Shorts and Roller Skates

Avery just turned NINE years old!! She has been wanting roller skates for a while now, and she finally received a pair for her birthday. Now she only takes them off when she sleeps and showers! 

Nine is a hard age to grasp. I mean, she's halfway out of the house!! Yikes! Avery is kind, tough, creative, and determined. She's going to do great things in this world!

This top is a Japanese Sewing Book pattern. You can see the cover in this Instagram post. The construction is rather interesting. The bias that creates the straps continues down to cover the seam allowance of the curved bodice insert. I couldn't get this spot to lay as flat as I would have liked, but I do like the look of the ruffle sleeves. I ended up adding quite a bit of length to the pattern, so keep that in mind if you sew one up.

I paired the top with Oliver + S class picnic shorts. The fabric is from my great aunt's stash. It's maybe a tad bit thicker than a quilting cotton, but not so thick as a twill or denim. It looked like my aunt was in the process, at some point, of making a skirt or taking apart a skirt with it. Hard to tell which! 

I love the construction of these shorts!! I am trying to figure out the sizing though. She measures a 5 for the waist and a 10 for the length. I went with a straight size 7 to see where things would end up. I really like the fit, but for these to work for school next year, they would need to be longer. I haven't found a tutorial for lengthening this pattern yet, and the facings make it a bit tricky. I'm going to try to give it a go though. 

So far, year nine is the year of the roller skates! Hopefully it will cruise on by without too many bumps in the road! ;)

Khaki Corduroy Wide Leg Pants

I'm still here plugging away at unpacking boxes, but I made some time for sewing. It isn't elaborate or even very pretty, but the necessity arose. Honestly, I needed the excuse, and I knew these would be fast. 

If you remember at the beginning of the school year, I was Sewing for Kindergarten for Tandy. Well, she was actually entering Kindergarten early based on the cut off date for her October birthday. When we moved, our original plan was to keep her home for the short remainder of the year, and start her in Kinder again in the fall. Last week we suddenly changed course, and enrolled her in 3 day a week pre-K at a Christian school. Thankfully they are already reading as well, so it is a great fit.

Mondays are chapel days and the only days that require a uniform. The simple uniform consists of a navy polo and khaki bottoms. Since we signed up for school on Friday, we needed bottoms ASAP. This was one instance when sewing would be faster than shopping. Not that I mind shopping!!

I already had the pattern for the wide leg pants from Happy Homemade: Sew Chic Kids traced out from the original denim pair I made for the Sewing for Kindergarten series. I love the easy style of these pants, and the khaki corduroy from my aunt's stash was meant to be. I promise there will be much more interesting sewing to come, but for now it feels good to accomplish something and meet a need.   

Sewing For Kindergarten 2016

I had so much fun participating in Mie's Sewing for Kindergarten series for my oldest daughter that I practically begged Mie to let me join again for Tandy. She graciously made a spot for me!! 

Mie provided a few questions to answer, so I will sprinkle them throughout the post. First, Is this your first time sending a child to Kindergarten? If not, which number child is this? Tandy is my second and last child to enter Kindergarten. Reading my first Sewing for Kindergarten post sent back a flood of memories!! Tandy should technically still be in pre-K since she is four until the end of October. Her school has allowed her to advance to Kindergarten with the premise that she will likely repeat Kinder again. She is thriving and school ends at noon for her, so the schedule suits us both just fine.

What kind of school does your child attend? (Public, charter, private or homeschool) Tandy attends a Classical Christian private school. 

The school adheres to a pretty stringent uniform policy down to the tote bag. The flexibility this year is with P.E. days (bottoms only) that are twice a week, and the occasional denim day. I decided to capitalize on that bit of wiggle room for two looks. Since Tandy's school day ends at noon, she will use the tops for the remainder of her day.

I sewed the PE bottoms using the mini Hudson pants pattern. The cropped slim fit of the leg is stylish and cool enough as the weather transitions. The fabric is Telio Ponte Leggero from fabric.com. I love the weight and feel of this stuff! Now I just need some for Hudson pants for me!

