For Spring, We Begin Again

"The beginning is the most important part of the work."
Plato The Republic

With my graduate class behind me, and no more classes until the summer... it's time to get my creative on again. I had to dig my machine out of the sewing room- a sign that it's been much too long since it's last use- and get her set up again. Not that I have hours to spare, but I have a few moments I can make some choice about how to spend, and I CHOOSE SEWING!

So, I find myself at the start of a project.

It's time for another School Days Jacket. How I love oliver & s. I still love the jacket I made the first time around with this pattern. So perfect. 

This time I'm going for a spring/summer jacket- so I found a light-weight, bright corduroys and I'm lining it with a quilting cotton. So, I've jumped in to it. I traced pieces (size 2T) onto Swedish Tracing paper, ironed the fabric, and pinned it all down. 

In just a short bit, I had this:

A pile of cut pieces. Now I've got all the pieces ready to go- time to fire up the machine and turn them into a jacket! As great as my graduate class was...(and it really was awesome)...it's nice to be creating again. 

It Started with Apples

“Sweater, n. Garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.”
― Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

About two years ago I discovered a wonderful, wonderful thing. A crochet pattern for an apple sweater. Or apple cozy. Whatever you call it. It protects the apple in my lunch bag, it keeps the apple cold, and it's just plain adorable. 

After making a handful of them and giving them as gifts, I decided it was time for a new adventure. My co-worker packed a banana every day in his lunch. After some trial and error I developed the banana sweater. It's... ridiculous. And awesome. Recently, I got an order for two more! Really! People saw them and wanted them! 
I had to redevelop the pattern, I couldn't quite remember it, and they came out just like the first one:

 If you are thinking right now, "that Helen, innocent middle school teacher, does she even KNOW what these look like?"... you can slow down there. Believe me, the middle school staff room had a field day with these the moment I brought them in two years ago. Every joke has been made. But all that aside, they really are awesome. I mean, I even got the pattern to match the curve of the banana. (Again, all the jokes have already been made.) This time around I decided to add a label:

 It's hard to see- I typed the tag on fabric, I like how it turned out. It was fun to make these knowing that someone else would be buying them and using them. It's all pretty silly, but it felt good to make something. And now that my graduate class is done... I might get a chance to do a few things here and there.

 

sweet, soft, and oh so pretty

Three crib sheets done. Here are two of the flannel ones. Baby enjoyed checking them out. The tutorial on Dana Made It  was really wonderful. I'm sure there are many more tutorials like it, but she makes the step by step so easy.

I also did one from a knit:

I love the little flowers on it. It's such a sweet print and so SOFT.

It's fun to have another mama made touch in the nursery. The curtains, the quilt.... and now the sheet.

Crib Sheet: MADE

I made a crib sheet today following the tutorial at Dana Made It. She was right. It was simple. And so much prettier than any from the store. Today's sheet was made from a very very very soft blue flannel I have had for much too long. I didn't take any pictures... but I will with the next one. I have the prettiest green flannel going through the wash right now, can't wait to make it into something pretty.
My next plan is to keep an eye on the sheets at goodwill and find some very soft ones to use.
My {crafting} New Year's resolution it so only sew with fabric I currently have OR with fabric that is bought used. I'm going to try and do this for the entire year.  It felt so good to use those two yards of flannel that have been taking up shelf space for two year now.

I am still crafting...

“Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing."
"Nobody asked your opinion," said Alice.” 
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Crafting with a new baby (well, now a ONE YEAR OLD!) is possible. Yes, it means I fall behind in laundry, dishes, and other such exciting things. But I can do it. And I do. The only thing I'm missing is actually writing about it. Since my last post I have:
finished a quilt
sewed a new dress for baby
designed and put on a killer "Little Golden Book" party.
made napkins
ornaments for the tree

and little things in between. So not bad. And I might even get some pictures of it up.

