KCW Spring - The Kids Clothes Week Wrap-up

Voila!  Finis.  These three dresses were what I was able to make in about a week and a half, working during naptime and after bedtime, at least 1 hour a day.  We ended up with our one week summer in the springtime the week after KCW so the dresses got a lot of wear.  Some details:

Pattern:  Geranium Dress by Made by Rae, cap sleeves with pleated skirt and yes, POCKETS!

Size: 2T

Fabric: Panel of Marimekko fabric Ive been hoarding for years

Notions: three vintage buttons from my old job in LA

This was a really straightforward sew - the fun part working out the position of the pattern on the fabric so that the very very very large scale pattern would work on such a little dress.  Sizing wise it fits M pretty well, with enough length to last a bit, I hope!

Pattern: Oliver & S Ice Cream Dress sz 2T

Fabric: Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton stripes 

Notions: one buttons from the button stand at the Bastille market in Paris.

This pattern + fabric = dreamy!  I want to draft it in my size.  The fabric is so soft and light and the perfect weight and drape for this pattern - the dress hangs just perfectly!  

I wanted to play with the stripes and the panels of the pattern so I cut the yoke on the cross grain (hoping that the double layer of the yoke will make up for it not being on the grain to hold the weight of the dress) and alternating stripe direction on the other pieces.  

One modification I made was to cut the blouse panel instead of the center dress panel for a different proportion to the dress.  BEWARE! The bottom hem will be ever so slightly off so trace the bottom panel pattern and measure and redraft it so that it will fit onto the bottom of the blouse piece.

The construction of the Ice Cream Dress is rather clever, all the seams are finished by sewing them.  Love that.  

Pattern: Geranium Tunic by Made by Rae, Tunic with no sleeves

Size: 2T

Fabric: African Wax Print

Notions:Three vintage bakalite buttons from my old job again.

I love this pattern.  This tunic was an easy adaptation from the dress I made before.  I cut the pattern originally to take advantage of the pattern to make a sort of faux "ruffle" at the front of the bodice. The pattern is so crazy (in a good way!) that I thought maybe it would be a good idea to play with the pleats and see if I could make the front of the dress make a little more sense under that medallion ruffle thing.  By pulling the center pleat in it also made it a little more angular, also in a good way.

I received a few questions about how to do the modification to the skirt.   I cut the skirt front as normal for the pleated version of the dress and pinned the two center pleats as drafted. Pressed the top of the pleat lightly and then pulled the pleats to meet in the center (creating an inverted pleat), pinned and pressed,  and then made up the difference with the two side pleats.  Make sure to measure the bottom of the front bodice length to get the length you need to pleat to get the skirt to fit perfectly.  Pleats are only difficult because they have to be precise, but if you do measure and adjust and pin and press before sewing, I promise it will be easy!

I love how the medallions are on both shoulders.  It was a lot of fun to play with this pattern and figure out how to make it work on such a small little tunic. I also want to make myself some tops with different prints too!

I really enjoyed taking part in Kid's Clothes Week.  I felt the inertia of the last few months disappear, and its made me really excited to get sewing and more importantly finish projects!    I will absolutely be joining in each season!

To see more about the process, check out my previous posts about Kids Clothes Week:


KCW - a kick in the pants (or participating in Kids Clothes Week)

KCW Spring - Update on days 2 + 3 of Kids Clothes Week

KCW Spring - Update on days 4 + 5 of Kids Clothes Week

KCW Spring - Update on days 6 + 7 of Kids Clothes Week 2013

KCW Spring - Update on days 6 + 7 of Kids Clothes Week 2013

Day 6 of Kid's Clothes week (or Saturday) I set out to piece together the Oliver & S Ice Cream Dress.  

Aaron and M went out and I had the apartment to myself so I blasted T Rex* and was set on gathering and a piecing my morning away. 

Nervous making!  The genius of this dress, the seams become enclosed and finished as you go, is also the stress of the design. The one pass you do on the seam has to look good on the front side of the garment.  Edgestitched no less! 

Luckily I used enough pins and sewed VERY SLOWLY (My machine has a speed setting which is really weird to me but is super handy for moments like this.  I just discovered this recently when it suddenly only would chug along at like 5 stitches a minute.  I'm so used to just pedaling barefoot and hovering with my foot.)  I only had to rip it out once!  Second time is a charm!

 


The bottom hem was a little trickier to match up as it was not gathered but straight pieced.  No pictures of that, just did it.