The top is by German designer Elle Puls called Bethioua Kids. Be watching for an English version releasing with Naeh-Connection soon!!!

The sleeves are velour and the body is french terry. 

  

Another Question from Mie: Do you feel like crying or celebrating? And what about your child?

We were both excited. My husband teased me about being a little too excited. We had a wonderful summer, but public schools around here started two weeks before we did. That meant that our pool closed down, and things just got down right quiet. We were all ready to get back to a routine and see friends again.

Maybe it's this way with each year, but I feel like Kinder and 3rd, for my oldest, are big years. I'm so excited to watch and help Tandy learn to read! Avery has just reached the point where we have to go to the library once a week to keep enough books around. These are big milestones to me!

I simply could not join a blog tour hosted by Mie, the queen of Sew Japan, without including some Japanese sewing patterns! 

These are patterns N and O from Happy Homemade: Sew Chic Kids. Check out my book review here. 

This sweet top features raglan sleeves, a button placket and gathers at the neckline and just below the placket. If you plan to sew this top, I do have a couple of suggestions. The instructions leave installing the buttonholes until the very end. I recommend sewing the buttonholes just after you stitch the plackets in place and before you overlap them. This will give you more room to maneuver everything around your machine. I would also recommend securing the gathers with a zigzag stitch before covering them with the lace, or in my case, bias tape. The raw edges are exposed on the inside, so this will help reduce any tendency to unravel.

 The body of the top is Honor Roll fabric by Anna Maria Horner, and the sleeve fabric is Michael Miller Cotton Couture. I have used both fabrics before for big sis.

Tandy still struggles with a zip and button fly, so elastic waist pants are perfect for her and less trouble for her teachers. We have plenty of skinny jeans, so these wide leg pants are a fun alternative. The fabric is a super soft lightweight tencel denim. I did the topstitching in jeans thread for a traditional look. I cut these extra long just to be on the cautious side. I ended up doing a 1.5" hem, and I love the look for the wide leg pants!

The last question from Mie is for my kindergartner: What has been the best and the worst part so far?

Best: Swinging on the playground, being a line leader, and going to the treasure box.
Worst: Doing homework.

A bit predicable I must say!

Be sure to check out the rest of the Sewing for Kindergarten tour!!

World Map Shorts for My Nephew

It all started when Todd's cousin suggested we try the Stack the States App. We, in turn, suggested the app for my nephew. This kid, Ford, has one of those genius minds. He now knows every state and it's capital and has moved on to knowing each an every country. He is probably doing 3rd or 4th grade math. How old you ask? SIX.

Ford requested a geography party for his 6th birthday, and I spotted the Our World fabric by Riley Blake while searching for party inspiration for my sister. When they requested shorts, I turned to the Happy Homemade Sew Chic Kids Japanese pattern book. I had previously made a pair of these shorts for another nephew.  They are pattern L, the knee-length shorts. I love the wide hem, front slant pockets, and rear patch pockets that comes with the pattern.

I know Ford checked the fabric for accuracy. I was actually a bit fearful that the pocket placement or seam line might make the shorts unworthy. Whew!! I love a quick project that can bring a smile! Many thanks to my sister for sending these photos.

Cozy Heart Sweatshirt

Isn't it funny how something simple and uncomplicated can make you so excited!?! I hope that isn't just a me thing. I really love this sweatshirt, and there isn't anything about it that screams extra special. The fact that Avery loves it certainly helps!

By the way, I'm pretty sure Avery has the slowest growing teeth of anyone I know. I'll miss the toothless grin when both of those awkward big teeth eventually come in, but gracious it has been forever!

I have to also mention that Avery was cautious about not disturbing the fresh snow of the front yard before we got our photos. Where do they learn this stuff?!? And, don't worry she had plenty of fun in the snow before and after our photo break. We only get snow once or twice a year, so we must take full advantage!!

