Classic picnic.

These are what started my back to school sewing, but I have been waiting for modeled pictures to document them here. 

They are Classic Picnic blouses, both in a straight size 5.  Iz measures in, and George is just under a 5.  I love this pattern but it has been forever since I've made them.  I love that these tops seem to last forever, Abby wore her last one for two years.

Both of these were made with Art Gallery prints, I really love the feel and they have the cutest prints.

I was excited to find something that took only one yard, I need to hurry and use my stashes of yard only cuts before it is too late.

These two are going to be super styling kindergartners this fall!

Ruffle shorts.



I went on a cutting spree last night, 2 Classic Picnic blouses and  4 pairs of Classic Picnic shorts.   I decided to sew one of the pairs of shorts for Elizabeth first, modifying them following Cindy's tutorial for knock off J.Crew shorts.  I still want to get some teal to copy the inspiration shorts. 

 

Anyway, I used some of the MM Dinky Dots that I picked up back when I made the Jumprope in teal. 

 

I made them in 18 month and they are pretty big on her, I knew they would be a little big but she could easily get away with 12 month.  I should have known being yesterday Georgia wore the ones from last summer.  My thinking was they would last for most of summer, we'll see.

I followed Cindy's tutorial almost word for word, the only thing I changed was the ruffle.  I don't know how to do a rolled hem (and didn't feel like figuring it out today;) so I cut my ruffle 3" and folded it in half while she cut hers 1.5" and used a rolled hem.  Also, I just used 44" for the length of my ruffle.  That was just about right, it could have been a little longer but I was going for an easy sew today. 

Cute, no?

Little sweetie's black eye is almost healed, yay! Those darn eye level tables...

Then there is Georgia.  This Ice Cream top is one of the first things I made for them, and also another pair of 6m shorts from last summer. 

Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers (their favorite thing to do while in the front yard). 

Ketchup.

I was going through my pictures from 2012 last night and realized I had a bunch of projects from the last two months I hadn't posted about, and since this is meant to be my "sewing journal" to take notes and remember details, I figure I should post about them.

 

So, in no particular order here they are:

 

 

 

A Classic Picnic turned dress.  This one was for our family pictures in November. 

I LOVED Nicole's picnic with buttons. Loved.  So I tried my hand at it... I promise the buttons don't look this wonky on her. 

I made it nice and long since she has a skinny chest I thought she would get lots of wear from this.  It is size 12m, and still quite big.  She wore this with some white tights and cute brown boots for pictures. Adorable.

This was Jack's outfit for pictures.  (Hat not included). Flashback tee and his very favorite Sandbox pants.  Also, Abby wore her mustard + ivory dress shown here and Izzy wore her Pierrot.  My family didn't get individuals (as I think I mentioned before, sorry if it's a repeat) but if I manage to ever get everyone ready again,  I will make sure to post all the outfits together.  I thought they all coordinated quite well with the group.

Then a pair of Sandbox for George.  I rounded the pockets to make it more "girly".  Aaand she got only a few wears out of them as she had a growth spurt right after they were made. Awesome.

They are made from a gray linen and supposed to go with her After school shirt (details here). 

Pockets lined with left overs from the shirt.

Then I went on a pj pant spree... sort of... I had 10 cut out, 6 were completed, 2 only need elastic and 2 need leg binding and elastic.  I am not good at that much repitition and set them aside for a bit.  There are 2 of these lady bug print pants, both in 12m.  I had just enough to make 2 in this size, so I figured why not.  P.S. the pattern is the Bedtime Story. 

The first ones were tiny twin, and these are on big twin.  There is a 5!! pound difference between them which affects their shirts, but not their pants oddly enough.  Also 12m.

Matching for Christmas + Jack's have double decker busses with "London" printed on them, a shoutout to his 1/4 British self:)  Abby was so excited they all matched and were triplets, ha!  I had flashback shirts all cut out too, but things got crazy and they weren't completed.

And this is how our pictures always look if I try to get everyone in.

Last but not least, 2 Field trip raglans.  I love this pattern.  I had 4 that I was making at the time and wasn't paying enough attention and put the neckband seam in the front middle instead of the back.  Oops.  12m, 18m length.  Made in a thermal I picked up from girlcharlee.

Fabrics also from girlcharlee.  This is her "chis" (cheese) face.  She can be such a ham. 

I don't normally keep a WIP pile, but I have the 4 above mentioned pj pants to complete, a jumprope view B cut, and I am about 3/4 of the way through a puppet show dress.  My serger is off to the doctor and it just makes me not want to sew! Though I think I will attempt french seams on the jumprope and wait for the machine to finish the puppet show since most of it has been serged already, keep up the same look on it.  Who knows though, I have also been meaning to size up the geranium for Abby, I guess I'll just see what happens!

A winter picnic.

Abby has requested some more shirts, long sleeve in particular, though this one isn't.  I talked her in to the classic picnic top by telling her she could wear a long sleeve shirt under it.  I made a size 6 but lengthened it quite a bit and also only hemmed the sleeves an inch total rather than the 1 3/4" called for in the pattern.  I also used a lawn from Jo-ann that I picked up last spring, I only had one yard and managed to cut it in that! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it work, but since it isn't a directional print I just turned the front yoke slightly to make it work. 

 



And she loves it.  It is a really hard fabric to picture, plus it is nice and cloudy outside so ya know how the lighting goes. 

