Back to School sewing plan

It is that time of year again!  Shopping for pencils, pens, paper, and various school supplies; endless hours at the mall trying to not spend all your money on school clothes.  And the nervous excitement about the first day in a new grade.

My daughter is very much looking forward to the first day of 6th grade.  We are in a new town so she is nervous about making friends, but she is ready to not be hanging out with her brother all day.

This year, I am making most of her back to school wardrobe.  In June, we went summer clothes shopping for her and because she has gotten so tall, she is just straddling the children's and junior department and I have noticed the cost of her clothes have significantly gone up.

Making an entire back to school wardrobe is a little crazy if you ask me.  I have done it once before and it was fairly chaotic.  So this time I am trying to be more organized and deliberate about it.

I am choosing some basic patterns and making several duplicates in different patterns in order to get the foundation of the wardrobe established.  And then, during the fall I will had more specialty items to give her basics more character and give her more variety.

My methods are also more assembly line style.  I am following the advice of Melissa from Melly Sews and cutting multiple layers of the same pattern at one time.  And I am stacking all my cut garments in piles according to colors.

Melly Sews

Right now I am in the midst of cutting knit shirts out.  I have a stack of pinks, darks, and greys.  I will then sew them up in that order so that I can minimize changing my serger thread.  What this means is that I spend days cutting and not sewing a single stitch and I have to be careful to keep all the pieces together.  But I think in the end it will be more efficient if not as much fun.  I take great joy in finishing, so this is a serious practice in delayed gratification.

So what basics did I choose?

I have a vintage tee shirt pattern that my grandmother tested for Stretch & Sew in the late 60s that I treasure.  I have a raglan version too that I have been using extensively for my son. (not yet a tween)

The most elaborate pattern I chose is the Mimi top/dress by a French Canadian designer Files a Maman.  I am doing the tunic length with some silly fabric.  Sally shared this dress as part of its debut blog tour HERE.

The Day Tripper top by Swhin &Shwin designs.  This top is designed for women but and XS is just a little big on Abi and looks good as an over-sized top (previously reviewed HERE).

Next up is the Jalie dolman.  I am so excited for this top.   I have always wanted to sew a Jalie pattern and see what all the fuss was about.  And this pattern comes in child and woman's sizes so once I have made Abi a couple, I will make one for me too.

Just about every tween girl loves leggings so I am adding a couple of those.  I am using Dressage legging without the panel to make a neutral and a wild print pair (reviewed HERE).

Finally,  I am sewing another Jalie pattern, the Drop Pocket Cardigan.  Again, I think this will be on my sewing list for myself.  But first I need to get all the back to school sewing done!

Are you sewing a wardrobe too? or are you creating special items to fill gaps in store bought fashion?

Pattern Review: Skater Dress and a modification

We are excited to share this next post by Esther.  She sews for her niece who has a hard time finding clothes that fit right.  She has a stocky build and of course deserves to have clothes that make her feel as beautiful as she is.

If you sew for a stocky or plus size tween, then you definitely want to read on!

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Hi I’m Esther and I am a self taught sewer for a number of years I started out with quilts and once I had my little monster I started to sew for him and his little monster friends over on instagram @frankieandfang

Name of the pattern:

Jocole women's peplum top with skater skirt add on.

Pattern Source:  You can buy both the peplum top and the skater skirt add-on at the Jocole web store as pdf patterns.

Sizes available:

 This is not actually a tween or a child pattern.  It comes in sizes xs –xxl in women's but I was able to make adjustments to fit my tween.

Special materials required:

Stretch fabric. Cotton/lycra is best to use for a comfortable fit for active tweens.

Skill level required:

Beginner

How you came to choose the pattern:

I first used this pattern for myself and loved the fit. My sister and I were talking on day and she was telling me how hard it was to find age appropriate dresses to fit my niece who is on the husky side, she asked if I could make her something. When I took my nieces measurements I realized that we were about the same size so all my patterns would fit her with a bit of play with the sizing to fit her frame.