More about the shirt. The pattern came from this Japanese pattern book I picked up on my trip to NYC before Christmas. Out of all of the Japanese pattern books I've used so far, this one is a bit trickier to translate. Thankfully I started with a very simple pattern!

Here is how the pattern is intended to look in both long-ish sleeves and short.

I naturally didn't leave things as is. Obviously I went with a thicker weight fabrics. The red is fleece and the great quilted heart sweatshirt fabric is from Joann's. (I had previously used the heart fabric here.)  The sizing only goes up to 120, and Avery would normally be at least 130. Because I was sewing with a stretch fabric, I kept the width as is, but I lengthened the body and sleeves a good bit.

And, I added cuffs. The back of the pattern included a closure, but I omitted it because of the stretch of the fabric. I added a neckband instead. 

I'm not usually one for hand stitching, but the heart fabric was calling for a little embellishment. First. I scorched the wrong side of the fabric when I tried to iron on a stabilizer. I'm testing out a patch of interfacing I applied (with a cooler iron and a press cloth) to see if it will last. Then, I tried a satin stitch to fill in the heart, and it turned out all kinds of wonky. A simple backstitch was the best I could get this go round. I'm glad I gave it a shot though.

Did you see what Mie has started over at Petit a Petit and Family? There is going to be a whole series on Sew Japan with Mie. If you like sewing from Japanese patterns, you will have to follow and sew along. I hope it will challenge me to pick up my Japanese books more often! I almost always love the results. 

Japanese Sewing Week

Welcome to my little spot on the First Japanese Sewing Week Tour!! For those who are visiting for the first time, I began sewing from Japanese patterns back in 2013. I loved the clean lines of the patterns I kept seeing, and I was eager to accept the challenge of trying to decipher a pattern in another language. Plus, I purchased my first book on a fun trip to NYC! 

I just counted my Japanese book library, and I was surprised that I have 10 at my disposal!! Many of these are the recently translated books by Tuttle Publishing. I have sewn from most of the children's books, and I have done several book reviews for children's and women's books. You can find all of these previous posts here.

The pattern I chose comes from the Japanese sewing book: Heart Warming Life Series: Chiisana Onnanoko no Oyafuku (Clothes for Little Girls)by Yuki Araki. I have previously sewn patterns S, S, H, K, and a modified L from this book.

This is pattern T from the book. Most, if not all, of the patterns in this book are created with stretch fabrics. 

Again, you see the clean, simple lines, but with sweet details like the belt and bubble hem.

And button back. I was thrilled to find the vintage buttons in my stash that perfectly matched the vintage velvet ribbon I used for the belt. 

Based on her measurements, I made size 105cm which is a perfect fit.

The pattern calls for a fabric belt, but I loved the idea of using this velvet ribbon. I had to press back the edges of the ribbon to fit my belt buckle, so I sewed them down with gold thread. I love the fancy touch the belt gives to the knit dress. The pattern did not call for an belt loops, but I knew they would be helpful. I followed this tutorial for thread belt loops. So easy!!

For those of you who are curious, this is what the pattern looks like inside the book. Most of the time you can get away with strictly looking at the detailed diagrams. They really are superb!  

The other day someone posted about using the Google Translate app for Japanese sewing patterns. (Thanks Ajarie!) This is a total game changer!! Simply take a photo of the text you would like to translate within the app, highlight the text, and it will give you a translation. How cool is that!?!

I thought I would include a couple more tips for those who might be interested in diving into Japanese patterns for the first time. Every Japanese pattern I have used does not include a seam allowance. Tracing with two pencils tied together is a fast, simple way to add a 1/4" to 3/8" seam allowance.

Once you've traced all of those pattern pieces, a good storage option is a mailing envelope with a copy of the book cover taped to the front.

Ok, just two more photos showing the dress layered. Glad this comfy dress with work for all seasons!

Now here's more fun! First, be sure to visit all of the other sew along participants on the Japanese Sewing Week tour.

