party in the u.s.a.

Steev’s birthday party yesterday. Every single picture was taken by my children and these are all the pictures taken by them as well. They were sparing and quite artsy, methinks:

Party, Skewed

Ralph At Party

Nels

Vroom

Today the sunshine continued – a tiny bite of cold creeping in. One of the nicest things for running for me are those days I have a breakthrough, marvelous session. Today was such a day. From the sighting of a woolly bear caterpiller to the boost in speed and distance and the two deer I saw and the glittering water and sunshine –

And today instead of just lifting my hand in a sedate acknowledgment of car and bike fellow travelers I did a full-on wave and smiled. And Every. Single. Car – so many – smiled and waved back! The bigger wave admittedly means I risk looking rather foolish but, I don’t care.

Today's Run

The View On My Run

It was beautiful today!

From a little earlier this year: gifts I made for JJ and Alden and their two bambinos (what a total fucking score I went searching for JJs blog address and I saw B. was wearing the hoodie!):
Hoodie For B., Booties For Baby Sib

Booties

Rayon Knit

We have a new mini-deity in our house and it’s called Minecraft. As might be expected Nels has been learning at an alarming rate. He is finally on the mend – his throat no longer sounds constricted and his tonsils are almost normal size. He still looks alarmingly thin and he has not been eating much. I’m plying bananas, milk and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Let’s see how it goes.

veneno verde

It turns out I rather prioritize bullshitting and hanging out with dinner guests (tonight my sister Jules, my mom, and guest Randa) than taking pictures of the sewing I got up to while at the Lake. But in any case, here is my best effort documenting my business – for starters, a hoodie and pair of lounge pants with room to grow for my daughter:

Poor Creature

Pants

Center Back

Inside Outseam

Cuffs

Hood

Side Seam, Topstitched

Grumpy

Phoenix wanted a poison green something. I am so in love with the Imke hoodie I am happy for any excuse to make them. This one was made up in about an hour and from Joann’s cheap fleece. Funny as I was buying it I mused aloud I’d never sewn with it. The retail clerk said confidently, “Oh don’t worry, it’s very forgiving”. This made me laugh to myself because seriously? Fleece sewing is so 101 (for me – I prefer Malden Mills though). Anyway, later on while stitching I remembered I *had* made something from Joann’s fleece, so very long ago, an ivory and deep rose kind of baby bunting for my daughter. So very long ago or rather, so many projects ago I simply don’t remember. This is why, reader, I try – TRY – to take pictures!

Sewing while at the cabin, like baking pies (P.S. – I won, of course, and shoutout Paige re: “the incident”), is if not Traditional what I’d call Customary. I still remember the tender Thanksgiving awesomeness I made up on my little Spartan back in – I think – 2007 (I am too lazy to find good pictures but here’s my daughter wearing the dress).

While on vacation I also sewed a few gifts but I can’t, goddamnit, post them here (not now at least). Be assured I will publish their photographic memorialization when the recipients have received and opened the goods.

Tonight Phoenix was not interested in posing. And I don’t blame her. But I had to get pictures fast because she was already wearing the garments (a lot, and it’s very gratifying how much the kids like to wear my wares). I try to take the picture as soon as I can because I remember the lesson of the the ill-fated adorable striped knickerbockers I made Nels over a year ago – pants I painstakingly crafted and finished, took pictures of, and within the HOUR he’d spilled bleach on and destroyed them (in no way that could be salvaged).

& now? Time to snuggle my good-sport daughter.

Insa skirt: size matters!

Sometimes these things happen. You sew something up and it doesn’t fit. Guess what, this rarely ever happens to me, but it’s happened three times in the last couple weeks. One item was the Insa skirt from the Farbenmix book which I’d intended for my daughter Sophie.

No matter. I not only know scores of little girls who’d likely enjoy a frilly skirt, I also have a smaller-scale model in-house who’s happy to pose so I can get pictures before I send it to its new home:

Reach
Helpful
Inspection
As I took pictures Nels reached for my scissors and began to snip at a stray thread on the skirt. This is something he’s seen me fuss over a million times. I’m touched he knows it’s part of the sewing process.

On to the pattern. As I discovered, it does run small; this is easy enough to forstall, but I was lazy and just sewed the same size I’d been sewing from the book. If you’d like to make sure you don’t make my mistake, simply measure the waistband and yoke circumference, take your sewing tape, and put it around your child’s hips at that same measurement. This circumference should have enough room from waist to mid-thigh your child can move comfortably. Remember, as it’s an elastic waist it’s easy to make a slightly large skirt fit just fine at the waist. Anyway, a too-large skirt is obviously a more desirable result than a too-small one as your child will grow into it in about five minutes.

