Capsule Progress for the Girl

I added a few more pieces to Charlotte’s Red/Black/Gold capsule and even if they aren’t her favorites, they are mine…so she can get over it 😉

The top is an Avenue top from Sew Straight and Gather. It is the top pattern I have that absolutely fits her perfectly (and such a well drafted pattern). I left off the other 2 back bands because she already has a couple other shirts with the same pattern and I didn’t want it to become her uniform. I added vinyl to it, her choice of design. It doesn’t stand out drastically but I think I’m okay with that. I really need to do more HTV on shirts.

The skirt is an Arabella skirt from Rebecca Page. I added a tulle overlay to convince her to love it, despite how much I hate gathering, especially gathering tulle. I cut it to the width of the tulle so it was a little wider than the skirt pieces and would poof more, and cut it to same length as skirt unhemmed so that it would be slightly longer. Aside from all the cursing I did while gathering and pinning it was a quick sew.

The leggings. Oh the leggings. She won’t wear them. I bribed her to put them on for pics, and love them, but she hates them and told me there’s nothing I can do to change her mind. I used stretch lace at the bottom instead of a hem, but that didn’t help either. The top band is some scrap cotton lycra for comfort (the outside of the gold is a little scratchy and I didn’t want it against her skin, the inside is not at all but she doesn’t agree. Despite one of her favorite dresses ever being made from the same exact stuff, and it was scratchy side against her skin…diva…)

I still have a couple more pieces to make her, but she is being resistant so we will have to reach some compromises first. Not resistant to wearing homemade, but very particular about styling choices. I might need to stop letting her watch Project Runway with me….

 

This post contains affiliate links to help fund more fabric, but opinions are always my own.

Finishing up my Maternity Capsule….for now

I used a capsule planner from Harper&Lu to decide how many pieces to make…and decided to stick with it and finish it out! So I already had the 9 new pieces from my P4P/M4M contest entry, plus the 3 more pieces I added afterwards (Mama Isabel, Brassie Joggers, and a Sweet Tee with drawstrings), but according to the plan I still needed to make one flowy woven Emma top from Rebecca Page, one pair of white skinny jeans because I’m horribly impractical sometimes, and a cute cactus print tee from some LA Finch fabric…might as well finish, right?

I have to say, the cactus tee is my favorite shirt ever right now. I used the Favorite Tee pattern (appropriately) from Patterns for Pirates and lengthened it (front and back) by about 8″, then added dark olive drawstrings to cinch it up. It is so comfortable, and I love how the drawstring ruching turned out. Second time around it was so much easier than the first and I was able to fix things I wish I had done on the test version.

The skinny jeans are from some LA Finch jegging fabric and have a maternity over belly band (I used SOS pants and the peg leg maternity add on again). I upcycled a nude undershirt for the band. I do wish I had sized up a tiny bit, and will probably add a charcoal faux leather tuxedo stripe to make them a little less snug…they work and I wore them for date night…but would be more practical with some more give. What do you think?

 

The Emma top is out of some lightweight drapey woven from LA Finch. I fell in love with the colors because it seems to include all the colors in my current capsule, as well as my spring capsule (blush and olive, fyi) so I’m hopeful it will pair with every accessory I own. BONUS, this top is being released in paper format (as opposed to PDF) soon! Awesome to save on printing 🙂

 

So a full maternity wardrobe, done before I hit pregnancy halfway point. Not so shabby! Notice anything I might be missing?

 

This post contains some affiliate links to help fund my sewing obsession….all opinions are always my own.

Movie Night Pajamas!

Sew a Little Seam has had the cutest kids pajamas available for awhile now (FREE with code in their facebook group) and it has now expanded to include women’s sizes as well as some new fun details. I had to make some for us all!!

I used some Girl Charlee buffalo plaid jersey. It’s a little thin and scratchy but I like that it is lightweight for pajamas and it will soften up I’m sure. For my own, I did a maternity mod on the top to help them fit through winter. I just lengthened the front bodice by 8″ by marking my pattern at a point right below the bust (ignore those boxes on the right, that was my lame attempt at pattern matching), sliding the pattern down, then continue to cut. I didn’t grade out or add belly space for front but that’s an option if you need the space 🙂

Next, I cut 1/4″ elastic at 7″, tacked it down at the top pin, stretched it at around 80%, and tacked it at the end. I used a zigzag stitch and sewed it right on the edge, that way when I went to serge up the sides the elastic was completely contained in the stitching and doesn’t itch sensitive baby belly.

 I also chose the front placket scoop neck option to make them nursing friendly post baby. Mine have some metal snaps because the accent fabric I used (thick ribbing) was not cooperating with my automatic button hole. I absolutely love the fit of these. 

The pants are simply amazing; tight, but not too tight, and a yoga waist so belly friendly. I did not modify the pants at all.

For the littlest guy, I did the front placket and yoga waistband as well. Dex got short sleeve shirt without a placket (he never wears shirts to bed anyway….so I made it, but it may never be worn…) and yoga waist pants.

Then I ran out of fabric so Char had to get a nightgown instead of pants and a top. There’s no nightgown option for the pattern right now, but I just added some length starting at waist, grading out for hips, and adding a curved hem. I measured from her shoulder to where I wanted it to hit, added hem length, and cut the pattern to that length. 

I did the front placket for her also and gathered sleeves.

The placket fabric I used was pretty thick and my buttonholer didn’t appreciate that, so I used metal hammer in snaps for mine and plastic kam snaps on the kids. I did hammer the fabric before adding snaps to reduce the bulk and help the snaps be a bit more secure.

We of course watched a movie in them together right away 🙂 Now to figure out how to get more fabric and make Doug a pair, too….