Sewing Friends: Ashley from Cherished Bliss

Hello Project Run and Play readers! I am so excited to be sharing here today : ) I'm Ashley, and you can find me over at my blog, Cherished Bliss.

  I am a momma to two beautiful little ones with another one coming in July. We are super excited and I can't wait to make stuff for this little man (lots of baby tutorials coming soon!) Today I am going to share a little shirt that I made for my daughter. I was inspired by this one from Gap Kids.

I have to warn you up front though, this is more of a how-to than an actual pattern. I am not a super fantastic seamstress. I can follow tutorials and patterns, but when it comes to making up my own, let's just say there is a lot of trial and error, and there is a reason they made seam rippers! : ) The good news is I mainly made this by going off the measurements of another one of Addison's shirt and made slight adjustments where necessary. So if you are pretty good at kid's clothes, this shouldn't be too difficult. Oh, and try to to laugh to hard at my super awesome sewing lingo ; )

 

The back of the shirt is totally the best part! How cute is that?! To be honest I was surprised it turned out so good! So let's take a look at how I made it! Supplies: - 1 yard of fabric (for approx a size 3T) - Elastic - All your basic sewing necessities. Cut List: I made this shirt specific to my daughter's measurements, so yours will probably vary, but I will try and explain how I got some of them. - Bodice (2 pieces) - Straps - Ties for bow in back of shirt (you want these to be the width of the bottom part of the bodice (the underarm part) & about 1" - 1 1/2" longer than the width of the bodice - this is wear my mad sewing lingo skills come into play! : ) - Front ruffled panel - Back ruffled panel The How-To: The first thing I did was trace out the bodice of the shirt using another one of Addison's shirts that had the same general lines I was looking for. When tracing, just leave extra room for your seam allowance. Cut two of these out.

Next I cut out my straps. I made my straps like double binding. Mine were two inches wide and I pressed it in half, then folded the raw edges in to meet that center line and stitched up both sides.

    Next, you will need to take your ties for the bow (mine were about 11" long and 2" wide after sewn and turned right side out). We are going to attach all the straps to the bodice. With your bodice pieces right sides together, pin your straps in place, and your bow pieces. Sew around all sides except the bottom, turn right sides out, press and top stitch. Make sure you leave enough room under your bow pieces so you can attach the front panel. Now, I totally forgot to attach my straps to the bow pieces, so I just ripped the seam where I wanted them, and top stitched them in place - yes I know... all you ladies who actually know what they are doing are probably cringing right about now! Below is how it should look when you are done, maybe without all the extra threads hanging out though ; )

Up next is attaching the front panel. I went of the measurements of the shirt I used for the bodice, but I added a few inches because I wanted it to ruffle a little more. So once I ruffled the fabric, I serged it onto the bodice, right sides together. Make sure and leave seam allowance on the sides to attach the back panel to. Then I pressed the seam towards the top and top stitched.

  Now for the back panel, you want it to be the same length as the front panel, but you have to take into consideration the extra allowance for the casing for the elastic. But before you make the casing for your elastic, you are going to cut out a little off the top of the panel so it creates that cut out look under your bow. To do this I folded my back panel piece in half, wrong sides together. Starting at the fold I measured about 1 1/2" down and cut out curving up towards the corners of the raw edges. You don't want to make too big of a dip here because once you add the elastic it will look more drastic. I made a diagram to help explain where to cut.

  Now, on the curve, serge your top edge and then fold over to create your casing for the elastic. Press, and stitch in place. Using a safety pin, feed your elastic through. (I cut my elastic a little shorter than the width of the bodice. Then stitch your elastic in place with a basting stitch.

  Now, put your front and back panel pieces right sides together and sew or serge the side seams.

Once that is done, finish your bottom edge and hem. You are done! Now you have an adorable little shirt. Addison wasn't into posing much this day... she was more into running around everywhere, so it was kind of hard to get good shots of it, silly toddlers ; )

   

Sponsor Spotlight: So Tweet Fabrics

Today we are meeting Shelly from So Tweet Fabrics and her darling girls. 

(And there is a giveaway at the end...so stick around!)

        Hi!  I am Shelly Morgan, a mom of McKenna and Ava, two of the most entertaining kids I know, former gymnast and coach, wife of an amazing husband, and finally owner So Tweet Fabrics your one stop shop specializing in great fabrics for everything kid inspired.  Starting the fabric shop has truly been a dream come true and it is a family venture.  So Tweet Fabrics has allowed my husband and I to work at home and enjoy the blessing of being with our wonderful two girls everyday.  