The skirt’s lines are lovely. There is an easy and fabric showy feature on the underskirt that allows you to add volume to the skirt and show off more of the underlayer. This is accomplished by vertical lengths of 1/4″ elastic on the underside of the underskirt, midway through each gore. The elastic is cut to length and triple-stitched: a more “bubbly” effect is obtained the shorter the elastic strips you use, as I did:
Elastic For Fullness

The skirt is, like all the patterns in the book, made for using many different fabrics, scraps, and embellishments. You can add a contrast waistband (as I did) or use the upper edge of the yoke for the elastic facing. It’s the perfect skirt for twirling and lots of movement, and also to show off trims and topstitching:
Topstitched, Twin Needle

And finally, I added my own label at the center back yoke, on the inside of the skirt. Who knows where it may end up and maybe they’ll come look me up and find my sewing and be inspired.
Tag, Right Side

oh good lord have i told you how much i love to sew?

Hairband
(Quilt-age, being pressed)

Today as I made the bed I wondered why the heck I beat myself up that I don’t always catalog and take pictures of my many, many homemade creations. For instance since I last blogged about sewing I’ve made a ten-yard skirt and choli for bellydancing, a hairband, three pair of boxers, sewed up the Patterns By Figgy’s Beach Bum hoodie, finished a quilt top, and knit a hat.  And I’ve taken a picture or two, that’s it.

Taking photographs of my craft is another part of “after project clean-up” that I’m not always too thrilled with.  It isn’t just that I’ve got food to cook and people and pets to care for and laundry and scrubbing the toilet, etc, etc.  It’s that creations are springing out of my fingertips and I don’t want to slow down.  In fact my mind is like a runaway train and my body follows: I sew, sew, sew almost maniacally at times, threading and rethreading machines and slicing through the virgin beauty of smooth yardage.  It’s pure joy and industry.  There is no rhyme or reason to my methods: some projects are rather slap-dash and some are painstaking and detailed.  I unceremoniously pull shirts over the top of my kids’ heads, I give some of the work away to those who need or want.  I sew in a label with my name.  I re-fold and store yardage; smaller scraps I painstakingly cut into 3″ squares (I’m saving up these squares to make my kids a couple quilts, maybe upon their emancipation from my home) and the miniscule bits of fabric remaining are given to a local shop who sells them in wee bags to scrap quilters; the profits go to the local senior center.

Today I finished the Farbenmix Brooklyn shrug from a $1 100% cotton shirt I found at Thrift World.  It took about a half hour.
Brooklyn Shrug

I also used the same shirt for a hairband for myself.  And I still have quite a bit of the stripe left!
Hairband

One of the three pair of boxers I made Nels, all made from scrap and donated yardage:
Nels Poses

And finally: a visit to Olympia last night allowed me to buy some Fabric Porn (click on picture to know more):
Fabric Porn

The two fabrics that held a special place in my heart were the lemon and the Japanese-inspired waterscape. Today I look at the selvedge and sure enough: both of them are from Alexander Henry. I’d love to work for them. As in: they just give me a bunch of fabric and I say, “Thanks!” and sew with it. That kind of work. I won’t hold my breath.

Brooklyn, a tank top: repurposing

Killa Zilla

My daughter seems to love the little knit camisoles and tanks I’ve made her.  The Brooklyn tank top was the next project as listed in my Farbenmix sew-up project, and yet the weather is not really tank-top weather. I chose to make a double-layer tank, providing more warmth than it might first appear.  Yesterday Sophie layered it under a close-fitting jean jacket. She survived outdoor walks in the wind and indoor frolics in the dance studio equally well.

Sophie / Dance Studio Mirror

Good quality knits hold up well during their usage, do not pill, and have intelligible grainlines to work with.  Purchasing good-quality knits isn’t exactly easy unless you live in a city and know where to find them.  You can order online but then, since you are not able to feel and see the fabric, you are at a slight disadvantage.  I do order fabrics online, but when I am matching something I prefer to see them in the flesh.  Case in point: nine yards of silk velvet burnout are on their way to my house for a bellydancing skirt.  I won’t purchase fabric to make a coordinating top until I can carry a swatch of the skirt fabric around in my hand.

Back to this tank top: fortunately, finding very nice-quality t-shirts is an option where I live because we have a few wonderful thrift stores.  These shirts are from Thrift City here in Aberdeen and are high-end brands in Pima cotton.

