Woodsie Baby Leggings

               

My little girl is rapidly outgrowing her legging so I decided to make her a few pairs that won't squeeze her like the store bought ones (I didn't photograph the other pair, sorry!).  I used an old pattern for the leggings and I added a little flair at the ends to make these legging look a little more girly.  I really love the fabric (bought at Girl Charlee's) but the colors are dark (grey-green and brown) and not very girly.

To make the bottom piece I just cut out a strip of fabric twice as long as the bottom width and 3 inches tall.  I used a gathering stitch and gathered the fabric evenly and used my serger to attach it to the leggings bottom before I sewed the side seam.  I believe I used a 5/8" seam allowance because the ruffle was a little too long for my liking.  After I attached the ruffle, I pinned and serged my sides together.  It was a quick and easy modification that makes these legging look a bit more feminine.

Toddler Muscle Tanks - M6495 Pattern Review

*This post does contain affiliate links, but all opinions are my own.*

I started making these tanks, using M6495, during Kids Clothes Week but I didn't finish them until recently.  This was my first time that I sewed with knits when I could claim that I "knew what I was doing".  I have learned a lot in the last year about knits and I'm not scared of them.  In fact they are so quick and easy to sew!

I did have a little problem attaching the neck band to the tanks and it looked a little gathered in a few areas so I went back and stitched down the seam allowance using my coverstitch machine (this could also have been done on a regular machine with a walking foot), to help smooth and flatten the neck area.  My mistake with the neck band was that I didn't stretch it enough in certain areas.  I did notice that the neck area is a little big compared to store bought muscle tanks that Nik has in the same size.

The pattern calls for folding over the fabric for the arm hole area and stitching it down.  I thought it would be easy but it was a little difficult to get 5/8" of fabric to lay nicely when I folded it over.  Besides the arm holes, the rest of the pattern was super easy and quick to sew.  Next time, I pretty sure I could crank out a muscle tee in an hour (from cut to finish).  I also might try stitching the arm hole first and then sewing the side seam after...I saw this method used in some RTW clothes (the trick is to make sure everything is even and matches up).

The knits were bought from Girl Charlee Fabrics and you can learn more about sewing with knits here.

Simplicity 1613 - Pattern Review

I actually made this top months ago, I just didn't blog about it.  I had made it for the Girl Charlee chevron fabric contest and as part of the sew-a-long for Project Sewn (but I didn't complete my outfit in time to enter it in the sew-a-long competition).

When I first saw Simplicity 1613 I loved the design of the top and based on the picture of the model I thought the cut out placement wouldn't be too low...but I was wrong!  I was pregnant when I made the top so I didn't get to try it on until recently and the cut out is too sexy for me.  I think this top would be more flattering on a woman with "C" cups or smaller, but that's just my two cents.

Now on to the review...the pattern was straight forward and easy to follow but very time consuming.  I managed to get the criss-cross part done one evening while Nik took a 4 hour nap.  The top part does call for lining so that also took some time.  I like the pattern (I wish it worked for me), I would say my only critique is that it is time consuming and the length is a little too long.




  

Girl Charlee Fabric

I discovered Girl Charlee fabric over a year ago when I started sewing again and I bookmarked and pinned tons of their fabric.  I really liked their fabric but I didn't order anything until recently because I got stuck on a project and I was intimidated by knit fabric (which is 99.9% of what they sell).

I tried to make a knit sleeper sack with super soft jersey from JoAnn's back when Nik was 4 or 5 months old.  I figured it would be a breezy to sew...then I got to the neck!  I had the most difficult time sewing the neck and it came out all wavy (my poor baby).  I let the project collect dust on my sewing table for almost a year(!) before I decided to try to finish the darn neck (without a walking foot).  I still didn't get it perfect, but I learned from my mistake and I'm ready to jump into sewing with knits head first (thanks to the new Craftsy class I joined: Sewing With Knits).  Now that I made a short story long, I'm happy to say I bought a very large amount of knits from Girl Charlee. 

I was thrilled when my "knits for boys" bargain lot arrived, especially because I received a few swatches of super soft jersey.  I highly recommend Girl Charlee if you need knit fabric because the prices are affordable and the customer service is superb.


p.s. I did not get paid for writing this post, I just like to share my finds and help promote small businesses!