          I have always loved creating and sewing and started when I was 6 years old making my very first doll clothes.  I was lucky to have loving grandmothers who taught me the art of sewing and allowed me to pursue my creative outlet.  

       One of my favorite things has always been to create things for the people around me.  Now that I have two young girls, I love sewing adorable clothes and anything thing else I think they will enjoy.  I have so much fun creating these things that I wanted to share them with others who are as fabric and sewing obsessed as me!
   

Shelly is giving one lucky reader a $50 gift certificate to her shop.  Just head over to So Tweet Fabrics, browse around, tell us your favorite fabric and then come back here and leave it in the comments.  GOOD LUCK!!!

Also, she is generously giving a discount to all PR&P readers, just use the code RUNANDPLAY10 at checkout and you will get 10% off.

Sewing Friends: Ajaire from Call Ajaire

I'm Ajaire from Call Ajaire and I'm very excited to be guest posting here today.  As is probably the case for most of the sew along at home-ers, I've found Project Run & Play to be an enormous source of inspiration. 

My two year old daughter was just a little (chunky!) baby when I first started following along and it gave me just the kick in the pants I needed to start sewing for her.  What a shock it was to realize how much simpler it is to make kids clothes vs clothes made for adults to wear.  I was hooked!

Now that my girl is a little older I've found it is so rewarding to see her run around in something I've made.  I have so much fun designing an outfit from start to finish, but I'm also so grateful to all of those pattern designers out there.  They are a great jumping off point and PR&P's remix posts are a fun way to take that leap. 

Today I'd like to focus on a detail I've used a number of times over the years.  It's a detail that could be easily added to the neckline of an existing pattern if you're not feeling brave enough to draft one yourself. 

It's lattice smocking.  I have found it's a great way to add a fancy look to a solid colored piece of fabric.  Unlike other traditional methods of smocking, lattice smocking is quick and easy once you get the details worked out. 

It is worked on the WRONG side of the fabric over a grid of dots and hash marks with regular thread.  I have finally put my Lattice Smocking Tutorial up on Call Ajaire, so if you're interested in how it comes together then I'd love you to drop on by.

I do have some tips for adding this detail to an existing pattern.

Start with a piece of fabric slightly wider than the bodice pattern you are going to use.  Lattice Smocking does shrink the fabric width and length, but not as dramatically as some other types of smocking.  I'd say maybe 10-15% shrinkage?  So account for that before you start the smocking.  Another good idea is to keep the pattern piece close by while you're smocking so you can check the width as you go.

Once the smocking is complete you will take the smocked piece of fabric and place the pattern piece over the fabric making sure that the smocked section is where you'd like it to be along the neckline.  It may be a little tricky to get the pleating detail at the top (created by the smocking) to want to play nicely with the pattern, but even a simple gather along edge should be enough to get it to fit in the binding or facing you are using. 

A big thank you to the ladies behind Project Run & Play.  That includes those who are behind the scenes, part of the actual competition, the judges, as well as the sew along-ers.  You've all be such an inspiration to me.  Not to mention all of that fabric I've been hoarding stashing all these years is finally getting put to good use too, hehe.

Sewing Friends: Marta from Do Guincho

Hi! I'm Marta and I'm from Portugal. I live in Guincho, a beautiful place by the beach near Lisbon. That's why my blog name is doguincho (that's from guincho).  I'm so excited to be here at Project Run and Play sharing my tutorial!

Thank you so much Liz and Elizabeth for inviting me and congratulations on this amazing contest!





  

Here is the tutorial for the pleated A-line dresses I made for the last edition of PR&P!
The instructions are only for the pleats but you can use any A-line pattern you have or draft your own pattern using a dress you like (that’s what I did).
These pleats can also be done in other projects such as handbags (here is one) or pillows. And, one day, I will turn them into pockets for a skirt...

Besides the pattern, you will need:
-Fabric (see quantity in the first part of the tutorial)
- Thread matching the fabric color and (optional) thread in a contrasting color,
- Sewing machine and iron,
- Scissors, pins and hand sewing needles,
- Tape measure, ruler and a water-soluble fabric marker,
- Scotch tape (for an unconventional technique...)

