Kids Clothing Week-a little delayed

I had grand plans for kids clothing week and so many ideas of what I wanted to accomplish for my first go around.  I didn't officially sign up for KCW because even though I had grand plans I knew there was alot going on with a baby shower and a Minnie Mouse birthday (more on this later), and of course what we do best-moving. 

I guess I should be proud of the fact that I did get a few things accomplished along with all those other things stealing my attention.  I think I over estimated what I could accomplish with a 2 year old at my feet and not sleeping but with all that being said I do have some things to show off.

I made my neice a couple more pillowcase nightgowns.  My mom requested more for this summer because she loved the one I made here.  She found these striped pillowcases, 2 in a package, for $1 at a discount store, and I got the stretch ribbon at Hobby Lobby @ 50% off for $1.50.  So all in all each nightgown cost a total of $1.25, you can't even go to Wally World and buy a little girls nightgown on clearence for that price.

Of course as usual I didn't get pictures with the kids in their clothes because toddlers in this house don't seem to like my camera very much.  They turn their back to me, run in the opposite direction, and lay face down on the floor when I say "come take a picture for me".

I also made a shirt for Grant.  I bought the Maxwell shirt pattern a couple months ago with KCW in mind.  I have quite a few of derricks old button up shirts I've wanted to repurpose for Grant and decided it was the perfect pattern to attempt it. 

 

My husband's shirt before I started cutting it to pieces:

Maxwell Shirt front:

 

Back:

 

It is so darn cute I can't stand it and I have to say I'm pretty proud even with the mistakes I made in the process of putting it together. 

I'm going to be honest because lets face it we all should be, this shirt has alot of problems.  Not due to the pattern, I absolutely love this pattern and it's super easy to follow so you should definately buy it if you have a cute little boy in your life.  All of my errors were because of myself, ugh, wish I could blame someone else but I can't.

Button holes make me nervous, don't ask why they just do.  So I had the grand idea to avoid having to make so many I would just use the existing button plackart (have no clue if thats how you spell that but you know what I mean).  I just left that pattern piece in the envelope and went on my merry way cutting and sewing.  If I was a better sewer or had done this before maybe it would have turned out better but because I hadn't I had to improvise on more than one occasion.

I feel it's necessary to purge these imperfections to all of you so here they are:

 

Top of the button plackard



 

The inside collar

 

Inside button plackard

I'm gonna say these blemishes give this shirt a little character, and take this as a learning experience rather than being uptight about it (which I usually would be).  Normally when I sew clothes (or anything for that matter) and the above happens I start to get flustered and say many choice words (not outloud of course) to my sewing machine, the pattern, my scissors, or anything else I can blame for my lack of perfection.  But not this time.  I took it and ran with it making the best of the situation.

Aww, I'm growing up becoming a big girl.

I have intentions of making a few more of these shirts and next time I'll make it and face my button hole fears and hopefully show off a shirt with a few less imperfections.  There's no point in hoping for perfection, it's just not gonna happen.

Wild Child Zoo Shirt and Water Bottle

I've been on the hunt for things to do with Grant this summer.  I desperately want to keep him busy and entertained, with the idea this will minimize the tantrums and fit throwings.

I know this is probably wishful thinking but a mama's gotta have hope.

We took him to the zoo last year for the first time and he loved it, we had a great time so I started looking into a membership.  Turns out they aren't too bad in price when you add in the parking fees and the fact that Grant is over the age of 2 which means we have to pay a whopping $10 admissions for him.

Which I personally think is a little crazy but whatever.

Naturally I figured if we would be going to the zoo Grant would need a zoo shirt (and since it's Kids Clothing Week I figured it's the perfect time to finish one).  I always go through the gift shops and see all these cute things I want to buy, you know as if Grant cares if he has a shirt that says zoo on it, but never want to pay the money for them.  Let's face it, most of the stuff they will never play with or only wear a short while.  And what kind of crafty Mama would I be if I didn't at least attempt to make him a shirt myself.

Since I have a new obsession with freezer paper stenciling I thought the zoo shirt was a great excuse to feed into that obsession.  I googled zoo animal silhouette and decided on a rhino.  Mainly because it seemed boyish, don't ask me why, it just did.

I printed the image in the size I wanted, traced it onto freezer paper, cut it out with an exacto knife, ironed and painted it onto the shirt.  Here was the end result:

 

I look at some blogs and they have the cutest pictures with their kids posing so nicely in the clothes they lovingly made.  It took me 10 minutes to get the picture you see above.  He kept turning to the side and turning his back to me.  Then wanted to look through all the pictures on my camera.

 

 

And it wouldn't be complete without throwing himself on the floor at least once, shouting "NO", when asked to show me his new shirt.

