I will hopefully have another post to put up later today, but first I wanted to show you another outfit I made this week. This top and pants is for my son Walter to wear to kindergarten. I absolutely love how it turned out!
The shirt is (again!) from Lands' End. I wish I could take credit for the awesome bear design, but I took the idea from a shirt I saw online. I can't remember the company (something like One For Humanity?), but I fell in love with it. Sadly, the shirt had long been sold out. So I did what any good DIY mama would do--I made my own :)
I worked hard to size the applique just right. In the end, I wish that I had made the bear a little larger. I'm not sure why his haunches look a little wrinkled. I think it's because I just finished this shirt and didn't have time to launder it before taking the pics. I rinsed out the Fabri Solvy (a water soluble stabilizer that I use on the back side of the tee when I applique), but I think the fabric is still a little stiff because the stabilizer hasn't been washed away completely.
I didn't originally intend to sew pants, but I discovered that all of my son's brown pants for this fall are way too big! Fortunately that 's no problem for this DIY mama--I'll just sew him some that fit! I was inspired to do rounded knee patches like a pair of pants I remember seeing last year at teacollection.com.
When faced with the difficulty of getting an even hem on the curve of the knee patches, I remembered a trick that I learned to help sew curves neatly. I took my paper pattern and used it as a pressing guide. I drafted my patch pattern on regular computer paper. If you are working with a tissue pattern, you can just trace the piece you need onto cardstock. Cardstock holds up very firmly to pressing. I slid the curved pattern piece down about a half inch from the edge of the fabric (about as wide as I wanted the hem to be).
Then I used it as a guide to fold my fabric over. The paper creates sort of a rigid edge that keeps the hem even without having to measure and fold it over with your fingers so close to the iron. I then pressed over the paper and fabric with my iron.
I let the fabric cool briefly to set the fold, then slid out the paper pattern guide. I did this on the top and bottom edge of both patches.
The result was nice, even curves with very little effort. Then I placed the patches where I wanted them on the pant legs and top stitched (with a double needle) along the top and bottom folds. This technique also works great with curved pockets that are applied to clothes.
Thanks again for stopping by! I don't know about you, but I feel like my entire week has been spent sewing or procrastinating when I know I should be sewing! I have let housework and cooking slide quite a lot this week :) I will hopefully have two (maybe three? Fingers crossed) more things to show off before this epic week ends, so come back again!