A Simple Summer Alternative to a Dress That is Perfect For Tomboys

My daughter hustled me out of 20 bucks last picture day. That’s what it costs to get her to wear a dress.

I want my children to love their clothes. I want them to feel free to express themselves. But from time to time an occasion comes up where jeans and a t shirt just aren't appropriate. 

Say hi to our new kitten Tigress!

Dresses and Skirts are out of the question. I just can't afford to bribe her, and I'm unwilling to force her to wear something that she hates. Dress Pants are always nice, but not very interesting, and they can be a little bit to warm for summer.

Shorts are a great alternative. With the right details they can easily fit into any semi formal setting. 

That was my inspiration for the Elegance and Elephants Bubble Pocket Shorts Pattern and my first entry into the June Flip this Pattern Sew Along. 

The details that took this beautiful pattern to boutique style shorts:

• Replaced the leg binding with a double ruffle
• Used large brightly colored buttons
• Michael Miller Cotton Couture Fabric

Another thing I loved about this pattern was the adjustable waist band, one of the most useful features in both ready to wear and hand-made clothes.

Come back tomorrow to see my second flip of the same pattern.

If you have young girls do they love or hate to get dressed up? If not tell me how you feel about dressing up yourself. 

Hello Kitty Pants - It's All About the Details

There is nothing like a sewing challenge to get the creativity flowing. My regular readers may recall that I am still looking for the perfect woven fabric pants pattern. So, because I was already feeling a little creative from the Project Run and Play challenge, I decided to experiment with the knit pants pattern (affiliate link)I already owned, to see if I could make it work with woven fabric. I expected to spend an entire night studying the rules for negative ease and wearing ease and blah blah blah...

Yea, that wasn't very much fun, so I skipped it and did what I loved. I sewed. I made a muslin of the pants one size up and discovered that  it fit perfectly with very little adjustment! Talk about getting more from your pattern!

If you would like to try this at home I strongly recommend making a muslin first. Once you have it perfected, the muslin will become your new pattern. I usually make my muslins out of interfacing. It's cheap, easy to trace on, easy to mark, and easy to baste together for fittings. Then when your all done, you can just fold it up and put it in the pattern envelope.

While your working on the muslin, pay careful attention to the waistband. Next to the crotch seam, which feels the most stress, the waistband is the most important part of the pants. If you think about it children don't have many curves, so that one little strip of fabric has to be entirely responsible for holding the entire garment in place. If you don't use the adjustable waistband, make sure to custom fit the band to your child's body. I also used a total of 8 belt loops and made a belt out of some scrap satin for extra support.

For the detail (after all that's what this challenge is all about), I wanted to try my hand at appliqueing. The Hello Kitty face was cut off of a pair of pajama pants that didn't fit anyone in the house.

First, I machine stitched hello kitty to a piece of woven scrap fabric to stabilize the fleece, and then trimmed closely around the edge. I had to hand stitch the applique to the pants because the cuff barely fit around my free arm. The right way to go about it would have been to applique the pants before sewing them together, but I wasn't sure where I wanted it to go until the last second. I also went over the whiskers with stitches to make them stand out just a little bit more.

Since we are talking about details I would love to share some of the unseen details that you can add to just about everything you sew and make you works of art last a little bit longer.

• Tie all of your thread tails together before trimming them.
• Anchor your buttons by sewing a few stitches in the fabric before attaching the button.
• True up all of you woven fabrics before cutting. To do this first pre-wash your fabric then have some one help you pull on it until the grain is straight. You can pull out a single thread to make it easier to see the grain.

This pattern also includes instructions and pattern pieces for matching doll pants. Unfortunately the doll pants require a little more work to get them to fit using woven fabric. I will keep working on it for you and let you know when I have it perfect. In the mean time I will be posting about my knit version of these pants very soon, so keep a look out.

What are your favorite details, seen and unseen, to include in your sewing?

I used the Skinny Jeans Pattern from Peekaboo Patterns to make these pants. The fabric is sueded garbardine. and it feels like silk against your skin. It also has the perfect drape for a pair of dress pants. I love when fabrics look and feel much more expensive then they are!

A Sweater Refashion and a Sewing Milestone

Maybe it is more of a mom milestone than a sewing milestone, but when I gave her this sweater she hugged me. Doesn't seem like a big deal to you, then you must not have a daughter stuck in the awkward years right before the teens. They don't hug, they just scowl mostly.

She loves this sweater so much that she wears it everywhere. She refuses to take it off, much like the winter boots that she insists on wearing in the spring.

So why is this a milestone? It means that I am learning enough about my daughter to make her clothes that she loves. I have said it before, and I will say it again.

You can learn so much about your kids just by studying the clothes they like. It's a window into their personality.

Now back to the sweater. I started with a my own favorite sweater that had become an unfortunate victim of my bad laundry habits. (I just dump the hamper into the washer without looking)  It shrunk to the point where the stretch marks on my belly where exposed for all the world to see, but I couldn't bare to part with it.

After reading this tutorial from Girl Inspired I decided that this sweater still had a few years of being loved left in it. For the most part I followed the instructions with just a few adjustments for my daughters style preferences  She doesn't do ruffles or flowers.

I didn't make any changes to the hood because it had always been a little small on me. I also left the mini sleeve pocket in tact because it's awesome.

