What does a sick little girl need ? Her mama, her bed, lots of rest, fluids, love, cuddles - and NEW JamJams of course !

Little Miss Bug and I have had a rough week this week.
We both have colds, and got hit with a tummy bug, even tummy pain enough that I took the little Miss to the hospital the other night.
We are both coughing, running fevers, and generally feeling majorly icky.

But for once, Mama is healing up just a WEE bit quicker, and I felt like spoiling little Miss.
She isn't just sick, but she's missing a weekend away at Grandma and Grandpas because she's sick.

So, since she was out of bed today, and I could keep an eye on her from my sewing area and not have to be going up and down the stairs, I figured I'd try out the Love Notions JamJam sleepwear.

Oh - and since I had unpacked my Mom's old serger and cleaned it out just before Miss and I took ill, it was a good excuse to give it a run.

Pattern Description: 
This loungewear set includes a sweet shirt with yoke back detail, gathered, dropped shoulder seams, cap sleeves and shirt tail hem. Also included are capris and shorts with a ruffled curved hem and optional faux drawstring. All pieces are meant to be made in medium weight knit fabrics for the ultimate comfort.

Pattern Sizing:
2T - 14
I made a size 10 for my small 10-yr old

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
It looked very similar to the images on the PDF file and website.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Exceptionally so !
Love Notions patterns come with a very detailed tutorial to follow - not just snippets of short instructions like the "Big 4" paper patterns do.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I love that this is an amazingly cute sleepwear set that is modest yet up-to-date.
I love that it's made with knits so it's comfy for moving around in for my little girl.
I love that the designer has taken the time to thoroughly explain each step along the way.

My *only* dislike is that it's not available in adult sizes !

Fabric Used:
I used some knits that I have from my Mom's stash.
Mom was an excellent seamstress, and passed away in 2007, so I'm not 100% sure what the fabric is exactly.
My best guess is that the yellow is a jersey knit, and the striped fabric is a cotton-poly knit.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I didn't have quite enough fabric to do the full-length capri pants, so I took 3" off the leg length. 
It worked out okay, since the size 10 is a bit too big for my girl right now (done on purpose - she fits a size 8 using the measurements given)

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
In a heartbeat, and YES - I highly recommend this !

Conclusion: 
If you have a young girl in your life, these JamJams are the ideal blend of cute and stylish without giving up modesty.
I love this, and I hope that in the future Love Notions brings out an adult version, because I would make this for myself !

A different twist on a sweet T-shirt

About a week ago someone posted a photo of something they'd done to the Love Notions Cartwheel Collection T-shirt that struck a chord with me.  

I've made this shirt already for little miss Bug, and I absolutely adore it.
It's a slim fit, nice length, with a cute back detail.

 

Miss Bug is 10-years old, and wears this shirt quite a bit, even though we are in the midst of a seriously COLD winter (it's -34* C today).

So, since I already knew the construction of this shirt, and knew that the fit was wonderful on miss Bug, I got it in my head yesterday to take an hour or two and whip up the shirt in the manner I'd seen.

A swim shirt !!

I have some gorgeous swimsuit fabric that I've already used to make a swimsuit and swim cap for her from, but I had plenty left over.

So, with swim suit fabric, and clear elastic in hand, I sat down at 2pm and got to work.

The shirt went together incredibly nicely.
I put the clear elastic in the back opening, and around the neckline for stability and to prevent gapping as she swims.

I didn't have enough to do a pair of shorts as the bottoms, so I broke out a Kwik Sew underwear pattern to use instead.

And I had the entire suit done before we needed to leave at 4:30.

Sewing for Me ?!?

Let me start by saying that I seldom sew for myself.  I try hard NOT to sew for myself in fact.
I have a tiny little cutting area, and the pieces to accomodate my plus-sized self are simply too large to fit there easily.
And the fact that I AM plus-sized means that I simply do not enjoy looking at myself much at all.

I am also not aware of how to adjust patterns for size and fit, and VERY few patterns fit me right off the bat.

But when I came across a pattern sale that included Kwik Sew 3586 - a ladies button-down shirt in plus-sizes for only $1.25, I picked it up.

After a few weeks, I found I had finished my other projects and thought I'd take this on.

I've never done a structured shirt like this before - with full sleeves, cuffs, etc, so it took me a few days over the course of the week to finish it.

You can see my review of the pattern on Pattern Review.

An Unfinished Object - Finished

Well over a month ago, I took a trip to a lovely little sewing store nearby.
Sew Have Fun always has cool fabrics to choose from.
She specializes in quilting cottons, but has flannels, knits, interfacing, and other interesting bits and bobs too!

My older son, 12, picked out some Star Wars fabric, while my daughter opted to request a Saturday kids sewing workshop for herself, and my younger boy spotted some cute grey fabric with owls on it.

The Saturday workshop was easy enough - sign her up, and away she went.  She got to make a pieced pillow cover out of some deep red-wine coloured fabric.

The Star Wars fabric quickly turned into shirts for my son.  He crazy about Star Wars, and this is the only place we've found the licenced fabrics.

