More pants/shorts

I like the way Thing 1's new pants with pockets turned out so well that I'm turning it into an assembly line. Yesterday I cut out ten pairs of pants and shorts (two pairs of shorts are for a friend's son for his birthday), all with pockets, and today I'm starting the assembly line for stitching them up. Four pairs are on the back burner, waiting for the serger to be rethreaded, but the other six will get white serger thread, so I've already begun assembling them.

I didn't mention this before, but I've been using an idea that Debbie Cook has mentioned before for the pocket bags: a fun print. Mind you, I'm only using that on the solid-colored pants/shorts. Anything that is made from a print (especially something loud, like the "disco pants") just gets a plain fabric for the pocket bag. That brings me to another idea - cheap fabric for pocket bags. The pocket bags really will only be seen by me (doing the laundry) or the wearer (assuming that he looks inside), so it doesn't really matter what you use for the bag. I got some bedsheets from someone on freecycle last fall, and while some were very nice, others were stained or simply way past their prime. I gave the good ones to a friend and kept the others to use for nonwearable muslins or inside blankets. When I made the first pair of pocket pants, I took the nonwearable muslin from my wrap skirt and cut pocket bags out of it. THis worked so well that I did it again when I cut all the pocket bags last night. (No more nonwearable muslin! I had to dig out the rest of the sheet last night. Twenty pocket bags takes a bit of fabric!)

Simplicity 4243

I made this for Thing 2 to wear to my brother's wedding last weekend. I had been so unmotivated to sew that I ended up sewing this the night before I left, and I did some handstitching to finish it in the last 30 minutes of the drive to the church! Hopefully I won't do something like that again any time soon! However, it did get done, and it fit - well enough for this wedding, anyway. Unfortunately, since Thing 2 is so tall, this size (M - 12 months) is not long enough in the torso, and once his diaper starts to get soggy, the snaps at the crotch start to bulge. But I like the way the finished product looks, so I've already bought more fabric to use for a short-leg version in the next size up. I think it'll be nice and cool for church this summer.

Finished items!

First up, the wedding boxers:


This print is so loud, and the flannel-backed satin just makes it even more over the top! I think that DB will love them. In fact, they might end up as the boxers to be worn under the tux - how funny would that be? :)

Next, the pants with slash pockets:

I added another picture with a fish puppet in the pocket, just to show the shape of the pocket. I love how these turned out! DH thinks that the print makes Thing 1 ready for disco night, but as I pointed out to him, these are for play pants, and I'd rather do the experiment with a cheaper fabric (in this case, a remnant) than something expensive. Thing 1 loves them, and he wore them all day after I finished them.

I've already made another pair of pants with pockets, and I have plans for lots more!

On a roll!

I've had problems motivating myself to sew lately, but this weekend seems to have changed that! I finished my skirt, except for the buttons. I'm going to go to the store tomorrow to try to find buttons for it, and then I'll post a picture. I ended up finishing the edges by serging, then turning under once and using a single line of hemming. I used scraps to try it out that way and with a twin needle, and DH voted for the single needle. I think he was right, and it looks pretty nice.

And that motivated me to work on other projects: I'm sewing a pair of boxers for DB as a pre-wedding present. I found a really loud Hawaiian print in a flannel-backed satin that is perfect. :) I used Simplicity 9958, which is a TNT boxer pattern, and they just need hems and elastic now. I also finished the pair of play pants I cut out for Thing 1 a month or so ago - the ones with slash pockets. I'm really pleased with the results! The pockets look great, and they were really easy to do. I still need to hem them, after Thing 1 tries them on tomorrow morning. (This is a new size, so I want to see whether I need to lengthen them, or if they will be long enough to last while as is.) After I know how good the length is, I'll cut out a bunch more and get them into the lineup.

A Long-Ignored UFO

I haven't been sewing at all so far this month, which is quite unlike me! But now I'm digging out a UFO from last December and trying to muster up motivation to finish it quickly. I really need to get it done - I want to wear it to my brother's wedding next weekend! I'm making New Look 6434 - view A, the asymmetrical hem without fringe - in a beautiful dark blue embroidered suede from Joann Fabrics. Originally, I was going to wear this to a classmate's wedding at the end of December, but I changed my mind when I found a nice black nursing top and realized that black and dark blue aren't supposed to go together. :)

At that point, I had cut out the pieces (just 4!), interfaced the facing, and staystitched the waist. So I tossed the pieces onto a shelf and ignored them until the calendar provided me with some desperate incentive to get back to work. Fortunately, this is supposed to be an easy pattern. I just need to sew the facing to the waist, finish all the edges, and put in the buttons/buttonholes. I'm trying to decide now if I want to do a regular double-fold hem or serge the raw edges and turn once for a single-fold hem. I usually prefer the double-fold hems, as I don't like to have raw (even serged) edges possibly showing if the hem flips up at all. But I'm thinking that it would probably look just fine, and maybe I could use a twin needle for the hem. I'm pretty sure that I have scraps left from cutting this. I should try out my options and see how they look.

Cool Ice Cubes! (no pun intended)

I have a confession to make - I grew up fifteen minutes from Woodfield Mall (Schaumburg, IL - outside Chicago), and yet I had never been to the Ikea store there until last week. Shameful, I know. :) But I've finally made it, and I have to say that it's great! I could totally spend hours and lots and lots of $$$ in there. Fortunately, I live 3 hours away and don't have lots of $$$ to spend.

However, I found the neatest things on my inaugural trip there - shape ice cube trays! And they're only $2 each! I bought the puzzle pieces, stars, and little bottles to use for Thing 1's birthday party tomorrow. Very fun! I'd never used silicone bakeware before, and that's what these seem to be (only not bakeware, of course!). The ice cubes need a little bit of coaxing to pop out, but it's pretty easy. I love these!