Fancy Pants for KCW

It's Kid's Clothes Week again! The challenge during KCW is to sew for an hour a day and it's amazing to see how much some ambitious people accomplish during this one week.

I am sad to not be able to sew along for KCW each day because I'm busy making adult-sized clothes (Knight Hoodies, to be exact). But I couldn't resist doing a little kids' sewing. I've been wanting to make the Fancy Pants Leggings from Titchy Threads for quite a while and finally made some for my boys!

KCW Day 6...Vikings Costume and Vests

I thought I had the kids' costumes all finished...but after seeing the size of the pants with the Vikings costume Elliott planned to wear, I knew I had to whip up one more thing for Halloween.

Elliott has worn his Minnesota Vikings football costume each of the past 3 years at least once. We go to several Halloween events so sometimes the kids get to try out other costumes, and the Vikings player has always been a favorite. The pants for the uniform are probably a size 3T...not exactly right for a 7 year old!

The shirt still fit, though. Maybe it was designed to go over some shoulder pads or something?? For Kid's Clothes Week I cut a pair of white leggings for Elliott in a size 7 and made them extra short. Then I added a purple and yellow stripe down each leg to mirror the stripe layout on the jersey. (although when my husband, a true Vikings fan, saw the pants he pointed out that the stripes weren't like the 'real' uniforms...oh well)

The pants have a simple elastic waist and then I made a cuff out of purple fabric to be worn above his socks to get the whole effect like the football players with their fancy socks. :)

Elliott loves it and it's always fun to see the reaction people have to his costume. Sometimes he gets extra candy (from fellow Vikings fans), but more often than not people give him a hard time about his team.

The other two things I whipped up for KCW were actually at the request of Emma's Kindergarten teacher. She thought it would be fun to have a 'helper of the day vest' for the student acting as the classroom's special helper. She wanted the boys' vest to be camouflage and then to have a girl version as well. Emma was thrilled when I let her go to the fabric store with me and choose the vest fabric. It's definitely not what I would have chosen, but I won't ever have to be the one to wear it. Ha!

I quickly self drafted a pattern and then altered it to be shorter than originally planned because I only had 12 inch zippers on hand. Oops. They turned out pretty cute though and now the teacher is working on a badge or patch of some kind that says 'Helper of the Day.'

The biggest challenge was to make a vest that would fit the variety of sizes that Kindergartners can be. So this vest fits Elliott (a first grader on the big/tall side) and also fits Emma (one of the most petite kids in Kindergarten).

I made a pattern for this vest as I cut it since I had to sew two of them and didn't want to re-figure it out the second time. If anyone is interested in making a vest like this just leave a comment and I'll scan the pattern and post it along with a few steps in a mini-tutorial.

KCW Day 5...Cutie Kate Dress

If you've followed my blog for very long, you know about my love for Violette Field Threads and their amazing patterns! When they released the Kate Dress I immediately snatched it up and purchased fabric for it. And then...it sat while other projects got finished instead.

One of my goals for Kid's Clothes Week was to finish this dress. I'm so glad I finally got to it and my 4 year old is in love with her new dress. She won't take it off and that's always a good sign!

I love the combination of fabrics and all the textures I was able to sneak into this dress. The flannel and velour feel super soft and give a nice heavy weight, perfect for cooler temps. At the back of the dress there's supposed to be a buttonhole so the straps are adjustable but I just sewed them down because I haven't gotten a new machine yet and the buttonhole function on mine still doesn't work. (grrrrr)

I was thrilled to get out Isa's Grace & Lace Mini Mollies to go with this dress. Grace & Lace was started by the amazing Melissa and you just have to read about the story of this company. I've gotten to know Melissa a little bit over the years through a mutual friend and her company is almost 2 years old now! Her products are seriously amazing and you must.get.some!!! I have some Mollies for myself and my girls and love giving them as gifts to new moms, too. I also can't wait to get my hands on one of her amazing scarves! I'm planning on doing some sewing for myself soon and am purposefully choosing fabric to go with one of these beauties.

This is really the first time I've participated in KCW and I have 3 other things made. The hardest part is making AND blogging about them during the same week. But stay tuned to see my son's Minnesota Vikings costume and some other fun projects I've been able to knock out this week. Happy sewing!

Darling Double Peter Pan Collar: a how to

It's Day 1 of Kids Clothes Week! Are you playing along by sewing for an hour a day for your child? I have several projects I'd like to do...we'll just have to see how much I can actually get done! (I'm in the middle of Christmas projects, making curtains, and designing patterns, all of which are distracting me!)

I'm excited to share my fall version of Debbie's Birthday Dress by Sew Pony Vintage. The pattern is on sale for only $5 right now and it's a definite 'must-have' pattern! It went together so quickly, was super easy to sew, and is darling!!

I sewed the dress up a week or so ago but had to finish it up today and take pictures of it. If you follow me on Instagram you saw a sneak peek of this dress before it was finished.

I fell in love with this orange linen fabric and the lining fabric is to-die-for! (I made another project out of it yesterday that I'm dying to show you!!) I also chose TWO different colors of linen because I wanted to try a double peter pan collar. It was easy-peasy. Here's how to do it:

1. Cut out your collar pattern piece and place it on a plain sheet of paper.
2. Using a seam gauge or ruler, measure out how much bigger you want the second collar to be and make marks all the way around your pattern piece. (I made mine 3/4" bigger all the way around.)

3. Connect your marks all the way around and you now have a new pattern piece to use for cutting your fabric.
4. Follow the pattern instructions to sew your collar, you'll just have two that will be together as you sew.
Here's a little tip: I would recommend using a lighter weight interfacing if you are doing a double collar so it's not quite so thick. I used mid-weight interfacing (yep...I was lazy and didn't want to go to the store to get lightweight so I used what I had on hand) and the collar sticks out a bit more than I'd like it to. When pressed well it's not a big deal, but lightweight would be a better choice for this double collar.

When I first put the dress on my daughter, Isa, I didn't love it because it SCREAMED Thanksgiving to me! A pilgrim-ish dress is not what I was going for! So I asked Isa to model it for the rest of the family to see what they thought. They all thought the same thing. I almost cut it apart and reworked it...but then I remembered this cream sweater in the girls' closet from last year and knew it would be the perfect complement to the dress.

The orange is still very reminiscent of Thanksgiving...but that's ok in fall, right? Plus, it gave me a chance to let her show off a free pattern I'll be sharing in a week or two for this felt turkey. Bring on Thanksgiving!