In a Manner of Sewing  |  Conversas de Hermanas  |  Pequenos e Verdes  |  Climbing the Willow

Bartracks and Singletrack  |  S is for Sewing  |  Sew Happy  |  Mamacosesola

Fairies, Bubbles & Co.  |  Sewing Like Mad  |  As it Seams  |  Sewing For Mini Me

La Folie Sewing Booth  |  Just Add Fabric  |  Blogless Anna  |  Sweeter Than Cupcakes  |  Needle and Ted

Miss Castelinhos  |  Made by Toya  |  Lil Luxe Collection  |  House of Estrela

Patty Made It  |  Paisley Roots  |  Rita Pirolita  |  Call Ajaire

So-cal Sewing Mom  |  Kiwi Crafty Chemist  |  Sew Shelly Sew  |  Made by Sara

Next, head over to Made by Sara for all the details on how you can sew along for a prize.

Finally, there are prizes to be won just by entering below. Best of luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cleopatra Costume

 Avery has been studying the history of Egypt in school this year, so Cleopatra was a natural fit for a costume. As it turns out, a large percentage of the girls in her class all thought the same thing. Thankfully, I can safely say Avery's Cleopatra costume is completely unique!

The dress is pattern C from this Japanese sewing book "Girl's Going Out Clothes" in the largest size. I lengthen the pattern and added the skirt overlay. The fabric is from Hobby Lobby and the ribbon trim is by Patty Young.

 I think the makeup was Avery's favorite part! We found all of her accessories at Walmart.

I wanted to be sure to include a picture of the ribbon bodice without the necklaces. This is a very simple to sew pattern. I had to make a couple of changes since I was using ribbon instead of the bias trim as instructed. There is also a top version and sleeves provided in the book. Speaking of sleeves the arm hole ran a little large in our case.  

We went to a local park with a pond to try to visualize Cleopatra standing next to the Nile. It's a stretch, but we made the most of it!

Book Review: She Wears the Pants

When I received this book from Tuttle Publishing for a review, I admit I giggled a little at the title. She Wears the Pants may be an odd twist for a title, but I think the subtitled description, "Easy Sew-it-Yourself Fashion with an Edgy Urban Style," is valid. Inside, you will find the author, Yuko Takada, created looks "borrowed from the boys" with an offbeat appeal. But don't think it's all about pants!

The cover photo and the spread below features the Top with Epaulettes. I actually have this pattern traced out, so I'm hoping to sew it up sometime soon. It has a slouchy casual look, but fun widened sleeves and shoulder details.

I'm loving this boxy top too. I'm no fashion expert, but boxy does seem to be a popular style at the moment. This one seems so easy to wear too.

After this experience, I will not be making these pants. I respect the girl that can pull them off though.

They call this a mini dress, but I can see it worn tunic style with leggings and boots in the fall.

While I have yet to work with double gauze, this blouse looks classic yet fun in the polka dot double gauze prints.

Another popular style I have yet to embrace are the culottes.

My one complaint about the book is, while the photography is stunning, some of the items are hard to discern. With the black on black styling....

...you would never notice these details until you study the diagrams.

This is another unique top that is a bit hard to get a good visual on the final look. 

Here is the top from the cover image. As always, the instructions are minimal, but the diagrams are ever so helpful.

Don't run out and buy this book without first checking the size chart! As you can see these patterns are designed for smaller frames. My bust measurement would put me out of this range, however, by comparing some of the pattern pieces with ones I've already used, I've found many styles will still work. There seems to be a good amount of ease built in to the patterns.

One last look at the back cover. You can see that square top in the top middle photo.

The patterns are all housed in a folder inside the back cover. Keep in mind, you will need to add a seam allowance when you trace out your pattern pieces. Takada covers wonderful tips from preparing your fabric to sewing with stretch fabrics. So, have you made the leap to sewing for yourself using Japanese Pattern books?

I received the book, She Wears the Pants, for free from Tuttle Publishing. All opinions provided are my own. I will only recommend products that I would use personally and are good for my readers.