Boy Makes

30/04/2012

KCWC Day Five, Six, Seven: Blazer + Sarouels

Hey I made it to the bonus outfit! The one I would attempt if body and soul were still in tact by day five? There’s even a whole day left of Kids Clothing Week Challenge, and of course I’m wondering….can I possibly squeeze something else out? It’s not helping that the KCWC flickr pool is overflowing with amazing sewing, and updated constantly. But, I am d.o.n.e. No attempt at a witty title today. When all I feel like blogging is ‘Yo. I made a blazer and some silly pants. The end’, I’m all KCWC’d out!

It’s okay, you can laugh. These pants are a little more ridiculous than I imagined. I was going for a woven version of day two’s Sarouels and went to town on the baggy crotch. I just figured the wider and lower that archway the better. They looks so cool hanging up. But on, the crotch creeps up and out and suddenly it’s all Senor Poofy Pants. Archie loves them, I assume because he gets a nice breeze down there. He’s such a dude in this outfit (t-shirt blogged about here) but I’m still unsure if these ‘pantaloons’ are ready for the public…

However, I feel like the bones are pretty good. The length is good, the cuffs work, the lower leg is the skinny shape I was going for. So if and when I revisit these, I need to tweak the width and obviously the depth of the archway. Maybe this shape would have been worked in a knit fabric. I’m loving how the details turned out…pockets, box pleats at the front and self-cover buttons with the fake button holes embroidered on.

I made a blazer. It has telephones. The end. Alright, lets be serious. I couldn’t resist making another blazer out of this fabric, also used here and here. While I can see this fabric might not be to everyone’s taste, there’s something about the colour and line drawings of retro phones that does it for me. Once again I used the toddler blazer pattern by Melly Sews with a couple of adjustments. I added an inch of length to the arms, removed width from the back and piped the perimeter with self-made piping (cord +bias tape). I don’t understand why I can’t get ready made piping anywhere at the moment. This is urban Australia, not the jungle! Of course I had to give welt pockets another try, just to make sure this time wasn’t a fluke. I found a tutorial for ‘piped welt pockets’, which are pretty fun. I suspect the ‘lips’ are supposed to be sandwiched shut but I quite like a peek at the lining from the outside.

27/04/2012

KCWC Day Four: Beach Shack

Boy Makes

Did I say shack? I meant hack. Beach Hack.

Day four of Kids Week Clothing Challenge and I’m guessing some of us are starting to flag while others are just picking up momentum. Okay, I’ll just speak for myself here…I am starting to flag. Today I was just not feeling it. How could I tell? Before me lay a couple of precious kid free sewing hours and I considered going back to bed. Um, what?! Yes, dire. I needed a boost. Fast. I needed….a mid-kcwc-hack job!

We are like the anti-hoarders at our place. Or just very good at re-cycling. Mr Cirque Du Bebe keeps gifting my ‘re-fashion bin’ with insanely awesome man clothes. Maybe he’s been mistaking it for the washing basket. Better check up on that one. Later. Anyway, the supply is so plentiful that I haven’t stepped near a thrift store in weeks. I had this singlet + sunnies as part of my KCWC plans but I was really dragging my feet to start. But once I spotted these tropical boardies in the pile…a beach bum surfie outfit was born!

Here’s the how…

Singlet- used a size 4 shirt as a guide for the length and width. The original neckline was too low so I re-sewed the shoulder seams, taking about two inches out of the front piece just below the shoulders, which brought the neckline up and kept the original neck binding. I kept the arm binding too and just sewed new side seams using the size 4 shirt as a guide. And hemmed the bottom as normal. I cut the sunglasses off another shirt and used the iron-on paper again to attach it.

Boardies– Used a pair of size 4 shorts as a guide for width and leg length. Because the whole waist band was elasticized I literally sewed new side seams, new inner leg seams and hemmed the pants at the new length.

26/04/2012

KCWC Day Three: Old-Manligan

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Taaa DAAAAAAAAA….

