Rundown on the Signature Look

So this is kind of the rundown post with more details of how I made each outfit.  If you just want the cute pictures of the girls wearing them and a quick synopsis of what I made, you might just want to check out the previous post:)

First up, the shirt.  This is the only piece that is made from completely new materials.  I had a lot of fun making this one and throwing in the extra details!  I just love how it turned out and would love one in my size.

I found the soft cotton with subtle green floral print at a specialty shop in Gettysburg, PA called Needle and Thread (they specialize in Civil War era fabric reproductions).  The yellow, buttons, and green ribbon came from JoAnne's.

I studied button up shirts for a while to figure out how they are put together and then measured Sophia and drew up a pattern.  The past couple weeks I've been practicing my placket making skills.  I can now say that I don't find the process at all scary now.

The collar turned out perfect with the contrasting yellow piping.  I also used the contrasting fabric for the inside of the collar stand (finally learned what that is called thanks to Stacy) and added the ribbon as well.  Little details make it fun:)

Again I used the contrasting yellow for the inside of the cuffs.

The back has a lined yolk, double stitching and piping detail.

The scarf is some gauzy, yellow fabric I found at JoAnne's.  I just did a rolled hem on each side (first time using a rolled hem foot...loved it!).  Then I stitched across about 2 inches from the end and frayed it.

The sweater vest is simply cut from an old sweater of mine that was starting to fit kind of funky.  I simply cut off the sleeves and extra on the side and the bottom and sewed it all back together.

Between the shirt and the pants, I learned a lot this week.  These pants are made from men's pants.  I wanted soft brown corduroy, that didn't have too big of a rib.  I couldn't find any fabric that I liked so I headed to Goodwill.  A size 38 men's pants was more than enough to get a size 8 girl's pants out of it.  I started by pretty much picking apart the pants, to see how they were put together.

When cutting them out, I used some pants of Sophia's as a guide to get the length and width right.  I used the existing inseam, but cut out the fronts and backs separately.  Then I used the leftovers at the bottoms to get the front pocket parts and zipper pieces.  I used the waistband (which I hadn't unpicked all of the way), tabs and little inner pocket from the original pants.  For the waistband, I started with the side with the button hole and pieced it around the top of my pants.  Then I cut off the extra and finished it off.  The pants have an actual zipper fly, my first, which was a lot easier than I thought they would be.  I love how they fit her and she says they are comfortable.

Now for Miss Clara's last minute outfit.  I started out with some leggings.  I thought I would do a skirt out of some brown tweed, but you see she has tons of skirts already.  The leggings will be something she can wear under all of those skirts.  They are made from the sleeves of a T-shirt of mine that seemed to be shrinking and getting too short.  I cut the sleeves off right at the shoulder seams.  Then I cut out the middle part that kind of looks like a diaper.  I cut it using the bottom hem of the shirt, so to make the casing to run the elastic through all I had to do was fold it over once.  I created the middle part first by sewing the crotch seam and two little side seams and then added the legs, just like you would sleeves.  On the bottom, I ruched them a little by stretching some elastic out and sewing in place.  Finally, I added some little horse buttons that Clara had picked out.  Not my choice, but they made her happy to wear the outfit.  You pick your battles:)

The tunic is a button up shirt of mine, that I never wore that much.  You see, while it is my favorite shade of green, I don't look good in that shade of green.  I look kind of sickly. Clara on the other hand looks good in it.  I picked off the collar and the cuffs.  Then I cut off the sleeves where I wanted them.  Thinking back, I think I should have cut off the entire sleeve and sewed it back on at the length I wanted.  Oh well.

The scarf is knit from some variegated sock yarn I found at JoAnne's.  The belt is made from some left over corduroy from Sophia's pants.  I just folded it over and sewed it together, finished off one end and added the D rings on the other.

To finish neck, I took some fabric left over from Sophia's shirt to make a casing.  Then I threaded some elastic through and put ribbons on each end, making sure to secure the elastic just inside the casing.

To make it fit better, I secured some elastic at the yolk seams on the shoulders and back.  It gives it king of a gathered look and less like a tent.

