Get Your Crap Together (and shove it in a cabinet)

Today was Rory’s 1st birthday party.  She was so sweet and so good at her party!  It was great seeing everyone.  The only bummer was the weather.  We had to pack inside the house because of rain and cold.  We did get ten minutes outside for the pinata, every baby needs a pinata!

It was a bittersweet day, I made my last formula bottle and introduced Rory to cow’s milk.  I watched her gobble down a cupcake and prance around in her sweet dress.  Sadly, I didn’t get around to making her the dress.  I intended to make her something, but the week flew past.  I was trying to get piles of clutter cleaned up and I actually cleared off the sewing table in my living room for the party!  It was probably the first time in 2 years that table has been clear.  By this afternoon, I stopped trying to organize things and shoved piles of this and that into cabinets and closets.  Its gonna be a fun week finding it all again!  I am testing a new dress for Nora, and I am kind of relieved that the designer just extended the deadline.

I recently tested a cute dress, called the Rival Raglan by Get Your Crap Together (GYCT).  This pattern can be made into a top, tunic, or dress.  I like the dress length.  It has a really wide size range, too.  From 12 months to 12 years.  I could make all three of my kids something with this pattern!

I sewed up the Rival Raglan Dress using a cupcake fabric for Rory, but she needed something a bit fancier for her party.  She did wear the cupcake dress on her real birthday to her Dr. Appt and to run errands.  She is cute no matter what she wears 🙂 

She is walking everywhere now!

The pattern was so cute that Nora got a couple of dresses too.  There was this one for a birthday party

The party was Star Wars themed, so I got this Yoda / Dr.Dre shirt at the Thrift Store and made it into a dress.  My idea was to use two different fabrics for two ruffles on the bottom, but I ended up cutting one too short and just omitted it.

This next one, is one of my favorite things that I have made,

 

The Rival Raglan is definitely a win for us!!  I love sewing with comfy knit fabric, and the kids love to wear it.  This dress even made the cut for Nora’s first week at preschool, but we will save that for the next post!

Fall in Love (Notions Patterns) with the Samson Sweater

Yummy yummy sweatshirt fabric, its just so soft, I wish they had touch-o-vision for it!  Owen’s sweatshirt I made using this cotton fleece feels amazing.  So perfect for fall, the Samson pattern by Love Notions has some fun (but not too hard) details.  I have always had a thing for wearing hoodies, so it makes sense that I like to sew them for the kids, too.  I tested this pattern for the designer so I had a deadline for the photos.  It was raining buckets on the day I needed to photograph, so we headed for the basement.  The lighting isn’t so good, but he loves practicing hockey down there.  Perfect for the hockey themed sweatshirt I put together. 

His hockey season is just around the corner, we already got his practice schedule.  Goodbye lazy afternoons!

 

My husband created this cool mural with shooting targets, but don’t worry we aren’t Leafs fans.  Owen likes to shoot against them, so he can be on the Bruins, we are a Bruins family all the way.  One day my husband will finish painting down there.  I chose red accents because his team colors are red/black/white.  Look at this detail…

elbow patches!  The placement is perfect too.  I didn’t have enough of that hockey fabric for the hood lining too, so I settled for the elbow patches only. 

Cute wrist cuffs.

Owen can be sensitive to clothing, especially if it has tags or feels tight anywhere.  Because of his this I chose the curved hem option.  The pattern does include both the curved hem like this and the more traditional sweatshirt banded hem.  I think he would find the binding too tight/constricting.  I do find bindings quicker and easier to sew.  This is a nice shot of the looser curved hem. 

I always hem my knits with a double needle.

I have learned to use the narrower needle (on the left in the picture).  Its best for hemming medium and lightweight stretchy fabric.  You can look for ballpoint twin needles too.  These are best for sewing knits they work better with that type of fabric. But for this thick stuff the wide spacing is better.  Just make sure the left of the twin needle clears the metal plate on your sewing machine.  Set your needle position to middle alignment, NOT LEFT!  I have broken so many wide twin needles doing this, its kind of embarrassing. 

Twin needles are great for sewing knit fabric.  Knit fabric is stretchy (like Tshirts or jersey sheets), and the fabric gets the stretch from how its made.  They can be tricky to sew with compared to woven fabric (like a dress shirt or normal sheets).  Woven fabric does not stretch, so its not as comfy for someone wearing it, but it does stay in place better when you sew it.  I love sewing with knit fabrics, they are so comfy for the kids.  Its important that the seams in knit garments have stretch.  Stretchy fabric needs stretchy seams.  Twin needles allow stretch, they make beautiful parallel lines on the outside,and a stretchy  zig zag on the inside.  Can you see it in the photo?

I was planning to use the stripes to line the hood, but I was rushing to finish and read the instructions wrong, I basted the hood on the wrong way, sweatshirt fabric as lining and stripes on the outside.  I thought it looked good though, so I kept it.  Happy accident! 

Here he is wearing the shirt on the ice, just the thing to keep him cozy during public skate!  Its kind of weird to see him skate without all that hockey gear on.  Nora and Jason skated too 🙂

 

 

Proud mom alert!  Owen is featured in the listing for the pattern!  Check out this link to see my model 🙂

I really like this pattern, it has a basic raglan construction with great details.  Other options include a chest pocket and fully lined cardigan version.  Loads of sizes from 12 months to 14 years.  For a limited time you can use code “samson” to get 15% off the pattern in the Love Notions Etsy shop! 

Happy sewing!

Need more Samson inspiration?  Check out what the Shaffer Sisters did with the pattern on their blog.

 

My summer of Love (Notions Patterns) continues

Testing for the Mallory dress by Love Notions is finished and it released yesterday. It is one of my favorites, I love using different prints and think the hood detail is awesome! I was selected to test size 12 months this time, so wee Rory got to be my model.

She is almost walking!  She has taken up to four steps.

The hubs got us a new camera lens, which I have been totally procrastinating on using, but I don’t know why, its great!  Love that blurred background.

This dress has lots of options.  I chose the knee length skirt.  It works great for crawling around, but it also comes in a longer length.  I chose to sew up the short sleeves, but the pattern includes long and 3/4 length, Miss Nora will have to get a long sleeved Mallory for her preschool wardrobe!  It has loads of sizes, 12months – 14.

 

You can sit pretty in it too, and even practice clapping.

The hood is my favorite part, its fully lined and the great design carries the hood fabric across the front of the dress.  There is also an option to add a binding to the hood.

The Mallory dress was great for a day at the beach!

Rory is starting to sign a bit, “more Mallory dresses please Mommy”

The first 100 people can get the pattern here on Craftsy at a discounted price (no code needed)!  Or on Etsy with code Mallory

Next up I plan to make a Love Notions Pattern for Owen, and maybe something from Little Kiwi’s Closet too!.