If I was going to try and wean myself off Manligans, the pep talk would go something like ‘Hey girl, don’t you think it’s time for a new gig, does anyone really need to see another Manligan?’. I doubt it would work, I’m too attached to the Darling Cardigan pattern. The possibilities for fun re-fashions are endless and once you’ve made a couple, you can start ignoring the instructions and take shortcuts.

The challenge was in getting all pattern pieces out of this ladies argyle sweater, including the ribbing. You need quite a bit here for cuffs, waist band and the front placket which goes all the way around the neck. Sometimes re-fashions have a magical way of working out especially when you make use of the already hemmed parts. I used the existing sleeve and cuffs from the sweater to save some work. The bottom band of the sweater then became the front placket and waist band for the cardigan.

Let’s just hope no-one was in earshot to hear ‘that’s it darling, climb into the suitcase for mummy’. He’s not silly. And made sure I knew it..

…with his best cantankerous old man face.

25/04/2012

KCWC Day two: Tamer of beasts

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I can see now there’s a lot to be said for using a pattern over and over, particularly when you’re project laden and time poor. Situations like Kids Clothing Week Challenge. It’s my fourth re-visit of the Oliver and S Sailboat top and it’s getting to the stage where I need a quick refresh of the instructions at the beginning and then it’s autopilot. I didn’t plan it like that, but hey not a bad strategy to remember!

You know, I would love to claim the full glory of this lion but he was already a happening dude when I pinched him from an old shirt. Complete with glasses and a printed bow tie, I was merely the cutter-upper and the sticker-onner. And a pretty good one too. Using fusible transfer paper, it was just a matter of ironing it onto the back of Mr Lion, peeling off the paper and ironing him onto the front of the top. However, I did fashion a little bow tie out of red felt. Yes, that was me.

I made another pair of Sarouel’s to go with lion top out of some interlock knit. The fact that I was able to erect these in the same day as the sailboat top is proof of how simple they are. A couple of you mentioned you might be interested in a tutorial, so assuming you weren’t just being polite (too late now) then yes, absolutely, you can have one…as soon as we’ve all recovered from KCWC ok?

Anyone else been freakin out about free photo editor Picnik closing down? I am not at all Photoshop savvy so have been milking Picnik for all it’s worth. Luckily, just in time for KCWC I Am Momma Hear Me Roar posted a great review of two new free photo editing programs. I like my photos clean and simple so usually pay attention to ‘adjust exposure’ tool and try to avoid the lure of ‘effects’. But the Daguerreotype effect (first pic), along with ‘intrepid’ filter (all other pics) on PicMonkey sucked me in real good.

24/04/2012

Kids Clothing Week Day One: Lil’ lost boy

Boy Makes

Phew! Day one went like a well oiled machine. I’m so glad I finally got around to this pattern, the ‘warm hoodie vest‘ by Dmk. It came together so quickly because there’s just not much to it. Four pieces, fully lined, no sleeves, no hems, no seam finishing. It would have been even quicker, except that when I saw the hood was arranged exactly like the ‘cosy winter hood’ from Oliver and S ‘Little things to sew‘ book there was no choice but to add ears.

The pattern gives the option of either a button or ties for the closure. First I just added a chunky black plastic button but it just didn’t go with the whole woodland critter vibe. I took a punt, replaced it with self-cover buttons, added an extra one and arranged the ties into button loops and the effect is a lot more ‘organic’. Self-cover buttons are perfect for those times when you don’t want a big chunk of plastic on the front of something.

Re-fashioning is a thrilling sport. As is thrifting. And I have to say I feel pretty virtuous when I get to make an entire outfit from old tees and pre-loved fabric. The vest is one such beast, made from thrift store knit fabric and pants that started out a men’s tee-shirt. You’ll have to take my word for it, I was too eager to start cutting so there’s no ‘before’ pics.

Okay, technically these pants are not part of Kids Clothing Week Challenge but hey now seems as good a time as any to whip em out. They’re Sarouel pants, or dropped crotch (I’ll take Sarouel) and are my very first attempt at drafting a pattern. And woot they worked. Skinny in the leg and baggy in the crotch with pockets, a drawstring and elastic in the back. Maybe not a look I’d rock myself but on a wee tot they’re cute cute cute.