Fleece Jacket

Maya has been asking for a Hanna Andersson fleece jacket.  Why?  Because I handed her the catalog a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to cook dinner.  Maya LOVES clothes so I thought it would keep her busy for a few minutes.  It did but then she decided she wanted a $52 Marshmallow hoodie.  Don't get me wrong - I love Hanna Andersson- but the prices make their stuff  "sometimes" purchases.  Or I get my Hanna Andersson fix at Costco.  I do splurge on the PJs for Sam though.  His sensory issues make night clothing options a bit limited and he likes the jammies so he gets them. 

Anyway, back to Maya.  I haven't worked much with fleece but I figured I could probably make jacket myself.  I used a couple of old jackets as models and drew a pattern.  It took about a yard of fleece.  With sale prices/teacher discount the fleece, zipper, and thread probably cost around $12. 

It came together really well and I am very pleased.  The one think that irks me is that one pocket is about 1/8-1/4 of an inch higher than the other.  It happened when I attached the zipper.  EVen though everything was lined up before sewing, the fleece is thick and cushy and it shifts every so slightly under the presser foot.  I re-did it but the result was the same.  For now I am leaving it.  When she has the jacket on, you can't tell. 

I am going to make one more and then I will try to upload my pattern as a PDF if anyone wants to use it.

For Donation plus a tutorial (sort of)

I read about Skirting the Issue and decided to make a few skirts to contribute.  I wanted to make some skirts for older girls (not pre-schoolers).  I figured enough people would make the basic elastic waist cotton skirt (which is a great skirt for little ones) so I wanted to use some fabrics more suitable for older kids.  I made 4 - one is for a teen and has a 3 inch wide elastic waistband with a polka dot silky skirt body.  The other three are knit skirts (the purple is bamboo knit and the pink is cotton jersey).  One is a bubble, the other 2 have layered asymmetrical hemlines. 

The directions below are for the assymetrical hemline skirts above.  I didn't take any good pictures while working so I am sorry if this isn't as clear as I would like.

You will need: .75-1 yard of knit fabric, thread, 2 inch wide elastic, sewing machine, ball point needle (recommended), cutting mat, & rotary cutter.


1.  Cut 2 rectangles from your knit fabric.  The first should be the length of the skirt you want plus about .5 in by about 1.5 the width of your waist measurement.  The second should be about 2- 3 inches shorter (same width). 

2.  Cut your elastic.  I used 2 inch wide black elastic.  It should be the length of your waist measurement plus 1 inch. 

3.  If your fabric has right sides, put them together and, using your sewing machine's stretch stitch, sew the sides of the first rectangle together.  Repeat with the second. You now have 2 tubes.

4. Put one tube inside the other (both tubes with right side out). The longer layer should be on the inside and the shorter layer on the outside. Using a long straight stitch, stich them together (you can remove this stitch later if you want, it is just to hold the layer in place while you attache the waistband.

5.  Sew the ends of your elastic together with a .5 seam allowance.  Zig-zag each end to prevent fraying (could do this first).  Then stitch down each end to the band to make it sit flat.

6. Pin the center seam of the elastic to the center seam of the tubes of fabric.  The elastic should be on the outside and the fabric should overlap into the elastic about .5 inch. 

7. Find the opposite side of the skirt and the opposite side of the elastic and pin them.  The fabric is wider than the waist band so you want to pin it carefully.  You will stretch the elastic as you feed it through your machine.  This is more easily done if you stretch a small section at a time.  I like to pin in 8 evenly spaced spots.

8.  Sew the skirt to the waistband.  You need to grip the fabric and elastic firmly and stretch the elastic.  Gently feed it through the machine.  Any time you let go of the fabric, stop sewing first!!  I backstitched at the start and finish of this line of stitches. 

9.  Lay your skirt out on a cutting mat.  Use a ruler or straight edge to cut the bottom of each layer at an angle.  A rotary cutter will work better than scissors because knit fabric stretches as you cut with scissors resulting in an uneven line.

Note that I separated the layers before cutting each one.  In the picture below the longer layer is being cut and the shorter one is pulled up.  Then I pulled the longer inner layer up and cut the outer layer. 

