Blue Jay PJ Set

Here's ds2's new pjs. He's in love with birds right now so I though an embroidered blue jay would tickle his fancy. It's made out of navy blue combed cotton interlock and navy blue ribbed knit for the cuffs and neck binding. It was all coverstitched (2-thread narrow) in a contrasting bright blue. I reversed coverstitched the waistband of the pants and the shirt's hemline. I just love the result and ds2 does too. Well so does ds1 who has asked for the same pj set and one with a bumble bee too!

Fall Outfit for DS2

Here's my second son's new outfit for the fall. I really have no idea what sparked me to make fall stuff when it's so freaking hot outside but I am so glad that I did. The sweater is from ottobre's 4/2007 #11 hooded sweater and the pants are from ottobre's new issue 4/2011 #7 Mickey Mouse pants. I really do love this outfit and am just hoping that the pants material stand up to at least one season. I'm not sure if it was a bad fabric or what but I ended up having to topstitch all the seams with my coverstitch machine as the seams just tore apart when stress was put on it, despite a perfect stitch. A while back I made ds1 an outfit using the brown organic bamboo valour that I got from the same place as the orange. The brown one has stood up to much abuse but hopefully my attempt to fix this fabric flaw will stand up. Fingers crossed. I originally bought it to make cloth diapers for ds2 but had a ton of materials left over so this was the perfect project for them.

I also added newly hand made labels of a fish, as ds2 loves fishes right now. I got vectors from the net and then added "hand made" under it. I then heat pressed them onto twill tape. They turned out so good.

Mama's New Maternity Bathing Suit

Bloom cami bathing suit (maternity)
Originally uploaded by angeleyes_88

We are planning on taking the kids to a water-park next week, so of course mama needed a new bathing suit. I just couldn't bear to show of my naked belly (although I totally admire those of you who can). I recently purchased this bathing suit fabric for less than $4.00 per/yard a couple of months ago (as my local fabricland sells bathing suit fabric for a hefty $18 per/metre (ouchy). I have never sewn with this material before but it sure was a learning curve. I did end up using my wooly nylon that I got from thread art a while back. It was sure a pain to thread though and remember reading somewhere to put nail polish on it in order to thread it. So I pulled the thread tautly and brushed my dark red nail polish on. I then let it dry for about 20 minutes while I cut out the fabric. It worked like a charm! I thread it through both loopers. I did notice that my tension or something was off but it wasn't a big deal to me. The whole dress/top cost $4 to make! It was a pain however to figure out the binding of the same material on my coverstitch machine. I'm not totally sure why it randomly runs off, despite trying to change the pressure foot, but I got it to work and just in time. The pattern is a modified Ottobre 5/2009 "Bloom Camisole". I added 1/4" to each side seam and lengthened it by 4". I then did a rolled lettuce edge. The binding is actually supposed to have tension adjusters put in but I only had enough to put up to my neck. I then added an o-ring and added more length. I'm actually really please with how it turned out, especially with all the new things that I was trying to learn.

Ottobre 3/2006 3/4 length pants #12

Ottobre 3/2006 3/4 length pants #12
Originally uploaded by angeleyes_88

Wow....it seems like ages since I've posted here. I haven't been up to as much sewing as I would like to but that's probably due to being pregnant. This has been my latest creation for ds1 when he told me he wanted me to make him a flash shirt and matching pants in red with orange stitching. I couldn't say no to a 3.5 year old being so sweet and wanting mommy to make him something.

Ottobre Raglan T-shirt 2/2005 / sewing pattern kwik sew

So the race is now on to make ds1 a stash of tshirts for summer as he doesn't have any that fit him. I unofficially vowed to make him his wardrobe this summer as 1. i love seeing things on him that I make 2. it's cheaper than even used sometimes, although I always acquire more stash fabric this way ;) which is still a bonus 3. I just want to see if I can do it. I think that this is do-able. I already know that he has enough shorts so he doesn't need any of those, although I am planning on making him at least one pair to match this shirt.

I did make this tshirt in size 98cm which is roughly a 4t (although ds is 3) but found it a little bit wide even for a 4t. If I were to make this one again I would use the 4t length but maybe go down a size or two in the width. I did love this pattern though. It went together nicely and effortlessly. Another great pattern from ottobre....geez....you'd think that I work for this because that all I sew from for the kids (LOL)

This shirt was done in a 98%cotton 3%lycra and I have to agree with a lot of other sewists on this one that I love the feel of the cotton with the lycra. It cost me $3.98 a yard and I used maybe a 1/4 of a yard (guessing though) So it cost say $1 to make which is a lot cheaper than $4-7 dollars of used tshirt that they want from our local consignment store. Yes, if you take into account the time factor well it's not really worth it but I love sewing, and it's an enjoyable hobby. Although I have to admit I also do it to save the family $$$ which is always an added bonus.

I also appliqued some prewashed lightweight linen that I will use to make ds1 some shorts in the near future (I already have pattern traced although might have to trace it in a smaller size). The applique turned out pretty well although I would strongly advise using a medium weight linen and not a lightweight as it frayed from the embroidery needle that I had to hand stitch anyways. I'm also not so happy with the location of the frog. I intended for it to be higher up on the tshirt but once again wasn't paying attention when I was hooping it (to busy trying to get it done well dh was watching the children) . Ah well, lesson learned. I did however learn that instead of using spray adhesive (which I despise now as it's all over my floor and counter and cutting mat-which is not coming out) I hoop a heavy weight cutaway then ironed on tearaway stabilizer to the back of the shirt and pinned it onto the hooped heavy weight cutaway. It worked perfectly which no offset stitching. I will definitely use this method again.

Onto my excite find of the month! I got over 120 vintage kwik sew patterns from kijiji today. There are also doubles of most of the patterns for each sizing grade. There were a lot of men's stuff in the lot which I was seriously lacking in my patterns. I really don't think that I will sew all of them but it's great to have around my sewing room, especially for birthdays and such. I picked up the whole lot for $40. Well worth it if I sew at least 4 outfits from them. Nowadays kwik sew patterns range in price but average is around $11 per pattern.

Jalie 2918 - DS1 Dino Shirt

Here's DS1's new shirt. He loves that I can go downstairs and whip him up a new shirt. He's only 3 and picked out the embroidery design, ribbing and shirt material. The shirt is made out of black interlock and organic cotton ribbing in green. It's coverstitched with orange which you can't really see in the picture but is a really nice contrast. He said to me the day that I made this, "ma, I need new shirt, go downstairs and make new shirt, pleaze!" I couldn't resist him he's a little angel when he wants to be.

Apron

Here's a apron that I whipped up for my sister-in-law the other night. It's made out of a linen / cotton blend that I purchased from fabric.com. It cost $3.19 per yard. The whole apron probably cost less than $3 only because I didn't use quite a yard and I had flower print left over from another project. I'm not overly excited about this project. The one thing that I loved about this project was the embroidery design that I used, as it was just so cheerful.

Currently I've been working on a shirt for ds1. He desperately needs some shirts and it's cheaper for me to make them. They want $4.00 for a used shirt at my local consignment store.