This has been sitting almost done on my cutting table for too long. It was one of those things that just needed another 20 minutes and, for no good reason, I’d simply lost interest in it. Zoe saw it this morning and started looking for fabrics for a shirt to go with it and I thought I should get the skirt done.
This is the Hertta Skirt from the Ottobre Spring 1/2009 issue. I used the leggings from pattern #32 in the same issue to make shorts attached underneath the skirt. After attaching the waistband to the skirt, I attached the leggings in the seam allowance of the main skirt and waistband pieces. Then I put in the elastic, folded over the casing and closed it up using my coverstitch machine.
The main part of the skirt is a stretch twill. I used 20.5″ of 3/8″ elastic in the casing. The ruffles and pockets are quilter’s cottons.
If I make this skirt again, I will double the bottom ruffle so there’s enough to have a decent ruffle there, since it’s barely flouncy in its current state. And I may also leave the pockets off or change them a bit since too many skirts will heart pockets will start to look the same. Finally, though the 3/8″ elastic should be adequate, next time I’ll add 1/2″ to the width of the casing so I can use a wider elastic.
After many months, I’m finally about to cave and buy a new cell phone. I’ve had my beloved pink Razr for years. But, the replacement battery isn’t holding a charge any better than the battery that was in it, which tells me it’s the phone that’s sucking the life out of the battery rather than an issue with the battery itself.
As someone who loves shiny new things, I should be thrilled to send this phone away and replace it with something much more 21st century, right? The thing is, though I’ve spent a significant amount of my professional career as an IT geek, I’ve just never been a huge fan of the cell phone. Is it handy to be called at the grocery store and asked to add baking powder to the shopping list? Sure. Does that justify its existence as an object whose apparent purpose is to make one reachable all the time? Not so much.
Now, why doesn’t Verizon offer me something in pink or purple that doesn’t require a $29.99/mo data plan that I have absolutely no use for? If I have to have a new phone, at least give me a girly gadget.
This is from the Farbenmix Quiara pattern in size 128, taken up 2″ from the bottom hem and with short sleeves rather than the flutter sleeves included in the pattern. No seam allowances were added to the pattern. The Strawberry Shortcake print is cotton jersey knit and the sleeves and neck binding are cotton/lycra jersey knit.
It’s nice to get some things sewn up, I was starting to worry that Zoe was going to outgrow some of these prints before I made them into something. The clock’s ticking.
Another set from the Spring 2009 Ottobre (1/2009) – Taiji leggings #32 and the Orvokki jersey blouse, #18A. Both in size 128.
Things went much more smoothly with the cover stitch binder attachment this time. I tacked the shoulder seam down on the connecting side of the neck binding and it sits pretty nicely.
These are from the Spring 2009 issue (01/2009).
The top is the Orvokki jersey blouse. The print is a lightweight jersey and the solid is a cotton/lycra very fine ribknit. Both are a size 128. The top is a little short in the body and I’ll add an inch or so to it next time if I hem it with anything other than a rolled or lettuce edged hem. I’m trying to play nice with the binder attachments for my coverstitch machine, but it’s rough going. There’s a little gathering to give the sleeves a bit of poof and also on the top where the two pieces meet.
The leggings are the Taija leggings, in the same soft cotton/lycra knit as the top. The 128 is a little long, but Zoe’s growing so fast these days if we are lucky she’ll be able to wear them through the spring.
There are a couple variations for the top, and I may make another one or two since Zoe seems to be pretty happy with them. The slightly silly look about her is because she’s trying to show that her bottom tooth is missing and I’m wanting her to just smile.
Alex moved to the basement bedroom and we separated the two little kids. This was Alex’s room:
Alex had a loft bed and put his dirty feet all over the ceiling, so that got painted first.
The nice thing about painting the ceiling before you paint the walls is that it doesn’t matter if you get it on the walls. Oh, and those solar system glow in the dark things? Very annoying to have to scrape them all off the wall.
Zoe picked purple for her walls. I cleaned the carpet, too.
Looks nice, doesn’t it?
Then I bought some fabric, and learned that organza is not my favorite material to sew.
Two layers of lilac and one layer of dark purple organza underneath make a very girly princess bedskirt.
There were about 4-4.5 yards left in each color…
which was perfect for making sheers to go over the ugly blinds in that room.
The don’t look that dark in the daytime, but I’ve not been able to get a picture in the daylight.
In case you were wondering, 30 yards of organza were used in this room.
Paul is taking the kids to see a play today, Jack was looking for something nice to wear with his pants. Please note, we have a loose definition of nice around here. When you’re four, nice = not sweatpants. His nice pants were in the laundry pile and the washer was already running a load of towels. Since they were planning to leave in two hours, there was not enough time to get his pants through the washer and dryer.
Luckily, I had enough corduroy on hand to make a pair of pants. These are a bit of a repeat of the pair I made before, Kwik Sew 2918 in a 4T. I added an extra 1.5″ to the length and took an inch off the top. I sewed the corduroy completely and then sewed each leg in flannel. I put each flannel leg inside the corduroy, right sides together and then pulled them through and sewed the flannel leg pieces together at the crotch. I folded over the waist about 1.25″ and zigzagged it down with the elastic loop inside.
One pair of pants, ready to go!
I’m still questioning whether this was a good idea, but I didn’t have the right color red to match the skirt I made Zoe for Valentine’s Day, so I went with the white.
This is the tunic length version with a hood and without the cap sleeves. Size 122/128 without a seam allowance added. Since she’s wearing it with a skirt, I think the shorter length might have been better.
This was the first time I’d done machine applique and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It’s a bit fiddly, but other than that, not terribly difficult. Applique is from Lynnie Pinnie, I left out the circle in the middle of the hearts. A layer of Sticky+ with tearaway underneath it for the applique. Lots of ric-rac and lettuce edging for “curly” hems as Zoe says.
This is one of those patterns that looks a lot more difficult than it is. It sat on my shelf for months before I finally tried it. This is a size 122/128, with 20.5″ of 3/4″ non-roll elastic in the waist. The pattern calls for 5 panels, but if you use two fabrics, you’ll want to add a sixth panel so you can alternate them around the skirt. A simple rolled hem completes this cute twirly skirt.
This tunic length top is from the Winter 2009 Ottobre. The neckline is pretty wide on it, if I make it again, I’ll bring that up some. It’s a little bit wide, but not overly so. It fits like a comfy top. Other than that, size 128 is a good fit on Zoe. This pattern might work well with sweatshirt fleece, though I’d probably widen the sleeves just a touch.