Inspired by Justine, I added white ric rac to the front and back yoke to break up the busy print.  I am pretty sure that is what took her feelings from like to love on this shirt.  I considered putting some at the hem too, but thought it might be too much.  I just want to pet the fabric, it is so soft.  Time to plan the next shirt for her, it is so much easier to sew when she is home to try things on as needed!  Though the two bigs are already fighting like crazy and we are only a few days in to Christmas break, oh dear!

S'more shorts.

This time I went with the Oliver + S Classic Picnic Shorts I have made them once before for Abby, but at the time littles didn't need any new shorts and I kind of forgot about the shorts pattern until yesterday... oops...  We will be hot here until at least the end of September if not middle of October (sometimes even halloween is warm!), so the girls are still in need of shorts as they have outgrown all but the one pair I just made yesterday.  George again wasn't on the chart for this pattern (teensy tiny hips!) and Izzy fit on the 6m range.  Since I was using button hole elastic (LOVE that stuff!!) I went with 6m knowing they would at least fit Georgia. 

I used a bit of my super duper liquidation sale Lisette twill, they didn't take much since they are so small!

Oh.My.Goodness. I am in love with these shorts!  Yes, another shirtless series of pictures... They now need a top to go with the shorts because nothing in their closet matches this, at least not off the top of my head, but I didn't bother to go look just yet.

The above two photos are of the shorts on small twin, the below are on Elizabeth, aka big twin.

See that big tummy? I just love it!! She was the one who ended up wearing them for a few hours today (shirtless;) and they fit her pretty well (again, love the button hole elastic!) but I think I will make her a pair in 12m and keep these just for George.

She thought it was pretty fun to run down the walkway at the camera, so most of my pictures of her were like this, blurry arms or legs, or half of her head cut off. heehee.

A little sewing.

My sewing mojo has left the building.  I never thought  I would say this, but for the last few weeks I have had absolutely no desire to sew anything.  Sigh. 

This hopscotch was sewn the last week in June, but I never got around to posting about it.  Ben's cousin took newborn pictures of the twins and I always meant to make her something for photo props, but didn't have time (ya know, newborn twins;) then I heard she was pregnant so I decided to make her something for her baby instead.  I waited to make something just in case she had a baby shower (but she didn't), I made it intending to give it to her at our family's 4th of July super duper party, but I didn't stick it in the diaper bag.  Oops.  So, it is still sitting on my ironing board... but it is a 12 m, and the baby was born this spring, so I have time.

Abby and Jack went to Lake Powell with Grandpa and Grandma, so I decided to "force" myself to sew, and ya know what? I really enjoyed it.  I made two Oliver and S Classic picnic blouses in some lisette (popplin, I believe) that I got on super duper liquidation at my local Joann's that is moving locations (I may have mentioned that before...?).  I made 12m for both, but lengthened quite a bit... like, I think I lengthened it to 3t.  It looked like it would be a little short for my taste from the drawing, plus I pretty much lengthen everything at least one extra size.  My only complaint was when it came to hemming the teeny tiny sleeves.  I can't even imagine how the 6m would be!!

Iz has sweet little curls. Well, so does George, but Iz's stay around even after rolling around on the ground where Georgia's go straight.

I recieved the fall Ottobre and I am thinking I will be sewing lots more soon as I liked 80% of what was in it.  Abby starts school in just over a month and we will be moving soon after that so I need to get a start on her school wardrobe!

Pattern stash busting.

I have been wanting to make a pair of Oliver and S picnic shorts for a long time, and finally got around to it! I got frustrated with the shirt pattern because I am pretty sure I traced of the wrong sleeve size and ruined a yard of fabric. (It was something I bought on clearance so I couldn't just run out and get some more to correct my mistake) Gr.  So I set the pattern aside and promised to get back to it eventually. 

The Joann's in town is moving locations and having a super liquidation sale on fabrics, I mean GIANT.  I purchased a ton of Lisette fabric that is usually marked $12.99-14.99 for just over $3 a yard.  My fabric stash probably tripled from all the lisette and knit I bought!  And  I saved a TON, so I was very happy:)

Those two points lead to my next!  I pulled out some of the Lisette twill and my picnic shorts pattern and got to work.  One nap time later and Abby had some fun new shorts!

I put the pattern pieces where I thought the rows would line up, but no, they don't. Sigh.  Oh well, she loves them anyway.

I just love the retro look!  Next she needs a shirt to go with them:)

The older two kids are going out of town this weekend with Grandpa & Grandma & cousins to the balloon festival.  It is so cool, a few hours north of here there is a really small town that every year holds a hot air balloon festival.  They float them bright and early every morning and one night (can't remember if it is Friday or Saturday) they shut down main street and line them all up while people walk around, then at dusk they light them all up.  Such a cool sight!  We went two years ago, but last year the twins were only a few days old so we missed it.  This year we Ben and I are staying home with the twins, too hard to get two naptimes in while you are camping with a rowdy bunch. Anyway, Jack typically sleeps in his underwear or occasionally with a shirt, so he needed some pj's.  I recently got the Oliver and S bedtime story pajamas from ebay (but it is now available as a pdf) so I made him a pair of the pants and a flashback skinny tee.   I like to race myself and see how fast I can make those shirts.  20 minutes from cutting to the last stitch. Not too bad!

Ben has a very similar pair, Jack thought that was pretty cool.

This sweet little face just makes me smile. It will be nice to have a quiet-ish weekend. He and Abby fight All.The.Time. ... When is school going back?? ;)