Did you deviate from the pattern?  If yes, how?

I cut out the size small in the skirt and the top and graded the top from a small at the waist to a xs under the arms so it was a more straight up and down cut. I cut out the xs in the sleeves.  I took an inch off the bodice to account for her shorter frame.

Good:

This pattern is very easy to grade for those that are trying to get the perfect fit for their girls. From start to finish including cutting it took me less than an hour to make. Because this pattern calls for knit fabric there is no allowance for a chest which I think makes this pattern perfect for tweens both with a small and developed chest.

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Thank you Esther!  This looks like a great option to provide comfortable and fashionable dresses for our plus size tweens.

Remix of the Slouchy Sweater

Previously I  reviewed the Slouchy Sweater  by BurdaStyle.  Back then the pattern was free, but now it costs 99 cents and still a good deal.  My pictures in that post are pretty blurry ... I am horrible with pictures (not a good thing when you love to blog) but these are bad even for me.

But, Abi has worn this sweater a lot and used it as an extra layer in the winter and a light jacket during the warmer months whenever needed.

This Spring, I thought I would make another one but with slight changes.

I cut the back on the fold and straightened it out so that it does not have the same curve it is designed to have.  Then, I cut the front pieces but because the back was less wide, they didn't fit exactly on the shoulders and I accommodated that with little reverse box pleats at the shoulder.

I also shortened the sleeves to a 3/4 length.

And left off the band that was supposed to go around the front and along the bottom.  The knit I used was double sided; one with polka dots and the other with stripes, so I played with flipping the fabric and the inside looks cool as it is worn loose.

I decided to finish the edges with simply serging the bottom and the neckline.  My thread was very neutral and blended well.

This version of the slouch sweater is not very fancy and has very simple finishes.  But Abi likes it for another layer and was a super quick sew.

Burda's version

*** And until May 31st, 2015, BurdaStyle has their videos on sale for 30% off!  Just click HERE!!! (affiliate link) ***

Making jeans

Lets face it.  As much as we love sewing dresses and seeing our little girls in them, they really live in pants.  And, if you are sewing for boys, pants are truly your main option for bottoms.

So, having a great go-to pants pattern is essential for daily-wear sewing projects.  But, that can seem a little boring.  And, you don't want to make the exact same pant over and over again.

You can always buy a new pattern (and we do want to support Indie designers and others that design for tweens) but our wallets can only handle so much.  Acknowledging this reality, I dedicated this post to showing how a change in fabric and technique can really change up the look of your standard pant.

Last year I reviewed the BurdaStyle dyed pant (After sewing so many burdastyle patterns I decided to be an affiliate and their add is on our page).  It is a great skinny jean pattern with professional finishes (though the instructions leave something to be desired).

Burda's Girl's Dyed Pant 02/2013

They were Abi's favorite pant that I made so she requested new ones with a few adjustments.  She asked for a pair to have wider ankles, a modified boot cut, and one with more straight legs.

The first new pair I made was out of a white stretch denim.  Not the most practical of pant material for a child, but they have held up well over the last 3 months.  I simply cut the pant more straight by not following the curves and then added some fancy top stitching with metallic thread to make them more special.

These are simple adjustments and she loves the jeans.

(excuse the Christmas decor, please)

Next, I made some that were inspired by motorcycle riding pants.  On these, I uses some faux leather scraps to create accents on the pockets and fancy buttons to dress them up.

The changes I did to the pattern was to lengthen the leg and use some of her boot cut pants as an outline for the last 4 inches of the leg.  That seemed to do the trick though she wants them wider next time.  I also modified the technique for making built in knee patches that I learned from the blog MADE.  Basically I cut out the knee portion of the pattern for the front of the leg and basted it to the top of the front legs before sewing.  Then, I top stitched at angles with a thick top stitching thread to give the moto look.  Abi and I love this look and it is very practical for your rough and tumble kids.

