(like the rod stewart song)
i'm a millennial living in the bay area who loves dark beer, the environment, and sewing for the tiny humans in my life. more
All tagged play time
after making pretty dresses for talia, halloween costumes are probably my favorite thing to sew.
a few years ago I came home from work to the best surprise: the good folks at oliver + s had sent me a package of goodies! (i’ve already shared the first things I made from this package here.)
today we are talking about inseam pockets.
a type of of set-in pockets, inseam pockets are ones where the pocket bag is sewn into an existing seam, usually the side seam.
more sewing for skills today and I talk about another trim technique: flat piping!
when I was in portland this past weekend nora and etta put on their new bee mine dresses and we went for a walk around the block.
like many in the sewing world, i am on a constant quest to sew my stash. i've even gone so far as to proclaimed my desire to have less fabric all together, and consider myself am midway through a major two year fabric diet.
so today i'm going to share some of my favorite patterns for busting my stash.
if i had one regret about my 2015 sewing it's that I didn't make enough for my older nieces nora and etta. at 5 and 7 they are a tad pickier than 3 year old maya and baby neela.)so I promised myself the first project of 2016 would be for them.
when oliver + s announced their pattern mash up challenge I knew I had to try it. so over the next few weeks of commuting i developed a vision came together that combined four different oliver + s patterns.
following up from yesterday's post on all the tops i made this year and monday's post on all the skirts and dresses, today i'm going to review the jackets, pants, pajamas, and jackets i made in 2015.
this week i'll be recapping my projects from 2015 and taking about some of my plans for early 2016. today i'm kicking it off by talking about the skirts and dresses i made this year.
a while back i was watching maya and as bedtime was approaching i said it was time to put on her pjs. the kid lost it. turns out she had never heard anyone refer to pajamas as pjs before and thought it was the funniest thing ever.
today i am going to share a three non pajama patterns that actually make great pjs.
neela and rosie have found common ground.
meanwhile maya have continues to enjoy her dolly ergo.
yesterday i talked about my desire to have less fabric, which means i made one of my goals for 2015 to sew through all my good but not great fabric.
today i am going to talk about the other goal I set for myself in 2015: sew more knit fabric.
coming off my awesome (if i do say so myself) peacock and paddington bear costumes the past two years i was a tad nervous for maya's hallowen costume this year. i mean how could i top those two gems?
well i did.
today I am going to share the things I've sewn for this sweet girl.
when sammie told me she was having a girl last September I immediately got to work on my future niece's wardrobe, because as a fellow youngest sister I didn't want her to be left out.
last summer while in jackson hole for a friend's wedding i visited a local fabric store and picked up materials to make victor a flannel shirt, the scraps of which became the lil' man flannel.
at the same time i came across some pretty awesome snowflake flannel. so i got a few yards with every intention of making holiday pj pants for the girls. however a month before the holidays my sister abby informed me that her girls (nora and etta) didn't like to wear pants to bed, preferring nightgowns.
so like any good liberal arts graduate i had some iced coffee and came up with a plan b.
before the trick-or-treaters head out i wanted to revisit some of my favorite costumes from the past few years and give a preview for this year.
about a year ago i was searching for the perfect wool for maya's paddington coat. a few options online caught my eye but having never bought wool before and seeing a wide range of prices (and presumably quality) it was apparent i would need to see it in person before making a decision.
after exhausting my east bay brick and motar options, stonemountain & daughter and a verb for keeping warm, i knew a trip to the city was necessary. armed with an iPhone full of taylor swift and iced coffee from the hip local shop (exposed brick, menu written on the chalkboard wall, and light fixtures made from old bicycle parts...am i painting a mental picture for you?) i set off one saturday for my quest.
given that my parents were hippie baby boomers who joined a tofu co-op in the early 90's, it's not surprising that there weren't a ton of rules in the kempner house. (in hindsight the fact that we were all naturally good kids who liked school, had nice friends, and weren't too boy crazy was probably conducive to and thus afforded a laissez faire approach to parenting.)
shut the front door our friends are procreating?
to celebrate i made their baby girl an outfit. maybe it's the ann arbor in me but doesn't this outfit look like it should be worn to the farmers market?
the sunday brunch coat was actually the second oliver + s pattern i ever made, way back when maya was a baby.
my craftsmanship was much improved (i.e. more hand sewing) this time around: better seam binding technique, under stitching, french seams, edge stitching, and a blind stitched hem.
