Kids Clothes Week - The rest of the week

I did manage to finish one other this last week but didn't have the time to blog about it. It's the "Kaisa" shirt from Ottobre 1/2009. My very first project from Ottobre and the first time I sewed with knits!

Here it is...crooked pants and all :)

My thoughts on the project...

• I made one change to the pattern, just lengthened the arms so they wouldn't look "just too short" like in pattern.

• Somehow I ended up with the front about 1" longer than the back. I think it was a combination of not sewing with as much seam allowance as I added on when cutting it out and I think I may have added a seam allowance on the hem on the front which I didn't need to to. That was an easy fix.

• I didn't have any clear elastic in the house so I first tried to do the bodice with reg. 1/4" elastic but it was too stiff and didn't look right so I ended up just gathering it - Thanks Cindy for that tip!

• I had trouble with the neck line as you can see. I was going to put binding on like the sleeves but using a straight stitch ended up in snapped threads (I figured that would happen) so I tried the other option from the pattern - stitching elastic to the neck edge and just folding it over and top stitching down. I don't know if clear elastic would make that much difference but the regular stuff I used doesn't sit right at all and the neck is too wide.

On the whole though I think it's pretty cute and it was a great learning experience!

Kids Clothes Week - Day 3

My update for today:

I finished the PJ pants.  That's all :)  It still took me an hour though.  The rest of my day and evening will be busy with other things so this is brief.

One small picture...I love my serger!!

Kids Clothes Week - Day 2

Well, I finished the pajama top today!  I don't love the white ribbing but it's what I had...I only hope it shrinks back into shape when it's washed.

Check out the flickr pool to see what everyone's getting done this week!

Kids Clothes Week - Day 1

A quick post about my kids clothes sewing today.  I didn't actually sew anything but traced a pattern from Ottobre for a shirt for my 4 year old daughter.  Very exciting because I've wanted to try something with knits for so long and now finally I am!  It's also my first time trying an Ottobre pattern.

I also cut out some PJ's for my 6 year old son. 

I'm really hoping to get PJ's for all the kids done this week...we'll see how that goes :)

Thanks Meg for giving me the extra push to get some sewing done!!

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge

Elsie Marley is once again hosting Kid's Clothes Week Challenge. I signed up for it and so did Suzanne. Unfortunately this past Saturday we dismantled my sewing room so we could paint the floor in our recroom/sewing room. The bad news is that I will be unable to sew clothes this week. The good news is that I will have a somewhat freshened up sewing room (and reorganized!)

But, if you have some clothes you want to sew up for your kids, challenge yourself to work on it for 1 hour per day and see how much you can get done! I'll be looking to see what others are getting done while I'm waiting for the paint to dry.

Giveaway Winners

Thanks to everyone for entering my little giveaway! Five of you have won patterns for the bib.

#19 - Leslie
#48 - Janet
#11 - Jen (I'm not sure which Jen this is... let me know!)
#53 - Laura (I don't have any email for you either, Laura.)
#62 - Agata (And looks like the same story here, please let me know your email.)

And the winners of a Perfect Fit bib are

#1 - Jessica (I don't have any information for you, please leave me a comment or email me.)



and
#44 - Rebecca of Our Busy Little Bunch! Um, yeah, not sure you need the bib Rebecca, but it's coming to you.



Thank you all for commenting. If you really wanted to win a bib, but didn't you can still purchase a bib or the pattern from my etsy shop.

Announcing: The Perfect Fit Bib Pattern and Giveaway

I've done it! I've made my bib into a full out pattern. I was going to write a tutorial for it and it became much more involved and detailed and became a pattern. I'm excited and also nervous. There are alot of patterns out there! I am confident that my pattern is a good one. It was tested by my s-i-l Karen. If you know her then that is enough said. If you don't know her then you should really get to know her!



The Perfect Fit Bib Pattern in PDF format.



Make that perfect bib for your baby. This bib fits perfectly around the neck unlike bibs that are too large, making for messy, stained clothing.



Make your bib using your own style of fabrics and rather than buying a bias binding, make your own! Your bib will be unique and coordinated.

This 12 page PDF pattern includes detailed instructions for both the quilted and appliqued versions of the Perfect Fit Bib. It includes step-by-step instructions for quilting the bib and for a perfect bias binding. Also included are several applique designs that will get you started.



Your pattern will be emailed to you within 12 hours of purchase, usually much sooner. I check my emails several times per day.



And now, for the giveaway part! I'll be giving away 5 PDF copies of the pattern by random draw from the comments on this post. As well, I will be giving away 2 of my ready-made bibs.

Mushrooms in Pink

Transportation

How to win? Leave a comment on this post. Leave another comment if you follow our blog. Leave one more comment if you've spread the word, either on your blog, via email or on your facebook.

If you would like to purchase the pattern you can do so from my BusyQuiltMom etsy shop.

Baptism Gown

A while ago a friend asked me to help her make a baptism gown for another friend. She passed on her leftover wedding dress fabric and asked for something very simple because she really didn't want to put something frilly on a boy if that's what she had (and she did!)

I had an old pattern that my Oma passed on to me a few years ago for a nightgown and this is what it turned out to be...

Very simple but cute on a "baby" :)

I hope they're happy with it!

Back at it.

Somehow I thought that when the kids went back to school I would have loads of extra time to do all kinds of things.

Turns out I have loads of things to do and still not enough time. Not sure how that works.

My oldest three are in school. My youngest two are having no problem filling up my days. Zachary is b-u-s-y. I LOVE naptime these days.

I have been working on a few things. A special secret project. I can't wait to tell the story here. Another secret project that I can't wait to reveal. Kind of boring for you though.

I did sew a shirt for Melissa. She is really happy with it and wore it on the first day of school.



It's the Miss Madeline dress from The Handmade Dress. I shortened it into a shirt.



Melissa gets pretty pale-skinned in the winter months so I think these darker colours suit her.

Thrifty Threads #15

It's been a long time since we've done a thrifty threads post! Although I'm sure we've done some but just not labeled them that way :)

This thrifty thread is for my husband who plays piano in our worship services. He usually carries his books in a reusable grocery store tote, so for his birthday I made him a perfect sized bag for his piano books.

I had the itch to stich :) so I did this and lines on the handles.

The inside is like a white twill. Both the outside and inside I had in my box of "hand-me-down" fabrics. I did have to buy some heavy interfacing but that's it!

My husband thinks it's great but as I was making it I just kept thinking that a bag with embroidery = feminine. Maybe it's just me.

So tell me...would your man walk around with a bag like this?

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people!

To my dear sister Alisa!!

And my loving husband Conrad!!

I love you both!