Recently my daughter has been into pink. Waaaay into it. Especially when it’s paired with purple. Oh, barf. Pink has never been a color I’ve been attracted to and though I’m sometimes strangely drawn to purple, it’s not my favorite either. Together? No way! Sewing something you hate is no fun, but sewing something that will end up being hated is even worse.

So I came up with a compromise: a salmony pink paired with burnt orange. Boom! We both love it. The pink is a thrifted sweatshirt fabric that is super soft on the inside–sweatshirt fleece maybe. Is there such a thing? And the orange is an old tee shirt. The pattern is completely made up and I’m not super happy with it, but I think it’ll do.

It’s a raglan sleeve with a high-low hem. I haven’t been able to get this shirt that Brienne made out of my head. There was going to be a lot more color blocking going on, but in the end it was too much. I love the idea of striped cuffs, but I liked this shirt more with 3/4 length sleeves. My daughter did not agree, so I made the sleeve hem big enough to roll up. It’s all about compromise these days.

The gold polka dot leggings were easy peasy. The only mishap came when I went to hem the bottoms. Instead of pressing a nice crease, my iron melted the damn fabric. Luckily they melted in just the right place, so they’re not too short. I serged the bottoms and called it a day.

Stylish, comfy, pink: this outfit ticks all the boxes.

If you’d like to know more about these items, you can see all the details on their KCW page: sweatshirt and leggings.

1. kcwc day3  2. a butterick dress experiment 3. flashback skinny tee 4. kcwc4

The flickr pool is bursting with beautiful hand sewn clothes!  How is your sewing going? Humming along? Or did you hit a snag? Are you ready to throw those pants (top, skirt, sewing machine) across the room?

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This tunic has been on my to do list for years…years! How is it that my sewing list is that long? Probably because things like ridiculously flowery leggings jump in line to get sewn first.

the leggings

the pattern: drafted a pattern off some good fitting leggings

the fabric: a maxi skirt I bought on sale at Target

the sewing: wham bam!

the tunic

the pattern: I bought this pattern at a thrift store when my daughter was still a toddler. Granted I barely knew how to read a pattern, much less resize one, but the topstitching and the little square pocket were too perfect (and it was 10 cents). Over the years the pattern has come out and written down as next on the list, but it always found its way back into the drawer. Now that my daughter is a size 6, I figured I better sew this sucker up once and for all.

the fabric: some really lovely wool blend that I was saving for a skirt for myself…for two years. There is still enough left for a skirt (I think), but now the fabric isn’t giving me the evil eye.

the sewing: The sewing went pretty well. It is a very basic pattern, but basic in 1975 is pretty advanced these days. I simlified the way they wanted me to put in the zipper–it doesn’t look perfect, but I didn’t rip it out ten times either. The direction for the pocket were in some alien language, so I totally winged it and it worked out just fine.  I’ll be honest, I’m pretty crazy for how this whole outfit turned out!

1. heart leggings  2. new shirt for D  3. Lala’s fall coat 4. corduroy music class skirt

I think it is only right to start with your creations, not mine. You are the ones sewing into the wee hours of the night or in the morning–all 535 of you!  Different time zones have given some of you a head start. Others (like me) started early for one reason or another. So don’t be discouraged by the finished garments in the flickr pool already. As kcwc begins, I do want to say one thing:

Have patience with yourself!

This challenge is about putting in a little time everyday doing what we love (but may have forgotten that we love it). If you sew two right legs together, or have to unpick a giant seam, or can’t understand the directions at all, don’t freak out and go for the ice cream. Put that project aside and pick up one you are more comfortable with or one you are super excited about. Then maybe revisit the other project the next day, or ask a question on flickr (the kcwc discussion is here). We are all here to help each other and motivate each other! Okay, let’s go!

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In the spring I filled out a simple form for each of my projects and it went so well I’m going to do it again. Feel free to do the same as it makes quick work of blogging–leaving more time for sewing!

the pattern: The pattern is the apron top from Carefree Clothes for Girls. It is simple, but with many details that make it just right for my little bit sweet, little bit tough, (still) little girl. Looking back in the blog, I’ve sewn up many pattern from the book for her: a princess dress, a play dress, and a winter coat.

the fabric: The main fabric I used was drop cloth from the hardware store. The suggested fabric was sail cloth and I though drop cloth was a good stand in. The bird fabric on the pocket was leftover from another simple top I made.

the sewing: The sewing was actually more involved than it might seem. The apron has so many bits to hem–not my favorite thing in the world–so that took forever, but there were other bits that were fun. The pattern called for rivets in the pocket corners and a little scrap of leather sewn onto the front. My fabric store had rather crummy looking rivets, so I used one half of a snap instead. While I was there I found some good looking jean buttons and I used one for the back closure. Have you ever used jean buttons before? They are hammered into the fabric–super cool.

Oops, I almost forgot I made the leggings too! The pattern is the Sunki leggings by Figgy’s. The fabric was some orange interlock from my stash. And the sewing was so easy and fast that I may never buy leggings again!