spring capris

I have gratefully found some time to sew ! I sure enjoy the process and feeling of completion when a project is done.

These Cute little capris were actually started in the fall as pants for E. I believe they were self drafted off a pair of pants he had…. I was able to rework them cutting down the wierd rise, and turning them into a cute sumer capri pant.

The fabric is a blue cord from my stash bought long ago on clearance. I attempted to make them playful by switching the direction on the ridges on the side pockets.

I did the waist in my new favorite way for lil’ E, knit ridding with elastic. I copied this from a store bought pair and just love how it works with our bulky cloth diapers. Plus he is able to pull his cloths up and down himself ( if the potty training gets going again.) I tried to do a flatter front on this pair and sewed elastic just on the back panel, it didn’t quite work out. His pants fell down at the park, so i threw a draw string in.

At the height E is he can wear them as is or rolled up, and if he grows ( as we know they do ! ) over the summer his new nifty capri cords will still fit.

some serious playing going on

 

 

I am so neglectful of my Blog

This past month has been busy ( I think its only been 3 weeks but feels like a month) I don’t really feel like I have anything blog-worthy to share. My sewing has mostly ground to a halt as we keep our home in a oober clean state for showing.

Usually I put off vacuuming dusting and laundry folding to do fun stuff like sewing and gardening day trips and well fun things

I did throw together a new pair of pants for K, he has worn them lots and they have even been threw the wash a few times. Yet still no photos or post about them, I am such a neglectful blogger this month.

I have plans for a shirt and a few pairs of shorts too, and been thinking of sleeveless shirts for the boys too, in a henley style….

busy weeks

I have been totally ignoring my laptop. missed kids cloths week challenge  and have tones to catch up with in my reader.

Why ? you ask….well we have officially listed our little house! My weeks have been full of cleaning and de-cluttering.

So if you are looking for a nice town home in the GVRD drop me a line

I’ll be back at the sewing table soon as K has grown again, and needs pants again

Then once we settle into the new house there will be lots of decorating post coming your way.

painting and fixing doors

Ok so today I have a post that has like nothing to do with sewing! I know you are shocked but it was bound to happen eventually. Its about home reno stuff.

We have been working really hard the last few weeks to spruce up the little house of lemons. Part of that included painting the (probably original) old dark wood bedroom doors, a crisp glossy white! As the first coat of new paint dried old hidden artwork from long ago bled threw our paint The doors to my amazement looked worse than their original out dated beat up state!

The second coat as you can see was just as bad. Let me just say, we knew form living with the doors over the years that they had some old kiddies’ art on them. The fresh paint just made it bleed threw in all its glory. Some of it had blended in before ( ya no pre-paint shot who knew it would be blogged) I had to try something !

 I decided on white out ! Thinking that it may be the only think that pen wouldn’t bleed threw, its made to cover the stuff up after all.

Hoping I wouldn’t make it worse, I dabbed it on… It went on this nasty greyish white colour. Horrible! I have in my day covered hair-dye splatted on a wall seamlessly (I will never reveal where!) so was confident the white out could be easy to cover.

truly Canadian french on the paint can

The tools of a perfect touch up, paint and sponges. The trick is to dab heavier over where you need to cover then fan it out all thin and gentle. Its a forgiving process, I even let the littles help.

So there you have it lovely crisp white semi gloss doors.

A perfect cover up job

monkey dress – spring top sew along

I’ve been sewing along with Rae from made-by-rae, her spring top sew along came at a prefect time for me, I needed a little push it finish a few projects for myself. With summer around the corner I wanted to make some dresses and tops that have been rolling around in my mind a reality. My favorite sun dress does not fit as wonderfully as it used to. Crazy what 2 more kids can do to a bust line.

I used a shirt making tutorial by one little minute, to copy the pattern of the original favorite dress. This tutorial is great and is now how I copy store bought cloths, no more cutting them apart or measuring all the angles, awesome!  I adjusted the fit by adding 1.5 inches to the bodice all the was around the top seam, creating a more modest sweetheart neckline. Once it was all pieced together, oh and part finished I tried it on to find it weird. check it out lol

The lessons here, try on before adding the bias tape it makes readjustments much easier. And you do not need to add to the underarm area if ya just wanna cover your bosom. Also the jersey knit was way stretchier than the original fabric so I took in the side seam a bit.

