Finally....the Star Wars Cardigan

The Star Wars cardigan that has been mentioned but never before pictured!

The fabric was a JAF purchase - on sale, naturally. The pattern is the Cocoon Cardigan, from Patterns for Pirates. I sewed this for a wedding held on May the Fourth. (May the Fourth be with you?) This is tunic length with three-quarter sleeves and short bands. I wasn't going to add the patch pockets - I was under deadline - but pockets are life! So I took the extra time and was really glad I did!

The pattern doesn't call for stabilizing the shoulder seams, but I was concerned about growth because of how stretchy the fabric is. So I cut strips of rib knit against the grain and used that to stabilize the shoulders. I did the same just behind the topstitching to anchor the pockets in place, then I cut them away near the stitching. It adds virtually no bulk but helps give more strength to the pocket attachment. And I added short "cuffs" instead of hemming the sleeves.

I plan to make more - I have two fabrics waiting for time. One is another Star Wars knit, and another is a Christmas paw print knit.....maybe I'll get that one sewn up over the holidays!

New twirly skirt!

My niece looooves her twirly skirts. I hear about it frequently, and I get to see them in action in pictures that her parents post! So when I stopped into a JAF with no plan in mind, I spotted the Christmas fabric on sale and just had to make her a new skirt to wear at Christmas. This is yet another Rachel skirt - I clearly haven't blogged all the ones I made, but there are quite a few.

Both the stripes and the gingerbread fabrics have a glittery metallic texture. I think they look like a lot of fun together! I lengthened the skirt a bit and basically just used the pattern for the measurements. The trim ruffle is doubled to avoid the need to hem. And both the main and trim pieces are done at 2:1 fullness. Since my serger decided that it didn't want to gather ruffles this week, I had to do them the old fashioned way, by zigzagging over thick crochet thread and then manually pulling the gathers and arranging them. Not. Fun. But I think she's going to love the finished result!

As usual, the doll skirt is a free online pattern.

More cardigans!

So my niece loved her cardigan prototype! And she wanted more. So what's an aunt to do but oblige? I had this knit print that I picked up somewhere, and it yielded enough for one cardigan for my niece (size 10 - the 8 fit her perfectly so I wanted some growth room), one cardigan for a friend's daughter (not pictured but identical except a size 2T), and one doll cardigan (pattern).

I went with the same pattern options as before - patch pockets, tunic length, short bands, and three-quarter sleeves. I used a rib knit cut against the grain to stabilize the shoulders and just behind the top of the pockets. And I added bands instead of hemming the sleeves. Way too lazy for that!

No changes to the pattern for the doll cardigan!

These are going in the box for her birthday present - I hope she loves them just as much as the last ones!

Picture Day!

Thing 2 has a habit of wearing Mama-made shirts - usually with Mama-made ties! - for picture day. He's done this for the last four years at least (as I try to tick off the shirts in my memory), but shockingly I've apparently never blogged them?  Anyway, this was stitched the night before picture day, and somehow I was done by 11 pm. I used Fashion Sewing Supply's Pro-Welft Fusible Interfacing and the tutorial from Gigi Sews to add a lined yoke. This is M2146, size XL. He still has some room to grow in it, thank goodness!

And just check out that pattern matching across the front! I'm ridiculously pleased with it.

More PJ Pants!

Thing 2 had a birthday recently, and he needed some smaller gifts to go with the bigger one we'd already gotten. So PJ pants were my immediate idea! The milk and cookies flannel has been in my stash for a long time - I eked this pair out of what I had! And the Chicago Blackhawks woven fabric was from a sale earlier this summer. (I also have some fleece for Christmas PJ pants - shhh! Don't tell him!)

The milk and cookies pair was S8022, size M. I wasn't sure how it would do in a flannel (although I believe flannel was listed as a recommended fabric), so I did the 3/8" SAs again. The Blackhawks pair is KS 3042 size XL. The others that he has in that pattern and size have some decent growth room, so I figured these would last awhile. The fabric was too expensive to want him to outgrow it quickly!

Quick Gratification

Sometimes you just want to sew something that will be done in short order. I am working on a giant cutting project to then be able to start assembly-line sewing a bunch of stuff, but I just wanted a bit of instant gratification today. So I cut this travel pillowcase from the last scraps of my Wonder Woman flannel and some blue tie-dye flannel I've had floating around for some time.

From cut to done was maybe half an hour? And now a coworker's daughter will have a new travel pillowcase to take to daycare for naptime.

A little detour!

So I follow Kadiddlehopper's blog, and she has just started posting ahead after a bit of a hiatus. And today I saw that her most recent post was a free pattern/tutorial for a reversible scrub cap. And it just so happens that my cat-sitter might love a new scrub cap! So I had to drop everything and try this out!

Thing 2 helped me pick the fabrics. One side (the "main" side to me, just because this is the one I knew she needed) is rainbow cats.

And here you can see the back.

