Sew the show with Alida Makes

When Alida over at Alida makes announced her new series Sew the Show, I was all Gung Ho about it. It combines TV and sewing so why would I not? I  started watching the series 'The Honorable Woman' (which I loved by the way), and then came the realization that I would have to sew for myself and not just that - it would also have to be photographed and blogged about. Not to mention that Nessa Stein is one skinny,tall woman with a wardrobe to be coveted by all. If you have been following my blog you know that I only sew for and blog about my kids. 

The weight has slowly crept on over the past years , and I really just don't feel like sewing for myself because I keep saying - "I will as soon as I lose the weight" Let's be realistic - This might not happen as soon as I would like.

With this series I decided to embrace how I look and to start sewing for myself again. I have to say my kids definitely encouraged me without them realizing it. Kids looks at us so differently . My kids always tells me how beautiful I am. They do not see size(at least not yet) - just a person who loves  them  and for them that is Beauty.

The Look:

In Episode 4 Nessa heads to the West Bank to open a new computer faculty at the Stein Foundation's university. She wears a black dress with lace inset around the neck as well as the sleeves.

From all her looks I thought that the above will probably be the best to pull off to suit me.

I used the Washi dress pattern by Made-by-Rae which is probably my favorite dress pattern at this stage. I added the big bow collar (Nessa has a few silk shirts with big bows) and the sleeves from the expansion pack. The fabric is beautiful rose knit fabric from my ever growing Knitfix collection from Girl Charlee . I added black stretch lace ( also from Girl Charlee ) in the sleeves and also around the neck. ( around the neck is a double layer lace and reinforced at the seams to minimize stretch)

Another plus of this pattern is that it has POCKETS, now who doesn't love that?

I also added knit interfacing on the bow to stabilize it.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my personal debut on the Blog.

I am currently in second place for Project Run and Play February Challenge.....

If you would like to vote for my Project Run and Play entry I would appreciate it very much. Voting closes on Thursday, February 27th at 8pm(MST). I am 7th in the line-up of the final 10 Artbella-Just call me Mademoiselle. Please click on the link below to vote

Project Run and Play Voting Link

Dressage leggings and sew Chic kids

Good morning everybody from a very cold and pretty Paducah, KY. School has been cancelled for the third day in a row with snow and ice cold temperatures . I've been loving not having to go anywhere and I have just been sewing away. 

This is the first time for both the patterns and I am in love. The pants are the dressage leggings from Jenn from a Jennuine Life . She does a great job explaining the pattern and there is options for kids still in diaper. This is definitely a staple pattern to consider. The fit is great as well as instructions.

The shirt is from the book HAPPY HOMEMADE, Sew Chic Kids - I love this shirt and even though it is a pattern for woven fabric it turned out pretty well in knit. ( I used elastic around the neckline instead of bias binding) I am excited to try out more patterns in the book.

I just recently bought Swedish tracing paper to trace all the patterns from the 3 Happy Homemade books that I have bought and have been very impressed at the ease of use as well as the durability. The fabric is all from Girl Charlee -  the copper fabric is Vegan Leather and the roses are from the December Knitfix .

When sewing with vegan leather I do not use a leather needle ( some people does ) I use either a jersey/ball point needle. When working with vegan leather / knits the magic for me lies in using maxi-lock stretch thread in the bobbin for both single and double needle. I also press my seams on the polyester setting on my iron and always on the wrong side of vegan leather with no problems.

 we are tired of pictures inside so I threw a coat on Bella, let her stand on a tree stump and snapped a few pictures before running back inside, away from the cold. It sure is pretty with the sun on the white snow.

Ive made leggings of the vegan leather before and Bella loves them. She did say they felt too warm the first time she wore them but after the first wash she didn't complain about it anymore. It holds up very well in the wash. With the dressage leggings the combination of the vegan leather and the knit fabric helps with airflow and it doesn't sweat.

Till next time - Hopefully in warmer weather 

Muscle? ...No, just call me Mademoiselle

 Before I start - Let me first say

 

Happy Valentine's day.....

I hope you were all surrounded by people you Love and Loves you!

 

 

So, It is February and this month Susan from Living with Punks is sharing her Mademoiselle Muscle Tee over at Project Run and Play for the February challenge. I'll be honest , I am not the biggest fan of Muscle Tee's. (even though I might have bought a few for Arthur when he was a baby) I do however like this version especially for girls and they are also perfect for basket ball t's for Arthur.

This is a great pattern with lots of options and possibilities. I was going to do woven but because I have a Girl Charlee addiction I was drawn to my knits. If you haven't heard of Knitfix yet you should go check it out. I will do another post about it to show you all the pieces I manage to get out of one bag of knitfix. The fabric I used for this outfit is from December and I was lucky enough to win a 21 piece lot of half yard cuts by random draw. It had a few blacks and the lace fabric was my favorite. I paired it with the beige and  black print.

 

 

 

 

As you can see below I made the pattern smaller to fit my 4 year old and also narrower so it is more fitting. I made it a lot shorter and added a half circle skirt. I added a panel of tube ruffles( have no idea what they are called) because they are my favorite and I think it really fits with the lace knit. I also made a tulle skirt for underneath to add some more girly to the outfit. I made the neckline wider in the front and dropped it way down in the back. Finished the outfit off by making go-to leggings from the leftover lace knit.

 

 

                                                     

She calls it her princess dress - It is  still perfect for everyday wear because of the knit.