Day 7 or Sunday I was sick and Aaron was bottling most of the day.  I spent the day trying out different buttons from my button stash and looking through all my studio drawers and boxes to find the buttonhole attachment to the machine while keeping myself and M happy with our sad sinuses.

To be continued...Kids Clothes week extended a little into more like "The Nine Days of Sewing for the Toddler....."

*Seriously.  I am just such a jeepster for T Rex again right now.  Totally great to sew to.  I need to make a sewing accompaniment compilation, and there would be much Marc Bolan on it.  Go watch this too.  Holy cow. So ridiculous and rad.

KCW Spring - Update on days 4 + 5 of Kids Clothes Week

(Blurry picture near midnight!)

Thursday was day four of the Spring Kid's Week Clothes Challenge and it was a fairly busy day, parent child class in the morning, M not feeling too well so we stayed in for some intense play in the afternoon.  I love how when shes doesn't feel good she most intent on play.  BALL.  STAND.  SIT.  DANCE.  These were my orders for the rest of the day.

I didn't get to sewing until nighttime (I know, I pledged not to sew at night anymore but it really is the time I have where I can completely focus on the sewing and not worry about naptime about to end)  and was able to crank out the above Geranium Tunic in the African wax print.  I love this sewing pattern.  After making the first one, the second one came together in an hour.  ONE HOUR!  I changed the pleats in front, a large inverted pleat in the center and then the other two to make up the difference in size between the bodice and skirt widths.  

Friday or day five I cobbled together the yoke of the Oliver & S Ice Cream Dress.  I have never put together a garment with construction like this before - totally magic.  What I love most is how the yoke completely covers the gathers of the skirt to make finish the seams so beautifully.  I didn't totally get it until looking at it on the ironing board and realizing that the seam finishing was happening along with the construction - brilliant!

On Friday I also finished the seams on the skirt - in the directions it mentioned this would be a good place to do a french seam if so inclined and I took the challenge.  In patternmaking school we didn't really focus on fine finishing of garments and it had been over a decade since I took a construction class and so the couple attempts before of making french seams were frustrating.  I did not know an essential point then which is that its only good for straight seams!  Of course.  I found this tutorial on the Oliver & S blog explaining how to do the french seam for this dress and how to just iron that one curve to death to get it to lay flat.  And now, voila!  A finished seam!  So easy! Now I am a convert.  French seams for all!

So far I have been working from 1 - 3 hours a day sewing.  Which is not a lot but also is a lot in with everything else in life.  I am going to finish these three dresses, buttons and all.  It is not the entire list I started with on Sunday but I feel pretty good about what I have done so far, and trying new patterns and techniques has been so worth it. 

KCW Spring - Update on days 2 + 3 of Kids Clothes Week

Yesterday (day two) I was mostly out of the house so I did not have a lot of time to work on the machine.  In the afternoon I just worked on embroidering the leaves on the Alabama Chanin inspired Oliver & S Tea Party Dress.

I started it a while ago, but I intend this week to finish the construction of the dress using handstitching ala Alabama Chanin and continue the embroidery afterwards.

Then I tried to sew last night after everyone was in bed and this happened:

That there is a MESS.  I tried last night to sew the bodice pieces together on the Geranium dress but managed to sew the front bodice together into a weird origami armhole.  Infinity strip unwearable art.  Oops.  Ripped it out and went to bed.

Today (day three) was PRODUCTIVE!  This morning I finished the Geranium Dress in the Marimekko fabric, all that is left is tacking the lining and buttons on the back.

 Pleats are like my favoritest thing to make and sew.  I love me some pleats.

 The lining is Pastry Line Voile that I have been hoarding for lining for a long time.  So soft!

As I have been working away  I keep thinking  this is sort of insane to begin, from scratch, four entirely new projects in order to gain momentum to finish others that only need buttons, or a pattern adjustment, or that dress which only needs a zipper!

Yet -  I am feeling the momentum.  Practice in moving gracefully from sewing table to lunch making to laundry folding to writing to story reading and back to sewing and ironing and pinning again.   What I was hoping to get out of this is that feeling of movement, to be comfortable with little bits of undone and to refocus and be able to start right where I left off again.

Changing gears from focusing on sewing to the pile of eggs on the floor under my daughters chair is something that has been challenging for me and has at times been immobilizing.  I have wished for more grace in doing, more ease in shifting.  Forcing this week to commit to get these four dresses done is a little like a bootcamp, throwing myself into the trenches, and hopefully next week it will feel so much easier to make one dress in a week, luxurious even!