At first I’d thought to dress this top up a bit.  I’ve been sewing a bit of Alabama Chanin projects – making an armchair pincushion for a practice run – and I thought to decorate the bodice with reverse applique.  After experimenting with both hand- and machine-sewn versions, I decided to just keep the shirt simple.  It wasn’t working out for me.  To put it politely.

Instead I added a couple subtle tucks at the hem of the outer jersey fabric to expose the dusty rose of the underlayer. The double-layer makes for a sturdy garment; the soft hand makes for a very cozy shirt for my girl.

Pink / Pink / Pink

This top was very easy to sew.  If you are a beginner sewing with jerseys, I might suggest using strips of stabilizer or a stabilizing spray when you are sewing directly on the jersey (my mother-in-law tells me you can dissolve scraps of stabilizer in water and use it as a DIY spray or paint to stabilize. I am sure this works, and it is cheaper than buying a stabilizing spray). Your aim in using these products will be to stabilize the edges of the jersey.  Such persnickety handling is not needed for the entire project; for instance, after you’ve attached the trim and are topstitching it things go easily without stabilizing (the woven fabrics are against the feed dogs).

This brings me to my favorite aspect of this project.  The notable thing about this top was the construction of the trim.  I chose to use a woven fabric on the bias, as opposed to a knit.  For any novice stitchers reading here, bias trim is made from long strips cut on the bias of the fabric and used at hemlines and seamlines or as detail. These bias strips serve as ties and trim both.  Using the bias is important, as only then will a woven perform a bit of stretch and can easily go around a curve; a strip cut on the straight-of-grain would not work well at all.

In this version, you attach the 1 1/4″ strip’s long edge to the right-side of the garment edge, flip the trim to the backside, and triple zig-zag topstitch all layers:

New Bias Trick For Knits
A triple zig-zag is a thready stitch, but such a great one with knits. You can pretty much use it with impunity. The results are a firm, slightly stretchy, and very sturdy trim application.  Given I have a very small stash of fabric, a project like this is perfect for using scraps to trim the top.

Tie Close-Up, Brooklyn Tank Top
¡Que bonita!

You can read a few more details in my Flickr tagset.

Riviera, leggings: construction and fit in simple knit garments

Perfectamundo!

Leggings are, to quote Mugatu, “so hot right now”!  Even if they go out of vogue for the adult fashion set, they’ll always be practical for children.  You can use them for play wear, costumes, or pajamas, and they’re smart in the Northwest where layering clothes is de rigueur for our capricious weather swings.

Leggings come in about three fits (your terminology may vary): loose, fitted, and footless tight (or negative fit).  The Riviera leggings in the Farbenmix book are pretty much just what you might understand by the book’s photos – that is, a legging in between loose and fitted.  This makes perfect sense for children’s garments when you want them to last more than one season.  If you were sewing these leggings for an adult, he/she might not like such a relaxed silhouette.

Knit fabrics that work well for fitted or footless tight style will have a sufficient bit of “spring” to them.  This isn’t rocket science, and you can test it in the fabric store.  Simply pull aross the stretchy grain and release: you want to see a bit of “snap”.  You can certainly sew leggings up in something with less elasticity but they may bag slightly during wear – and if sufficiently un-springy (like a 100% cotton), they may retain a knee-shape (this reason is why I hate stretch jeans – even with a tiny bit of spandex in them, they are significantly looser at stress points by the end of one wearing).

Leggings are usually made with one pattern piece, roughly a six-sided kite-shape.  The top and bottom represent half the waist and the full leg hem, resp.  There is a front and back crotch curve at the top of each piece, and the long “kite” leg sides of the piece represent the inseam.

Here is my general methodology for leggings: reinforcing all construction seams, I finish each leg first (hems and all), then turn one leg inside out, slip a right-side out legging into it, and sew them together at the crotch.  I then construct the waistband, which is the trickiest part.  I will detail in the following paragraph but – don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed, as a method will likely be detailed (with pictures) in any pattern worth its salt.

Reinforcing seams:

Reinforce Seams

To construct the waistband.  I first make a tag in the back of the leggings (otherwise simple pants, without a fly or pockets to guide you, can be tricky to tell front from back).  I cut elastic to the comfortable waist measurement (either using my intended, or taking a waist measurement minus an inch or two), stitch the elastic together at the short ends, and mark both the elastic and the pants hems in quarters.  I slip the elastic “loop” into the pants and pin at the quarter marks, pinning the stitched-together elastic at the back seam of the leggings (below photo, tag included).  Then I stitch the top of the elastic to the raw edge of the leggings with the legging fabric against the feed dogs, stretching the elastic as I go (I first take a few stitches before stretching to secure the seam).  You can use a simple zig zag or a three-step zig zag for the waistband stitches.  After the elastic is secured at the top edge I simply fold the whole business down to the inside of the pants, then stitch again, stretching the legging fabric again.  Easy – especially after you’ve practiced a bit.

