She really doesn't frown all the time.

The white is something random from my stash–I don’t think it’s entirely cotton, but it’s very white.

Also, since my machine can’t make buttonholes (only a few more weeks!), I skipped the pocket for now.

My mom made the sweater. A provided the stain.

I did cut up the shirt sleeves to make bloomers for A to wear under this in the spring, but they turned out awfully big. At some point I’ll try to fix them up.

Before or after consuming an entire handful of sand?

This is one of the first things I’ve made for her that she actually seemed to get excited about–but not as excited as she gets about this green bag twice a week:

Sorry, Stacey.

Refashions–especially ones that require any cleverness in cutting out the new pieces–always make me think of this exchange from Louisa May Alcott’s An Old-Fashioned Girl:

“A little checked silk was sent in our spring bundle from Mrs. Davenport, and Mother said Kit might have it if she could make it do. So I washed it nicely, and we fussed and planned, but it came short by half of one sleeve. I gave it up, but Kit went to work and matched every scrap that was left so neatly that she got out the half sleeve, put it on the under side, and no one was the wiser. How many pieces do you think she put in, Maud?”

“Fifty,” was the wise reply.

“No, only ten, but that was pretty well for a fourteen-year-old dressmaker. You ought to have seen the little witch laugh in her sleeve when any one admired the dress, for she wore it all summer and looked as pretty as a pink in it. Such things are great fun when you get used to them; besides, contriving sharpens your wits, and makes you feel as if you had more hands than most people.”

With SouleMama

Yes, the template shirt is heading straight for the wash, and that's not my drink.

The sleeves were a bit tricky. I opened up the shirt at the shoulders and used the curve to cut out a sleeve. Originally I wanted to use the cuffs, but they’re so big that they ended up looking a bit ridiculous.

This looks a lot more deliberate than it was.

After an emergency run to Jo-Ann’s to pick up some elastic thread, which I’d unaccountably run out of, I was able to finish this pretty quickly. 

Abby is saying "DurDur," her current interpretation of "turtle."

There are no closeups, because the stitching is totally wack. Which is why I’m really looking forward to my birthday next month: I’m getting the joint present of a new sewing machine!!!!

I got a little turned around with the instructions for the ties, so I just winged it.

I’m torn right now between a Babylock Tempo and a Bernina 330. The Bernina is much more expensive, but … it’s a Bernina. 

On the other hand, I’m never going to be much more than a hobby sewist, so I probably don’t need a machine that costs almost a month’s rent.

Abby's Ellen Tree.

On the other other hand, they do last forever. And a month’s rent amortized over forever is, well, practically free.

C is starting to receive law school admissions. Right now it’s looking like Excellent Public School or Fancy Private School. We’ll see! 

• Simplicity 2451
• The Kate Dress
• Oliver and S Ice Cream Dress
• The Peekaboo Bonnet
• Refashioned Skirt

Finished knitting projects (at least, four finished and blogged. It’s possible I left some out): 4

Thoughts:

I haven’t been knitting very much. It’s partly because I’m having trouble committing to projects, and it’s also because I’m not making good use of my knitting time. C almost always drives when we go somewhere, and I never bring my knitting. If I knit every time I was in the car, I’d probably have at least … SIX finished projects!

There’s been a big learning curve with the sewing. I’m getting better at picking fabric, that’s for sure, but I still have a lot to learn.

Resolutions for 2012:

• Buy fabric with a specific project in mind (at least until I learn more about buying fabric)
• Branch out from quilting cottons!
• Focus on one major knitting project at a time
• Spend less time thinking about sewing and knitting and more time actually doing it!
• Don’t let 75% finished projects sit around for six months.

Goals for 2012:

• Knitted: 12
• Sewn: 24, including a handful of items that I actually wear

We have a big, exciting (and scary!) year coming up, so I may get derailed. But creating things is really important to my mental well-being, and I’m going to try to do it more mindfully this year.

It’s designed to add an extra layer of warmth over pajamas and turns out to be perfect for doing just that. 

A few days ago, we set aside the sleep sacks A’s been in for the past year, since they’ve finally gotten undeniably small. I don’t really want to buy more, but she’s not awesome at keeping her new owl blanket on, so this tank top has actually come in handy.

I pieced it pretty quickly and then let it age for a while while I contemplated my next steps. Quilts are a craft I’ve never had too much interest in, since they require a precision that’s not really my forte, and anyway my sewing machine is not really designed for anything more than casual use.

Also binding is my nemesis.

