I won’t bore you with any details. You’ve heard them all here and here. This time I used a cute cotton knit with buggies for my son and a Malden Mills Polartec 200 pair of pants. Poor kid is skinny and is always cold. These should keep him warm.
Here’s a close-up of that nice rib knit.
I have to figure out what to make next. I’ve been mostly working on knits for me but it may be time to make another KwikSew Dress. I’m thinking of this one.
I told you guys there were a few more sets of these. These sets are for my son. I’ve got one completely done and the other set should be done in a day or so. I just need about 10-15 minutes to finish them up. Instead, I’m posting to my blog.
This set is using a cotton knit I bought from Fabric.com a long time ago. It’s been, uh, aging in my stash for a year or maybe more. Is it not the cutest print? I’m still using the same KwikSew pattern #3234. He is in the M size range so I have many more years to use this pattern as it goes up to an XL size range. That corresponds to a size 12-14 so, like I said, many years.
I’ve gotten a few questions about my knit ribbing. It’s hard to find good quality ribbing for stuff like this. I buy mine from Chez Ami which is a children’s clothing online store. They also sell fabric. They often have pastel colors but I bought some brown, lime green, pink, and turquoise a few years ago. It’s good stuff.
Okay, just one more set of jammies to blog about and then I’ll make something for me!
This is not a hard project at all. From cutting to hand sewing my opening shut, it took less than an hour. I used one of the sweater knits from Fabric.com that came in the mail a few weeks ago. It’s very cute fabric. It’s very sheer so it would have been hard to use as a top. I took pictures along the way in case anyone wants to make their own.
The 72” is negotiable. I happened to have exactly two yards so it was 72” but you could do it with less fabric. I can fold my scarf three times around my head at this length. You could definitely go smaller and only do two wraps around the noggin.
Obviously, I had too much fun while writing this.
The scarves I saw at Nordstroms all had a twist like this.
Does this opening remind you off these creepy little kids toys? I mean, what the shit. They creep me out and I’m an adult. No, really, watch the weird little promo video.
Boy, I look angry in these photos. It’s only because the sun has come out and us Alas-kans can’t handle bright light. We are like moles. Remind me not to wear that shirt in bright sunlight with a black bra. I’m not really selling this scarf with my angry, frowny eyes and pasty skin but it’s really cute!
Here are a few close-ups. I love the fabric.
Okay, here’s the second pair. Next I need to make some for my son. He requested “warm fuzzy” jammies so that is what I will make him.
I used the same KwikSew 3234 pattern for these. I also used the cutest Urban Threads embroidery for the front. The owl print is some thermal knit from Fabric.com.
I stitched the embroidery out on a piece of cotton and left the raw edges. I went around the edges with matching thread about three or four times. She’ll love it.
Here are the matching pants. See my oopsie? When I was cutting this, I didn’t realize I need to move the pattern over a little bit. I ended up with a little mending job before these were ever even worn. It’s not very noticeable.
To fix it, I added a piece of matching fabric to the inside and then used a zigzag stitch from the RS to “darn” the little hole together.
What’s that you say? It has little words on it? What does it say? Oh, right, “pimp.” PIMP??!? Oh shit, I don’t want my girl’s jammies to say pimp on them. Oh wait, they say “primp.” Much better. I admit I did a little oh-my-gawd moment when I thought it said “pimp.”
I know I’ve told you over and over again how much I love this pattern. I’ve made it so many times (here, here, here, here, here, and here to name a few) and the kids love this pattern. They beg for new jammies all the time. Here’s the pair I’ve been sewing lately (with the very happy bunny). This pair, of course, is for one of my twin girls.
I love using the variegated thread on the inside in my loopers.
I always put a loop or tag in the back so they know the back from the front. Not that it matters, really. They’ll put them on backwards if there is a tag or not.
When I serge things that will get a lot of use, I reinforce key seams. On these jammies, I reinforced the underarm seams and the crotch. 
Hmmm, other details. I used 3/4” elastic in the waistband. I applied it first with the 4-thread overlock and then used my coverstitch machine to finish it. The cuffs are ribbed knit light pink to match everything else. I should have a second pair to show you in a few days. The pants are made from a pink striped microfleece and the top is an orange knit from Fabric.com. I made a shirt out of it here.
