KIDS CLOTHES WEEK - Wrap up!

M's textile design (train tracks in blue) and Oliver & S Ice Cream Dress.  

It is summertime and our crazy fun activities did not step aside for a week of sewing.  We went to the zoo, to the pool, to the beach, to the forest, tidepooling, and also had preschool -  I would say it was a more busy than usual week for us.  Add Kids Clothes Week to the mix and well, a week later here is the post and here are the pictures!

Back of the dress - used wooden blocks as stamps.

The theme for this round of Kid's Clothes week was Kids Art.  This pink pink pink dress is the Oliver & S Ice Cream Dress pattern in a size 3T made in the blouse version with the end extended into a tunic. M painted the pink cotton voile fabric after I cut it out and it was a fairly straightforward sew.  Like all things with preschoolers I had to let go of the product and embrace the process while we were working - in the end it looks so different from what I imagined but so much better!!  There was a point where she was totally done with my idea of taking blocks and stamping them and she grabbed a toy train and ran its wheels in blue paint and then back and forth across the dress. When M saw the finished dress she pointed to the tracks immediately so totally stoked her train painted on it too. She will get that little thrill of memory when wearing something handmade that the maker has- a memory of working on this together in the backyard painted and stitched into the dress. 

Oliver & S Ice Cream Dress + most gorgeous fabrics ever = in love.

This shirt is my favorite fabric combo in the universe.  I had no idea what to combine with the Kaffe Fassett Stripes but had to find something that would work as I had the littlest rectangle left over of it.  The polka dot fabric is a polkadot quilting cotton, overdyed with indigo at A Verb for Keeping Warm.  It is so alive and gorgeous a color - blue and deep teal green.  Unfortunately its too short!  M went through a crazy growth spurt the last couple weeks and all her shirts are half shirts now!  Thankfully I have more of the polkadot fabric and will pick out the hem and add another panel to make it a dress.  Its really magical to sew with fabrics that you really resonate with.  The yarn dyed stripes and weaving of the stripe fabric feels so handwoven and the polkadots vary in intensity of indigo dye.  I cant wait to finish sewing through my stash of fabric (almost done!) to seek out more handwoven/handprinted/handdyed and dye and weave my own textiles to sew with.

Handstitched Sashiko bodice, Geranium Dress

Where I am in love with the fabric combination of the previous shirt, I am in love with the construction and everything else of this one. Every piece is a little different color denim as its completely from scraps from four other projects, similar weights, but unified in a simple shape and sashiko stitching done by hand to transform it into maybe the thing I am most proud of making ever.

Full length - will fit for awhile!

It is a size 3 and there is totally room to grow.  I used more Kaffe Fasset shot cotton stripes for the lining - it is so soft and the color a nice surprise inside.

In studying alot lately about Japanese textiles techniques (I tend to really get into it needing to learn EVERYTHING)  Ive learned that sashiko (or boro stitching) is found in vintage japanese textiles alot to unify patchworked pieces of cloth into a whole again.  Full kimonos made from many different parts or  an obi unified with an overlaid pattern.  I wanted to try to apply sashiko to garment making, designing a pattern from scratch to fit the space of a pattern and see if I could stitch it all and sew it together in a week (along with the other clothes!)

The back 

Making my own fabric from something plain and leftover fabric is something I intend to do more of.  I love this dress.  More importantly M does as its super full and twirly.  She said  that it is very comfy!

The Dinosaur Map Dress!!

There is not a fancy picture of this right now because M wore it to school this morning!  So this one taken in the middle of the night will have to do for now.  The Geranium Dress pattern is a wonderful canvas for playing with fun fabric and this one is obviously someone dinosaur obsessed favorite dress.  

Perfect for someone who came home from school with this one day.

News Flash!  Someone let me take a picture of her in it, but just wants to eat her sandwich..

Till next time Kids Clothes Week.......

KIDS CLOTHES WEEK Days TWO and THREE

On tuesday I didnt have much time to work as we were too busy at the zoo.  Yes.  Going to the zoo and seeing animals, riding ladybug rides and the carousel are Very Important Things To Do this summer for an almost 3 year old.  Especially things like to get our faces painted, ride on the pony with the jewels on the carousel at least 4 times in a row or watch the lemurs sleep.  Which is all they do in this heat.

 At night, exhausted I finished stitching one bodice piece.  It went very quickly or I am now used to "sashiko-time" which is that because you stitch in an all over pattern (from one corner to another) rather than motif by motif finishing a pattern is a little surprise- did I miss a section - oh wait I am done yay!

Today, with M at playschool I had a few hours to really get working on the dresses.  I finished the dinosaur map Geranium dress sans buttons and tried it on M after school - OMG.  What?  It fits perfectly now which freaks me out because I am pretty sure last week measurements indicated the 3t would be huge for her. Thankfully I left a 3 inch length of fabric under the hem and may be letting that out soon. Yikes!