KCW - a kick in the pants (or participating in Kids Clothes Week)

I need a sewing kick in the pants.  Last week I was lamenting the state of my many projects and the endless stitchery still to be done on the hand embroidered dress for M.  The universe heard my frustration and I saw that this week is Kids Clothes Week!  One hour a day, devoted to sewing for the kiddos.  A timely excuse for me to dig in the stash, print out some patterns, get tracing and most importantly, get sewing.  Get inspired.   And get it done.

I picked out these four fabrics from my stash, from L - R:

Kokka Echino Spiderwebs and Butterflies Yellow fabric (not sure which pattern yet)

African Wax Print (from Verb) for a Made by Rae Geranium Tunic View B

Marimekko orange print (a seconds fabric I have been saving for years) for a Geranium Dress View B

Purples Shot Cotton Stripe fabric (also from Verb) for an Oliver & S Ice Cream Dress View A

(the Marimekko print is BIG! This is the length of most of the ironing board!)

I am looking forward to using the same two patterns for all the clothes I sew this week.  The Geranium Dress is so versatile, a lovely little popover dress that I see so many fantastic versions of.  Also the Ice Cream Dress is so great for playing with stripes and pattern, and pockets in both!

The prep I did last night was to get the patterns ready, printing, piecing and tracing.  After tracing both the 18-24 month and 2T sizes this morning I decided to cut the 2T size only for all.  (Might be a little big right now but perfect in a month.)

This morning I spent 1.5 hours cutting the patterns out of the African Wax print and the Marimekko fabric. They are both big, bold patterns, so each fabric took a little thinking and sketching to work out the pattern placement - what to center, what to match, what to patchwork.

Now ready to sew!

{this moment}

A Friday ritual inspired by Amanda Soule.  One Photo, no words.

sewing meditation

Meditation is hard.  I am not the first person to say it.  I also think I am terrible at meditating even though I know there is no good or bad, there is only sitting.

There have been a few things going on in my life lately that has made it hard to keep my mind in check, to be able to just play or focus on the task in front of me.  I've always reached to meditation, or at the very least following along to a guided meditation, or even least-er listening to a dharmatalk to get myself through the sticky knot my mind is in.  

Knitting and spinning have intense meditative QUALITIES but I have never been able to rely on them as the sole focus for attention to clear my mind.  I find them incredibly GENERATIVE (in a soothing and focused way) - a way to clear the mind to come up with new ideas or a solution to a problem.  It doesn't always work when I am trying to completely quiet my mind. They serve as accompaniments to thought, or movie watching, but then I still have to try to find space actually sit to meditate for quiet.

I was in one of these states last night, trying to knit my way out, trying to read a trashy book, nothing was working.  I picked up a handsewing project and started listening to an interview with Martine Batchelor (thank you Sarai for posting about her on your blog - so thankful) on the Secular Buddhist podcast.  In it she said that its not just the sitting, it is what we bring to our lives from the sitting.

"I became more interested in...pragmatic Buddhism...which is about...sitting on the cushion is fine but how can you translate that in your daily life?  Because a problem in daily life is...when conditions become difficult its a survival mechanism, we go back to our habits, and generally those habits are painful." (Martine Batchelor, in the episode mentioned above.) 

She later speaks to a more inclusive focus of attention, an open awareness that can be practiced in every moment of daily life that needs it. 

I realized whatever kind of sitting you can do, it doesn't have to be meditation with a capital M as it is done with an intense razor like focus but whatever form you can grab it with in your life right now.  I get so down on myself when I fall asleep when meditating, or go a couple weeks without a sit because I just cant find the space.  The space was sitting right in front of me, its all around me and I was already doing it.  I stopped the podcast and refocused, open to the moment and on my sewing. 

So, handsewing.  Where I am currently finding my meditative space. This project I am working on is a Alabama Chanin inspired dress for my daughter, inspired by this.  I am sewing against time as I cut out just one size larger than she is wearing right now, and the embroidery, it is a lot of work.   

With each stitch I sit and measure with my eyes the distance between the holes, the stitch length.  I don't have space in my mind to think but fleeting thoughts and actually it gets easier to label the distractions "thought" while handsewing and let them go.  I sew and listen to M protest bedtime and Aaron's gentle ssssh in the other room.   

I feel like I can choose to spend my time in this way and that knowing to pause and choose wisely how to react - choosing to refocus my attention widely with the sewing - its is half the work of quieting the mind.  I know its being "productive" and maybe I am multitasking but - right now I need this.  And I love the sewing. 

Baby steps.  Both towards finishing this dress and staying in the present moment.