KCW Days 1-3 - something to show, finally

This three-kids-of-which-two-are-toddlers-and-one-is-a-newborn thing is no joke.  It is a minor miracle that I finished anything at all, let alone that I got photos taken.

I actually finished sewing the skirts on Tuesday morning. I pulled out my box of elastic ... only to find that I was clean out of the 3/4" width I needed for these skirts.  Drat.  I knew of a fabric store about 25 minutes away.  You know I was determined when I grimly loaded the kids into the car Wednesday morning and made the trek. Success! Not only do they have elastic, but fabric, pretty lace and a lovely array of buttons. This store is by our church so I will make sure to do my notions shopping on Sundays.

Yesterday I also started sewing summer nightgowns for the girls. I hope I can finish them by the end of the week.

KCW Day 1

So it's time for Kids Clothes Week again.  This is my third one. In the past, I have sewn much more than the requisite hour per day.   When I thought about whether to participate this year, it occurred to me that, while I might be able to carve one uninterrupted hour a day, I wouldn't get very much done in that time.

Uninterrupted?

Yeah, I was very optimistic.

I did spend a little over an hour yesterday working on two Lazy Days skirts for the girls, but it was far, far, faaaaaar from uninterrupted.  It was more like, spend five minutes measuring and cutting fabric, then spend 49 minutes getting everyone in and out of various princess costumes.  Spend 13 minutes sewing and ironing a couple seams, then spend 33 minutes serving food, wiping spills and throwing in another load of laundry.

So, despite the fact that the Lazy Days skirt should really be a 30-45 minute project from start to finish ... I have nothing finished to show you today.  Better luck tomorrow.

KCWC Days 6 and 7

Continuing with the Oliver + S theme, I finished off this KCWC with two Sunday Brunch skirts and a Hopscotch top.  The skirts (burgundy corduroy) turned out so cute, but I could not get a good photo of the girls together in them. Also, funny to note, Z's skirt is actually two sizes larger than N's. They actually have almost the same measurements, but Z needed a bigger size because of her cloth-diapered rear, whereas N is potty-trained (hooray!).  I really really wanted N to wear her black knit boots with this outfit (because, how cute would that have been?), but the kid officially has a fashion sense and it had to be the blue sparkly shoes.

The Hopscotch top was super-exciting because it is my first knit item on a serger, and the first knit item I've sewn that didn't make me want to tear all my hair out. Only some. But I'm still figuring the serger out. I made a straight 3T rather than worry about fiddling with the pattern. It's a little roomy on N, but then, so are all her store-bought shirts.  Excuse the filthy tights - this was after several spills off her bike. Also, I guess we're doing funny poses now :)

KCWC Days 3, 4 & 5

It's been busy around here.  Last night I finally finished my second Playdate dress.  I really love this dress. I also love that Natasha was super-excited to wear it, despite its definite lack of pink, purple, and flowers.  It is a little snug around the armholes, though, so when I finally sew the velveteen for her Christmas dress, I will go up a size. No more mock-ups, though, this is it.

KCWC Day 2

I asked for ideas on how to salvage the Playdate Dress over at the Oliver+S forums and one lady had the brilliant idea to add a flutter sleeve. Mine turned out more like a cap sleeve, but I think it actually distracts the eye away from the super-deep armholes. I'm surprised at how much I like the end result. And N likes it, even though it isn't pink, purple or flowery. (I did point out it's the same color as Princess Tiana's dress, so maybe that helped).

I'm still not entirely certain how to do the Christmas dress - I may start another "wearable muslin" tonight and see how it goes. We'll see.

And here it is, styled for fall:

KCWC Day 1

So I ended up not being away from the machine, as I had thought, today. I spent several hours (aided by my husband's Columbus Day holiday) working on a Playdate Dress.  It was a practice-run for Natasha's Christmas dress, for which I bought some lovely lilac velveteen. I almost thought to just dive into the velveteen from the get-go ... and now I am so glad I did not do that. 

My girl is so skinny that her chest measurement corresponds with the 6-12 mo size on the pattern. However, she is a tall 3T, almost a 4. So I had to do some rejiggering of the pattern. I jiggered a bit too far, though, and now I have armholes too deep for the sleeves. I'm trying to decide now whether to cut new sleeves (which might look a little strange and off-kilter in the new proportion), or just to bind the too-big armholes and call the dress a jumper.  Perhaps I'll decide tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a dress I sewed last week with my new serger (yay!). It is a sleeveless version of the Junebug dress (see two posts ago), but it is a little too tight on both my girls. Also, I managed to slice a small hole into the skirt while serging the last seam. I patched and zigzagged it and it's not too noticeable, but it did make me very upset at the time.

Here's a photo of Z wearing it today. 

The styling is her own. You can't quite see it but she is wearing a shirred tank top under the dress, and then the jeans and boots. No amount of cajoling could convince her that the jeans and boots were a bit of an overkill for the 80-degree afternoon. I could almost hear her sighing over my out-of-style-ness. I guess that's coming ...

KCWC cheater

I started early on this fall's Kids Clothing Week Challenge. In fairness, I will probably be away from my sewing machine the first three days of the challenge. So I'm still going to tag this post with kcwc. I don't know whether it's totally legal or anything, but ...