And the reverse is this multicolored paw prints on black. I think it goes with the rainbow cats pretty well.

The orange bias tape is homemade, from the bias tape I used to trim a friend's baby sling (looks like I didn't blog about it, but I made a black linen sling, trimmed with orange bias tape - she loved it!).

This worked up quickly in about an hour or so! Hopefully it fits the cat-sitter's head!

Knit PJ pants!

Thing 2 has been in dire need of new PJs for a long time now.  He had outgrown the few pair that he still wore, but he wore them anyway.  I refused to buy new PJs, especially since he tends to only wear the pants, and especially given my current state of fabric.  So I finally decided to bite the bullet and stitch some up, as I'd been promising forever to do.

First problem - the pattern I thought I could use proved to be problematic.  It's a men's/boys' pattern, and Thing 2 has outgrown the boys' sizing but not yet reached the men's.  So off to JAF I went, where I found S8022.  I was intending to use fleece fabric from my stash for these, so I figured a one piece pattern would be ideal.  These are size M in the boys' sizing, and he loves them!  I made this first pair basically as is just to test it out, which worked well.

For the second pair - also a knit from my stash! - I used the same sizing, but decreased the seam allowances from 5/8" to 3/8", just to give a little more room for growth.  Probably not as important with the thinner knit but would definitely help with the thicker fleece.

There has already been another (not pictured) fleece pair from my stash, as well as another knit that I simply couldn't resist.

More boxers!

We've mentioned before how boxers are a go-to gift for the men in my life.  So of course I needed to sew some new boxers for Thing 1's recent birthday.  I bought these fabrics a year ago (with his approval - he's of the age where you don't just pick for him!) and even cut them out then, but with all the upheaval in my sewing room, there they sat.  So his birthday was motivation to finally stitch them up.  These are size XS men's.

Cocoon Cardigan

I mentioned the Star Wars cardigan I made for myself when I blogged about my niece's cardigan.  Well, this is another one from that pattern, Cocoon Cardigan from Patterns for Pirates.  I bought the knit Tardis fabric at JAF quite a long time ago, with intent of making this cardigan for a friend who's a die-hard Whovian.

I got Thing 2 to model it for me for pics.  It's not his usual style (well, maybe - when combined with PJ pants!), but he looks pretty dapper! ;)

This is size S, with the short bands and 3/4 sleeves.  I did add the patch pockets, and I also added short bands to the sleeves to avoid having to hem them.

I hated sewing with this fabric, but I love how it feels and looks.  And my friend loved it, which is what's important!

Toddler fun!

Ah, I remember the days when I did a lot of little kid sewing, and it was so gratifying.  Well, a coworker has a toddler, and I had been meaning to sew for her for a long time.  It all started with finding this Nightmare before Christmas knit remnant at JAF maybe a year ago. So finally I did a lot of cutting (patterns from Kwik Sew's Sewing for Toddlers) and sewed these up over Memorial Day weekend.

The Nightmare before Christmas pants are size 2T.

Along with those pants, I also had a few other knit fabrics.  From top left and going clockwise - Nightmare before Christmas, rainbow spiderweb (stash - 2T pants), cats (JAF - 2T shorts), sharks (stash - 2T shorts), superhero cat words (JAF - 2T shorts), and blocks of cats (stash - 2T pants).

My coworker was surprised and excited to get these for her little one!

Cardigans!

So I made myself a Star Wars cardigan a year ago (never blogged it, apparently) using the pattern Cocoon Cardigan from Patterns for Pirates.  It's super comfy - and it even has optional pockets!  And there's a girls' sized pattern, too - the Butterfly Cardigan.  So naturally I thought my niece needed a cardigan or twenty.  This is the first prototype, to see whether she likes it and how the sizing is for her.  I found this fabric at JAF - pretty sure it happened to be on sale that day.

This is a size 8, tunic length (she's 7 at the moment), with "short bands," patch pockets, and three quarter sleeves.  All of these are listed options in the pattern.  I added bands to the sleeves to avoid hemming.  I can't wait to hear how she likes it!

And of course I figured her doll needed a few, as well.  The pattern is a free one from Fleece Fun.  No changes made to that.  The first cardigan is from leftovers from my niece's cardigan, so that they can match.

The second is from leftovers of my Star Wars cardigan!  (Hopefully it doesn't give my niece any ideas about what her next cardigan should be!)

I'm still alive!

You know how it goes....long time between posts.  I'll start with what I just finished and work backward.  It's Father's Day, so new boxers were in order.  This was a last-minute trip (Friday) to JAF for fun new fabric.  Novelty cottons were on sale for 40% off, which worked out splendidly.  So I got two.  You can see the bright taco print in back - I knew he'd love those!

And a close-up of the sunbathing bananas print.  This was too hysterical to leave behind.

Thing 2 came with me to the store and picked the bananas. ;)  This is the usual Simplicity 9958, adult size S, no changes from my usual (I think I folded an inch out of the hem years ago?).