Jalie 3241 - X-back Gymnastics Leotard

I used view C, the one with the little legs.

 

I’m sorry but how freaking cute is this??? Some little person is starting gymnastics and needs gymnastics leotards. Where, oh where can we find one?? Ssssssqqqqueeeeeeeeeeee. Shiny, sparkly, flashy, oh ME, ME, pick ME! Needless to say, Little Person is happy.

 

This one is fitting perfectly but I’m going to make her one in the next size soon. It’s a little snug but there is actually room since it’s so stretchy. I love, love, love the x-back. This would make fantastic swimsuits too. Well, with the regular leg openings. It was, I know I’m repeating myself here, so nice to have a machine for overlocking and a machine for coverstitch! See that little coverstitched CB opening? You have to do that (they recommend zigzagging) before you put on the straps.

 

Practicing our moves.

 

For the CB and side seams, I did a 4-thread overlock stitch and a zigzag stitch because I know how hard little kids pull on their swimsuits. The swimsuit seams seem to bust right at CB about mid-back because they pull up the swimsuits by the top and step on the CB and yank. Hopefully this will reinforce it a little bit.

 

This pattern comes with the lining panel.

 

Faux sequin, silver, shiny fabric? Check. I used my coverstitch machine for the shiny knit and I was pleasantly surprised it did a good job. A lot of time the shiny stuff seems to “stick” to the bottom of the foot.

 

I have a ton of these tongue-out-of-mouth photos. Goofball.

 

 

She wouldn’t take it off all night and then she wanted to sleep in it. Not happening.

 

Next up? I think long underwear for four kids. Ski season is upon us. Although, right now it’s in the high 30s and snow is melting like crazy.

Do These Pants Make my Butt Look Loud? (Fehr Trade running pants)

I was so excited when Melissa (of Fehr Trade) asked me to test out her two workout patterns. If you’ve glanced at my blog, you know I’m an avid exerciser. What runner doesn’t love hideously bright running tights? It goes like this when you are running long distances:

Me (in my head): Oh, my gawd, this is so hard. Why do I sign up for these stupid races? Maybe I’ll walk after that water station? Maybe that’ll be okay? Oh gawd, this is hard. Maybe I’ll walk. It’ll be okay, right? Holy crap! Look at my pants! Those are funny! Har, har, har. I’m like a hideously bright fish in this race. Fish don’t WALK! Hee hee. Funny pants . . . .

I swear these types of conversations go through my brain when I’m racing and hitting a low point. Maybe I’m the only one.

But really, is this not a great pattern? Now I can make 100 bright tights.



These have a contrast “swoop” that goes from the back and circles the leg to the front. Perfect to add something bright. The main fabric is from San Diego.



Brrrrr.



I’m smaller than the XS but not by too much (Melissa added an XXS!!! AWESOME!). That just means I cut a little extra off the side seams. But, duh Dawn, that makes the swoops hard to match. Next time, I’ll pull the extra out of CB. Oh, and there is a hidden pocket I didn’t photograph. It’s as CB, and you can the topstitching lines on the rear picture in the middle. It’s large enough to hold an iPhone and some yummy Gu (Melissa likes Peanut Butter which I consider the Abomination of Gu).



I used mostly a 4-thread overlock for these pants. Can I tell you how much I LOVE having an overlocker and coverstitcher set up. I don’t have to switch over the machine each time. It’s nice. I used the 3-thread flatlock stitch for the CF, CB, and inside leg seams. This is the CF. I meant to have the ladder side of the stitch on the inside but did RST like normal. I used variegated thread because it blends into the tights so well.



I forgot you have to WST to get it to look like this. This CB.




Here’s the inside where the seams meet. This is probably TMI, but I hate the seams on running pants in this area. I’m hoping that these flat seams will be less annoying to me. I’ll keep you updated on how the stitches hold up and all that.



Fun!




For right now, I’ll be wearing these with warm pants underneath. Come summer though, watch out world! Oh, and I have the workout top too. I need to show you guys that one!

Tis the Season

All three of my girlie-girls have gone crazy over my pencil case where I store my doodling stuff. As a Christmas gift, I made them each their own pouch, stocked it with fun pens, pencils, and markers, and found nice drawing pads. The drawing pad in the background shows off the famous Hokusai print. I bought the sketch books at Barnes and Noble for $5.99.

 

I will youngest daughter #3 the smaller purple notebook. She is really obsessed with writing out her name and her letters. Her notebook has lines in it. The other two girlies will get blank pages.

 

I used the same pattern as I used on my case. They turned out pretty cute I think. I love the quilting on them.

 

I love the embroidery too.