I often make or improvise my own tools for the sewing room. I figured I show one to you today that I use often. I often try to use embroidery thread on my sewing machine and sometimes doesn’t work because the spools are too big and heavy. My go-to machine (an older Necchi that I loooooooooooooooove) has a thread holder in the vertical position and the embroidery spools don’t spin like say, a smaller Coats and Clark spools would. The thread gets pulled super tight and then usually breaks. So I created this little guy so the thread would be taken off the spool from the top instead. No pulling, no broken threads.
All that it takes to make it is a stout piece of wire (mine is copper) and a wooden block. I drill a hole in the wooden block, push the wire into it and voila. A new sewing tool. This one just sits on top of my machine and pulls the thread up and then I thread the machine like normal. (Pardon the window, we are still in progress with the house remodel)
Here’s the complete picture. I use this guy for a lot of things. I have really large spools of embroidery thread in black and white that don’t fit in my embroidery machine. I do the same thing except, I put the wire/wood do-hicky in my thread rack above the machine. It does the same thing there.
Like I said in my last post, I’ve been making jammies for little people. I used a pattern from Urban Threads called Happy Bunny. It’s cute isn’t it? They have the best embroidery over there don’t they? I thought I’d show you how I use my zipper foot to get really accurate results on stitching around said bunny. I first embroidery this design on wool felt. Now I’m attaching it to the front of the shirt.
Cute, eh? This is a very happy bunny. I pin the crap out of it knowing it’ll shift around while I’m going around it with the sewing machine. When you pin stuff like this, make sure you pin it horizontally as well as vertically. That way, it can’t shift in any direction.
I should be done with the whole outfit in a day or two to show you.
I have a weird ass kitchen window and I thought you crafty/creative ladies could help me out with what to do here. My house was born in 1981 and so it’s bit dated. It has VERY WHITE walls, dark trim, and a kitchen with oak cabinets (*shudder). I really have to level with you here. For those of you who are long time readers, you should already know I can get shit done when I need to. But, I have no creativity. None. At. All. Really. I could look at a picture and copy it. I can embellish with the best of them but only as long as I have a photo to copy. I’m horrible at coming up with anything on my own. Hence my problem here. I recently bought this house and am trying to figure out how to un-80’s-fy it. We are starting by painting. The walls will be tan and the trim will be painted white. The brass fixtures (*shudder again) will go. The almond outlet covers will go. Here’s a basic layout of my house. It’s very poorly drawn. I did it freehand in Paint.net. It would have looked better if I had just drawn it with a pencil and taken a picture of it. Anyhoo, I’ve got this window that opens between the kitchen and the main living area. To put it bluntly, it’s just weird. People always look at it with this strange look on their faces when they first come to my house. It’s in a weird spot and it’s just plain weird to have it there.
I was going to add “Front door” to my drawing but forgot. Oopsie. It’s the darker squiggly mark at the bottom of the picture.
When I moved in, they had a fabric curtain that hung on the kitchen side of the window to cover the back of the microwave. It sort of looked like this. Still weird.
I’ve tried to take pictures from far back in the room so you can see just how weird it is. I hung wine glasses in the top and I like that. The other shelves always look cluttered though and I’m not sure that’s the first thing I want people to see when they walk in my house.
Do I add a full length curtain? Still weird.
Do I hang a large piece of art over it? It’s a good option but it’s in a weird place in the room for a large piece of art. I should also mention the ceilings in this room are tall, like 20’ tall in this particular spot. Having something so close to the floor with just a tall space seems weird.
This is just to give you a idea how the new wall paint and trim will look. Although it kind of presents a problem. The other side is in the kitchen with all the oak cabinets. I can’t really have white trim and oak shelves on one side and oak cabinets on the other side. The shelves would have to be half white (to match the outside wall) and oak (to match the kitchen).
This is what it looks like now. I added to picasso painting a long time ago to be funny. It makes me laugh anyway. You can see the hated oak cabinets through the window.
Here’s what it looks like from the kitchen side. Here you can see the cabinets. Not only are they the 80s oak cabinets but they are the oak cabinets with the arch on the top. Ugh! I need to figure out what to do there too. I don’t want an expensive remodel but I might try painting them or something. That’s another project for another day. Today, I want to figure out what to do with this weird opening.
If I can figure something out, I think I’d like to keep the area somewhat open. It actually lets quite a bit of light in the kitchen (the other side faces the door and it’s facing south) and I like to be able to peek out of it when someone is at the door.
So? Ladies? Any thoughts? Ideas??
