February sewing

This was a crazy sewing month.  Anything that could go wrong did!  

Made this for tavio. Fits a bit weird.  Not super happy with the neck

This actually turned out ok. Quick sew for lily for Valentine’s Day.

Swimsuits always take forever, but the child version was particularly bad.  It had binding and for some reason I couldn’t for the life of me sew it on straight.  It kept being wavy and crazy.  I ended up cutting it off, folding the elastic over and sewing it down.  It was a mess.  Oh, and the lining was extra big for some reason so I took it in before sewing it together.

This turned out cute but I broke a needle making it which flipped up and hit me in the neck.  Not cool. Other than that it was an easy enough make. Meant for scissors but I like it for screwdrivers, tweezers, clips, seam rippers, all the little things I put between my surger and sewing machine.  

This dress was a beast.  I couldn’t for the life of me get the collar on correctly.  It was supposed to be binding but really seemed too narrow for that.  Plus the fabric doesn’t have enough recovery.  I tried a regular collar, it was wavy.  Tried again, wavy again, added elastic, still bad, folded the collar and elastic over and sewed it down, still bad.  Unpicked yet again 4 layers of stitches … did I mention this thread matches extremely well. So hard to tell what was seam and what was fabric. Went for a thicker collar but not quite as long.  Still bad.  Not enough fabric left to make the collar in one piece so I made it a bit longer, and had to have 2 seams in it not just one, but it finally went on and laid mostly flat so I’m calling it wearable,

I also made another pair of sweatpants for tavio and a pair os red super plush leggings for myself.

Found a pic of the super plush pants.  

Found these other pics from the same day.  They were completed about he same time i think. This was a subscription box item.

This was also a subscription box item.  I remember thinking it may be my something with hearts so it must have been completed around this time.  Pic was taken feb 25

This is a dress I made lily.  She is always outgrowing her clothes and had nothing warm for church.

January sewing

 I want to track the items I’ve made pep this year and remembered this blog 11 years later so here are my projects from January 2022.  

This is a top I made from a subscription box.  It was supposed to be a crop top but I added some length to it.  Not anything I would have chosen but I like it.  Should have made the sleeves a bit longer but pics I had seen made them look super long.  Never underestimate the length of my gorilla arms.  

Made 2 shirts for Duncan and one for lily today.  That bottom navy fabric was not friendly.  Ugh.  It wanted to stretch while I sewed.  I learned how to loosen my pressure foot on my overlock.  That helped a bit.  I sewed the neckband on backwards on lily’s shirt. 

Made lily a shirt and some joggers.  She did NOT want me to take a picture.  

Joggers for Benjamin and Aaron.  Love this pattern that lets  me put in measurements and prints the pattern the size I need.  So nice.  Works for everyone in the house.  These are the same pattern as the joggers lily is wearing above.  

This is a shacket.  Also from a subscription box.  Finally finished it this month.  This is one of the more difficult projects I have done lately.  Haven’t seen woven in a while and lots of matching of plaids, plus plackets on both sides and a collar.  I haven’t sewn something this structured in years - like at least 15 years, maybe 20.

coasters

The other day I wanted a coaster to go on top of my piano for a glass of water when I teach piano lessons. I saw these in an old magazine and they looked perfect. I really only needed 1, but couldn't resist trying all 3 patterns. They are "safari coasters" from an old Leisure Art's magazine. Most of my crochet stuff is from that magazine. It was the greatest.

valentines boxes

I made these cute little boxes to give to the people I visit teach and another friend. They were made on my cricut. The box is from scrappingtable.com, the hearts are a cricut cartridge. -Doodlecharms I think. Benjamin has requested one for Valentines day. (Pretty sure he just wants one because it is filled with candy.

baby dress from shirt

OK, this is actually probably the reason I started this blog. A friend of Brandon's wanted me to make his twin daughters dresses out of an old shirt of his. I figured I could figure something out, but then the shirt was plad and I was worried about having enough fabric to make 2 dresses and match plads. I looked through patterns for a month, and finally saw this pattern in an old crochet magazine (I was looking for something else at the time mind you) but this looked perfect for the shirt. However, it was sized for 12, 18 and 24 month. I just changed the type of thread and hook and it worked out perfect. I did have to figure out sizes for the length. I ended up buying baby clothes to measure lengths and make sure the width was good. I used 2 different patterns, and liked the first one a lot better than the second. I also switched colors in the middle and they didn't match exactly and I liked the first one better. That would be how the dress ended up with flowers. It was to make the second one (which I didn't like nearly as well as the first) into something I liked. I made all of those flowers for Brandon to pick which one he liked best, and ended up using all of them, just on different dresses.
When I was done, I ended up with extra fabric so I made the little diaper covers out of the extra. That was also a combination of 2 patterns which I had to cut way down and just making it up out of my head. -I think both patterns were meant to velcro or something. I went for easy elastic.
I loved this project - I actually had to use some creativity, and I liked how it turned out. Woo Hoo.

more baby crochet

Here is a bib and blanket I made. I bought the fabric last year because I liked it and someone finally had a girl so I could use it. Thanks Ruth! :)
Note to self when making these - always overlock the edges. I somehow think that the crochet will take care of the edges, but it sticks out funny on the back. I did not overlock the bib, but after making the bib, I overlocked the blanket.

Christmas pajamas

Here are a couple of Christmas pajamas. I make them every year. I love this pattern, and if I think about it later, I'll add the number. It has a yoke, and I like how the neck ends up fitting better than other pj patterns I have tried. These are already a month old, so you can see that the neck edge gets kind of crunched, but hey, they are pj's.
Benjamin always picks the most interesting fabric. Last year it was bowling pins and balls. This year hockey pucks. However, I love the red and black of this year's pjs. Makes me wish I'd bought more of it.

Here's a picture of a couple of my favorite camo fabrics. I love the blue dolphins. They are hoodies I made the younger boys last year. I made them big so they would still fit this year. Great coat. The spider print is Duncan's pick for his pj's this year. I also love that fabric. I must me the mom of boys. Getting all excited over spider fabric.