Banding the Bottom is All the Rage!

I am so excited to share today's tutorial with you! It is very easy and oh so cute!  I used sweatshirt fleece that I found on sale at the local fabric store and the All the Rage Raglan pattern.

For little girls I love the longer length cutting line (I did the 13" cutting line on the size 1) with the banded bottom for a cozy tunic look.  If I was sewing for a boy I would probably choose a more hip length.

To start with you will cut both your front and back pieces and the sleeves. for the banded bottom you will cut 2 band pieces each a couple to several inches shorter than the width of the pattern piece based on the stretch of you fabric. I ended up doing 2-3 inches shorter since when I stretched my band pieces fully they just met the ends of the front and back pattern piece.

For the sleeve bands you will cut 2 on the fold and inch or so shorter than the sleeve piece (folded). I only did an inch shorter - I could have done less and had them come in more, but working with a size 1 the sleeve is already quite narrow.

Sew the hem bands together - right sides together. Now fold the hem band piece in half so you will have the good fabric showing on either side. Attach it to the bottom of the shirt. I started by pinning the side seams of the shirt and the side seams of the hemband.  Now you will have to pull the band but not the shirt and stretch and pin. You will also have to stretch it a bit as you sew it (since that is a 2 hand job I don't have any pics - oops). I find it easiest to sew the hemband on with a basting stitch and then taking it to the serger to finish (or zigzagging the edges if you don't have a seger)

You will follow the same steps for attaching the sleeve bands to the sleeves. 

and all done!

Now for a little bonus:

Getting the artwork onto the shirt! 

I use this wax transfer paper stuff that you can pick up at the fabric store

I pinned my picture at the top and then slid the paper underneath it, dark side down. Now you trace over it with a dull pencil, you may need to push hard if you use a thicker fabric like I did.  

Then get our your fabric markers and draw on top! I will be honest, I love the colour range this marker set has, but I found the tips to wide for getting detailed, which is my preferred art/drawing style. 

As you can see in the below picture - these markers were MUCH to wide for doing a tidy speech heart

I just could not handle the sloppy look of that speech bubble and so I cut a heart out of the sweatshirt fleece and went for the good ol' reliable extra fine point sharpie. Wrote the words on, stitched the heart on and then for a bit of fun I did a simple backstitch with embroidery thread by hand around the heart. 

Much MUCH better!

And here is the full view of the banded all the rage raglan! I am in love with it and my youngest valentine is ready for February! (but not SO holiday themed she can't wear this right though until summer!)

The All the Rage Raglan pattern has many more options to it, hoods, mock sleeves, a section on upcycling, and even 15" and 18" doll pattern versions! 

Will you be making a themed outfit for Valentine's day? 

A Tutorial for the Devon & Leighanna ! Also Quilting Isn't Funny Winner!

Today we have a great tutorial (ish) for a few simple changes you can make to your Devon and Leighanna patterns! 

BUT, first some business! Do you remember the giveaway we held for The Bitchy Stitcher's book: Quilting Isn't Funny a while back?  

If you are named Helen and blog at Time for Mimi please PLEASE email us!!!! 

jeanine@scientificseamstress.com

 Helen said...

Funny? Really? Quilting isn't funny at all. It's a most-serious thing. There is to be no fun, no joviality, no reason to want to go to your sewing space.

LOL...of course, sewing is many things. It's FUN, it's REWARDING, it's FRUSTRATING, it's PLEASURABLE! And, reading Megan's quips and silliness about quilting makes it SO MUCH more.

I just want one of her ironing board covers...would like to have that hunk looking up at me while I'm pressing my fabrics!!!

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(Oh, I can hardly wait for the weather to accommodate outdoor pictures again!)

Now back to business, the tutorials! Let the fun change ups begin!!!

For making a button loop you follow the drawstring tutorial but just do it on a shorter scale. I did 5 inches long and as you can see I had plenty of extra 

1. Sew the Neckline facing as per the directions but do a basting stitch where the loop will go in.  
2. Sew all around as per the instructions WITHOUT the loop in place!
3. Then you unpick your basting stitches and cut the slit.

Now you will be putting the loop in place.

• To figure out where you will place the loop figure out where the casing will be folded over to and put it in the spot where the drawstring would be as shown in the picture below.
• To determine loop length I picked out my button and placed the loop in and folded over to the right side and made sure I could loop the button and everything would line up tidy with the slit placement. 

Then I cut off the excess loop fabric, zigzagged the ends and turned the facing out and top stitched around the slit.

Don't sew your button on until after you have made the casing and done the elastic.

For the banded bottom sleeves I measured the bottom length of the sleeves and cut a piece of fabric the length of in a width I thought would look nice for where I wanted my sleeves to fall. 

Stitch and finish or serge the band to the sleeve (right sides together as shown in the picture below) and then finish the sleeves and shirt/dress according to the directions in the pattern

My daughter insisted on wearing her shirt made from the Sisboom Emily pattern since it matches my Sisboom Devon perfectly and joined me for a picture. 

Fabric used is from Sisboom's Lucky Girl fabric line!

Who is loving all the little tutorials for changing up the patterns you already have? Any pattern you would love to see a modification made for?

How to make the Jamie into a nursing dress. A photo tutorial.

Jodi Took our Jamie pattern and made it into this gorgeous nursing friendly dress!

Jodi reinforced the corneer of the lining with some iron on interfacing and then put a snap through the elastic and out the lining on both sends of the top. Then top stitch the casing where the elastic is. 

Then sew in 2 old bra straps 

and here is the front with the elastic and bra straps in. The snap is on the inside front so you can't see it from the outside 

Here are some close ups of the front so you can get a good look at what Jodi has done. 

A huge THANK-YOU!!!!! To Jodi and her lovely model for these pictures and the how to!

As you can see below the dress looks exactly as the original when all snapped up! 

I hope this tutorial helps and encourages all the breastfeeding moms out there that you can, in fact, sew pretty, fitted dresses for yourself and not have your baby go hungry!

Thanks again Jodi! You are amazing!

Slim Down the Easy Fits, A nice and easy Tutorial!

One thing we hear a lot of is how much everyone loves the easy fit pattern, but many times we also hear a request for a how to slim the leg down tutorial.  Above you can see the slimmer leg and below the wide leg version and then the side by side of the two. 

 This tutorial is really quite simple :) and I'm sure you will love it and we would LOVE to see pics of your creations! If you blog about our patterns anywhere feel free to give us a shout out! We'd love to pin you and help show off your work!

First I took my regular easy fits pattern and traced around it onto my paper. (I got a newspaper end roll for $5 at the local printing shop 3 years ago and I don't think I've used half of it yet!)

Next I drew a new line, as you can see below I started at the crotch/butt curve and went down and in from there. For a size one I took off 3 inches of leg width. I left the front the same width as my babe is still in diapers. If I was making this for my non diaper wearing child I'd take an inch off the center as well. 

Now you cut your 2 pieces and sew as per the pattern! If you'd like a how to lower the front tutorial check us out on facebook! There is a photo tutorial for that in our facebook group :)

Hope you enjoyed! and I'll update this post once I get the oldest in her slimmed version!