We also picked out buttons. and I got working on the indigo dyed polka dot/Kaffe Fassett top.  It might be too short already so I am thinking about cutting into some more polka dot fabric and adding more to the length to make it a dress/tunic.  Still loving this combo.

Tuesday = sashiko stitching about 2 hours

Wednesday = 3 hoursish

KID'S CLOTHES WEEK Day ONE

*Drafted and started stitching the sashiko on the bodice of the denim dress

(I started stitching one motif but realized there was a genius to the traditional method of all over stitching of sashiko - stitching across the pattern to distribute the stitches.  Doing that now.)

*Sewed up the skirts of the Geranium Dresses with french seams - with pockets! YES!

*M painted and printed the fabric of her dress - one of her trains helped out

= about 2.5 hours.

KIDS CLOTHES WEEK Summer 2014 GET READY!

Today is the first day of Kids Clothes Week Summer 2014 and I am sewing along for the second time!  The last time I sewed along with KCW was over a year ago  and M still wears the dresses I made that week (though maybe more they are tunics as shes growing so fast!)

Kids Clothes Week is simply to sew one hour a day for the week for the kiddos in your life.  I will probably sew more - I have the time blocked out this week to be able to do this so some days I might be able to do more than an hour  I like the forward momentum this will kick my studio time back into gear - that next week one hour a day will seem like nothing.

I decided to keep it simple in regards to the patterns - the two patterns I used last time were so well written and resulted in such great garments that I am sticking to the known and using them over again in a larger size. The one thing I really struggled with last time was the fact that they were new patterns to me and so I was learning the construction from scratch on two garments at the same time.  This way I will try to focus on special details and maybe eek out another extra garment if I sewed assembly line style.

The patterns for this round:

The Ice Cream Dress from Oliver & S  is still my favorite pattern ever to sew.  I still have plans to redraft this shirt in my size, its that cute and fun to sew.  It has a very clever yoke construction that makes it all so nice and tidy on the inside, and with french seams it feels very fancy indeed.

The Geranium Dress from Made by Rae is such a classic pattern that its a perfect "blank slate" pattern to add special details to like needlework.  The side pockets in view A are especially useful to a preschooler, to hold dinosaurs, hair clips, and rocks.  

On Saturday (prep 30 minutes) I picked out the fabric I thought I might want to use. (Picture above) I have been working through the stash of fabric that I already have rather than buy anything new for the rest of the year so this was a challenge.  I picked out everything I loved that looked like it could work for a bodice or a skirt knowing that I am not afraid to mix and make do.

On Sunday (prep 3.5 hours)  I went through and traced one pattern, actually measured, cut, reconsidered, recut, adjusted patterns, redrafted a couple pieces and made the fabric work for my vision for each garment. 

The plan for the week (from left to right) is to sew:

Fabric:   Pink cotton voile with pale yellow cotton voile lining 

Pattern:  Ice Cream Dress (Blouse Version)

This is going to be the one we get to play with this round's theme of Kid's Art.  M requested hearts as her stamp and I am digging through all my stamps and might need to carve a couple out for her to stamp like crazy all over it.  I have black and white textile paint so in the spirit of using what you have, it will be black and while and hearts all over a very very pink blouse!  If I dont have time to make a stamp then we will use wine corks.  We have PLENTY of those around here.

Fabric:  Indigo overdyed polka dots fabric from A Verb for Keeping Warm and what is left of the Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons Stripe

Pattern: Ice Cream Dress (Blouse Version)

Oh Kaffe.  This is my favorite fabric of all time, a yarn dyed shot cotton irregular stripe - just typing that makes me drool. The dress I made of it last round is still in major wardrobe rotation - its survived over a year of washer washings and dryer dryings and I wanted more than anything to make it again.  The polka dotted fabric, curiously, has become my second favorite fabric of all time.  Its a quilting cotton that Kristine overdyed with indigo but something about the synergy of the vat and the green print - the color is just perfect.  I originally intended to use the polka dot with the denim but in casually putting them on my ironing board realized they went together in the best weird way possible.  So there it is.  I am in LOVE already.

Fabric: Misc Shirtweight Denims

Pattern: Geranium Dress

I made a MAJOR error in guestimating the fabric needed for this so its different denims (left over from my own dressmaking) all together, similar weights.  In the spirit of not buying anything new right now I intend to make it work!  I mentioned earlier that this pattern is perfect for needlework and the bodice I am going to...SASHIKO.  Is that a verb?  I have been using it as a verb as I have gone SASHIKO CRAZY lately.   I will be sashiko stitching a hand drafted pattern that sampled on this very weight of denim is perfect. (I am crazy.) Will I get this done by the end of the week?  

Fabric: Dinosaurs made of Maps (?!?!)
Pattern: Geranium Dress
M found this fabric on her own one day at the fabric store.  Walking by the novelty cottons she screamed DINOSAURS!!!  Pointing to this bolt.  Made of maps.  Huh?  I continue to wonder what the textile designer was thinking but also think its too rad.  A twirly dress for M, with pockets to keep her tiny T Rex and Pteranadon and maybe a train or two.  Perfect.

