Tee time!

A few months ago, Jen from Stitch Simple invited me to participate in the Great Knit Fabric Experiment. Just from the name I could tell the challenge was right up my alley! Participants were provided with wonderful organic knit fabric from Harmony Art and asked to come up with a tutorial. I decided to focus my "research" on designing the perfect dolly T-shirt...something stylish, great fitting, and most importantly EASY TO SEW!




I selected the lime green interlock for my project. I have a bin full of knits, and I have to say this is some of the nicest stuff I have ever worked with. It is thick and soft, and the color is vibrant...just gorgeous. And since it came to me from Stitch Simple, it was prewashed and ready to sew - YAY! I couldn't have asked for a better substrate :)!

Below are a few pictures from my experiment...



Stitching (with a little help from a secret weapon ;) )




Adding the neckband (secret weapon at work again)




Almost finished

...and here is the end result!



Front View




Back View




Short Sleeved Version




If you are new to sewing with knits, doll clothes are a great starting point. They require so little fabric, but you still get to go through all the steps involved in constructing a knit garment.

The free doll T-shirt pattern and detailed sewing instructions can be downloaded here.

Click on the image below for more Great Knit Fabric Experiment tutorials!

Orange you glad???

The weekend is almost here! Come back on Monday for a special freebie!

Romper Room

I'm happy to announce that my newest pattern, Reversible Rompers, is now available on YouCanMakeThis.Com! I've gotten so many requests for this pattern, and I really wish I had tackled it years ago. When Louie was little, he pretty much lived in rompers. They were just so cute and classic, and comfy to boot. When he hit about 3T, they became almost impossible to find. Why do clothing manufacturers want kids to grow up so quickly? Anyway, now that he is a big 6 year old kindergartener, he considers himself past the romper stage (though size-wise, he would have fit in the 5T, and I was very very very tempted). Luckily, I have some great friends with little ones (and awesome photography skills :) )!



This romper is totally reversible, so you get two outfits for your effort. The cutie above is donning a St. Patrick's romper (no pinching) that doubles as an Easter outfit!




The St. Pat's side is made of a stripey cotton and features this applique from SWAK embroidery. The Easter side is made from soft baby wale corduroy, and the wool felt chick applique is also from SWAK.

The romper can be made in a range of lengths from full-length to longish shorts length. This little hunk is anything but crabby in his short-alls! I used a boyish homespun fabric and this great applique on one side...


...and this awesome crab fabric on the reverse. I scored the fabric (which was exactly what I had in mind) at Stitches Etc. in Timonium MD. They have the most amazing selection of novelty fabric I have ever seen in one spot, and it is so well organized. How lucky am I that they are just a few miles from my house?




Ok, more rompers!!! This tough little pirate is wearing a jon-jon made from Sis Boom Basics Fabric, and this awesome applique...




And the reverse side features a fun beachy scene, also from Stitches etc! All of the rompers show above have snappable inseams for easy diaper changes. I included instructions for both snap tape and press-on snaps, but there are also instructions for sewn inseams.



The eBook comes with a bonus supplement that includes instructions for adding darling ruffles AND patterns for cute little dolly rompers!



Even with the ruffles, the romper is completely reversible!



There separate patterns for 18" girl dolls and 15" baby dolls. I just love American Girl Julie in her hip paisley romper!

A huge thank you to my testers!!! They gave me so much great feedback that allowed me to tweak the fit and fine tune the instructions. Their adorable creations can be seen on the "I made this" slideshow on the Reversible Romper product page on YouCanMakeThis.com.

Moving down and folding up

The sewing room move I mentioned in my last post is 99% complete. There was so much lifting, tossing, organizing, etc. to be done, but I kept reminding myself it was way easier than moving an entire household, and that ultimately I would be so much happier and productive.



I moved the living room furniture over to one side of the room, and it is now so cozy and inviting. Everyone is using the room these days - my husband has been snuggling up on the sofa and reading in the early a.m., and Louie is playing Legos on the rug as I write.




Above is the work side of the room. So far I really love it...much more room to move about, and I love being more in the center of activity as opposed to being cordoned off upstairs. It is so nice having the computers and sewing machines (not to mention all of my supplies) in the same place.




I still have lots of fabric in storage, so I'm trying to fold it neatly so it will all fit (and look pretty) in my bookcases. I'm usually the world's messiest folder, so I'm trying something new to keep my folds nice and consistent. When I worked at the Gap 20 years ago, we used plexiglass folding boards to keep the pocket tees and sweatshirts precisely folded so that they would stack perfectly no matter the size. Here is a great article about folding-obsessed former Gapsters.

Borrowing a bit on that concept, I am using pieces of cardstock as folding templates. The standard 8.5 x 11" size is the perfect fit with 45" wide fabric (which is mostly what I own). For smaller cuts of fabric (less than a yard), I've been using a half sheet (4.25 x 11").




I start out with the fabric folded in half with the selvage edges together (which conveniently happens to be the way it comes off the bolt). I start out with the cardstock at one corner with a short end in line with the selvage edge.



Then I just start folding towards the other cut end of the fabric.




I flip, flip, flip as many times as needed to accommodate the yardage.




Once it is fully folded, I bring the selvage edge to meet the original folded edge. This gives me a nice tight package that fits right in my bookshelf. I just leave the cardstock in place, which seems to give some nice stability and keeps my stacks from collapsing when I pull fabrics in and out. It is pretty simplistic, I know, but it will be something I can maintain as I get back into hyperfocused pattern making mode!