 



                                          I had to add some silly pics and there were plenty...

Head on over to Project Run and play and see what everybody else is sewing up for the February t-shirt challenge.

 

Till next time........

 

KCW - sweatshirt dress

I am on my fifth day of sewing for  kids Clothes week. Yesterday I didn't have much time for sewing but I was able to cut up a mustard sweatshirt ( $1 thriftstore find ) , draped it and sewed some of the bodice for a dress for Bella. I saw something similar on pinterest and just loved the little buttons  on the front and the middle panel. The one on pinterest had a big red bow on the neck but I know Miss Bella is not going to tolerate it. I easily was able to cut this dress out with lots of fabric to spare)

 

 Its been really cold in Paducah the past few days so this is perfect with some tights and rain boots.I used a peter pan color for the neck line made out of knit and a knit binding to attach the collar to the bodice. I removed the ribbing from the neck and added it to the sleeves. I was going to use the bottom seam as  is but the hi-lo just didn't look right with the pleats so I just cut that off and made a hem with my double needle. I left the side seams and just made pleats until the bottom part fit onto the bodice piece. Here is a picture of me draping and figuring out my vision and hoping it will turn out like I had in mind.(bad lighting - sorry)

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is her throwing me with the bear and having a good chuckle after it bounced on my head!

 

 

 

 Mr Teddy joined in on the fun

 

 

                                                                  

                                                                       Till Next Time.......

 

 

KCW - Upcycled cowgirl romper

     




Hi Everybody My third outfit for Isabella is my favorite and I am excited to share it with you....

There are great upcycled kids clothes over at  Kids Clothes Week and I  enjoy seeing what everybody is making. Go check it out HERE.

I started out with a knit shirt I bought at Target a few years ago. I loved it but the fit just wasn't right and so I saved it for an upcycle for Bella. I found the brown skirt on my thrift store trip on Saturday for 80 cents (crazy right?) I turned both items into a little jumper for Miss Bella. She loves to be girlie but also VERY playful and I think it fits into both categories.

I used the Kids Shorts by Dana for the pants part and just an shirt that currently fits her to do the sleeves and shirt.I cut the sleeves from the sleeves and was able to just cut the neckline on the front as is. The back just didn't want to line up so I cut a whole back pattern on the fold and just made a rolled hem for the back neckline.I loved the buttons with the belt loops and removed them to add at the bottom of the shorts. I also removed the trim from the shirt(it was a lot easier than what I thought it was going to be and added it to the bottom of the pants. I had to make pockets but didn't have enough for the lining part of the pocket but found a light teal fabric scrap that worked perfect.

She is still coughing but is a lot better as you can see from the pictures. 

 Till tomorrow......

KCW - SHARK attack

Today  Arthur's turn is up for  Kids Clothes Week and he asked me if I could make a shirt with a shark. Now how can I say no to that. He is going through the shark phase and I love that he sticks with a phase for a long time. First it was Trains, then Dinosaurs, then Mario for a very long time and lately it has been SHARKS! I myself have learned a lot about sharks because he loves telling me about it. His favorite shark is the Megalodon and so that is who we have joining us today. Scary little bugger he is!

I will start with the Shirt. I bought a rugby shirt for $2 at the thrift store and the shirt was brand new. It still had the original tag on. 

1. I first cut out the body pattern and used the Recess Raglan pattern.

He wanted 3 quarter sleeves so he doesnt constantly pull up his sleeves while exploring and playing. I cut it out so I can just use the cuffs of the shirt and also the bottom seam, I couldnt match the stripes that way so I made sure that the stripes still line up but with opposites colors.

2. Then came Mr Megalodon - I used AVERY iron - on paper for dark fabrics and used my x-acto knife to cut him out and then ironed him on.

3. Arthur really loves that it looks that the shark is coming for him!

Next is the pants,

1. I bought a size 40 mens pants at the Thrift store for next to nothing.

2. I removed the back pockets and drew some waves and a shark fin on it. 

3. When I cut the jeans apart I cut the crotch as well as the in-seams. I left the outer seams intact and layed out my pattern ( Kid shorts pattern by MADE)  on top of the pants leg as it was opened up.    (fig 3)

4 and 5. I used orange denim thread for stopstiching the pockets as well as the seams.

5. I made a faux placet in the front with a denim button.

He enjoyed being in front of the camera for a change 

Till tomorrow.....

KCW Upcycle day 1

It is time for  Kids Clothes week and this round is all about upcycle. Ive done one upcycle so far with shirts from Arthur for a Repurpose challenge with Project Run and Play. This time around I took a trip to some thrift stores and got some great deals on almost new shirts and skirts. I went for XL and XXL for the most fabric. Most of the thrift stores had 75-80 percent off to sell off some winter clothes.

And here is my stash..... 

Today I used a purple turtle neck shirt and a sweater knit dress to make a recess raglan with a semicircle skirt add-on and the trusty old Go to Leggings.

 Bella needs some more clothes for Preschool that we are not too worried about if it gets paint on, very movable and colorful to match her personality.

for the leggings I used a purple knit turtle neck , cut out the pattern and ironed on some freezer paper strips(I also added three freezer paper stars at the bottom of the legs. Then I used fabric decolourant to paint on, let it dry, wash it and sewed it together.

Miss Bella is very sick today but we we managed to get a few pictures in her outfit.

Both kids are sick so we are staying home, lots of movies and fluids and I get to do some sewing.
Tomorrow This guy is joining us for KCW day 2