Matching kimonos

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;

1. 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?)
   
   
2. 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!

Note to my friends with Very Small People

One ought never comment that you need new clothes for your child in my hearing, when I have a gap in my scheduled sewing projects.

Well, unless you want several new pairs of shorts for said Small People!

Silly Frilly hat

Not so much a hit.

Sew Simple Shrug

I made myself one of these from Sew Hip issue 5. My friend Jodie was very taken with it, and asked me to get her some nice fabric at the Stitches & Craft Show, for her own version - which we finally both found the time to make today!

She hasn't sewn since she was fourteen, and corralled into a home ec classroom with a bunch of machines from the age of dinosaurs. Did anyone have a good experience with those metallic behemoths? All I remember mine doing was constantly eating its own bobbin, making snarls I simply could not unravel, that often meant my project had to be cut up, in order to pry the fabric from the machine's maw.
Like me, Jodie says she has spent years thinking she hates sewing and sewing machines, because of those early experiences.

But I promised this was a REALLY easy project, and the results would be fabulous (especially with these fabrics, yum!). So I soothed my friend's nervousness, demonstrated how lovely my sleek, modern machine is, and watched carefully as she sewed her first machine project since the twenty years ago apron.

I feel so cheerful about the result; look at that big smile! She did it! And it looks fab. I'm so proud of her.

Jodie is now the second friend I have introduced to the joys of sewing useful things with the aid of a machine. My first 'student' made her daughter a bag with my help, and got her own sewing machine for her last birthday. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she makes.

Summery top

I never feel as motivated to make things for myself as for others, but after making my Bug with this bright flowered fabric, I really wanted to make something for myself out of it - and then I could not resist this sweet pattern over at Sew Mama, Sew. I was a bit nervous because I'm built rather differently to the models featured, so tunics like this tend to look rather maternity when I put them on. But I left off the ruffle (think Miss Piggy - and not in a good way), and I'm actually happier with the result than I expected.

Seriously, how can you resist this spring-like fabric combo?

(And yes, in case you're wondering, that IS a row of white around the bottom of the top that you can see. Hack and Slash Seamster that I am, I used the selvedge as my bottom edge. Lazy is the new cool, didn't you know?)

Green Apple tunic

Began life as a woman's size small v-neck fitted top. Found in a $2 bin at JayJays. I didn't get a 'before' picture because I didn't think ahead.

The fabric reminds me of my friend Ez.

And yes, this is my son pulling everything out of his drawers. One of his favourite activities, at the moment.

Habitual Kimono top

Before I started working on my latest I sewed up a little something for my own little boy, in the past fortnight. I've been wanting to try the Habitual Kimono top pattern for ages but couldn't seem to kick myself into gear. I was very afraid of the bias binding, and having to potentially make my own. Then I found some green bias-binding in an op-shop for 50 cents and remembered the froggy fabric I picked up on sale several moons ago. I'd bought it with no particular project in mind, under the influence of fabric lust.
This was because fabric is kind of like my crack, and Spotlight is my dealer. I mean this in that I casually run into Spotlight on the street and mean to "just say hi", thinking it would be rude to pretend we didn't know each other. But after spending longer in each others' company than I ever intended, I inevitably stumble home with a hit, feeling wretchedly guilty and strangely elated at the same time. The long-suffering Wicked Fairy.... is not so long-suffering actually. He's usually egging me on in my fabric lustiness, throwing money at me and cheering me to the registers.

ANYWAY

I'd seen this fabric, bought a swatch and put it in a corner until inspiration struck. It was super cute - here it is in close up, so you can see for yourself.

I stuffed up a little, and made the crossover parts as wide as the back, so the whole thing is a little big on my boy. This was due to the fact that I am very impatient and tend to skim-read instructions until I feel I have the jist of things, and then go to. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify my mistakes in version two! And in the meantime, version one is still EXTREMELY cute.
See what I mean?

Little Piggy tunic

I hate most little boys' clothes in shops.
I hate the restricted colour palettes. I hate the lack of cute prints. I hate the boring lack of imagination in the basic design and shape. I hate graffiti-esque designs. I hate attitude slogans that proclaim your child is violent, materialistic, misogynist, or aspiring to be any and all of these things.
So I'm working on making my son some of his own wardrobe. To mix things up a little.


It's a start.