The sweater originally had raglan sleeves and I was bored with making them after the Mixed Fabric Raglan Tee so I changed them up. In retrospect, I probably should have stayed with the original design. Other than that I love the cardigan. Ashley loves the cardigan (and me). So the whole project is a success. 

Now all that is left to do is get her to stay still long enough to get pictures!

Mixed Fabric Raglan T-Shirt Tutorial

Q: What do you sew for a girl who considers herself a tomboy but still loves the color pink (in moderation) and loves the feel of soft fabrics on her skin? 

A: A mixed fabric Raglan Tee

Do you want to make one for yourself? No problem. Just follow the steps below.

You will need:

• Rib Knit Fabric - You can use any type of knit for the main fabric, but you need rib knit for the collar. The fabric I used is currently out of stock but here is something similar.  Cotton Baby Rib Knit Pale Blue I used about a half a yard with some left over.
• Sleeve fabric - I used a satin fabric with just a tiny bit of stretch for comfort. Again, out of stock but here it is in a darker color. Tahari Stretch Satin Dark Pink You only need about a quarter yard of this
• Thread to match your main fabric
• Paper for Tracing
• Hem Gauge
• A T shirt or tank top that fits well
• Straight edge with a square corner (a sheet of paper will work)

Step 1: Trace your T- shirt or tank top. We will be drawing a new sleeve later so don't worry about that. I chose to use the back collar for a tighter neckline. If you want a lower neckline you can fold the back neckline under and trace the neckline from the front of the tee. Remember we will be adding 3/4 of an inch with the neck binding.

Step 2: Add a 1 inch seam allowance to the bottom for the hem and a quarter inch to the side seam and collar. You don't need to add anything to the shoulder  but I did for a slightly looser sleeve because the fabric did not have much stretch. The easiest way to add the seam allowance is with a hem gauge. 

Step 3: Make the Sleeve. If objects in your house mysteriously disappear and you can't find your ruler grab a piece of paper. Draw a straight line from the point of the armpit to 1 inch from the edge of the collar. Then use the corner of the paper to help draw the rest of the sleeve. 

Step 4: Cut out your pattern. Don't forget to add the seam allowance. Align a piece of paper behind your pattern piece with a quarter inch hanging over the edge. Then, tape in place and trim.

Step 5:  Cut two of your main fabric and two of your sleeve fabric. Then, cut one long strip of your rib knit 1 and a half inches wide and as long as you can make it. We will trim it later.

Step 6:  Pin your sleeve edges to one piece of main fabric and baste. (I know that your eyes just glossed right over the basting part, but if you are using a slippery fabric please don't skip it.)

Step 7: Attach the the back of the shirt to one of the sleeves but not both so it will open up like this. Sew up your seams using your favorite knit sewing method. Press your seams to the main fabric. Remember to set your iron to the setting for the most delicate of the two fabrics. Then flip your shirt and press again. You can also top stitch 1/8 inch from the seam on the main fabric.

Step 8: Now grab that long strip of fabric you cut earlier and fold it in half lengthwise. Press. Line the raw edges up to the raw edges of the neckline on the right side. Now this is the tricky part. In order for the neck binding to maintain the correct shape you have to stretch the binding just a little bit while sewing without stretching the neckline on the shirt. Just take your time and adjust as you go. Trim off the extra.

Step 9: Pin, Baste and Sew your last sleeve edge to the main fabric. Sew all the way to the top including the neck binding with right sides together. 

Step 10: Hem the sleeve edges (I used a narrow hem) and the bottom of the shirt.

Step 10: Sew up your side seams. ( No picture, but its just two straight seems) and try on your shirt!

Some Sketching and Waiting

Almost all of my sewing time has been going to one big project. At least it's big for me. I would love to tell you what it is, but that would ruin the surprise. There are a few other non top secret projects that I am excited about as well, but unfortunately I am still waiting on fabric.

I've tried and tried to organize my huge fabric stash but those stupid laws of physics always get in the way. You can't fit something with a large volume (no matter how you fold it) into a tiny space. 

The most obvious solution would be to sew only from my stash until I cut it down. Yea, I'm not doing that, but I am only buying fabric when I have a plan for it. That means I am doing a lot of planning and then going crazy while I wait for the fabric to get here.

Fabric.com was having a great sale for 20% off any order over $40.00, so I sketched out my plans, picked my favorite and ordered a lot of fabric. All together the total came to $35.00 (after the sale) and I got 7 yards of fabric and a few notions. My planning also includes using up 2 yards of fabric from my stash. 

The raglan shirt below is going to for be for my daughter Ashley. Her style leans slightly in the direction of tomboy. She hates dresses and ruffles and lace, but she does love the color pink.

Update: See the finished mixed fabric raglan t shirt and a tutorial here.

Next up is a project for my son and husband that I am very excited about. We watched Rise of the Guardians as a family and I studied Jack Frost's sweatshirt most of the time. For a cartoon it shows incredible details. You can even see the seam lines. 

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And finally my ugly vintage pattern remixes. I am planning to get two spring dresses out of this pattern. It is the first on the list to be completed and I will give you all of the details when it's done but here is a peek at what's to come. 

Update : The first dress is done. See it Here

Thanks so much for looking. Feel free to share your sewing to do list in the comments.