I Pledge Allegiance to Seam Allowance!

I, Jenne, pledge for the next year to work towards making at least 25% of my wardrobe and at least 25% of my daughters wardrobe.  If not more.  

 

I would like to take Seam Allowance as the frame towards a slower path of consumption, to allow for a more thoughtful trajectory to get to the goal of making the 25%.  (This is the mantra I am reciting to myself over and over because as you know, I can GET EXCITED ABOUT THINGS.  Indeed!)  After the momentum builds from the making of wearable clothing, I want to then reach out and do more challenging projects, knowing more about the clothes that I and M will actually wear.

I have been thinking of how to approach what to make by asking myself - where can I act first to make the most impact? 

I wear leggings all the time.  I am going to start with Cal Patch's tutorial for making leggings to make myself 5 pairs of leggings in various colors to start.  I will then make skirts in denim and linen cotton.  After that I will have come up with a "wardrobe recipe" for the rest of the pieces to make, shirts and dresses.  I want to make for myself is a set of uniforms, leggings, skirts and shirts that are interchangable and can be worn on a daily basis. 

For my daughter M I am going to focus too on leggings/pants as well because for her they are also such a major componant of her daily wear. The challenge I see is making enough of each size going forward so that she is not inbetween sizes at any given time.  I am going to start sewing the next two sizes for her in leggings to start to grow into.

The other part of her wardrobe I am going to focus on is vests and cardigans.   I have a sizable stash of yarn from years and years of spinning yarn and cavorting around the fiber world and will be working exclusively with materials I already have.   I am starting with 2 vests and 2 cardigans per size starting with her next size.  I would like to make other garments too, dresses, shorts and the like, but to be refined after I get going on these pieces.

To work, to work, to work to work......

Seam Allowance

Seam Allowance is the project, initiative, challenge and movement (yes!) started by Kristine Vejar of A Verb for Keeping Warm.   Verb (for short) is her studio/shop in Oakland, full of fabric, yarn and spinning fiber (much of it handdyed by Kristine herslf with natural dyestuffs) books and equipment, every single thing a gorgeous inspiration.  Seam Allowance is a proposal: a different way to approach our wardrobes, choose to wear, what we make or choose to consume.

The idea (please go to the Seam Allowance blog to read Kristine's thoughts in full) is for the goal of 25% of your wardrobe to be handmade.  In similar ways that (esp in the San Francisco Bay Area where we live) there has been a real turn towards considering where your food comes from, it is about using the making 25% of your own wardrobe to be the frame through which to think through where your clothing comes from. 

I. Love. This. Challenge.

I am so excited to participate because it is bringing up so many ideas around which I want to think about making clothes, to ring about the themes of craft and consumption:

Making pieces that become a part of your daily life and not impractical artifacts of your skill. Letting go of the preciousness of the handmade object and trying to incorporate the handmade into your dailywear.

Make your own style.   If you can make it yourself, then you can make your own style.  Yes.  I think about Sonya Phillip's 100 acts of Sewing where she has one form/structure and is exploring the infinite creative possibilities of creating a visual vocabulary within the constraint of the dress.   Creating a style that is personal and distinctive, through play within set rules.  Love.

Making clothes that have a transformative lifespan rather than discarded after they are out of fashion.  This would mean to me remaking clothes that dont work for me anymore, or making clothes for my daughter out of old clothes of mine own.  In Little House on the Prairie, were some of Laura's clothes made from Mary's old calico dresses?  This I remember for some reason, whether real or imagined, and is what I mean for the transformative life of the fabric.  

To make visible for my daughter in our home the work involved to make (fill in the blank here.)  That when we are out in the world she understands the true labor that it takes to make a thing. It doesnt magically appear in a store. Even in factories, a person uses their own hands and cuts and sews this piece of clothing. There are hands on and making and a persons life/work in even the cheapest shirt at a big box store..

In thinking about it, 25% is actually not as overwhelming as it seems.  Right now I am wearing leggings, a dress, or a cardigan or shoes. (OK, I'm not counting shoes because I am eagerly awaiting a pair of handmade ballerina flats from Elske.)  Making any one of these pieces would be a start, and leggings made from a stretchy knit using Cal Patch's Leggings pattern.....there you go.  25%.  

I hope the Seam Allowance project is inspiring to you as it is to me!  Now off to get to work...

(Best Jacket ever spotted at a Stitches West past.  Not handmade, but the flag I will be flying around these parts.)

For more info on check out the Seam Allowance blog or the community forum on Ravelry. (You will need a Ravelry account to access the forum).   If you are in the SF Bay area, you can attend the inperson salon every 1st sunday at 530-730, for a small fee per meeting participate in amazing conversation, learn new sewing skills and get inspired!!