Oh, Habitual "Simple" Kimono, how I love to hate and hate to love you!
These two are a matching set for a friend's two sons - the smallest of whom is only three weeks old, and as big as my munchkin was at birth. They're the fourth and fifth versions of this pattern that I've made, and I've come to the point where I've realised two things;
- Whilst binding on the edges looks really awesome, it's nasty to sew without pressing and being very, very careful you've got it matched up on either side of the fabric. Inevitably, I end up missing the edge on the underside. (is there some trick I have not discovered?)
- My son is just too tiny for this massive neckline! Whilst a size may fit him length-wise, the neck gapes really badly. The kimono I made him at six months sits strangely along the bottom as it tries to reach round his body, but the neck fits perfectly, as an example.
So I think some pattern tweaking is in order, when I next feel the need to make another of these (and I do love them; it's so hard to find interesting, creative clothing for little boys that doesn't consist of insane amounts of tailoring and I'm not about to try getting an 18 month old to stand still for a fitting!). necessity is the mother of invention, after all.
Case in point; I didn't have enough of the gorgeous forest green or pale blue bindings to completely do each of the kimonos, so I took a multicoloured approach. Tiny boy's kimono is trimmed in a darker blue than the background of the fabric, with brown and green for the side-ties that matches some of the cars in the print. Big boy's kimono is trimmed in the forest green his mother and I both love on our boys, with orange side-ties, that again goes with the print on the fabric - this one's not an exact match, but less disparity than the photos suggest. My camera and the light levels just were not happy with me this morning!
These are so beautiful! They are ALL SO beautiful. Had another day of trying to find clothes for Elliot and again wished that I could sew! What you have said in a previous post about high school sewing experiences scarring for life certainly rings true for me. I am, as always, in awe of and inspired by your many talents :)
ReplyDeleteAmee xx
So cute!! I really like the multicolored bindings. I have a hard time always catching the back side of handmade bindings, too. I don't think I leave enough overlap on the underside, but I think commercial bindings often have too much. I'm not sure the answer to that. I always end up slipstitching little openings that I missed on the underside. It isn't pretty.
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by my blog and for your comment. I really appreciated it, and I hope your 4790 dress goes well. Email me if I can help with it.
Your fabric is super cute ! I agree with the previous post, the multicolored bindings are really a plus. I did my own binding for this project so maybe it was larger than the commercial one but I didn't have a hard time sewing it on (except on the collar..). As for the fitting, I did a 2T for Simon, he was a bit smaller but grew into it and now it fits nice. I think there's something about the inside tie that makes it fit nice. (from Doo ramone)
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