This was also my first attempt at shirring. I was really intimidated but, all the amazing bloggers out there said it was easy. I did some tutorial research grabbed some elastic thread and dove in. Let me tell you, it is not only simple but so neat to see the fabric all bunch up and transform before you eyes! You can find some good tutorials here here

little toes made it into the shot lol

A bit about the fabric, the main one is a jersey knit sheet I bought on clearance, with the intention to use it just for the  fabric. The sock monkeys are Socky by Wistler Studio. I SO love the sock monkey print!  The teen, is opposed to the fabric, she came to the  store with me that day and really tried to talk me out of buying those wonderful happy monkeys. I did  also purchase a lovely blue mint polka-a-dot fabric that I will use for a more “grown up” looking top.

I wanted the straps to be adjustable but, I don’t have any of the real hard ware to do that. So I made them pillow case style with a little loop n’ tie. I am just obsessed with bias tape so trimmed the neck line too. i thought really hard about weather on not to tape the hem and chose to save the monkeys so i could use them again

Instead the hem is simply serged. Its a first attempt of doing that ruffle effect where you stretch the fabric on purpose.( Great tutorial on that and all kinds of serging hems here again from one little minutes series. ) I’m pleased with the way it turned out and love how fast it is. I hate large hemming projects, and I think its a great way of hiding the slight unevenness usually create while hemming.

So there it is my monkey dress remake, complete with pleated pockets and adjustable straps. Made from super comfy jersey knit. Now all I need is for the west coast rain to stop for a few days so I can wear it.  — a little note here about the last group of pictures they were snapped by My Lil’ K what a great helper

Now go check out all the other Amazing creations coming out of Spring Top Sew Along

All the Fabric I Want

During may latest trip to the fabric store (Fabricana its a Canadian chain) I snapped a few photos of all the fabric I want. So many beautiful colours and patterns. The new spring collections. yummy

We were just hanging in the quilting cottons, I’m sure if i headed into the knit isle I wouldn’t have stayed in my budget.

The cottons are so lovely and springy fresh, dots and stripes, yummy yumm!

spring top sew along

Rae is hosting the a sew along! Perfect timing for me as I’m finishing up a dress for myself (post coming soon) and planed on a top too.Head on over to Rae’s site check out the flicker pool and add your creations.  This year its gonna be more informal, and more about cheering each other along.

Spring dresses

Well its really starting to look and feel like spring here on the west coast. The trees are budding and the daffodils are up. I can hardly wait for the cherry blossoms.
One of my goals this year was to sew more for myself, and not just work scrubs. They are quick and easy but not really a wardrobe piece.
I figure a great place to start is spring dresses! There’s a cute little sundess I have that I want to draft a pattern from and remake.
I’m gonna have to carve out some sewing time this week.

the rain has stopped today

As you know I live in a suburb of Vancouver, where it rains and rains and rains. Yes it is not a awful as the snow and cold of most of the rest of Canada. The last few weeks here have just been so overcast and yukki that I could hardly get motivated to do anything.

And now the rain has stopped so I’m gonna continue to get nothing done cuz I’m gonna go play at the park!

one great pant deserves another

Last week I blogged a new pair of pants for lil’ E (you can see them here) and so this week we have a pair for Mr K. These boys of mine are just growing so fast, that the pants drawers are looking quite empty lately. K has requested comfy pants.

I used the basic kid pant by Dana of Made, she is celebrating the boy all week long, check what that is all about here. I lengthened the pattern to fit my tall guy and kept the pant leg strait.

The fabric is a sport grade type fabric that athletic shorts  and golf shirts and stuff is made of. I grabbed it out of a remnants bin. Its too light weight for winter in Vancouver so I lined the pants with a yummy soft flannel I forgot I had. The trim and knee pads are from a too small golf shirt.

I never got a shot of it but the pants have a waistband in the dark blue as well. K loves the soft flannel and movability of them.

A few days after they were finished he asked “when are you making me some green ones?” lol looks like i need to get myself some green fabric!

one last attempt to show the lining fabric