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.

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.