Preparing To Attach Waistband

My methodology is more or less the methodology outlined in the Farbenmix book.  The waistband recommended for the Riviera leggings is sport elastic.  I used the 1 1/4″ channeled sport elastic I use for sewing the kids’ boxer shorts.  It’s very soft and supple and easy to work with.

Sewing elastic to knits is easy and, once you get the hang of it, very fun.  For instance, the dress Sophie is wearing in the finished-garment photos is a GAP size 0 rayon number we purchased for $5 at Pure Clothing in Hoquiam.  The dress, being an adult size, was too large in the chest and strap length.  I sewed the straps shorter, cut off the excess, and added some 1/4″ elastic to the top of the dress.  These alterations took about fifteen minutes together and now Sophie has a stylish playdress (if you want to watch a tutorial on sewing elastic to stretchy knits, Brian Remlinger, my favorite sewist to stalk, has an excellent tutorial of a fast, effective method).

I made only one ruche (pronounced “roosh”) on the leggings.  This is because I still do not have a rolled hem plate for my serger (my local vendor keeps forgetting to order me one) so it’s not all that fun to finish edges of fabrics that require slender hems.  I simply did a zig-zag; the fabric isn’t going to ravel or anything.  The busy pattern of the fabric also hides any less-than-professional stitch-business:

Attaching A ROOOOOOSH

My daughter loved the leggings – once she saw they were ready she changed into them.  They fit her perfectly both in size and in attitude.

You can read more details of construction at my Riviera Flickr tagset.


Tough.
Glee-Glee
Leap!

Imke, a hoodie: finishing notes

Keep It Like A Secret
The Imke hoodie was done yesterday and Nels has scarcely removed it since.

He loves the snuggly garment so much and so do others. Anecdotal: yesterday only a half hour after I’d finished the project we arrived late to our weekly Homeschool Sports session. I sat down on the bleachers next to my buddy-mama K. and after exchanging greetings I explained our tardiness.  “Something’s wrong with my car,” I told her. “We had to take a cab to make it here at all!” K. stared at my kids as they gambolled about on gym equipment. Looking straight at my son she said vaguely, “Oh? What’s wrong with your shirt?”, having substituted the distracting and awesome hoodie for the noun “car”. We had a laugh.  The diversion of my son’s garment was the sincerest form of compliment.*

At any rate, there’s surely not been a hoodie like this anywhere else.

Back Appliques

I was pretty quick-and-dirty with the appliques. Most of the Farbenmix enthusiasts’ treatment of trims and embellishments are different than those I used for this hoodie – from what I can tell, there garments are favored by the use of embroidery machines, sergers, coverstitch machines, and bright, professional-looking patches. I was pretty low-tech on this project, using a sewing machine rather than serger and cutting from quilting cottons for patches.  My methods are cheaper and look more “homemade”.

Using a true “patch” or taking a little more care in constructing applique makes for a more professional look.  The next time I construct such a garment I will take time with a method to insulate the thin cotton wovens from showing the garment detail underneath (methinks a form of light and thin batting would do the trick).

Quick Applique

For topstitching I merely performed a quick turquoise zig-zag around the applique, then re-threaded with red and performed a triple-stitch (which is how I got the thread bar so thick).

The hood shape is wonderful. It not only fits wonderfully and looks great, there are details in the book as to inserting elastic in the hood facing seamline. Very easy to do, and forms a subtle gather that keeps the hood on the head without use of a drawstring:

This Hood is FTW

Finally, a Kelly Hogaboom coup: the hood and lining construction. It’s hard to make a hood and lining without some kind of icky seam showing either in the inner or outer neckline. I did something rather goofy: constructed the hood and lining, leaving an opening in the straight lining seam. I sewed the face of the hood and lining together, then applied the raw edge neckline, one at a time, to the garment neckline (using the hole in the lining to pull the entire garment through when sewing the lining seam.)  I then turned the whole thing right-side out and stitched the lining gap closed. This had the advantage of a lovely, smooth segue from garment to hood – no topstitching required.

No one understood or cared about the above paragraph except perhaps Brian Remlinger, if he’s reading.

