KCW: Basic Pocket Pants

It seems the sewing gods did not want me to participate in KCW this week. After an early victory with the Hosh Pants, my sewing quickly went downhill. I spent most of the week working on the Oliver + S Music Class Blouse (I made the Music Class Skirt last fall, a great success!). I LOVE O + S patterns, but I made all the wrong choices with this one. The last straw came when I went to attach the collar and the notches were totally off, which is probably the result of using a french seam finish that threw off my 1/2" seam allowance. Now I have an almost-complete shirt and a collar with no hope of fitting.... *sad face*



SO... I put that failure away for now and choose to move on to a nice, easy pair of pajama pants. I used the Basic Pocket Pants pattern from the book Growing Up Sew Liberated and a super cute Hello Kitty flannel.



They took a little more time than the trace-and-sew kind of pajama pants I usually make for the kiddos, but I love the little details to this pattern! The contrasting cuffs, binding, and waistband are cute, and K absolutely loves the pockets! When she first saw the pants she exclaimed "THEY HAVE POCKETS?! For all my STUFF!"





I think I've got the clothes sewing out of my system for a while now, and I'm ready to get back to quilting and patchwork. I've got a few items to check off my to do list and then it's on to Christmas gift sewing! How did you do with your KCW sewing?

KCW: Hosh Pants

I finished my first piece for Kids Clothes Week and it's only Tuesday! It's the Hosh Pants pattern from LouBeeClothing.



This is the first official pants pattern I've ever sewn (I don't count all the flannel jammie pants I've made since those have all been of the trace-a-pair-of-existing-pants variety). I'm really happy with how they turned out and I'll definitely be using this pattern again.



I was a little nervous with the sizing because K's measurements didn't line up well with any of the sizes. I decided to go with the 5T size. They're a tad big in the waist, but that's okay because one of the coolest features of this pattern is the adjustable waist! It uses buttonhole elastic like a lot of store-bought pants and I just love it! I'll definitely be using this technique for future pants construction.



The pattern suggests hemming the pants before seeing them together, but because I was a little iffy on the sizing, I decided to leave the hemming until the end when I could give them a test fit. The original hem ended up being fine, and it wasn't too hard to work in that small leg opening either. I can't remember where I read this, but did you know that when working in a small area like that, it's easier to sew with your pressed foot on the inside?



I used a printed stretch denim I found at Joann's. I was hoping to find some stretch denim in some fun solid colors, but the selection was pretty limited (and kinda pricey too!). It's not something I would use for pants for myself, but this girl knows how to work it.



She didn't really have any shirts to go with these pants, but I plan to remedy that later this week!

KCW: Ruffle Dress

I've had this ruffle fabric in my stash for quite a while, and KCW was the push I needed to put it to use (I think I said that with the flannel jammie pants earlier this week too!).



I was inspired by this dress I pinned months ago.



It definitely took me longer than 20 minutes. I'm far too OCD to whip out a dress made of such fussy fabric that quickly. I had to take my time pinning the sides so that ruffles all lined up nicely. I think I did a pretty good job!



Since I was using this stretchy fabric, I tried a stretch stitch on my machine I never used before. It worked fabulously with this fabric!



I love that she still gets so excited for new clothes made by mommy!



And one more, just 'cause she's so darn cute....

Kids Clothes Week: A First!

I've never participated in Kids Clothing Week before, so I thought I'd give it a go this time around! I didn't even realize it was KCW until I saw a post on Sunday, so I'm not going into this week terribly prepared. Patterns have not been cut out in advance. No fabric was been washed and pressed with projects in mind. I'm kinda wingin' it here, so I'm starting out with something simple: flannel jammie pants.



I bought this flannel months ago (ya know, back when it made sense to be making flannel pajamas), so I'm glad KCW gave me the little push I needed to actually get sewing. I've made her pants like this a few times before, but I did change it up a bit and added a little ruffle to the cuffs.



K was quite excited for the new pants. She asked if they were ready yet about a million times this evening, and luckily I got them done just in time for bed.