Another look at the sleeves.  The cuff was a little bigger than I wanted, but to save myself some time, I sewed it on inside out and folded over the extra so the buttons were on the outside.  Really I was just being a little lazy, because this outfit was an after thought:)

Project Run and Play--Week 6--Signature Look

For more details on how the outfits were made, check out this post.

Before I start the run down of what I made for  Week 6 of Project Run and Play, I thought I'd share my 3 favorite pictures from today's little photo shoot.  It is Fall here in the South and the changing leaves are really going full force right.  I love it!  It's my favorite time of the year!  The above picture is of some of the amazing color out there and these 2 are pictures that I feel capture the souls of my not-so-little girls.  They don't show the outfits off really well, but oh do they give me a glimpse of what is inside of them.

Now on to this weeks challenge--Signature Look

I feel my look, if I had to pick any style for me, would be preppy, with a little country farm girl thrown in.  Nothing fancy, everything comfortable and why not throw in my 2 favorite colors, green and yellow.  That is the original sketch.  The tweed riding jacket is something that is me, but not so much Sophia.  She said she wouldn't wear it hardly at all, so I scrapped it.  Why spend hours making something she isn't going to wear?  Especially, when I had other ideas.

I went with brown corduroy skinny pants, a button up tailor made shirt, sweater vest and light scarf.  Each pattern was self drafted, after studying pants and shirts to figure out how they are made.  For the pants I actually took apart a pair of men's pants that I found at Goodwill.  I couldn't find the type and color of fabric I wanted, so I went there to look.  I picked apart the seams, which really helped me figure out how pants are made.  Then I cut out what I needed, reusing the waistband and tabs, and sewed it all back together.  Each week I challenge myself to try something I've never done or tried before and this week I loaded my plate.  The pants were the first thing I accomplished this week.  It was fun to say I sewed a pair of pants.  For the vest, I just cut the vest shape out of an old sweater of mine and sewed it back up, using the v-neck shape of the sweater.

The shirt was my next big accomplishment.  This was my favorite piece this week.  It's really just a simple button up shirt, that I tailored to fit.  It has a lined back yolk, piping detail around the collar, pocket and yolk and contrasting fabric on the inside of the collar and cuffs, with ribbon accents.  The fabric is an ever so soft remnant I found at the specialty fabric shop in Gettysburg, PA.  All of the little accents and details on this shirt just make me giddy!  I love how it turned out and want one in my size.

In this picture you can see the detail of the fabric better, just a simple green floral and in the one below, you can see the back yolk with piping detail.

 My style would always include a scarf as well.  When I lived in Germany, many years ago, I came to love a good scarf and what it can do to an outfit, yet how practical it was.  Tighten it up if you are cold, loosen it if you are too warm...perfect for the Autumn days here in the South that start out chilly and then by afternoon be 30 degrees warmer.  This gauzy yellow striped scarf is perfect for a little yellow accent, but for the practical side as well.

Oh how I love the colors of Fall!

Sophia wanted to try out Clara's scarf.

My window for taking these pictures was small, so I had to take what I can get.  It was another sunny late afternoon and the sun was a little glaring again.  It was also windy.  Needless to say, most of the pictures with both girls in them did not turn out.  Either one was squinting or had her hair blowing in her face.  Here's the only one that did turn out.

Now for Clara's outfit.  Once again I didn't really plan anything for her, but when she asked for something this week I had a hard time saying no.  I had gathered up a bunch of clothes that I was willing to contribute to the challenge this week and I had plenty of options.  However, hers had to be quick and easy.  The shirt/tunic is simply a shirt of mine.  I cut off the collar and added a casing to run some elastic through, to which I added some green ribbon at the ends to make a bow.  To make the back fit better, I just ran a strip of elastic at the bottom of the yolk and on the shoulders, to give it a gathered effect.  I also cut off the cuffs, opened the seam and added them at the bottom of the now short sleeves.  Pretty simple and it only took an hour.  The belt is just some leftover corduroy from Sophia's pants.

For the leggings, I simply cut the sleeves off of a t-shirt of mine that was too short.  They were the perfect length for her legs.  I added a little in the middle/crotch area, made a casing at the top and ta-da...leggings.  I added a little elastic on the outside of the legs and she picked out little horse buttons, for some visual interest.  Another simple piece that came together rather quickly, but will get a lot of wear under skirts and dresses this winter.