I use variations of this technique on all of my younger boy's pants.

What do you do to change up your pants patterns?  Do you have a favorite pattern for boys or girl pants?

Pattern Review: M6596 top

I was looking for a way to try some new techniques and use up some of my knit left-overs from other projects and I grabbed out McCall's M6596 to assist.

The pattern is very basic, so I knew it would be perfect for letting me concentrate on my new skill building.  What I wanted to learn how to do was a flatlock seam on my serger.

I sewed up view D for this project.

Pattern Source:  I bought the pattern at JoAnn's on sale but you can buy it on McCall's website too.

Sizes available:  It come in sizes 3 to 14 and consists of variations on the same flared knit top and sweat pants.

Special materials required:  The pattern is designed for moderate stretch knits for the top and lightweight woven fabrics for the pants and accent fabrics on the top.

an upcycled version I did with a sweater that was given to me 

Skill level required:  The pattern is labeled easy and certainly deserves that label.  I found the pattern to be incredibly simple.  But, I think the sleeve insertion method is unnecessarily complicated.  It has you sew the main body, then the sleeve, then insert the sleeve.  I like the technique of sewing the shoulder seams and then the cap of the sleeve to the shoulder.  Then you sew from the wrist down to the hem for your side seams.  It is soooo (or sew) much easier.

Good: A cute and comfortable top.

Bad: The way the side flares out is the trend now but I don't find it especially appealing.  My tween does though, so that is good.  And I already said that I found the instructions did not teach you the most efficient way to construct this simple garment.

Overall pattern rating:  3 Bolts 

Now, on to my flatlocking experiment.  Flatlocking is a technique that you do with three threads in your serger where you sew your seams together but then pull the fabric apart so the edges of the fabric actually butt up against each other joined by the visible threads.  The technique is popular for work out clothing so that the seams don't chafe and for thicker fabrics that would have a bulky seam allowance if sewn the normal way.

a view of my semi successful flatlocking

If you are interesting in learning more, here are a couple tutorials with some helpful sights.

Tutorial by Made by me & Shared with you

and a YouTube video.

Spring 2015 runway trends

New York's Spring 2015 Fashion week just past and every fashion magazine and website is highlighting the their favorites.  I thought we could do the same.  I picked out the looks that appealed to me and gathered them up here.  I think several of these could easily translate to tween fashion.

Don't you?


A few designers were using gingham which is such a classic Spring/Summer fabric and is used for children clothes all the time.  I love how Diane von Furstenburg had such tailored pieces and pops of colored flowers that made this picnic fabric classy

source

source

Oscar de la Renta also was using gingham with stunningly beautiful floral prints and cutouts.

source

source

As one would expect for Spring and Oscar de la Renta big floral prints were prevalent.  An de la Renta used those large floral prints in neat tailored pieces.

DFV source

Shear fabrics were also prevalent in several collections.  Now, when translating high fashion to tweens, one always has to be careful to make adjustments that are age appropriate.  And sheer fabrics obviously can easily translate as sexy.  But, as you can see, these fashions use layers and I think that could be played with in order to make tween fashion with these flowing or cut out sheers.

Oscar de la Renta source

Oscar de la Renta source

Paul and Joe (source)

Vera Wang

I personally just loved this look.  I think it is ho it exudes cool and still has a fun blue pocket.

Marc by Marc Jacobs (source)

We don't choose to show bellies in my family but that does not mean we can't appreciate a crop top trend.  They are cute for layering or with a high-waisted pant too.

Marc by Marc Jacobs (source)

Diesel Black Gold (source)

source

Participating in these trends could be as simple as fabric choices.  But, to get some of the looks, the right pattern needs to be found.  So, I thought we could have a little linky party that you all could link patterns or fabrics that you think would work.  I ask that in your title, you state what trend you think that item matches.

An InLinkz Link-up