PJs and an AWESOME gift from my dad

Here are 2 pair of PJs that I made recently, and hadn't gotten around to showing yet. First up are the kids Christmas PJs...of which I only have one modeling picture, and they're getting shown a bit late, because....well....they were made a bit late. :p

Each of the kids got the same PJs, with the only difference being the neckbands (there's green, red, orange and blue).

Then we move onto the "cowboy" PJs. I made a pair of these pants for each of the boys, but I'd only managed to make the shirt for this little man. I do have the embroidery done on another shirt, just haven't gotten around to sewing it up yet. *This was my very first embroidery project, and I think it turned out pretty well. I did learn a thing or two about placement (this one is a little bit for in my opinion), and I also decided that I'm going to go ahead and stabilize on the top AND the bottom when embroidering on knits*

And the grand finale....

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My dad came to visit me today, and he decided to gift this Cricut Expression (along with all those extras) to me!!! He had it laying around his house thinking he might use it (gotta say, my dad's a sucker for infomercials lol), and when he realized it was just collecting dust, he decided that I should have it! How amazing and generous is that?!?! I've been wanting to try one for a long time now, but I just couldn't ever bring myself to spend the money on it, especially when I didn't know how often I would use it. But now that I have one for FREE, I don't feel guilty about it at all! I've been wanting to get back into stamping and making my own cards, but now I'll be doing that with my Cricut! (Just incase you couldn't tell by all those exclamation marks, I'm totally stocked about this!! lol)

Burp cloths, receiving blankets and onsies

A friend of mine posted a link to this free New Conceptions burp cloth pattern, and I decided to try it out yesterday.....

LOL I *LOVE* simple and quick projects, and this is both simple and quick, so I made up 10 of them and still have 5 more cut out. I used flannel as the top layer and organic bamboo fleece as the bottom layer. There's also 2 receiving blankets I made, one is done just by serging the edges and one done with mitered corners. Serging is definitely quicker, but I like te look of the mitered corners better.

Here's a few onsies I made yesterday as well. The 3 on the left are made using Kwik Sew 2433, and the 2 on the right are from Ottobre 5-06. the Kwik Sew pattern seems to run wide, but maybe I just don't remember how chubby babies can be. ;)

A sweet newborn outfit...

I made this sweet newborn outfit for a very dear online friend of I mine who's expecting a little girl. I'm super pleased with how it turned out, and I hope she loves it.

Gown and hat are kwik-sew patterns, and dipe is a very baby fitted.

Ottobre 3-08 Baby Romper Sew-Along

Hopefully this all makes sense, and helps you make this outfit.

Cut out all pieces, and mark snap placements according to pattern.

There are 2 different front pieces for this pattern. Both are pictured here, though a little backwards, because the one on the right side, with the crotch seam (which I'll call pattern piece "B"), will actually be on the left side and overlap the other piece, without the crotch seam(which I'll call pattern piece "A").

This piece is the one that was on the right in the upper picture (piece B), the one with the crotch seam. Make sure that you remember NOT to sew this shoulder seam until AFTER you're done binding. I learned the hard way the first time I made this, so I wrote it on the pattern, and I also mark this shoulder with a pin so I can't sew it. :)

Sew the back pieces together.

Sew the shoulder seam of pattern piece A (the one without the crotch seam) to the back.

Sew on the sleeve.
*I had already done the binding on both sleeves*

Line up crotch pieces of pattern piece B and back.

Sew together.

Now, sew the side seam closed on the side that you've attached the sleeve to.

Starting at the shoulder on pattern piece B that you haven't sewn together, apply binding to right side of fabric, and go all the way around until you get the shoulder on the back of the outfit.

Fold binding over and topstitch down.

Sew together that shoulder seam now, then sew on sleeve and bind the other leg. Then sew the side seam. (my picture doesn't show the side seam sewn, because I forgot to take a pic of that step)

Now I take 3/4" twill, tape fold it in half, then half again, so it's now 4 layers thick. I sew on a piece to the wrong side of the fabric at each spot where the snaps will go on pattern piece A. This way I won't tear the fabric when unsnapping.

I also use twill tape that I sew onto the seam allowance, as shown, so that I can apply snaps to the inside of outfit and don't have to use ties as the pattern originally calls for. Just make sure that the twill tape sticks out enough so that you can apply a snap to it.

Here's what it looks like on the inside with the snaps.

And here's the outside, all finished up.

Sew along for binding in the flat...

Here's a tutorial for how to do binding in the flat.

Here my tank top front and back pieces with one shoulder seam sewn together. (when you're sewing in the flat you only sew one seam together before attaching the binding)

Before sewing one the binding I adjust my stitch width on my serger to the widest setting.


Take your binding strip and lay it right sides together on top of the neckline for the shirt.
I leave my binding strip overlapping a little bit so that it's easier for my coverstitch machine to grab it later on.

Start serging it on, gently stretching the binding as you sew.

Here it is once it's all serged on.

Turn the binding strip over so that it's now covering the threads.

And turn it down once more so that it's now looped to the inside of the shirt.

Now coverstitch (or top stitch however you normally do) the binding in place.

Now take your other shoulder seam and serge it together.

Stitch that seam down, I always do it so that the seam in pointing towards the back of the shirt.

Here's what it looks like once it's stitched down.

And here's what it looks like when you're done.
(Obviously the whole shirt isn't done, but the neck binding is.)
If you're binding the arms (like I will be because this is a tank top) then apply the binding to the arm holes now, coverstitch it down, and serge up the side seams.

A tutorial for a V-neck shirt

***Update: I've posted a newer version of a v-neck shirt here***

Hopefully this is helpful to someone. My sister asked me to show her how to do a v-neck and I thought I'd go ahead and post it here. This may not be the best or easiest way for everyone, but it's the way I do it, and I love the results.

First thing I do is cut my neckband and iron it in half lengthwise.
Then overlap the ends to form your "v" shape.

I then sew the edges down, so I don't have to worry about them shifting while I'm actually sewing this piece onto the shirt.

Here is the stitching.

I then trim off the excess fabric from the corners.

Here is the front of the shirt with the band right under it. The angles are completely the opposite, so you'll have to pin this together to keep everything in place.

Here is mine pinned in place.

And here's what it looks like form the opposite side.

Then I serge the band in place.

Stopping when I get to the corner and turning it.

A picture of what it looks like on the inside once the band in serged on.

Then you flip it and topstitch it.

Here's the final product.

Ottobre 2-07 Rose Shirt

I love this shirt, and I can see several more in my future. The pattern is the Rose Shirt from Ottobre 2-07 (with a couple of small modifications), and the fabric is a delicious bamboo/cotton/lycra jersey.

Little sis's pjs, and some shirts for me

My little sister (who's 10) is, well, kind of bright and loud and obnoxious, and I absolutely love her. Really, I'd have to love her to make these pjs for her, because they just scream 1980's, and for some reason I find that reprehensible. These fabrics were in a box of fabrics that my mom gave me, and were some of the ones I planned on tossing because I didn't like them. However my little sis saw them and instantly fell in love with the bright yellow flannel and panda bears interlock and asked that I make her some pjs with them. I hate these pjs, they're hideously ugly, but it's what she wanted so now she's going to have to live with them. (and she's probably going to love them because that's how she is)

Here are 2 long sleeve shirts for me, using ottobre 2-07 and adding a little length to the 3/4 sleeves.

And here are the two pj shirts that I needed to make to match the flannel lounge pants that I made a few days ago.