A new blog URL

With upcoming projects in mind, I have decided to go ahead and move this blog to The Sunny Side

I will continue posting to that URL all of my craft projects, while I will keep this space for other things like green living, book review posts, etc.

Thank you for following, and see you soon!

A last project from KCWC

These cute shirts were my last finished project for KCWC. The girls have *loved* them.

The pattern: The pattern is Oliver + S Hopscotch Shirt , which was my first successful knit experience. The pattern itself is so easy to follow! I have said this of every O+s pattern, but it’s so true. The first shirt I made was easy enough, but once I had sewn that one up, the second came together in no time. It’s love for me! I’ll be making this one many, many times, for sure.

The fabric: It was so easy to make these, and I think a great part of it was the knit I was working with: a ribbed knit from fabric.com. I know rib stretches more, and time will tell whether it was a good choice or not, but the weight of the fabric made it incredibly easy to work with, especially for someone without a serger, like myself. Also, the pattern calls for stabilizing some key areas with interfacing, which really helped.

The sewing: I am very satisfied with the results. These are the settings I used for sewing with this fabric:

-A narrow zig-zag

-As wide a stitch as I could use for joining pieces.

-A narrow stitch for finishing hems.

Another important tip (I read this somewhere, but can’t remember where!) that made a world of difference is to match your thread to the fabric. Because the zig-zag will always show a bit, having the thread be a color match helped so much!

See what I’m saying?

Now, I am not sure if I will hem these… Any thoughts on how best to do that?

Thanks, everybody, for the inspiration to try new things, especially Meg! I loved being a part of it, and can’t wait for next time.

KCWC Fall, days 3 and 4: On-the-border skirts

I’m so behind on blogging, but this has been such an awesome week of sewing and learning. I’ve had a blast! (Though it’s been just a little bit stressful too, wondering wether I’ll have time to meet the day’s hourly quota–I have family in town right now!)

On days three and four–or was it two and three?– I completed two on-the-border skirts. I have been longing to make these skirts since last year, and I am so excited I finally got to them!

The pattern: The pattern comes from Mary Abreu’s book “Little Girls, Big Style.” Even though the actual sewing was slightly more time-consuming than the average gathered skirt, the hardest part of this project was actually finding the right fabric!

The fabric: When I saw this border print on Sarah Jane’s newest line , I knew I had to use it for this project. My girls normally go for princesses and fairies and that sort of thing, but it was not hard to convince them to wear this lovely print. The chevron fabric on the yoke also comes from the same line, and the yellow stripes were supposed to, as well, but fabric.con has ran out, so I bought the closest thing. I live how it turned out.

The sewing: the sewing was very basic: cut, hem, gather, and it was fun to watch the project come together so quickly. The worst part of it is that I am sewing for two, so I have to repeat all the steps a couple of times. The best part if it is that the second time around you already know and understand the pattern, so it sews up faster. I have gathered a few tips on sewing for two that I will share once the sewing frenzy is over 😉

I love this fabric so much that I am buying more to have for when they outgrow these skirts. For some reason, my two-year-old’s skirt is just a bit short; I can tell she’ll be out of this one faster and I want to be ready.

They liked them so much that they wanted to leave them on! (We took them off just before dinner. They are white skirts, after all…) here’s also a sneak peak at my next project: knits!

How are your projects coming along?

KCWC fall, day 2: Oliver + S after-school pants

Here they are! This is the second pair I make this month and it was so much faster the second time around. From cutting to hemming it took me, I would say, about four hours. Not bad!

I’ll use Meg’s format for my description:

The pattern: this is the second o+s pattern I use, and I am just fascinated by the ease with which these garments come together. I love these pants and I will make them again, maybe in corduroy? I have been using croquis paper to trace my patterns and it’s been fabulous. I bought my roll of paper at Staples.

The fabric: I had bought this chambray back in February from Fabric.com and, originally, I had planned to make hopscotch skirts from it. It didn’t happen, and earlier in the month, my eldest had a birthday party and I had hoped to finish the pants for that–it didn’t happen either. Here they are, though! I opted to not go with the contrasting ruffle after seeing a solid navy pair in the Flickr pool, and I am very pleased with the results. I may try contrasting with the next pair.

The sewing: as I said, these came together so easily, I was very surprised. The one thing I hate, though, this little detail here:

You would think that, being the second pair and all, that would not happen, but it did… Hopefully, with a long-ish tee, no one will ever be able to tell 🙂

I really like them!

What have you been making?

KCWC Fall, day 1: nothing finished…

Pocket caught in the side seam! That picture pretty much sums it up. This morning, I had not even cut out my traced pattern, let alone my fabric!! When I went to sew, my machine would not run–it turns out it needed cleaning and oiling! But, it was a fun day, nonetheless.

I finished sewing up two pants legs of my youngest daughter’s school-days pants. It has been awesome sewing this pattern again. Since I worked on the other one so recently, things are still fresh in my mind, and I feel like I’ve been able to fly with it this time around. I am hoping to finish it tomorrow, so I can start on something else. (And what might that be? I have no idea. The rest of my fabric arrived just this afternoon and it has not even been washed. Add to that three appointments I am supposed to keep tomorrow… Stressing already…)

Good luck with your sewing, everyone!

KCWC countdown post # 2

This one was a gift for a friend of ours who was turning five. It is so fun to make gifts for children! The shirt was made with a tutorial from Jess of Craftiness is not Optional. Super easy!

As with all of her tutorials, the shirt came together without a problem. For the fabric, I actually used a guy tee that I had bought for my daughters to paint for Fathers Day, a craft that never got done. I used the ribbing for the neck, used the existing hem– the only hemming I had to sew was on the sleeves.

I added ribbon ruffles to the neckline, coordinating with the skirt colors.