The owls on the other hand turned out to be problematic.  Who knew that grey buttons were neigh on impossible to find ?!?  So, this poor owl shirt has sat and sat, as a UFO (UnFinished Object) for over a month as I attempt to find matching buttons.  

I bought grey, but they were too light.

I bought grey, but they were too dark.

Too shiny, too this, too that.

I even bought some owl buttons - but they were a dark brown, and did NOT match.

I finally gave up and used some light cream-coloured buttons just to get the shirt made.

Owl Shirt : pattern is the Tween Porter's Shirt from Create Kids Couture one of many I've made using this pattern.  I love the over-sized pocket, and the clean collar lines !

I hope Mr. Bear likes it when he sees it !

Sewing for boys

Sewing for boys is much more difficult than sewing for young girls is.
Mainly because the amount of boy-ish fabric and boy-ish patterns is very limited.

But, one of my favourite designers has a couple of boy patterns out.

And a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a wonderful orange knit fabric with black peace signs on it that I just KNEW my 12-yr old would love.

But orange peace-fabric is a little over-whelming alone, so I couldn't make anything until I found a contrasting fabric to use with it.

Without luck, regardless of several trips to Fabricland, I finally convinced my husband to give up one of his old black work T-shirts, and got sewing.

I made the Moto Maxx shirt by Love Notions Patterns which is a cool shirt with a few different options.  You can make it with short, long or layered sleeves, along with cuffed or hemmed options.
The shirt hem can be straight or curved too.  And it's available in sizes 2T through 14.

For my 12-yr old son, I made the size 14.
I had to shorten the torso by 4" and the sleeves by 1"

 

In short, this is a shirt I will definitely make more of, and soon !

My introduction to testing a new patterns

About 2 weeks ago, I answered the call for testers for a new pattern add-on.
I thought that by testing an add-on to an established pattern, I wouldn't be risking too much.

So, when Annemieke from Sofilantjes Patterns put out a call for testers to try out a new circle skirt add-on to her Iridis wrap dress, AND she was looking for bigger girls sizes, I thought I'd toss my name in the basket.

I was admittedly a little surprised when she contacted me that I'd been chosen.

And so it started !

First came a special group on Facebook for just us testers.
That was kind of cool, and it was nice to chat with the other testers.

Then came the pattern and instructions.

And then the printing !  Oh my, the printing !

Here is the bodice - not too bad at 13 pages.

And here is the skirt !
Yes, that is 57 pages printed and taped together to make the skirt.

To say I was a little overwhelmed by now would be an understatement, but I was not going to give up, or let this pattern get the better of me.

My Bug and I went to our local Fabricland and picked out some broadcloth that was 50% off.
She chose a few earthy colours, very different from her normal pinks and purples, and we took them home.

It was too long, and I had the pieces cut out, and the dress put together - the instructions were pretty straight forward, and while the pieces were huge, they went together quite well.

At the end of the first day, I had the dress put together - it still needed to be hemmed and the binding put on the top for the ties.

The finishing was wonderful - I'd never done a rolled hem on a woven material before, but this is what was called for.  I must say that I LOVED the way the rolled hem turned out !  Easy, fast, and cute.

And I used store-bought packed bias tape for the binding and ties, so that went on quickly.

The actual dress is lovely.  I love the length on my daughter.  She is 55" tall at 10-yrs old, and the dress is low on her knees.  The neckline is high enough to be modest on the bodice.  The only minor complaint my daughter had is that the arms are a wee bit tight.

Finished dress

Today I was determined to sew up something for my older son.
At 12, he often gets left out of the Mama-sewn creations.
Honestly, both my sons do.  There is little out there.

But one of my favourite designers of pdf patterns has a perfect top out that is just a little different than the stuff you can buy off-the-rack at the common big-box stores.

Love Notions has a pattern she calls the MotoMax set, that goes up to size 14.
I purchased this - and her Samson hoodie too - and prepared to sew for boys !

But Alas, it was not meant to be, and BigBoy needs to wait another day or few.
Or at least until Mama gets more ink for her printer that is !

I couldn't just NOT sew though.

So I opened up a pattern I already had printed out and ready to go - another from Love Notions, called the Willow Wrap top.

And cleared off the kitchen table to lay out the pieces.  Because I am a big girl, the pieces are quite large, and I can't lay them out on my tiny sewing table.

A few hours later, and I'm wearing my new top.

I thank my dear little girl for taking my photos - as much as I hate to be in front of the camera, I have to to show effectively how gorgeous this top turns out !

I started sewing when I was but a child.
My Mom put me into sewing classes at a local quilting shoppe when I was in 5th grade.
I enjoyed it, the teacher was wonderful.
But - at the same time - it was totally "NOT COOL" and I hated to say anything about it to my friends.

Thankfully, in the many decades that have passed, I have learned to accept and embrace my love of sewing.

As I have done so, my skill level slowly increases.  VERY slowly.

And now I get to watch my daughter, 11 years old, learn to sew and love to create.