Hood-applying brilliance notwithstanding, I did make one mistake in the construction of it. Below you see the back of the garment, right at the inner edge of center-back hood and garment body (and handmade tag). Can you see what I did wrong? (Hint: only a sewing-nrrd could spy it!)

Hood Lining, Perfect. (Ish)

Nels is pleased with the result; as am I.

Tuffskin

For more details, the photos in my Imke Flickr tagset list a few specifics. If you have any questions, do consider posting here on the blog to help any readers who may come along at a later date.

On to the next project: the Riviera leggings. Sophie choose a wonderful stretch knit for the project, and they should whip up in no time.

* What’s wrong with my car? According to our car-monkey friend – and his explanation seemed savvy to me, peering into the workings of our 25-year old engine – the crankshaft pulley is loose and therefore not driving the waterpump. So no driving the car. For now. Public transit, bikes, and my mother’s pick-up truck FTW.

Imke, a hoodie: no-rules working with knits

Seam-Ripping
(Last night at dinner, Sophie volunteered to take the stitches out of the Imke hood; I’d decided to re-do the hood in the larkspur knit rather than the 100% cotton in oatmeal colorway, because the latter had rippled too much in constructing the pointed hood.)

In the case of sewing, I’ve learned there are no real rules. Whatever you can find to work, works.

I know this doesn’t sound like earth-shattering knowledge upon first read.  But keep in mind I’ve been sewing for some years now.  In the townships I’ve lived since I began my sewing craft in earnest, I’ve yet to find a real-life sewing community, people who get together and sew and share with one another (I’ve found lots of quilting groups, doll-making groups, embroidery goups and even knitting and crocheting groups – but no groups that revolve around garment-making).  Therefore most of my sewing hobnobbing has been through online groups – the place I go to show off my latest creation (rare, these days – I’m not clicking with anyone online), or get help when I’m stuck on a technique (about once every two months).

Concomitant to online sewing enthsiast verbiage and the occasional library book or Threads article comes a kind of elitist or rules-based vibe.  So in searching for how to add bust darts to a t-shirt, say, you end up reading about how “so many women don’t know basic principles of fit”, and how this-or-that pattern isn’t flattering and how this method of FBA is superior to the slash-and-pivot, and one should purchase this-or-that book and go through all the excercises to get a greater understanding of the whole business.

Ugh.  No really, I just want to make a pretty good shirt that fits my (sizeable) bust.  And now I’m tied up in knots thinking about the “right” way to do it!

Let me break it down in a way that will hopefully be less indimidating.

As you sew your garment, your goals should be:

1. Wearability (the garment fits you and is sturdy enough to stand wear)
2. Style (you – or your intended – has to want to wear it)

And that’s just about it! In whatever ways you accomplish this goal, you are doing it right.

That means if during construction you “cheat” by using hot glue, or by having a tailor insert a zipper – because you simply can’t do it yourself – or buying a kit of some kind of where the thing is half-made-up from the get-go, or using a bedazzler, it doesn’t matter. It’s better to have a success on your terms than a bad experience on someone else’s.

With respect to this stage of the Imke hoodie, I’d like to address the novice or intermediate sewist who is tackling a knit project.

Knits can be tricky.  They can stretch unbecomingly as you sew – and refuse to bounce back, leaving rippled hems and wavy seams. They can get sucked into the feed dogs (those are the jagged little teeth on the throat plate that move fabric along as you sew).  They can sew up beautifully only, when you attempt to wear the garment, you find threads mysteriously popping.

Should the potential pitfalls of knit fabrics deter you from sewing with them?  Heavens, no!

As relatively seasoned as I am, when it comes to sewing with knits I am not above using Technology, or that is to say, products with fiber and glue that help secure, either temporarily or permanently, knits and their seams, hems, or trims and appliques applied. Most of these products are inexpensive ($2/yd or less) and you only use little bits of them.  I used four such products in the construction of Imke:

1. A water-based stabilizer – This product allowed me to sew even stitches on my knit, then could be washed away after the garment was finished.  This product is also good for putting a small 1″ square underneath a knit seam as you begin to sew; it keeps the knit from being dragged under (so annoying!).

Stabilizer, Underside
The water-soluble stabilizer ensured my grosgrain ribbon “floated” on the top of the knit, as opposed to compressing or dragging while sewing.  That white-looking webbing?  Instantly dissolves in hot or warm water.

2. Wonder Under, a Pellon product – Think of a gossamer-thin sticky glue you iron to your applique or patch, then iron onto the garment. It is not enough to hold it for duration of wear – you have to stitch down the patch or applique. But it holds it in place long enough to be able to top-stitch with good effect.  Yesterday’s post included a picture taken after I’d fused one side of the product to my applique fabric and traced the shapes I’d be cutting.

