Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Pajamas of WarCraft

One of the challenges to custom fabric is that sometimes it takes a lot of *time* to find what you are looking for. My local nephew - whose parents are both gamers - has scored some onesies from me using fabric from past projects. But when I saw this, I knew I had found THE perfect fabric for them, and not just an "acceptable" one.



It was pure happenstance that I managed to score it during a day-after-Christmas sale, too. I'd already made the Brindille & Twig Baby Kimono once - and I hadn't been *that* thrilled with a pattern. But I shopped some of the other alternatives, decided this was still the cutest of the bunch, and what the heck, maybe a second go-round would naturally work some of the kinks out.


This time, I modified the snap structure a bit: I made the tabs longer (lesson learned) & interfaced them for structure. This allowed me to anchor one of my snaps (upper right) to the tab directly without piercing the feature fabric. Kam snaps are pretty smooth, so I wasn't worried they would hurt baby.

I also was a lot more careful to stretch the binding while sewing, add bulk when I turned the binding under (using my new serger), and use a longer stitch length straight out of the gate when top stitching the binding.

And of course, something *this* cute just needed matching pants.


I decided to keep it simple (and cheap!) by making most of the pants out of the same (PurpleSeamstress) solid as the binding. I changed the waistband construction to a traditional casing, and of course I couldn't resist adding Mom & Dad's favorite characters to the feet.



Overall, I am pretty proud of this make! I'm still not crazy about B&T's construction methods, but I have made them work for me. And you can't argue with the cuteness of the final product, which I suspect will be second only to the cuteness of my little nephew.



Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Fairy Tale Birthday Shirt

In January with my niece's birthday coming up, I had a great opportunity to conspire with her Grandma (My MIL) on a birthday gift. My niece is a consummate unicorn lover, and her grandmother knows her taste. So this fabric - from Oh So Pretty Customs - was actually picked out by Grandma.


My niece is 11 - and preteens aren't a category I get to sew for much, these days. But my MIL knew her style and after a quick tour through all the girls' and women's patterns I owned, we settled on the CKC Esther. Grandma liked the shirred sleeves and the simple silhouette, and I liked that it was cute, feminine, and could be made with the quantity and cuts of fabric we'd bought.


I used a standard panel for the front (and back!) of the bodice, and small-scale yardage for the arms, neck band, and skirt. I'd hoped to have enough left over to make another Esther my daughter (who adores her cousin), but alas I'd underestimated how much fabric the top-length circle skirt would take when scaled up to size 8.


This was also my first experience with shirring - CKC had a pretty helpful video, and for all the stressing I did, the shirring itself ended up being No Big Thing (assuming the garment holds up to multiple washes, that is). In retrospect, neck gathers + a panel was not the *wisest* combination, but I do think it worked out in the end.


Well, except for one small thing - even with an extra 2" added, my niece's shirt *still* wasn't long enough when she tried it on. So, with her input, I added to the design. She selected the option of a second circle skirt in a solid color, and picked out a nice violet to complement the colors of the original design.


And the result certainly brings a smile to her face! They say too many cooks spoil the broth, but I think this collaboration between three generations of RLQ women worked out pretty darn well. My niece is feeling good about her new shirt, I'm feeling pretty good about my first outing as seamstress for a preteen, and I think grandma is just proud of us both on a job well done.