Friday, May 17, 2013

Kids' Clothes Week results

Sewing for Kids' Clothes Week was a bit sporadic.  I forgot the first day, then made up for it the second, sewed quite a bit on the third and fourth days, and then not on the fifth.  I did manage to finish a pair of capris for Cate and one day I may even get a picture or two!  I used the Big Butt Baby Pants pattern by Made By Rae and shortened them by four inches.  My daughter is shorter than I thought she was, though, because these just barely make it over the line from flood pants to capris.  :)  Oh well, she'll grow, right?   I'd like to make another pair and some shorts, too.  I think if I remove 5 inches from the length, I'll get more of what I'm looking for in terms of a capri.  I'll have to evaluate from there how much to remove to actually make shorts.  I'm thinking of using the same pattern to make some bubble shorts.  The pattern is very roomy in the leg so I think if I make a pair of shorts, gather the edges on the legs and then sew on a cuff, I should get some cute bubble shorts.

The pattern is really simple and I had expected to get more than one pair made, even if I was only sewing 30 min a day.  Unfortunately, I was hampered by my own cleverness.  I decided I would finish the seam allowances with bias tape.  So, I sewed bias tape to all of the edges except the hem and the waistband before I sewed anything together.  Unfortunately, I forgot I needed to trim some of the allowances which resulted in me trimming the bias tape right off.  Also, it was a little too bulky in places, so I needed to remove the tape in those areas, too.  Spending a lot of time futzing with that stuff meant that I only got the one pair done.  Next time, I will just overcast the edges of the seam allowances after I've sewing the pieces together!

I also did a minor refashion on the blue pair of BBB Pants I made for Cate in the last KCWC.  They were getting a little short, but when I let the hem out, you could clearly see lines where the fabric had faded at the hem.  So, I use navy blue ric-rac to cover those fade lines and it looks really cute.  Of course, it was in the mid- to upper-80s every day for a week after that so I started thinking maybe I should have just made them into capris, but I'm glad she still has this pair of pants she can wear.  They are made of a cotton sateen and are pretty lightweight making them good for the cooler days of summer we often experience here in the SF Bay Area.

The only other thing I managed during KCW was to add labels to some of the clothes I have made for Cate.  I bought these labels quite awhile ago with the intention of sewing them into every garment I make and so far I manage to remember 50% of the time. :)

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