3. Some nameless fusible tape similar to the Wonder Under, but less elegant (Walmart FTW!) – I used this for securing the grosgrain ribbon to the knit before I topstitched it down with a zig zag. I am super-proud of the ribbon effect, which I pulled off more beautifully than most anything else in this project.

Steam A Seam Sumthin-Or-Other
Use the fusible tape to secure (temporarily) the grosgrain to the knit. Loosely pin the stabilizer under the ribbon just before sewing.  Then topstitch with a zig-zag that does not interfere with the desired color effect you want from the ribbon.

Stripe / Stabilizer
Results (yes, Nels designed this hoodie with two different-colored sleeves!):

Sleeves, Finished

Eagle-eyed viewers may notice I added cuffs to this garment.  The construction of cuffs is simple and rather satisfying – look how nicely they turned out!  If you click on the above picture you will be taken to my Flickr page with a few details of cuff construction.  And that brings me to:

4. Knit interfacing.  “Interfacing” is a term for lining parts of a garment with either body or stiffness – like one would do in a button placket on a dress shirt, or a collar.  When it comes to calling a fabric “interfacing”, this usually means a thin fabric, either fusible or sew-in, that adds strength and/or stiffness.  Interfacing is a good idea on cuffs because they see a lot of wear.  In the case of the cuffs I constructed above, I used a knit interfacing with a bit of give.  However, the interfacing is stiff enough to pull the looser-knit sleeve in, leaving a deliciously sturdy and, dare I say, professional-looking effect.

Getting back to the issue of sewing with knits, my readers ask: can you sew patches, appliques, and trims to a knit fabric without the use of fusibles and stabilizers? It depends largely on the knit – but, in theory, you can. As I said in my last post, when messing about with knits you need to practice.  If you can make it work, go for it.

How do you know which products to use, and when?  Think about the parts of the garment you are embellishing or strengthening.  Because most trims, patches, and appliques are rigid, so sewing them to the knit may impede the stretch at that point in the garment.  Example: if the garment is a loose-fitting cardigan, sewing patches or trims anywhere won’t make much of a difference to the fit and function of the garment (and you may not need a stretch knit at all; an interlock or non-stretch knit may suffice – a recent coat I made my daughter was sewn in a knit, but underlined with a woeven, as it did not need to stretch to fit or wear properly).  But let’s say, as in the case of Imke, you are making a pullover hoodie.  You should not then trim the neckline with an inflexible ric-rac or ribbon – because it has to stretch to go over the head.  Do you want to trim the sleeve cuffs or leg hems?  Careful how you proceed: hands or feet need to comfortably slide through and wrists or ankles need to be able to move in comfort.  If the cuffs/hems are loose-fitting, then add trim as you see fit.

So, adding patches or trims to knits is no rocket science.  In the case of Imke, since the body of the hoodie is a relatively loose fit, I didn’t have to worry about restricting stretch with the large patch I applied to the back.

By the way: I ended up loathing the cotton rib knit, colorway oatmeal, that I’d initially felt so positive about (and got on remnant sale – $3 for a 60″ yard). I cannot wait to pass it on to someone else, as I have a significant amount of yardage left. I wish I could have made friends with this rib knit – which is soft, thick, and a lovely color – but as a 100% cotton it keeps stretching and stretching as I sew despite a handful of tricks I employwed.  One sleeve was more than enough exposure; I had some colorful words at the sewing table, which I will spare you here.

Finally: I tend to enjoy lots of decorative topstitch, even when it’s more or less lost on a rather busy garment.  Let’s face it, kids’ clothes are all about expressiveness, not sophistication (and I wish more adults would take this to heart in their own stylistic endeavors).  Employing topstitch details to delight my son’s searching eyes feels like Love to me.

Decorative, Hood Facing

Tomorrow: finished Imke!

Imke, a hoodie: tracing patterns and handling knits

Well, we sure had fun today, didn’t we? Oh wait, no we did not. I mean, things started well enough. I got up and began to work on Imke, the hooded sweatshirt that is the first-listed project in the Farbenmix book.