I goofed on the pink one and cut the layers too short so I added some ruffles.  Now I think it is my favorite of the bunch!  (for a little girl, I can't see myself in neon pink. . . )

Rainbows

Maya has been very jealous now that Hannah is dressing more like a big girl.  Hannah has a striped sundress that has Maya seeing green.  She shed tears over not having a rainbow dress herself.  Lucky for her I recently purchased some knit fabric in a cute rainbow print from The Fabric Fairy.  I also bought some striped rainbow fabric from Joann's.  Here are the finished products:

A-line dress from a t-shirt

I had to run a quick errand at Kmart the other day.  As the girls and I walked in (Sam was with one of his ABA therapists), we passed a rack of t-shirts on sale for just a few dollars each.  They were pretty shapeless and I almost walked by but then I realized that they were made from a nice strong interlock knit fabric.  I had Maya pick one out and when I got home I cut out an a-line dress, made some bias trim straps and literally within 20 minutes Maya had a new dress.  For Maya's narrow build this dress is perfect.  If I make more I will switch the bias binding across the tops for an elastic casing (I like a little gather at the top of an a-line or else it just looks too boring). The great part about this project was that the hem was already finished for me.  I don't have a serger so I can't give a garment hem that fully polished look. 

Maya has terrible red-eye in this picture.  I fixed it but I can't get the fixed photo to load in the proper rotation.  Oh well. 

Doodle Pants - A Way to Rescue Fabric

I bought some grey brushed twill a while back and when I washed and dried it in preparation for use, the color got all funny.  The fabric looked blotchy and I thought it was going to be a total waste.  I had planned solid grey pants for the girls and the fabric now looked like someone had spilled juice on it.  The fabric sat in my stash for a couple of months until yesterday when an idea popped into my head.  Since the fabric looked stained, why not make it look like it was stained on purpose?  I thought some careful bleach drops might do the trick.  As I thought it over some more I suddenly got an image of acid washed jeans with splatter paint and grafitti all over them (I might have had a pair like that when I was a kid around 1986 or something. . . maybe. . . . ).


I got out a spray bottle and started bleaching. I let the bleach set for a few minutes to fully do its work.  Then I washed and dried the fabric. 

Next I dug out my fabric markers.  I wanted to cover them with grafitti-like designs but when I went to start I realized I have no skills in that area.  I used to be able to draw a mean set of bubble letters but even that escapes me now.  So,  I asked Maya what designs she wanted and she requested stars, hearts, swirls, and rainbows. 

I heat set the markers in the dryer.  Last night I cut out some pants and today I sewed them up.  This is Maya's pair.

I think these are my favorite homemade pants yet.  I mey even go back and add some more doodles.  All I have to do is pop them in the dryer again to heat set anything added.

I love some of the prints in the "A Walk In the Woods" fabric collection.  I finally bought some from this etsy store.  I made both girls simple peasant dresses with a band of ruffle down the front.  If I make this again I will make the ruffle a little wider.  Hannah was the only one who kinda sorta posed this time.  Maya slept late and I didn't have a chance to grab a picture of her.  When it comes out of the wash and gets its second wear I will get her.

How to make a totally original skirt

First, get about a half yard of broadcloth.  Lay it out on a table with some kind of backing to protect the table.  I used wax paper.  Tape down the cloth on top of the backing.


Second, find a preschooler.  You see a preschooler isn't influenced by what is trendy so she won't opt to try to paint the latest craze on the fabric like owls or argyle patterns (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE owls, but we are going for totally original here).  Set out the fabric paint on a paper plate and give your preschooler a paint brush.  Let her go to town. 

We had some paint splatter when I quirted out the blue so Maya got put in the shower to rinse off and we opted for a bathing suit to wear for the rest of the project

I ended up joining in and upcycled some of my son's too small undershirts into nightshirts for the girls.

Let the paint dry for 72 hour minimum.  Wash and dry the fabric.  Turn it into a cute skirt!  Bribe your preschooler to pose for a picture by giving her a cookie.