Week #15 Oliver + S Bucket Hat

Challenge: Make Something for a Boy
Project: The Bucket Hat from Oliver + S

I don't know about you, but I ran out and bought the new Oliver + S book, Little Things to Sew, as soon as I could.

It has so many cute projects. I cannot wait to make the cape for Lily Bear. I already have the wool picked out. I just need to get the lining.

However the first project I made from the book was a gift for my cousin Mimi's son Randall. I bought some beautiful fabric at Mama Said Sew.

I have never sewn a boy's project before. . . perfect opportunity to give it a shot.

Lily was my model because Randall lives all the way out in Michigan.

It is reversible: blue with squirrels on one side. . .

  and space ships on the other. 

 I am excited to find some fabric to make one for Lily Bear for the summer, hopefully she will keep her's on longer than she did for the photo shoot. 

It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. As with anything I sew, I can see now how to improve the final product next time I make it.  I may even try to grade the pattern to make one for Elle Bean too.

Results of Catch Up Week #14

I am yet again behind, so lets catch up!

For week #14 I was without the older children as they were visiting family in CA. They had too much fun.

They visited the Getty Museum, went whale watching, played at Knott's Berry Farm, had lunch at the American Girl store, and got spoiled by grandparents and their aunties.

Here is what we did while they were gone.

Lily Bear went to the Denver Museum of Natural and Science to the Real Pirates exhibit. 

She even got to visit up close with a pirate. She looks a little leery don't you think?

It was an amazing exhibit that I recommend to everyone.

Here are the projects I finished.

One mini Kyoto bag. Now Lily Bear can match Princess P and keep all her important swag in it (just kidding, it is going to be a Christmas gift).

Two new T-shirt dresses for Lily Bear.

I really love making dresses and other things from that which we would otherwise throw away. How fashionably frugal. 

One peek-a-boo dress for a friend's daughter: my first ever commissioned sewing. Got paid and everything! I could get use to this. 

                                        

It matches the skirt I made for Lily Bear back in Week #6

I also made three pairs of up-cycled pants for Lily Bear but they are already in the ever mounting laundry pile and were not available for photos.  

I did not get ANY tutorials made, sigh. Here is hoping that we can get some done before the year is up. Oh yeah, and the laundry pile is becoming epic.

We are so glad that the girls are back. Lily Bear missed them terribly. 

Week #14 - While the Girls Are Away, Mama is Going to Play

Challenge: Catch Up on Past Blog Projects!

It is catch up week here at How Do You Do This Again!

The Princess P and Elle Bean are away at Grandma's in CA this week for their spring break. 

(Waiting at DIA for their flight to L.A.)

So I am taking the opportunity, while they are away, to do some catching up. I have had so many projects that I have posted about that I need to do tutorials for. I  have some projects that I need to make a few more of because I have had requests for them (some of them even paid requests!). Why haven't I done them yet? I haven't had any time to do so. The whole working mom thing gets a little crazy a lot of the time. 

So my challenge for the week is to get as many of these projects and tutorials done. And laundry, I have to make a dent in the mountain of laundry that three daughter's can create.

Caveat: Lily Bear is still hanging out with us this week, so I may be overestimating how much I can get done.

(Lily and Daddy playing video games while waiting at the airport. 

Daddy is so proud.)

Week #13 the Kyoto Bag

Challenge: Take a Class/Learn a New Technique

Project: The Kyoto Bag Class at Mama Said Sew

New Skills: French Seam and  Pattern Drafting

As I have mentioned before, aside from a home economics class in junior high, I am pretty much self taught at sewing. I didn't have a mother who sewed so I am missing a lot of those little tips and tricks that most people use intuitively. To try and catch up, I have signed up for some fun, project oriented, sewing classes at my local, cool as heck, sewing store: Mama Said Sew.

This week I took the Blue Light Special class: the Kyoto Bag.

I was so excited because the first thing we did was draft our patterns!

I learned some new tricks (that really should have been obvious) with my favorite tool.

I also learned about a new tool (new to me that is) that I am in love with: a French Curve. Coolest Ruler Ever! I bought one on the spot.

Angela (owner of Mama Said Sew) taught me a trick to pulling the seams so they lay out nicely after turning the bag right side out. You carefully pull the seam with a pin and roll the fabric away from the seam with your fingers. Then iron the seam. She called it picking or pinning the seam, I cannot remember which.

(This is me, with a pin, pulling the seam.)

It looks so much nicer when you do this before top stitching.

I also learned how to make a French seam. It is feels so counterintuitive when sewing this kind of seam for the first time!

Easy bag, fun class, learned a LOT.

The Princess P, Posing with the bag. My little drama queen!

Week #12 The Leaning Tower of T-Shirts

Challenge: Make Something New from an Old T-Shirt

Project: Planetarium Dress for Lily Bear

Skills: Pattern modification/creation, fabric painting.

Week #12's challenge was a shout out to my cousin Mimi. She is, for the most part, following along with my weekly challenges and doing an awesome job of it I might add. 

Since she discovered the ability to sew dresses from t-shirts she has picked up a t-shirt buying compulsion. It has hit epic proportions.

(This is from one shopping trip alone!)

This is an opportunity for her to use up some of her stash, or act as a kick in the pants.

I have a stash as well, and wanted to use up some of my accumulated t-shirts. I didn't take before pictures, (I know, bad Heather) but I used a constellation shirt (glow in the dark no less) that once belonged to my step-father and an old girl scout t-shirt of Elle Bean's.

(I really need to learn how to take better pictures. The dress looks crooked, but I swear it isn't!)

I really like the Sienna dress pattern from Lil Blue Boo that I used in my first blog post, but my baby has a BIG head and the neckline was a really tight fit. I have found if the neckline is big enough, then the dress falls off her shoulders.

So, I modified a pattern and created a neckline that uses elastic.

Elle Bean's green shirt had a few stains I couldn't work around (and I had already started cutting) so I took the opportunity to pull out some fabric paints and experiment with stamping. I managed to make it work, but I want to find some better paints next time.

It is a little big, but it is not that warm here yet. I am making all of Lily Bear's dresses bigger so she can wear them into the summer. We are going to the Griffith Observatory this summer, I think she is going to have to wear this dress. 

I think I like this pattern I kind of made up. I need to learn how to draft so I can make my own patterns!

It was easier taking pictures of her in a bag than it was in a dress; she loves playing with her feet. 

My silly Lily.