KCW Spring 2014 Day 1: A Mini-Me- The husband version

Posted on April 7, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Ok y’all I am getting really pumped about this Spring’s KCW because I am having so much fun coming up with ideas for O’s summer wardrobe. Today I tried out Dana’s shorts pattern and give it two thumbs up. Seriously, it makes short-making a breeze. I love a good basic pattern with multiple variations where you can make quite a few pairs and they will all look different. Also I am using my serger on clothing for the first time this week, and it has changed my life! Why did I wait so long to learn how to use it? The first thing I did when husband came home was show him the inside of O’s shorts because they look so stinking profesh! I must say he was suitably impressed- or pretended to be at least to make me happy. 😉For the shorts, I used an orange seersucker from Joann. I made Oliver a 3T (without measuring him- living dangerously, I know) and ended up cutting off about 1/2″ off the bottom. Other than that, they fit perfectly. This pair is made with a flat front and lined patch pockets cut on the bias. They really are the cutest shorts. My husband wasn’t so hot on the fabric when I brought it home, but he gave the completed shorts two thumbs up. I’m just pumped you can’t tell they are handmade. These were so easy to make that I may never buy another pair of kid shorts again! It’s gonna be #makealltheshorts. KCW Spring 2014

KCW Spring 2014 In keeping with our mini-me theme, the shirt is an old t-shirt of Ian’s that had gotten too small for him after many washings. Mini-me in my case will most likely equal mini-husband (that’s ok, right?). I sized up my trusty Flashback Tee pattern into a 4T because this fabric does not have much stretch in it. It definitely gives him some room to grow, but that’s good since I want this to fit all summer. However if I use some stretchier knit for his next shirt, I think I will go back down to the 3T. In addition to using my serger to finish off the seams, I also took Rae’s advice and bought some stretch thread for the hems. It was very easy to use, and I love the look of the straight stitch on the neckline instead of the stretch stitch that I’ve used before. KCW Spring 2014

I really wanted to get some pics of Ian and Oliver together with their coordinating converse tennies and graphic tees to cement the mini-me theme, but, alas, tax season is finishing strong over here, and I doubt he’ll have time to get in on any photo shoots. 😦 I’ve got a few more mini-me items up my sleeve though so I’m hoping for at least one group shot of all my boys before the week is out! KCW Spring 2014 How about you? How has your week begun? Any completed projects to show or still tracing patterns and cutting out fabric? Can’t wait to finish up this post and go peruse the KCW site and IG pool!

Spring 2014 KCW Plans

Posted on March 14, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Did I mention that I am a contributing blogger for this Spring’s KCW? Well I am, and I’m very excited to be there! Today I’m over on the blog talking about my plans for April’s challenge week. Yeah, I know April seems like forever away, but in reality, the next KCW is only a few weeks away! I discovered that I like the push to plan in advance this time because it takes me a while to think through what patterns I have and what clothes my kids need. Now I’ve done all the hard work of pre-planning and can just have fun sewing during the challenge week!

If you are interested to see my sewing list head over here to the KCW blog to check it out…plus you get to see this adorable picture of Oliver that I had forgotten about. Funny story behind this picture- I was searching google for a pattern picture of the raglan tee from Sewing for Boys and my own picture turned up in the search results. Why I guess I could use my own picture, couldn’t I? 🙂 FYI this picture is from Fall 2012’s Project Run and Play sewalong…you can read all about it here if you’re interested.

Kid’s Clothes Week Winter 2014

Posted on January 21, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Just popping in to remind everyone about KCW coming up next week! I am pretty excited about this coming week because I have some kid sewing projects I am really looking forward to and need this push to get started on them! I’ll be back later in the week to share my list with you…have to finish it first. I hope that many of you will join in with me. The goal is to sew one hour a day for 7 days. Doable for anyone, right? I just love the community that KCW brings and how I get inspired with everyone’s creativity. For more info check out the KCW blog. And this week is giveaway week so you may want to check out some of the cool things they are giving away this week over on the blog as well!

Kid’s Clothes Week Wrap-Up

Posted on April 30, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Day 4

At least one part of his body always seems to be in motion!

As I was debating what tee to make Thursday, I realized that Oliver “needed” a birthday shirt for his 2nd birthday on Friday. I had a super soft brown thrifted women’s XL shirt that I was saving for an appliqued tee and decided to use that for my shirt base. Once again, I used the trusty flashback skinny tee pattern. Since this was my 4th flashback tee, it came together super fast. I am really interested to notice how the different knit fabrics look different with the same size pattern- because this was really stretchy and soft material, it fits quite a bit bigger than his other shirts.

I spent forever trying to decide what kind of birthday applique I wanted to use. In the end, I spelled out TWO on his shirt because now it’s a shirt he can wear the entire year, not just on his birthday. It would have been easier if I had found a font I liked and traced the letters, but I can never do things the easy way so I free-handed the letters and took quite a while getting them just right. I used heat n bond lite to applique the letters to the tee and sewed around them for added security. I really like how this turned out! Of course Oliver did not cooperate super well for our mini-photoshoot but I have a few useable shots for you.

enjoying his yummy birthday cake 🙂

Day 5: Oliver’s birthday. I had planned to do a little sewing during his nap but after making his cake and playing with him all morning, I was too wiped out to sew and ended up napping myself. Oh well. We had a really fun day together and doesn’t that cake look good!? My car loving little man thought it was great.

Day 6-7: Had a reaction to something I ate on Friday night and had horrific indigestion/heartburn for 2 straight days….meaning no sewing or anything else for that matter. 😦 Getting ready to get this little brother out into the world so my body can go back to normal- only 5.5 more weeks!

Day 8:

I really wanted to complete a pair of shoes for the baby during KCW so I decided it could last one more day in order for me to meet my goal. I was going to use the shoe pattern from Handmade Beginnings, but found this adorable tutorial for TOMS and decided I must try it out using my leftover red denim from the boys’ pants. These took forever! I enlarged the pattern to where it should have been a size 6-9 months, but they ended up so tiny I don’t know if they’ll even fit a newborn. Fingers crossed this baby doesn’t have the gargantuan feet his older brother has! I know I’m a bit slow now with my pregnancy brain, but I really did not like this tutorial. I found it hard to follow, and she left out some details that would have been helpful. I also don’t like how it ends up with exposed seams in the inside of the shoe. Seems uncomfortable for a baby. I had to do lots of seam ripping with these shoes because I made so many mistakes, and in the end, I still ended up with 2 left feet. Oh well. Hopefully they’ll fit the little man for a few days at least so I can get some cute pictures. And maybe, I’m just super slow these days and the rest of y’all will have no problems following this tutorial! Let me know if you do try it!

And that wraps up another KCW… Total of 4 tees, 1 dress shirt, 1 pair of quick change trousers, and 1 pair of baby toms. Not too bad of a list in my opinion.