One Shirt Down (sort of)

I finished up the first shirt for Ian's Wardrobe and was fairly pleased with it....as I was taking a photo of it though I thought the neckline looked a little small. Since he was sleeping I had to wait to try it on him. 

As soon as he woke up I tried to pull it on over his head. No matter how I tugged on it, it would not come down over his head. BLAST! So I took the collar off and pulled it on over his head no trouble. I even took the neckline piece and pulled that over his head, both fit just fine. Guess I needed to stretch the  neckline more when I was topstitching it. {sigh}. I need to fix the length of the sleeves as well, they're about an inch and a half too long. Adding that brown stripe across the chest really helped make it the perfect length. 

In other news, I've signed up for the Curves class being taught by Rachel Hauser at Stitched in Color. The first projects, bunting, bibs & a clamshell pillow, have been posted and I'm really looking forward to trying them out and improving my sewing skills.

I've also signed up on Flickr to be a part of the 6x3 quilting bee. There are 7 to each group/hive and my hive will be creating a paper-pieced 12 1/2" block. We'll each sew the design we've chosen in each of the color schemes that we've each selected. I've got my block design in mind and my color mosaic is lots of jewel tones.

Now I get to go buy some lovely fabric and start trying out my paper-peiced block. It'll be the first time I've ever sewn a paper-pieced quilt block. Hopefully my hive won't be disapointed. 

In the Works

I'm finally on the bandwagon again to complete a wardrobe for my little guy. It was supposed to have been completed in the fall but I got a little side tracked with Christmas quilt making. 

Where I'm at: 

Freshly washed and messily folded knit stash

3 Fishsticks Designs Patterns all cut out

List of prints and the
coordinating solid color

First shirt in the works

Hmmm, Need a little solid color to
break up all the dogs I think 

Alas, my son doesn't have any clothes

Well, today is the first day of winter and my son never got his fall wardrobe.
I was a little tied up with making Christmas quilts for the rest of the family.
Luckily he still fits into his 12 month clothes and is just now getting into 18 months clothes so he's not walking around like the Emperor and his new wardrobe. My little guy is 21 months and boy is he little and pretty adorable if I do say so myself. But what do I know. I'm just his mother.
You can decide for yourself ;)

I WILL be making him a wardrobe...however probably not until 2012, late January / early February.
The quilting bug kind of bit me really hard and I've at least one quilt I need to make before Jan 15th and several more that I'd like to do just because. The just because quilts can wait though so my little man can be outfitted with some snuggly knit fabric that I bought months ago.

Disgruntled

I have actually made some (little) progress on Ian's Fall (ahem, winter) Wardrobe. I have all the pattern pieces for the one-piece outfit and shirts cut out. Woot!

I am a bit peeved though because out of the 5 pairs of knit pants I made him, 3 have shrunk!

My poor kid looks like he's ready for a flood when he wears them. I really wish I could remember if I pre-washed the fabric or not. Bah!

Ian's Fall Wardrobe (cont.)

I feel I need to make a list of items I'd like to complete for Ian's fall wardrobe so I know exactly where I'm at and where I need to go.

7 pants

• 5 knits (complete!)
• 2 ?? (not sure if I'll do two more knits or some khaki's / jeans)

7 tops

• 5 tops to go with pants completed above
• 2 tops to go with pants not yet finialized

5 coveralls

7 PJs

Today's goal will be to trace out the patterns I plan to use and cut out at least one so I'll have something to sew up in the next couple of days.

The Good & the Not-So-Good

I've mentioned before that I love to start projects but finishing them is always a challenge.
I've been working away at the purple & green quilt for my cousin and have sort of put my son's fall wardrobe on the back burner since he still has plenty of clothes...or so I thought. I came home from work on Saturday and found him dressed in pants that were two inches too short. I asked my hubby why he was wearing those and he said they were the only comfy looking pants he could find. I thought about it and he was right. The only comfy knit pants he has are size 6-9 months. Everything else are either shorts or khakis of some sort. That lit a fire under me and I finished up 4 more knit pants. That elastic waistband that kicked my butt on the first pair has got nothing on me now. I whipped it into submission!