Anyway, N is in full-on I-must-wear-dresses-I-will-throw-tantrums-if-you-put-me-in-pants mode. And she has gotten taller so most of her dresses are too short. So I decided to make a few new ones. For this one, I have embraced the color-block trend. It's the Junebug dress from Craftiness Is Not Optional.  I've made the dress before and it comes together very quickly. I'm currently working on a jumper version in denim - but since I have to construct the bodice differently, and I completely botched the first try, it probably won't be ready or a couple of days.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the dress.  Ignore the puff where the bodice meets the skirt; I had forgotten to iron it down before N modeled it. I have since corrected that issue.  Also, my skinny minnie is still too small for the 2T bodice pattern (!), but at least I know she'll get another year out of it.

KCWC Days 6 and 7

Whew.  I am glad I participated in KCWC this year, but I am also glad it is over.  One hat, six tops, one pair of pants and one skirt later, I am all sewed out.  Here are the last two items:

I put the landing crane on the front of Z's top (it's on the back of N's).  The skort is the Oliver + S Badminton Skort.  I made it in the same ticking as N's sailboat pants.  I think they will look really cute in the coordinating outfits.

KCWC Day 5

I didn't know what I was going to sew today.  Then yesterday, while at the fabric store buying buttons for the sailboat pants, I saw this fabric.  Folded up on the rack, all I could see was the flower side.  It was love at first sight, but I didn't know what I would do with it.  I decided to buy it anyway.  It wasn't until the shop girl unfolded it to cut, that I saw the cranes.  And immediately the fabric had a destiny.

It became another Ice Cream Top for N.  Tomorrow I think it will also become an Ice Cream Top for Z.  I really love how it turned out, and I think she does too (when I showed it to her, she didn't immediately fuss).

Front.

Back.

KCWC Day 4 and HOORAY for spring!

Yesterday I sewed another pair of Sailboat Pants for N.  I had done a straight 3T version when I first got the pattern, but they were way, way too big around the waist, even with a cloth diaper.  So this time, I cut out an 18-24 month size, but lengthened the rise and the inseam to 3T.  This worked better, but still doesn't fit great with a cloth diaper on.  Works well with a disposable though (as in these photos).  She, not surprisingly, isn't a big fan of these pants.  She'll have to get over that because I love them, and also happen to believe that red-and-white stripes are a neutral that go with most things :)

Also, a gratuitous hooray-for-gorgeous-weather photo from yesterday afternoon's outing.

Yes, it was really warm enough for a tank top and sunny enough for sun hats!  Spring in Moscow is just awesome.

KCWC Day 3

Yesterday my kids stayed asleep/in their rooms for quiet time for a full 90 minutes.  Thanks to that, and an early bedtime for them, I completed two tops yesterday.  And now I've sewn up all the stuff I had cut out for this week.  So today I'm back to cutting for the remaining four days of KCWC!

On the left is an Oliver + S Ice Cream Top in light cotton voile for Natasha.  On the right is an O+S Badminton Top in light cotton voile for Z.  The trim on the second top matches the first top.  Also, I sewed a top for myself out of the orange and white stripes, so we will all coordinate.  If I can make a bow tie or something for J out of the scraps, we'll be like the Von Trapp family this summer :)

KCWC Day 2

Yesterday I sewed another Class Picnic Top.  I really do love this pattern.  I embellished this top with some matryosha doll buttons I got from Etsy last summer. I also love the fabric, though it is a tad heavy for this top.  Hopefully the fact that it is red and the buttons will entice N to wear it.

KCWC Day 1

So yesterday was day 1 of the Kids Clothing Week Challenge. I finished up a Reversible Bucket Hat for Natasha.  She, of course, does not want to wear it.

But here it is for posterity's sake.  In the last picture it's sitting next to the first such hat I made last week.

I also completed, from start to finish, another Class Picnic Blouse (also an Oliver + S pattern). I went quickly and accidentally ended up putting ric rac on the back as well as the front.  Now Jeremy will never be able to tell which way it goes on :)  I made another Class Picnic out of this same fabric for Zoia last month.  Natasha saw it and requested her own.  I am hoping that means she will wear it without protest. I really love this pattern and plan to sew another one this week, out of the red and pink fabric I used for one side of the hat above.

Kids Clothing Week Challenge

Tomorrow starts the Kids Clothing Week Challenge (KCWC) over at elsiemarley.com.  The idea is to spend one hour per day tracing patterns, cutting fabric, or sewing children's clothes.  Clearly, I laugh in the face of this challenge, as I have been sewing an average of more than an hour a day on children's clothes for a couple months now.

But I figure this is a good way to finish off my current spree and finally clean out the sewing room in preparation for our pack-out, which is less than five weeks away.  Eek.

So this week, I've traced patterns and cut fabric.  Next week I plan to sew two more of these cute Class Picnic tops from Oliver + S.

Also one of these O+S badminton tops (and maybe the skort, haven't decided yet):

And this O+S Ice Cream Top (this illustration shows the dress version).

First, though, I need to finish up a summer hat I started working on today.  I'll try to post pictures of my progress each day.

Also ... spring is here!  We went outside without jackets today and it was lovely.