McCalls 6155 or Bamboo Jersey, where have you been all my life?

This shirt has already been through the wash twice, so I guess it's about time to blog about it. 

I've been trying to sew pieces for Rylee that go with orphans in her wardrobe. I'm a total sucker for discount and clearance shopping and I tend to buy things just because they are cheap. She has a pair of Gymboree teapot leggings I got for something like $2 but they have been languishing with no match.

 

I bought THE most beautiful fabric from The Fabric Fairy. They say it's made of bamboo with 8% lycra but I suspect it's actually spun from sunshine and puppy kisses. It's gorgeous to sew and moves beautifully. Just holding it makes me happy and it was embarrassingly difficult to throw out the scraps. I think I might make myself something out of it.

I used McCalls 6155 and I agree with the comments of the first reviewer at that link. The cut is very pretty but I hated the neckline, which was folded over and sewn down. The pattern also calls for interfacing and putting buttons in the back. That sort of misses the point of a knit in my world, so if I sew this again I'll just cut the back on the fold at the center and use ribbing at the neck.

To embellish the front I bought some pre-made fabric buttons on Etsy. Not because these buttons are hard to make, but because it was cheaper than buying this obviously awesome teacup fabric. More precisely, it was most likely cheaper than starting a hunt for this fabric that would certainly have lead to a purchase of at least five other fabrics.

I made size 2 and the fit is absolutely enormous on her. She's tall, lean and lanky so the shoulders in particular are huge. She runs around rocking the Flashdance shoulder reveal and you can see by the pooling of the fabric how long the sleeves are on her. But it's wearable now and will probably need a matching set of leggings soon since she's sprouting out of pants every time I turn around.

I've quit telling her to smile in pictures and tell her to laugh instead. It makes for a better shot and also gets me poses like this that tell me quite clearly what kind of teenager I'll have.

Start. Stop. Start again.

Last fall I started dabbling in making things to sell. I bought WAY too much fabric, so much of it the wrong kind, in a ridiculous variety. I had one disastrous fair, one good fair and a few friends/family and two stranger sales in an Etsy shop that I let sputter to a halt right after Christmas.

I've been trying to decide whether or not to get back into it. I have no delusions that I will ever make a major going concern out of ANYTHING I do with my hands. I'm just not that talented. It would be more of a hobby that generated a little cash if everything went well.

So I've decided to make another go of it. Ideally I will learn from my mistakes and put a little more thought and planning into deciding what fabrics to buy and what types of things to make. I'm going to try a few more fairs with my good friend Hazelmoonfly who is MUCH more talented and creative. We'll see how that goes.

Etsy is tougher because there you either make things ready-to-ship (necessitating taking a billion photos and using up fabric on things people might not buy) or listing custom items (necessitating larger fabric purchases and one sample in Rylee's size). I'm going to try the 2nd route for now.

Here's the starting line-up. I have enough to make 2-5 items in each of these. Monkeys sold really well the first go round...

When a fabric and a child are a match made in heaven

Not counting a few outfits 10+ years ago, a prom dress I did with my mom and a few Halloween costumes, I've really only been sewing for a few months. This is my favorite thing I've sewn so far. I hoarded the fabric just for one of Rylee's buddies because, well, if you knew her you'd know. And if you see the fabric, you know her.  I finally got around to asking her mom if it was ok to post the picture.

So, the most awesome chicken fabric ever on the most awesome silly little chicken I know.

Knitapaloza!

I'm going to pretend that I'm really going to finish drafting the Cal Patch T-shirt pattern rather than alternately scowling at and crying about the armhole and breast line.

Sooooo....here's the knits I bought. Forgive the poor photo skills. It was too late for natural light today.

Plain blue for my muslin. This also matches my skirt.

A pointelle I bought to match and it does match. But it's so thin it scares me.

Fish and starfish. I bought enough for something for me and for Rylee.

And last but not least. This also has mommy/daughter written all over it.

Optimism, Reconciliation and Revelation

Optimism
Last night was the grand deployment of Rylee's new curtains. I choose to ignore the fact that she got up twice around 1 AM since it was dark at the time and she probably would have done that anyway. She woke up at 6 AM, squawked a few times and went soundly back to sleep until 7 AM. The household has adopted a position of cautious optimism.

Reconciliation 
I tried on the first skirt draft again and got Eric's opinion on it. He likes it as it is, but we both agree I should wear a shirt over it rather than tucked in. I had it tucked in to evaluate the waistband, but it's not how I would actually wear it. And I've reconciled myself to the dimensions. They are correct if horrifying. I think the only real problem is the small open part at the waistband from the zipper seam allowance being too big.  I'm going to sew another one from my cheap black twill and fix the zipper problem. If I like the look of that draft then I'll be cutting into my real fabric to try to make the March 20th deadline.

Revelation
The big reveal of the fabric I chose for the skirt! This was tough and I'm still not sure if I got it right. It might be too busy for a skirt, but it's so lovely I think it will work with a simple solid top. Happily, my "practice" knit fabric just happens to include solids to match this twill. If that's still too busy, I'll re-work it into something for Rylee or a dust rag or a diaper case or hat for the dog or something.

Amy Butler Nigella Twill Passion Vine Grey

Yummy. It's a 100% cotton, medium-weight twill. The hand is buttery soft. It's just lovely. It's softer than my practice twill, so the drape will probably be even prettier. I got two yards so I could play with the mother/daughter outfit idea. I was thinking maybe a jumper for Rylee, but that's a post for another day.

Good things come in UPS packages

As he so often does, the UPS man made my day yesterday. My package from fabric.com came just as we got home from the gym last night.

This fabulous little bundle of happy has the fabric for my final skirt for the sew along  as well as some knits for the second project. I'll keep them under wraps for now, since I like to have things to talk about in reserve. But they include some cheap but pretty knits for "practice" and three knits about which I am having vague ruminations involving some mommy/daughter outfit combo. 

I'm much more excited about the second project. Let's see if my enthusiasm wanes once the reality of sewing knits sets in. I've only done one project with knits (Rylee's mouse costume) and it wasn't pretty. But it was also pre-serger so I'm hopeful it will go better.

First things first, though. The package also included this pretty plaid....

... and some blackout lining. I'm going to try once again to convince Rylee to sleep until at LEAST 7 AM. This is something she's done fewer than two dozen times in her near two years on earth. Here's hoping blocking the morning light will help me squeeze another 30 minutes or so.

The lining fabric is poly/cotton, but has some kind of plastic coating. Should be interesting. Wish me luck!