Accessory round up

Hello there!!!  Well, the holidays are over and I (Major Moma) thought I would throw out some smaller project ideas since many of us are a bit tired from all the celebrating during the holiday season.  Clothes are not the only item in a tween's wardrobe and certainly not the only thing you can sew for your tween.

Accessories are an excellent project to make a hand-made outfit look custom.  They are also a great idea for beginner sewers because you don't have to worry about fitting issues.

Simplicity notebook cover and carrier

My daughter reads many books on her kindle and here is a cute pattern to make a cover or case.

Violet Fields Threads' Felicity hair flower

Violet Fields Threads' Delilah necklace

Aeroplane bag

Cadet Cap

Burda Shoulder bag

Burda cap

Burda Soft Satchel

 And I just love this rose necklace from Violet fields.
















And several pattern makers have a wide variety of bags and backpacks that you can customize to fit the needs and fashion sense of your tween.




















And what about accessory tutorials?  There are a million free tutorials out there with some great ideas for accessories.  Simplicity has several HERE, and I thought THIS recent post on Sew Country Chic could easily be translated for a tween.

Do you sew accessories?  What do you think of these as beginner projects?

Linky Party Wrap Up

Um...the holidays kind of caught me off guard and threw off my blogging groove. I completely forgot to do the linky party wrap up last week, so better late than never. There were so many great looks shared...it's always so hard to just pick one.

Here are my (Sally) picks though:

This coat from Cari Homemaker caught my eye. Great classic look that is a little different than what you would find out in the retail world. If only I lived someplace cold enough to justify making a coat like this I would definitely give this one a shot.

For my girl's look, I chose this mash up of two patterns to create a wonderfully festive dress fit for the season. Christi over at Sewing In BeTween does a great job of keeping the fun and whimsy of children's patterns but makes them with a little more mature look fit for a tween.

Major Moma here ... My pick was this super cute military look by Stacy at the Land of K.A.  This look is something my daughter would totally rock and I love that she also made a cool coordinating look for herself.

Thank you all so much for linking up!  The next party is around the corner, so check  back often and please continue to link up and show us what you are making!

My Flip From Pants to Skirt

Voting started over at Frances Suzanne, so go and vote!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No. 9 Trousers to Little Black Skirt With Some Sparkle

Sally here from Daisy Chain Creations and my other blogging adventure, Sew Cool for the Tween Scene.   This was my second time to do a 'flip' (thank you Ashley and Emily for letting us do it more than once:) and I had the fun adventure of 'flipping' a pattern for a pair of pants, namely the No. 9 Trousers by Shwin and Shwin.

 Do you know how hard it is to do that? Luckily, this girl of mine needed a skirt...a plain go-with-anything-in-the-closet type of skirt and I had some black baby corduroy that would be perfect. However, she also needed a Christmas outfit that would get worn more than once. I decided that I'd make the black skirt a little more special, but still neutral enough to go with anything. And that is how this Little Black Skirt With Some Sparkle (as well as my version of an anthropology knock off of a shirt--details on that will be coming soon) was born. 

Because I only had a little bit of the black corduroy and I didn't want to goof up, I decided to test out my creation/idea first. For the first run through I used a pair of cords that my oldest son said he would never wear. Here you can see how I cut out the main pieces. All the other pattern pieces I used as is. However, instead of cutting out the rise for the legs, I cut it straight up. I also adjusted the instructions, instead of sewing the inseam together, I sewed the 2 front pieces together and then the 2 back pieces. (The result of the trial run are at the end of the post.)

 And here is the final result...a cute little black skirt. Now on to the details, which don't really show up in the big picture.

 One thing I did was to do some accents of silver. I used a pretty silver brocade (found at JoAnn's) for the pocket facing, the welt pocket, the inside back part of the waistband and the inside of the kick pleat that I added to the back. This is what dresses it up for the season a little. 

 Here you can see the silver accents a little bit better...but boy is shiny silver hard to photograph well.  You can also see some of the other not so obvious 'flipping' I did.  I added the belt loops to the waistband, because my daughter likes to accessorize.  I also added a couple of pleats on each side of the front, to give the skirt a little more feminine fit.

 And finally, one thing I learned from my trial run is that 10 year old girls don't like tight fitting skirts and therefore I added a kick pleat to the back of my final look.  This allows for a little bit more movement when it comes to walking.  She was happy with that.

