KCW

UPcycled: dad’s sweater into girl’s cardigan (kcwc day 2)

~ hungie gungie ~ 12 Comments

This was a project that I didn’t really know where would end up. I wanted to upgrade one of Dean’s old sweaters into something for Ellery…

I used one of her T-shirts as a pattern and cut the sweater to about the same dimensions… I used the existing sleeves, but took them in a lot and kept the bottom cuff so i didn’t have to worry about hemming… I used the bottom of his sweater (the ribbed part) for the neckline.  Then, I kind of just winged it- cut some strips and left the raw edges and attached them to the edges of the cardigan so I didn’t have to do any sort of hemming….

I intended for the placket on the sweater to be off-center, but you can’t tell very well in that picture.  The felt circle flower is removable- I had it lying around and it was the perfect thing to cover up the akward area where the two sides of the front of the cardigan meet.

This cardigan took about an hour and a lot of swearing.

And the kid that it was meant for didn’t want to try it on.

So….

yeah.

I’ll bribe her with some chocolate chips tomorrow and try again.

Check ya!

-Erin

Corduroy and Knit Top

~ hungie gungie ~ 11 Comments

Here’s my first project for KCWC… A top for my girl.

 It’s like, 80 degrees here in central VA, so I know she’ll get some use out of it for a couple of more weeks before having to wear long sleeves underneath it.

I used an old Urban Outfitters dress of mine to make the yoke and the ruffled capped sleeves… and used the buttons from that dress on the front and the back.  I then used an dark teal blue jersey for the rest. Lace hem tape to add a little somethin’ to the front, and then instead of bothering to hem the bottom, I just sewed it to the raw edge!

It’s such a gorgeous day today.  Off to the park…

-Erin

Kids Clothes Week Challenge fall 2011

~ hungie gungie ~ 7 Comments

Tomorrow begins the start of Kids Clothes Week Challenge a.k.a KCWC over at one of my fave sewing/crafting blogs, Elsie Marley.  Basically, Meg is challenging sewists out there to sew for one hour a day for 7 days to create clothes for their kids.  Then you post your creations to the flickr group- and you can take a look at what everyone else has been up to and get some inspiration.  Meg hosts it twice a year, and I’m excited to hold myself to it this time around!  It’s a good way to get your butt in gear and finish up some projects that have been bunched up on the floor, or ideas that have been looming around your head.  My preschooler needs shirts, so I’ve been getting some fabric cut and ready to go so all I have to do this week is put it all together.  I’m really trying to re-purpose clothing that we have already, so I’ll let you know how that works out for me- one idea I have is turning one of my husband’s sweaters into a little cardigan for Ellery… I hope I can figure it out.  Anyway, if you have kids and you sew, think about taking part in KCWC this week!

One another note, I have made a few dresses for E using one pattern and playing around with it.  Actually, the shirt I have in the works for KCWC is also a version of it… Here’s the first one I did.  I used jersey knit (and cotton for the yoke) and to my surprise it wasn’t hard to sew at all.  All I did was use a stretch needle…

She loves it (but really, what’s not to love… it’s a striking shade of magenta!).

For the second one, I used a soft blue cotton.  I changed the neckline too…

The third one might be my favorite- I love the apple print and the red knit.

I made simple long sleeves and added a little notch in the neckline….

I’ll post my KCWC progress over the next week.  Hope to see some of you there too!

Catch ya on the flipside…

-Erin