Clara also wanted a scarf, so I knit up a simple one to go with her outfit.  The yarn for the scarf and the horse buttons are the only thing 'new' in this entire outfit.

 And there you have 2 outfits that fit my look of 'Preppy Country'. 

A Little Knitting

Here's Clara's new winter hat. Sadly, she outgrew my favorite green one. I guess I shouldn't be too sad, because it made it through 2 winters. This one I made the same way, about a 1 1/2 inch ribbed edge and then alternating 2 knits/2 pearls every 2 rows. Once it was big enough I just started a simple decrease. Really pretty simple.
Clara picked out the yarn herself, a pretty purpley alpaca blend.

Remember this Hat

It still fits!!! I love that it still fits and that it matches this sweater I had found for Jakob ages ago at a consignment sale for $2!
Here she is, growing up fast.

Easter Dresses...and a hat

Easter dresses...what memories and what fun to make. This year's were a little extravagant for my simple taste, but I found the pale green taffeta like fabric way back in January at the remnant sale of a great, but little pricey, fabric store. I added some lavender ribbon with green scroll work in it to match(which by the way cost me 3X as much as the fabric because who can beat 75% off). After a couple of months culling ideas here are the end results:

For Sophia's I loosely used this pattern. By loosely, I mean I used the pattern pieces to cut out the bodice and sleeves, which I still altered a bit. I dropped the waist and made the skirt a balloon skirt by making the underskirt smaller than the top(in length and circumference) and rather than hemming them both I gathered the top to fit the underskirt. Make sense?

Clara's is loosely based on a Burda pattern (3025--can't find it on their site). Really again I just used it for the bodice, which I decided to make it tie at the shoulders rather than button at the back. By making it fully lined, it sewed up really fast and all I had to do was turn it right side out. I alternated fabrics for what was on the outside. Since I lined it, I added an underskirt that would show. I did 6 pin tucks with lavender thread at the bottom of the white underskirt. Then on the top green one I gathered it in 3 places (middle and at 1/4 and 3/4 between the side hems). At the gathers I added little purple ribbon flowers (Sophia has 2 at her neckline--I really wanted to use those to make barrettes for Clara, but she really wanted flowers on her dress). In the end I also took a scrap piece of the white and ran a bunch of pin tucks across to add to the neck line, kind of like an insert, because it was hanging too low to even look good (Sophia's hand is covering it up). Now totally irrelevant to Easter, but something I created: this hat. No special pattern, just 10 rows of k2,p2 and than alternating k2/p2 every 2 rows to make the bauble effect. Simple decrease of subtracting 1 every round of when to do the double knit (ie hats 60 stitches around: first time every 12th stitch do a decrease, next time every 11, etc--I know there are better explanations out there somewhere). I just love this hat though. I love the color, the cuteness and I'm sad winter is over because I'm pretty sure it won't fit next year.

Some new creations

This has been a fun project. I really wanted sweater dresses for the girls this year, but A) didn't find any I really liked and B) couldn't afford the ones anyway, so I got this idea of buying a big sweater at Goodwill/Salvation Army, felting it (throw it in the washing machine), and having it come out to be the perfect size for Sophia with some minor snips here and there. Didn't quite work out that way. So from a beautiful (if it hadn't had a couple of moth eaten holes in it I never would have done this to it) Pendelton wool sweater, came this creation for Clara. I took one of her jumpers and used it as a pattern. The only sewing was up the side seams. Since it's felted no need to do anything but snip for button holes. I did reinforce the beautiful, blue, vintage buttons (from my mom's stash) with some white felt, but wish I had used scraps from the sweater. For a nice finishing touch, I blanket stitched around the neck/arm holes. I was really happy with the finished product and really sad that winter is over and she can't wear it anymore.

Another baby gift I've been doing, personalized onesies made with the freezer paper stencil technique taught to me by this lovely lady. (Don't hate me Val, for using this link:) The kids have had fun coming up with the picture to be put in the middle. It's always something that starts with the same letter as the name. Get it?

I'm into knitting now. It's my therapy and it's productive at the same time. All the kids are getting hats as well as many babies. Here's the pattern I used for the boys hats. Here's Ethan modeling his. I loved the decrease in this one and I think I will use this one a lot.