Here you can see the kick pleat as well as the details of the silver brocade better.

(I wrote up instructions on how to do a kick pleat here)

And that is my 'flip' from pants to a skirt...really not as hard as it seems. 

 This was my first attempt, which turned out so cute that I almost said forget the black skirt...I'm going with this one instead.

 Thank you so much Ashley and Emily for having me (again). This series has been so much fun to watch! I've loved every single month of it so far and I'm sure the next 6 will not disappoint as well.

Amy from SewsNBows and a pattern review of the Coco Jacket

Hi! I'm Amy from SewsNBows. I sew mostly children's clothing, but dabble in doll clothes and stuff for me. But I HATE being in front of the camera, so you won't see too much of me :)

I'm new to tween sewing. I woke up one day and my little girl had morphed into a big girl. Her clothes used to be...what kept her from being naked. Now they are an extension of her personality, and suddenly soooo important! I vaguely remember being that age, back in the dinosaur times. But Sew Cool for the Tween Scene came along just in time to give me a refresher course.
This was before things had to look "department store". It was less than one year ago! What I've discovered about "tween" is that it's not really an age. It's not really a size. It's both of those, but also more. It's a crucial part of a child's development, where they need you but also want to define themselves as separate from you. They are "between" in every sense of the word, it's so important that we give them the confidence to make choices...and even let them make mistakes. I was that mom who followed her baby around with my arms out in case she fell. This is freaking hard. There's no manual on how to raise a tween! But I'm getting comfortable with tween sewing. That's a start ;) I'd love it if you'd visit the Tween Fashion Sewing board on Pinterest. It's full of tween sized patterns, finished garments from the web, and sewing inspiration from designers to department store. Follow along if you'd like, or contact me at the bottom of the post if you'd like to pin to our board :) When SewCool launched, I had just about given up on sewing for my daughter. I remember Gina, Justine, and Shannon's Words of Advice guest posts here, and it encouraged me to keep going. There aren't tons of resources for tween sewing; I think we should stick together! Without further ado, here's my review of the Coco jacket from Heidi&Finn.
Pattern Source: HeidiandFinn (Etsy) Sizes available: 6m-5t, & 6-12 Special materials required: This coat can be made with heavier materials like wool, or light cottons. Trim is optional. The jacket is meant to be worn open; no buttons or zipper needed.
 Skill level required: Advanced beginner How you came to choose the pattern: I was lucky enough to pattern test this jacket! It was my first Heidi & Finn pattern. I'm a huge fan now. Most patterns go up to size 12, which buys me some time, but not much! Did you deviate from the pattern? If yes, how? Nope. But it wouldn't be hard to add 2" to one side make it a button up jacket. That will be my next Coco jacket! Good: There are no intricate tailoring methods used. I have always been afraid of lined jackets because they tend to be more than my attention span can handle. But the jacket and lining are cut from the same pattern pieces. You sew your jacket and lining RST, then pull it right side out through the sleeve. Bad: You always need to prewash your fabrics, but especially with a lined jacket. If your main fabric and lining aren't prewashed, they can shrink at different rates and leave you with an unwearable, lumpy jacket. Wool often needs to be washed by hand or dry cleaned. You don't have to use wool for this coat, but I did. I love the way it looks, but I have to tumble dry with low heat. Ain't nobody got time for that! In tween sizes, you'll need to be very careful selecting fabric. Use a fun lining or trim, just be sure to get your kid's input. I pictured this pattern as a dressy church jacket, but Bella styles it casually with combat boots. And it works with her style! Ugly: There is a minuscule amount of hand stitching on the sleeve vent. Trust me, it's not that bad. I'm violently allergic to hand sewing, but it didn't even bother me. Overall pattern rating: lightning bolts. Stay in touch with me! I love seeing your projects and having a network of sewists who can help each other out from time to time :) Facebook G+ Pinterest Twitter Ladies, thanks for having me today! End code

Go Check Out My Flip

 

 This is my second time joining this series, how fun for me! It really was a lot of fun!  This time around, I flipped a pants pattern into a skirt and Sophia was the lucky recipient. If you want to read more, go check it out at Frances Suzanne!

And then check back here next week with a how-to for the shirt!