... pretty much anything with words on it had a typo or translation issue of some variety or another.  I'll keep that in mind for the future ;-)  The fabric is cute anyway, so I am not too worried about the limited letters.

I decided to break up the print a little bit with some hot pink piping on the raglan sleeve seams. I love how it looks and was thinking I should have used more, but it did make things a bit fiddly when binding the hood/neckline seam. 

The hoodie/parka came out pretty cute!  Can't wait to see it on Zoe...

Long Sleeved Flannel Maggie Mae

I got the above photo Zoe this week rocking her Maggie Mae tunic, along with a note that said "This shirt looks precious on her!"  I interpreted that as an order to "Make more!"

This is a slightly different take on the Maggie Mae... sort of a combination of the Maggie Mae dress and the long-sleeved Maggie Mae... I extended the cap sleeves out about 12 inches and the bodice front and back down about 10 inches.  I added some piping along the seam to keep things interesting.

I used some very cute purple plaid flannel fabric that Colleen gifted me (thanks, Colleen!!!).  I was able to match the plaids pretty well on the side seams, but not so much on the shoulder seams.

Meh... I ain't mad at it.  

My photos are not doing this shirt justice... in reality it's pretty damn cute.

Ruffle-less Ruffle Top and Hot Pink Ritas

After my success with my first ruffle tunic, I was itching to make another version with piping, like this one from StraightGrain.  Here's mine!:

I decided to use this linen-y material left over from one of my Grainline Scout tees... the long, skinny pattern pieces for the ruffle top made it easy to use scraps. 

And to match, hot pink Lovely Rita skinnies (same pattern as my crazy pants from a few weeks ago, minus the button band on the leg.):

These are made from some stretch bottomweight from Joann's.  I hoping they can also be worn under Zoe's batik bubble peplum top for the fall (she's been wearing it as a dress thus far).  Cute!

Kid Pants with Piped Edge Pockets

Ermagerd, I love these pants!  And I am pretty proud of them, too.

These are the Kid Pants from Dana Made It, a free (and pretty awesome!) downloadable wide leg pants pattern (size 2-3T).  I had also used the pattern earlier this summer to make Z some Retro Racer Shorts.

This time I used a pretty pink, fine wale corduroy from Joann's that is covered in little button flowers (which kinda reminded me of my old employer's logo, which may have prompted me to buy it.  also it was on clearance.).  The fabric is super soft.  I used store-bought piping, which is not a perfect match to the fabric, but close enough for government work ;-)

I used Dana's pocket pattern (the larger size) and sewed some piping along the edges of the pockets as Dana did in this tutorial, to make them stand out:

I placed the pockets such that they continued over the top of the waistband (which I made flat-front, per Dana's instructions here).  The back waistband is still elasticized:

 

I top-stitched all of the seams for strength and some contrasting color, although the top-stitching sank into the nap of the corduroy a bit.

Love these pants!  Can't wait to see Z in them!

Maggie Mae Tunic

I'd had my eye on a couple of cute patterns at Shwin Designs for months now.  Recently they re-released all of their patterns with a whole range of sizes included, so I took the opportunity to snatch several of them up, including the Maggie Mae tunic/dress.  I love the curved seam on the bodice and the ability to easily do some fun colorblocking.

My first Maggie Mae is the tunic version, sewn in a beautiful leaf batik (scraps leftover from Colleen's Anda dress!) combined with some cute red polka dot fabric from The Real Martha.

I meant to add piping to all of the horizontal seams, but kinda forgot until the last step.  Thus I only added it in at the waist seam, but I think looks pretty cute in the end.  Don't look too closely at the sides of the tunic, though, as my piping insertion is not ideal at those seams.  Zoe won't notice, right?

I also skipped the pockets this time because the white polka dot fabric was fairly sheer- I thought they would show through.

Can't wait to make it again in more color combos!!  I also like the full button-front version shown on the Shwin and Shwin blog...