Provided you have the pattern and the fabric, the general order of embarking on a sewing project is as follows:

1. Select fabrics
2. Sketch design
3. Trace pattern
4. Cut fabrics and begin construction

Nels and I fell in love with a lovely rib knit, color name “larkspur”. It is 96% cotton and 4% spandex, I believe – the perfect rib knit for a natural feel but enough recovery to sew and wear well (all-cotton rib knits, someone tell me what these are good for? They stretch like mad and end up rather saggy. Give me a wee bit of creepy, petroleum-based fiber technology any day). The rib knit was on sale a few days ago and we picked up about a yard and a half; at home I had a handful of knits and some trims / panels that I knew would look good with the lovely blue color:

Fabrics

“Larkspur” is there at the lower-right. Isn’t it lovely?  From the left we have an all-cotton whale print rib knit, a dark blue (it looks black in the photo) cotton lycra knit (this was too lightweight for the body of the garment; I figured I could use it for a hood lining), an oatmeal cotton rib knit (I have more to say about this fabric in my next post), a grosgrain ribbon ($2 for a roll), a few miscellaneous fabric panels and a robot patch (the latter from Etsy!), and a woven cotton stripe remnant – high quality, and on sale for $1.50.

It’s funny the “easiest” project in the book is a knit project.  I think this is actually not a good jumping off point for beginners (I will be talking about sewing with knits in my next post). While one should not be intimidated at the thought of sewing with knits, it’s best to go slowly when you first start. There are pitfalls in sewing with these seemingly friendly fabrics.

That said, knit garments often have simple design lines and lack darts, collars, cuffs, etc.  Therefore the customization of this piece would mostly be in the contrasting appliques and trims added.  Fortunately, my partner in design woke right as I was getting started and came right back to the sewing room to help sketch the garment design.

Sketch

There were only four pieces to trace, so this only took about ten minutes, even considering I needed to add my own seam allowances (in purple, below):

TracingWhat’s funny is, I was thinking I’d be writing today that tracing mediums don’t matter much: you can buy something renowned like Swedish Tracing Paper, you can use non-fusible interfacing (do not use fusible; you will be ironing the tracings now and then) or even trace with cheap tissue paper (be careful using this as you must not allow it to get wet).  I was feeling very sanguine about tracing mediums, but this Pellon product ended up warping under the iron’s heat so it wouldn’t lay perfectly flat.  A minor annoyance, to be sure – I am very exact.  My tracing and cutting usually never allows me off more than 1/8″, so I am not too concerned about inexactitudes.  Still, the warped nature of the medium was a bit annoying.  If you need any  more information about tracing and how to go about it, don’t hesitate to email or, better yet, post here in the comments.  Make sure to label the size you’re tracing on the pattern piece for future reference (in the above photo, upper left – Euro size); I put traced sizes in their own envelope, labeled.

Most natural fibers need washing and drying if they are to be washed and dried during their life as a garment (if you are making a quilt, and certain other projects like a potholder, it is sometimes desirous to not pre-wash and -dry your cotton, velvet, what-have-you). 99.9% of my garment-sewing involves wash-and-dry care; I’m not interested in the expense or trouble of dry-cleaning.  Last night I washed and dried all my fabrics (the quilt panels had been washed and dried years ago, when I used the rest of the fabric to make baby pants), and piled them up more or less folded along my ironing board (folding or draping fabrics fresh out of the dryer often eliminates the need for ironing). This morning I found the grain and cut my pieces.  When finding the fabric grain and cutting it, make sure to support the yardage length on the table; otherwise it can pull and distort the fabric and you won’t be getting an exact cut. This is particularly true for a loose weave or, as in my case here, a stretch-knit.

It’s easy to find the grain of a beefy rib knit like those I was working with:
Finding The Grain Of A Rib Knit

Time to get started on the applique pieces and the trims! Here is a preview – as it happened, the first time I’ve used Wonder Under, a light double-sided fusible:

Wonder Under, A 1st

I think your average beginner could use a mentor for this project. Sewing patches/appliques and trims on a knit with 25% or more stretch?  Not exactly super-easy.  One thing I’ll say about knit sewing – and the book mentions this a bit – is practice, practice, practice. Keep the little scraps from after you cut your garment pieces.  Before you think about sewing the garment, select the proper needle and thread (more about this in a minute) and sew a few pieces together. You will begin to get a feel for how easy the knit will be or how much trouble it will give you (in the case of one of these fabrics above – lots!  Any guesses as to which one?). Again, a stretch knit with a bit of polyester, spandex, or lycra can be easier to sew with than an all- cotton/hemp/silk/wool may be.  A non-stretch knit is easier to work with in any case; but careful here.  Patterns will tell you if a stretch knit is required and for the most part, you can believe the pattern on this one.