 

Here’s a size comparison for you guys. Mine is the big one. Notice that the fabric on the smaller ones looks a lot like gray wool? Notice some of it is topstitched? Hmmmm. I got my revenge on that stupid gray skirt, yes, I did. Mwaaaa haaaa haaa.

 

Here’s what I plan to put in the little pouches. Papermate should be sponsoring my buying habits.

 

I love these thick mechanical pencils. They are 1.3mm and are easy to use when I am doodling and sketching. The kids love them because they are really unbreakable.

 

I love these pens in general.

 

And these Inkjoy pens writes smooth and they come in vibrant, fun colors.

 

I think all the girls will love them. I’ll let you know.

Polartec Powerstretch Hardface Fleece + Jalie 2679

I’m not done working on my jacket but I just wanted to share what I’ve been working on lately. I decided to make myself a cozy jacket from Jalie 2679. I’ve made this jacket a few times before and it’s always a winner. I wish Jalie would just start looking to Athleta for inspiration (why can’t they make me a pattern for these pants? or these?) and make some patterns for their fantastic clothing. I’ve never bought anything from Athleta but I love their stuff. So bright, so fun, so functional! Anyway, I figured this pattern would be the perfect thing for this new fabric I have. I’m going to make the main body out of the charcoal gray and the arms will be the Nike Dri-Fit fabric in black.

I also put some of this fabric up in the Etsy store for ya’ll. You guys bought up my Nike Dri-Fit and Dri-Fit Pants material in a few hours. I did talk to my supplier and once I know the the two new bolts are on their way to me (yes, I said two more bolts!!!) I will sell my stock of that black fabric. That’ll take a day or two though. I will let you know if it happens.

Nike Dri-Fit and Polartec - Whoa.

I may not share any of this with you people. I bought two bolts of Nike Dri-Fit knit fabric and one bolt of Polartec Powerstretch Hardface. It’s hard to photograph black fabric. I’ll give you guys more details in the next few days but I want to see how much I want to keep first.

Nike Dri-Fit Hexagons in Anthracite (a very dark gray).

 

A Nike Dri-Fit Brush-Back Knit in black. This is my favorite. It’s soft like the softest suede on the inside. It’s thicker weight and will be perfect for running pants. It’s not Lycra-shiny either.

 

This is Polartec Powerstretch Hardface. It’s fabric leftover from these Mountain Hardware jackets. It’s a dark gray with black lines printed on the top of it. The inside is a fleece. It’s lightweight and thin but still has water repellency.

This is a sampling of some of the colors I could have bought.

 

I almost bought a bolt of this color too.

 

This is the color I have.

 

I will figure out what I want to sell and what I want to keep. I might keep all but five yards or so of the brush-backed fleece. It’s yummy. I will make a post showing the fiber content, percent stretch, and all that other good stuff in a few days. I’ll also try to figure out rough estimates for shipping costs.

Anyone interested before I start running numbers?

CAbi party

Anyone been to one? It's a lot like a Pampered Chef party or one of the Partylite candle parties. You go to a friends house and the consultant gives you a schpeel about how great the products is and then you get to browse and buy the products. I normally try to avoid these types of parties because I think most of them are a rip-off and then I feel guilty for not buying. CAbi is a clothing line that they bring to your house. So I just had to go and snoop shop. I would say their target audience is the 30-45 year old working woman. The really push the "you're a strong, healthy, fit woman, why shouldn't you look good" reason to buy clothing. I was impressed by their pant fit. They fit my athletic butt but did not gap on my waist. They had vanity sizeing going in spades. I am small but I'm no size 0. The pants I tryed on were either a size 0 or 2. Most of my girlfriends where in a 4, 6, and 8 and felt great about it. Of course they were realistic about it too and realized that the sizing may have been a tad misleading. I tried to find some of the cute clothing on their website but they don't have much up. They want you to book a party to see all the stuff they've got. Of course.










I am so knocking off their trouser jean pants. I just bought 3 different jean fabrics from Fabric.com hoping to get one that is a thinner weight like the trouser jean I saw. They are having a sale on denim that ends tonight!! Here are two out of the three. I just sorta picked because there are so many different kinds.



I scanned these out of my pamphlet. The prices seemed about like Nordstroms to me. I would never pay $89 for their trouser jean but I could see people going to Norstroms and totally paying that much. I'm too cheap. Click for a larger picture with prices. You can see my notes.


I really like this red, black, and yellow blazer too. Top right. The trouser jean is bottom left and I made it bigger in the next picture. Do you see the high-waisted little black skirt? Bottom right? $118. I could make that in an afternoon and $25 in materials.


I love the welt pocket detail on the front. I also love that all their pockets are functional but stitched closed. That way, if you want the smooth fit you can leave them stitched shut but you can open them too.