 

I thought "Wild Child" was the perfect  wording for the shirt.

 

 

I debated for awhile on whether or not to put the Columbus Zoo and the year on the back.  Why do I debate over such things?  In the end I decided if I were to buy one at the zoo gift shop it would have the year on it so mine should too.

 

No trip to the zoo would be complete without a water bottle.  Last year we had a regular old sippy cup but I have found I can actually get Grant to drink water if it's in a water bottle, he loves them.  I bought these at Hobby Lobby 40% off for $1.74. 

 

(please excuse the wrong turned picture, I can't for the life of me get it to upload in the right direction)

 

I used my Cricut and vinyl from Expressions Vinyl to decorate the outside with polka dots and their names.  I had to make one for my neice as well, since she will be with us on at least one trip to the zoo.

 

I'm in love with these bottles, they are too cute, and Grant carries his all over the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kids Clothing Week

I am so excited about Kids Clothing Week this week.  In case you have never heard of KCW, the idea behind it is to take one hour a day for an entire week and dedicate that hour to sewing clothes for your kids.  I have been looking forward to it for over a month and planning what I want to accomplish and attempt.  So far I haven't made Grant much in terms of clothes other than pjs.  They are pretty easy and quick, and I've made them so many times there's no need for  directions.  I've been wanting to branch out and have been collecting fabric and shirts of my husband's to repurpose as well as a couple staple patterns and tutorials.  I bought the Flashback Skinny Tee pattern back in January but my fear of knits has kept me from attempting to use it.  My sewing machine has been eating my knit fabrics and I'm not really sure why, so I've put them aside and taken a break.

I also bought the Maxwell Shirt pattern by Shwin & Shwin.  As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to make one, or a dozen for Grant.  It's really difficult to find cute patterns that are interesting for boys, but Shwin & Shwin have quite a few others I'm eyeing and dying to buy.

The staple tutorials I'm planning on working from are the Basic Pants pattern at Dana Made it and the variation of it the Retro Racer Shorts tutorial.  Of course I can't leave little Sophie out of the mix, and it's always nice to change things up from boy to girl every now and then, so I'll be making her a couple more nightgowns like the pillowcase nightgown I made her here.

As excited as I am to start on my to-do list for Kid's Clothing Week, this is probably the busiest week to try to get some serious sewing done.  The About to Pop baby shower I've been planning for the last couple months is this weekend, Sophie's birthday party is the following weekend as well as my sister's who is turning the big "20", both of which are happening the same weekend we are moving.  Therefore all my projects for KCW will be posted next week. 

I know I'm keeping you all in suspense right?

I guess the big question now is why am I still on the internet when I should be sewing, baby shower crafting, birthday cake baking, and packing.

Off to work I go....

Pillowcase Nightgown for Sophie

My Mom asked me last year if I would make my neice Sophie a nightgown since the ones in the store are about $10 (ridiculous) and we had no luck finding any at yard sales.  Of course I said "absolutely, a nightgown will be easy", we found some cute polka dot knit on clearence and I was set.

Fast forward 1 year and my Mom was still waiting on that nightgown.  I've come to realize it takes me forever and a day to start a project I've never made before, even when it's a seemingly easy one.  I had put off this nightgown and justified it stating I was super busy with other projects (so not a good excuse).

Then, lo and behold, I came across this post and was immediately inspired and couldn't wait to make little Sophie a nightgown. 

And FYI if you haven't checked out the rest of the iCandy Handmade blog you need to do that immediately.

Like right now, go ahead, I promise you will be browsing her archives and before you know it you will have lost 2 hours of your life and your crafting to-do list will have doubled in size.

Anyways...I didn't want to purchase the stretchy lace that the tutorial called for because I didn't want to wait for it to ship before I got started, so instead I bought some stretchy ribbon I've seen used alot for making baby headbands.

I also didn't have a pillowcase so instead I used the knit my Mom originally purchased for the nightgown and layed a pillowcase on top to cut the fabric the width I needed.  This just took a little extra time that wouldn't have been necessary if I had a pillowcase.

Here's how it turned out:

 

I so wanted a picture of her wearing the nightgown but she wasn't too into modeling and was tugging at the shoulders trying to undress herself so no such luck.  I'm so excited with how easy this was to make that I can't wait to make more.  My mom bought a package of 2 pillowcases for $1 at a store in town called Rose's.  They are nothing fancy but Sophie is makes anything look cute.

 

Kids Clothing Week is coming up,  If you haven't heard about it you should go to the website.  This will be my first year participating and I plan on making the other 2 nightgowns during that week, so I won't be tempted to procrastinate.