To sew on a knit you often need a ballpoint needle in a size appropriate to the fabric (for these slightly beefy rib knits, a size 80/12 worked fine). Polyester thread is a good bet. Practice on your scraps and in tomorrow’s post I’ll be showing some of the blood, sweat, and tears of constructing with a stretch knit. If you’d like to read ahead you can check out the photo notes in my Farbenmix Imke tagset.

Today I almost finished the hoodie – and it’s quite an embellished little thing, as according to my son’s design! – but, predictably, I sewed right up until bedtime and ran into trouble at the end. A new start tomorrow!

Farben-mixing it up, an introduction

Kids need sturdy clothes, and hopefully ones that grow gracefully so the child can wear them long enough to wear them out (in the case of the blazer I made my son last summer, Nels continues to wear it despite growing five inches in a year; it is now comically too-short).  When my kids were wee their clothing needs were less intense; gone are the days of babies and toddlers who mostly don’t get up to too much rough play.

I mentioned late last month I’d purchased a book with children’s sewing patterns: Sewing Clothes Kids Love: Sewing Patterns and Instructions for Boys’ and Girls’ Outfits (published by Creative Publishing International). The book’s patterns and scope are such that I’ve been inspired to complete all the garments therein and write about it here.  I hope all my readers – stitchers and non-sewists alike – find my travels interesting.

A few questions answered:

Why Sewing Clothes Kids Love?

The book Sewing Clothes Kids Love (hereafter called “the Farbenmix book”) has a good scope.  In the ten patterns of the book we see practical kidwear that can be constructed according to the age, preferences, and tastes of each child.  There are ten patterns in size ranges Euro 86 cm to 152 cm (roughly 2T to size 14).  The patterns are not complex in and of themselves and favor loose and comfortable fits, pull-on waists, and elastic or tie features to accommodate a growing and active child.

In addition, the Farbenmix book showcases a high attention to detail and embellishments, the kind of things most children love. It provides a few guidelines for making sure to create something your kid will like and select from the closet over and over again.  As those who sew for others know, you have to create something the individual loves, or he/she simply won’t wear it.  I’m pretty good at knowing what friends and family like. The ideas and pictures in the Farbenmix book provide additional influences and inspiration for which I am ready and grateful to use.

It is not a perfect book; most of the patterns are styled with distinctly feminine embellishments and pattern lines, leaving creative boy-styled garments in the lurch.  However, the focus on garments that play and grow with the child and express children’s unique sensibilities make it a project full of Win for me.

Is this project expensive?

Not really.  Home-sewing can be as cheap or as pricey as you make it.  In addition, home sewing stands for lots of wear.  I have never purchased clothes that last as long as the ones I sew – yes, even on my kids who regularly climb trees, play War and kickball, and rough-house like no one’s business.  Homesewn items can have a life beyond those you purchase; yesterday my daughter went to a dance in a dress I made – which had doubled as her Halloween costume last year – and her friend attended the same event in Sophie’s dress form the year before.

Is sewing a money-saving venture?  I leave that for others to bicker about.  I will say: homesewing takes time, but it’s time I’m thrilled to spend.

Is this project appropriate for beginners?

Well, yes and no.  Familiarity with sewing, tracing patterns, adding seam allowances, and fitting children will be a big help – all of which I have in spades.  However, a beginner might find themselves intimidated by the many new concepts they have to wrangle at once.  If you’d like to tackle the book and would like assistance, please don’t hesitate to email me at kelly AT hogaboom DOT org or call me at (360)532-9453.

Why sew for kids?

Ready for me to get pop-culture specific?  Well here goes anyway.  The current craft and homesewing scene is glutted with pornographically cute and often trivial craft projects.  These books and sites often contain photographs of adorable (usually white) children doing cute, non-kidlike and non-messy things on sun-washed oak floors; concomitant to this we have the craftster culture of shoddy and fast results meant to clad the (usually thin, young, and white) urban hipster and her closetful of eclectic fare.  At the other end, a few monolithic sites showcase rather dressy enterprises for adults’ formal or dressy garments, highlighting tailored techniques.

These markets are being served just fine, and all of these projects have their individual merit.  I am all for a newbie sewer having luck embellishing tea towels, then going on to try something more ambitious. In addition, tailor-made details are some I thrive on when it’s appropriate to employ them.

Yet my life is one of caring for a family with young children and a houseful of pets – and one income.  I can’t afford too many expensive fabrics while keeping up with my kids’ demand.  The Farbenmix book is a perfect avenue to continue sewing expressive, strong, beautiful clothing for people who work and play hard.

If this sounds like something you’d like to do, I’d love to help you.

So let’s get started!