Obviously I'll need some long sleeve-ed tops to go with the new pants but since he's already got some long-sleeved bodysuits we're covered for at least a little while. Now I'm debating between more pants or all-in-one outfits. The only hesitation I have with the all-in-one's is the snapping of the legs. He is a little wiggler at diaper changes and the thought of all those snaps after the diaper changing struggle makes me cringe. I like all-in-ones though cause they're only one item of clothing to put on instead of two.

On the quilt front I'm making a lot of progress though when I said earlier that I could sew squares I didn't know what the heck I was talking about. Apparently I can't sew squares well.

I was supposed to end up with lovely 7" squares and not a one of them (out of 70 mind you) is actually 7" square. Each row is so off that I'm just going to sew a white band between each row to try & hide the fact that I can't sew a straight seam to save my life.  Maybe quilt #2 will go better. 

Progress!

There has to be something to say about have multiple on-going projects. I think I actually get more accomplished when I have more than one project in the works.  When I get stuck on one project (ahem, stupid elastic waistband), I can easily move over to another (hello quilt) and when I'm sick of sewing 1/4" inch straight lines I can work off some "I don't feel like going to bed yet" energy cleaning out a mountain of packaging filler that I keep thinking I'll use but never send out as many items as I bring in. Wow, if that isn't a run on sentence I don't know what is. Oh well.

So this week I finally finished one (yes, only one (stupid elastic waistband)) pair of pants for Ian's fall wardrobe. Sized 12 months for my nearly 19 month old and they fit great.

The waistband is a little wonky...I have a heck of a time following the instructions in the pattern and think I'm going to try a slightly different way that will hopefully be easier and get the remaining pants (4 pairs) completed before snow starts falling on the ground. He'll also need some shirts I'm sure. ;)

I was also able to complete 50 out of 70 of my quilt blocks for my first quilt and am really loving how quickly it's going. I'm able to get 5 blocks done in about a half an hour which is perfect for right after putting the little man to bed and winding myself down for some Zs. 

I was also able to de-clutter some more of my craft room. Huzzah!

Before

After

Ian's Fall Wardrobe for 2011 Begins

I was inspired by this lady to sew my son a fall wardrobe. I figured if she could sew up two wardrobes with 6 kids that she home schools, I should certainly be able to crank out one.  I bought all the patterns & fabric months ago on the condition that I couldn't buy him any store bought clothes in the fall.
See....

Well the weather around here has certainly changed from the 90s everyday down to the livable 70s so I'd better get cracking.
I really love love love to start new projects. Look at all that fabric lined up. I'm crazy. The planning and cutting out is a lot of fun for me.
So I decided to start out with pants (AJ Bottoms pattern from the nice lady mentioned above) since they go together really quickly and I only have to cut out 3 pieces..two legs & a waistband...easy peasy. Made slightly challenging by a cat (ahem, please move Emme) who likes to try and chew on the rotary cutter while I'm trying to cut the fabric.

Luckily I prevailed and got 6 whole pairs all cut out. Score!

I got one whole pair sewed up and thought, hmmm, they look a little long. Now I didn't bother checking dimensions on the pattern. I didn't take into consideration that my little 18 month old son is a pretty small little guy. He's only in the 10th percentile for height & weight and he still wears 12 month size clothes and occasionally some 9 month items. I just thought he's 18 months, I'll do the 18 month pattern.

A little comparison below...the khakis are a pair of pants that fit him well right now (size 12 months) and the black are the lovely new pair I sewed that are just a bit too big. Like 4 inches too long and saggy diaper looking too big. Blast!

I am thankful that I didn't sew up all 6 pairs before trying them on him. I'm glad I can sometimes curb my overzealousness.  Back to the drawing board....or tracing out pattern board.