Cutting

Start cutting the fabric having in mind that, in the place where the pleats will be executed, you'll need a piece of fabric 3 times wider than the final width of the dress in that same area.
This dress will have 9 pleats and each one will be 1cm wide, ie:
3 x 9 pleats x 1cm wide = 27cm
It means that a piece of fabric with 27cm is required, to obtain a final width of 9cm at the place where the pleats will be done.
You can adapt the original pattern to this version of the dress, simply subtracting the total width of the fabric necessary to form the pleats with the final width of the pleats (because that final width is actually already included in the pattern), ie:
27cm - 9cm = 18cm
In conclusion, you will need to add 18cm to the original pattern in order to make the 9 pleats without changing the width of the dress.

At this stage, it is not necessary to cut the fabric in the neck area according to the original pattern. It is better to leave some extra fabric, cutting it in a straight line, and "trimming it" only after finishing the pleats.

 

Pleating
For the pleating, you should start by tracing the vertical lines that define all the pleats. Trace them on the right side of the fabric with a water-soluble fabric marker (or use your daughter’s super-washable pens, as I do!)
As this dress pleats are 1cm wide, the tracing should be done like this: starting at one edge, trace 0.5cm, then 2cm and 1cm and then trace alternately spaces with 2cm and 1cm. When you reach the other edge you should have a final space 0.5cm wide.

It is also time to trace the pleats’ height. To do this you will need the dress pattern. Start marking the lowest point of the collar (don’t forget to deduct the seam allowance). Then mark the pleats’ horizontal upper edge, roughly 1cm or 1.5 cm below that neck line mark you did earlier. And finally, mark the pleats’horizontal lower edge. This dress will have 7 folds, 2cm height each, so the total height is 14cm.

Make the pleats folding the fabric (wrong sides together) with the 2cm marks aligned. Pin and sew with running stitch along the traced line of each pleat. Do not forget to finish off the seam at the bottom end. I usually like to handmade this (because I'm kind of picky ...) but it is perfectly fine to finish it with the sewing machine. In this dress, the upper end of the seam does not need to be finished off as it will be cut out later (when assembling the dress this will be where the main fabric and the lining fabric will be sewn together in order to form the neck line).
Repeat this step with all the pleats.

 
The pleats are made! Now it’s time to "flatten" them. Start by holding the fabric tight to the ironing board with some pins. Then iron each pleat trying to distribute the fabric evenly to both sides of the stitching (if you are using plastic headed pins, be careful not to iron them!). When finished, the pleats should touch each other, without ever overlapping themselves, and have a homogeneous look.

Finishing
For sewing the horizontal lines that define the pleats you should try an unconventional technique ... Instead of attaching the pleats with pins and marking the sewing line with a water-soluble fabric marker, try using scotch tape. The scotch tape is a "two in one" tool as it keeps the pleats in place and it also works as a guiding line.
You should definitely try this! Cut 7 strips of scotch tape and stick them to the fabric at the exact place where the pleats are supposed to be (use the marks you did earlier with the help of the pattern). Now sew carefully in between the strips of scotch tape, starting and ending just before and just after each pleat. Hand finish each one of the seam lines.

Remove the scotch tape and iron the pleats (this will be the last time you will be able to do it!).

The pleats’ "pitching" technique is all handmade. Start inserting the needle, back to front, in the center of the pleat, then insert it in one side edge and then on the other, and pull the thread in order to join those edges. Then just make a few more stitches to attach those edges tight together and finish it with a little knot at the wrong side of the fabric.

Repeat this for the remaining pleats. It is a bit time consuming technique, but it is also great to see the fabric getting three-dimensional ...

Sewing
You can now return to the original pattern by putting it on top of the pleated fabric, so you can trim the neck line to the right shape. Then just follow the instructions to finish the dress.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and, if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to tell me!
Have a great time sewing! (Can’t wait to see you’re results!)

Sewing Friends: Mie from Sewing Like Mad

OHHHH you have no idea how excited I am to be guest posting here on the mothership of sewing for kids. I am always blown away with the creativity and work people put into their contributions. By the way I am Mie and I blog at Sewing Like Mad.

Let's get to business shall we.....

 I really love to make every day clothes with a little twist because lets face it that is quite a big part of life. And sewing with knits for kids is just perfect. It is comfortable for them to wear and it washes easily. Peeerfect!

So here we are with another summer version of the My Inner Grandma Dress - this time even in summer colors. Another version you think? Check out HERE, HERE and HERE. The pattern is self drafted and it might be one of my favorites. One of those you have in your head for a while and then it almost comes out better than you imagined.

The navy/ballet pink stripy fabric is this gorgeous super soft light weight cotton jersey blend from Girl Charlee. And if you after this post is inspired to make your own knit dress you should make the jump to my blog because I will be hosting a give away where you can win 2 yrds of knit from their shop. I know!!! But please stay here for a bit first so you don't miss the tutorial.