It turns out, my thanks to Made by Rae, that you don’t actually have to attach binding–you can use the backing itself, which I even think I like better than separate binding.

A seems to like it. I’m not totally satisfied with the color choices, patterns, or evenness of the stitching or cutting (which I realize is pretty much everything, for a quilt), but the overall effect is cute.

Also, I figured out that the real hindrance to my crafting is not actually lack of mojo or lack of time. C just bought a new game for his Xbox, and suddenly I have all the time for crafting I could possibly want!

The circles are a little jagged, but if you stand far enough away they don’t look it. Using scissors adeptly is actually much more difficult that it seems.

Also, I finished a sweater but I have no one to take pictures It gets dark before C comes home from work these days, and fat chance of us getting it together in the morning.

Containment

Abby decided to wake up at 6AM this morning, and C. gets to sleep in on Sundays. Bleary-eyed, I pulled out a jar of bulk popcorn that we don’t like, added some pinto beans, and set out some stirring, scooping, and pouring utensils. That’s it. The sheet keeps the majority of the dry goods off the shag area rug, but a good vacuuming is definitely in order.

Equipment: jars, utensils, dry goods (rice, beans, popcorn)

Age: Abby is currently a bit over 16 months, which I think is a perfect age to start activities like this. Depending on the kid, you could start a month or two earlier. With different utensils (even chopsticks, eventually), this sort of activity can work for years.

Parental involvement (1-5): 2. I set things up, showed her how to use the spoon, and then sat back. Younger children will need supervision so they don’t swallow anything and so they don’t pour a jar full of dry goods anywhere you’d rather they didn’t, but this kept her so absorbed that I was able to do some knitting.

Length of Interest: About twenty minutes, which is practically all day in toddler time.

Time to Clean Up: Three minutes, although I didn’t vacuum, just hunted down a few stray beans. Not bad.

The kicker is that it’s much too big for A right now, so big that there’s not even any point in taking pictures, much less hemming it. So instead of cute baby pictures, I have only poorly exposed hanger-on-a-door pictures. I know that it’ll fit her great sometime next year, but after all that work I would like to ooh and aah over an adorable baby in a dress.

Despite the agony, I’m pleased with how it came out. The sleeves went in perfectly, and everything nicely finished and lined up. Oh! Except for the buttons. My machine just doesn’t do buttonholes–it claims to, but it lies–and the zigzag isn’t even enough to manually sew it, so I have no choice but to do it by hand or to use snaps. I think I’m going to go with snaps.

I love a set-in sleeve!

Next up: when I was at Joann’s two weeks ago, Abby went nuts for a bolt of fabric, bright blue covered with stylized owls. I bought it for her and am going to try my hand at quilting. Let’s see what happens!

First, I’m really glad I’ve made so many baby clothes using tutorials. Since tutorials make you do a lot of the work yourself, they end up teaching garment construction really well. This skirt felt very straightforward and came together with no major mistakes (although making the muslin sure helped with that).

side view; check out those pocket!

Second, I used this tutorial to insert the zipper, although this one at Colette also looks good. I’m pretty happy with it. There’s a slight bulge at the bottom left, but it’s not very noticeable and, anyway, I’m really going after process rather than perfection right now. I’m sure the second will be better.

I stole the superhero pose.

Third, the facing. Yikes. I tried machine sewing and it looked terrible; then I tried handsewing and it also looked terrible plus was too difficult, and so I finally decided on a half-handsewing half-machine sewing solution: I used the handwheel to sew the entire thing to make sure that I was stitching right in the ditch.

Fourth, the hem. Well, there’s not much to say, really: handsewed it, and thank goodness for This American Life.

Final result? Honestly, I don’t think it’s going to get much wear–the combination of the print and the shape is maybe a teensy matronly, and I don’t really have anything to wear with it. But the major point was for me to get over my fear of adult garment sewing, so a success on that front!

Next time  with this pattern I’ll use a fabric with more drape and also cut a size smaller. I took this one in half an inch and it’s still a little big. Also, about the facing business: I inspected my similarly shaped Merona skirt to see what it did about the facing business (I mean the business of having to sew it down in a non-noticeable fashion) and realized that the lining took care of it. Merona is my go-to for assessing home-sewn garments: I figure I should be able to sew something at least as adeptly as Target, and in theory I can add the details that distinguish nice clothes that I can’t afford anymore, like contrasting facings and pockets, not to mention decent sewing. I bought a shirt from Target recently and was outraged at how poorly it was sewn.

Anyway, I might try inserting a lining in the next one, especially since I’m planning on wool. It’s got to cool off here sometime, right?