For the skirt, I used Oliver + S’s lazy days skirt pattern . This has to be the easiest pattern to sew, and I was so excited to learn how to make the ribbon finish at the hem. It looks beautiful! I am planning on using it for several other projects. The fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago, and is actually leftover from a couple of dresses I made for my girls.

There it is! Of course, I probably finished this around midnight, so the pictures are a little dark, but there goes!

KCWC warm-up posts

Inspired by Rae and Cherie , who have been posting old un-blogged projects as a countdown to KCWC, I thought I’d go ahead and try to post some of my projects that have never made it to the blogosphere.

This first one is actually a year old!

It’s a summer dress from Heather Ross’
Weekend Sewing . Last year, a couple of days before Labor Day, I realized my daughters had nothing to wear (right!) for our family gathering. A trip to Hobby Lobby was in order; we picked the fabric, elastic thread, and returned home to attempt the shirring.

It turns out that it was easier than I had imagined! The worst part of it was winding the bobbin with the elastic which, through trial and error, I realized was key to how the project would end up looking.

The construction of the dress itself could not be more simple: the shirring goes from selvage to selvage, then you join at the back and attach some ties to it. Ta-daaa!

I made two.

And I don’t just use it as a sundress. See it here, styled with leggings and a long-sleeve tee under. I *love* this look!

(I apologize for the quality of the pictures; the day was quite overcast!)

Linking at:
Shwin and Shwin

Nap time crafters

So you think you’re crafty…

Making it on Monday: Gearing up for kids clothes week!

I have wanted to participate in Kids Clothes Week Challenge at Elsie Marley for a long time, and this time I’ll make myself do it *fingers crossed* I even have guests in town next week! So, I guess, I will just do my best.

Anyway, planning the pieces to sew has been great fun. Coordinating a wardrobe has always been a little tricky for me; sometimes I will love something that ends up getting little use because a) it doesn’t go with anything else in the closet; b) impractical style; c) did not love it to begin with. I sew for two girls who really know what they like, and really like to get dressed. This is what I am, eventually, going to finish for them:

-Two On-the-border skirts from Mary Abreu’s book. I am using one of Sarah Jane’s border prints for one of them that will be darling.

-Two knit shirts in pink and yellow (which coordinate with the two skirts)

-Polka dot class music blouse. I will next sew a long-sleeve one, but not for this week.

Eventually, I want to make the hopscotch and music-class skirts in either chambray or denim, which will go with all of our tops. A rule of thumb of wardrobe planning is to have two tops to a bottom–that should cover it!

-I need to finish another of these pants:

And I will have to make some kind of jacket. The Hailey would be perfect!

-I need to make pajama pants for my nephew, and pjs for my girls, if I can.

Meanwhile, I’ll be working on the smocking to this dress and cutting up patterns. Hopefully, my fabric will make it on time for the challenge. What are you working on?

Mid-week’s fun links: Inspiration

I have loved seeing inspiration everywhere recently, and seeing how different people get inspired. When I was in design school, one thing our teachers emphasized was that we should never stop seeing and looking. Everywhere. Because, even if we were faced with a graphic problem, inspiration could come from the least likely place. To me this translates as having a variety of experiences every day–be open to new flavors, new music, browse magazines, read books, talk to different people, try new things, new routes… It makes for such an enriching life! And somewhere in there, creativity and inspiration will be waiting for you.

This week I have really enjoyed reading:

– Sarah Jane’s blog . I give you a link to her blog so you can browse to your heart’s content, but this week I have really been inspired by her New Sarah Jane post, as well as her faq’s and about page. Her style is so lovely and unique! And she has been very brave to share her journey and stay true to her priorities and what makes her happy. Best wishes in this new stage!

– Film Petit! . This is a super fun project between Skirt as Top and A Little Gray . Every month they pick a movie and sew outfits inspired by that particular film. It’s great fun! I have loved seeing the visual translations they have done. It’s so inspiring to see other people be creative! This month they invited You & Mie to participate. Do check out their outfits, they were fantastic!

– Finally, these posts about painting on fabric, here and here have me dreaming about the possibilities. Such fun!

I will leave you with this awesome quote:

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” – Leo Burnett
( From this page.) What inspires you?

Making it on Monday

Happy Fall, everyone! I have been waiting for this since fall ended last year and I could not be more excited. Among the fall projects I would love to tackle is, of course, Elsie Marley’s Kids Clothes Week Challenge I have dreamed of participating for so long, but the timing always seemed to be off. It still is this year, but I am determined!

I would also like to try embroidering a fall kitchen towel, maybe making a table runner for the living room… I have some baby projects that I should be tackling, like sewing my diaper bag, or recovering my car seat (which is pink!) but I have not been brave enough to try. What projects are calling your name?

This week I am working on pants for my girls. I am using the After-school pants pattern by Oliver + S that I have had since last year! This is the second O+ S pattern I use, and it is an absolute dream. What a joy to watch the garment come to be! So easy! So cute!

Something I have learned these past couple of weeks as I have been sewing is that it’s all in the details. Let me show you:

Look at that shot of my pants; one side is top-stitched, the other one isn’t. I cannot believe that something so simple as taking the few minutes to topstitch that pair of pants would make such a difference, but it does! If I am already spending all the effort to sew up the pants, why not do my best? It was a big revelation for me this week. Sewing is a labor of love, and I can really make it count as I try hard to 1) follow instructions and not be rushed, and 2) take my time! (which is the same as # 1, but I am so impatient and need a reminder).

So, for me that meant that my girls went to the birthday party without wearing a new outfit. And that was okay! By the time I am done with these pants they will have something comfortable and beautiful to wear that we will all feel so happy with, and that is what counts.

There’s another picture of the view of the pockets. This is the cutest pair of pants you ever did see!