My latest project was a set of invites for a tea to invite new members into the chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international group for female educators. Of course, I had to make it way more complicated than it needed to be.... but I just LOVE how these turned out.

I used a tutorial I found through (of course) pinterest. The tutorial and template can be found here. I changed it a little because I wanted the look of the two colors of paper (one for the cup and one for the flap) but I didn't want to paint all my own white paper. So instead of cutting out two pieces of paper, I cut three. The front of the cup, the back, and the "top" or the flap.

The two rows of stitching on the top are how I attached the "top" flap to the back of the cup. Then I sewed the cup parts together and I had an envelope!

To make the tea tag I stamped paper and free handed the cut out. I cut the cup template down a bit and used it for the template for the card inside. Then I sewed the tea tag to the card.

I love it.


So the crafting continues.

Autumn and a School Days Jacket

Now's the time when children's noses

All become as red as roses
And the colour of their faces
Makes me think of orchard places
Where the juicy apples grow,
And tomatoes in a row.

-Autumn Song by Katherine Mansfield

Done! The Olive and S School Days Jacket. It's lovely. It's delightful. It's the perfect jacket. The whole time I was sewing I worried baby would be too big for it. I picked the 12-18 month sizing. Our little darling suddenly went up to 18 month clothes and we've even bought some 24 month.

But it seems to fit perfectly. I'm glad it's not any smaller. But I think it will get us through to spring.
Oliver and s proved again to be a wonderful pattern to follow. While challenging, it was not impossible. In fact, the whole thing moved a long smoothly. I had read some sewers had trouble with the hood, but I found that pretty straightforward. I love how it turned out.
The hardest part for me turned out to be the sleeves. I did a lot of learning while I battled it out with FOUR sleeves (darn that awesome lining).

The outside fabric is a corduroy from Mill End. The inside is the softest woolly material from Joann's. I love how the two go together.

All the details give the jacket a professional finish. The top-stitched seams, the hidden "unfinished" work. The pretty toggles on the front. Wonderful.

The lining is made a little big, so there is movement built into the jacket. I just love it.
A special thank you to my parents, who came over and watched the Oregon/USC game and the baby while I sewed. Once I started I couldn't be stopped. It felt great to have some solid hours to get the jacket done.
Even better, though, was the time today to hang out with the little baby who gets to wear this jacket. And she makes it look GOOD.

Goin' for it.

Long hair minimizes the need for barbers; socks can be done without; one leather jacket solves the coat problem for many years' suspenders or superfluous.
- Albert Einstein

Hopefully this endeavor will solve baby's coat problem for the winter. So help me, if it turns out not to fit her when I'm done... but then, that's always been my biggest fear with garment sewing. Working and working and then discovering it's not really what I wanted. So far sewing clothes for baby has proved rewarding. And it's all fit. 

But I digress...

So, I'm doing it. I'm staring on the Oliver+S School Days Jacket. Evidenced below:

Late night cutting session

The pattern is now only sold as a digital version, but I checked out a local fabric store called Bolt and they still had hard copies for sale. Thank goodness. Printing and taping pieces together would have probably stopped me from taking this on. 
As you can probably see in the picture, I used Swedish tracing paper. I love it. When my instructor at a sewing class offered by Modern Domestic introduced it to me, I was floored. Finally a way to preserve my pattern so I can use it for other sizes in the future. Plus, it's just easier to work with and to pin to fabric than the actual pattern pieces. It's amazing. 

This pattern intimidates me a bit. It's a big project and there are lots of pieces. See-- it's three scissors of difficulty! My hardest pattern yet.

But if (when) I do finish it will be oh so sweet for the winter months. I'm already regretting not making it one size up, so it fits longer. Hopefully this will get us to spring. I'm using a sweet flowered corduroy I got from the sale section and Mill End (the big one on McLoughlin Blvd.).

 I'm still deciding on what to use for the lining, I have a few options. 

Here's hoping in a week (or two or three) I have a finished product to show off. Fingers crossed.