I am not going to give you a full tutorial because I just don't see the point when the pattern so far is only hanging out in my sewing room. SO I would rather focus on one part of the dress. In this case the double layered front- and back-in-one shoulder yoke and then a few snapshots of the rest of the sewing process. I hope that is okay with you ladies!

First I wanted to show you the parts that go into the dress. I was not able to get it all in one photo so I divided it in top part and bottom part. The parts involved in the tutorial is in this photo. Notice the 'front top'. I have made it with a fold over/build in front facing. In the end buttons/snaps will run along the CF (center front) purple line. Then there is the yoke which is cut on fold TWO times - so there is actually four layers in this photo. This way we can use to the second yoke to cover up seam allowance on the inside of the dress. And that is what this tutorial is about.

Just a quick look at the bottom skirt parts. As you can see does the front and back pieces have different curves for a better fit.

Okay, back to yoke tutorial. Sew the gathering threads and sew front and back top pieces to the outer yoke - right side against right side of fabric. 
Btw as you can see have I chosen not to have the gathering go all the way to the sleeve opening (it stops like one inch before) simply because...well, gathering adds fabric/volume and this is all good and kind of the point but I don't want it near the side of the sleeve seams where it can almost look like a bad fit.

Now you take the inside yoke and sew the front part of yoke to the top of the front facing (right against right). See inside those 'round' yellow circles - should we just pretend my three year old helped me make these?! Drawing course up next, jeeez! The rest of the front yoke seam towards the sleeve opening is free for now. I just folded the seam allowance up into the yoke with the iron. This is a look on the inside of the dress. You can still see the seam allowance where the back top and back yoke has been sewed together....but not for long - uhh the suspense!

Now to the fun part. You add your neck rib to your neck opening (right against right) and then you fold the front top/front facing in that folding line I showed on an earlier photo. Basically you wrap your inside and outside neck opening around the neck rib and sew it all in one go. See photo above.

And when you fold it out again it looks like this. This is a photo of the inside of the dress. Next step is to sew the back inside yoke to the back top and outside yoke seam so that that seam is hidden too. First you fold the seam allowance on the back yoke inside the yoke and then lie it down and cover the seam that is already there (back top to outside yoke). Then you reach your hand from the side (sleeve opening) into the middle of the seam (this is easiest to do with two rounds of sewing because of the narrow space in the back yoke) and grab the seam allowance from the inside yoke and the seam already there (back top to outside yoke) pull out and sew from CB and out to the sleeve opening. This you do from each sleeve opening and also on the rest of both front yoke seams too (the part that is not sewed to the front facing). WHY in the world did I not take more photos of these steps, sorry!!

I found this photo from another project but the same technique. Your seam allowances end up hidden inside a double yoke. Make more sense now?

And here you can see the final result - again seen from the inside of the dress. Now that I see this photo I am kind of annoyed I just overlocked those front facing edges....bias tape next time.

Here you see a photo of the rest of the sewing. Side seams of top, waist and skirt has been sewed as well as the sleeves and hemming of skirt and sleeves with a narrow rib. Next is sewing the dress' three main parts together horizontal and sew on the sleeves. Apparently I did not feel like standing on a chair photographing that day so I had to overlap the parts a bit to make it fit in the photo. After drawing course comes photo course, promise!

One of the things I hate when I sew this dress is getting the lines from the yoke and the top part of the sleeve to match. But I know that if I rush and tell myself it is good enough even though they don't meet up then that is all I am going to see when my kids are wearing this. Ehhh, I think that is being called an (annoying) perfectionist but I can't help it and I have decided just to accept it. Does that photo with the YES! also makes you feel good or is it just me being crazy, huh?!

Dress is almost done and, well, I think the photos says it all: shirring next!

I have shared this shirring tip before but in case someone missed it. When you are done sewing the shirring use your steam iron to blow steam on the seams (from inside or outside it does not matter). Don't touch the dress - keep iron like 1-2 inches above and the elastic will gather a bit more. You can also give it a whirl in your tumble dryer - yes you got it - it is the heat that does the magic trick. Above you can see the difference.



Pheeew is anyone still with me here? I hope so because NOW it is time to jump to my blog Sewing Like Mad and win those two yards of knits of your choice (incl free shipping to US addresses only) from Girl Charlee. I wish I could participate too, ha.
Thank you Project Run & Play for having me and my ramblings!