lizzardtears: August 2021

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Koi PJ's for my niece

Definitely late on posting this one. For my niece's birthday this year I decided I wanted to make her pajamas mainly because Pajamas don’t require a lot of measurements to make. Her birthday happened to be during a covid surge in the area and we were not able to get together. This was the first year I didn’t get to celebrate with her which was of course a huge disappointment, but that didn't mean I couldn’t make her something like I have every year since she was born. Because last year I didn’t get to see her a whole lot I was unsure of what exactly she was into these days. (Still not real sure about that one, but still hoping, maybe we are getting to the end of this pandemic and can start seeing eachother again.) one thing I do know is, everybody loves pajamas! So with some help from her mom I was able to get measurements. I told them what I needed and her mom measured and texted the measurement to me.

When I saw the fabric I fell in love with it. It reminded me of a place I used to take my niece a lot when she was younger, and before the prices skyrocketed to unaffordable. This place had the most wonderful, beautiful gardens and in the gardens they had koi ponds. After spending all day walking around the gardens we would always take time to sit by the ponds and watch the koi. Some of the koi were huge! And some were tiny, and of course everything in between. It was always neat to watch the beauty of them swimming and gliding effortlessly through the water. We went there so often we could even tell the fish apart from one another. Because visiting the koi was such a good memory I thought the fabric was perfect. And the feedback I got from her was, she loved them! I used McCall's pattern #6249 which is one I have made before for myself and Struggled with a bit on the collar. This time though it went right in, so not really sure what went wrong last time. This time I was dreading it and it just worked so that was also a pleasant surprise.

The only thing that makes me a bit sad though is I don’t think I will ever get to see her wear them, she is still growing like a weed and after a while kids grow out of things. Oh well I do know she loved them and wore them and really that is what matters.

Saturday, August 7, 2021

floral blouse

This blouse was made using simplicity pattern #8215 from 2016 in view A. I have made this pattern before but made it in the short sleeve version.

I really liked the look of the long sleeves so decided to give it a try as well. I went back and forth on whether I wanted to make view A or C. I am not a huge fan of collars, I like the way they look, I just don’t feel comfortable in them. Ultimately what decided the view for me was how much interfacing I had. I only had enough for the sleeve cuffs and not a collar so I went with the bow rather than the collar.

When I made this in the short sleeve version I made a lot of tweaks to the pattern, this time though I wanted to follow the pattern and actually took the time to read all the directions. A lot of times I just skim over them and come up with what I feel would be the easier way to put it together. Actually I did change up the order of putting in the sleeves. I find it alot easier to put the sleeves in first before sewing up the side seams. Patterns though seem to always have you sew up the sides first then put in the sleeves. When you sew up the sides first then try to insert the sleeve you are fighting going around the curves of a circle. If you put the sleeves in first it's flat and just a lot easier in my opinion.

When I was nearly finished with the blouse I tried it on just to see how it looked and I was not happy with it. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to finish it, but decided I really should because it looks so cute on the pattern envelope picture, and all I had left was gathering the sleeve bottom, adding the cuffs and buttons and hemming. At that point it felt silly not to at least finish the blouse.

And am I glad I did finish it. Without the cuffs on the sleeves, the sleeves felt overwhelming and since I hadn’t added the buttons to the back yet it was pulling forward which made it look awkward. Once I got it all together, and tried it on finished I was in love.

I really like the way this turned out. The only issue I have with it is the bottom button loop on the back of the neck is a bit tight. For some reason they have you cut it a ¼ in. smaller than the other two. If I make this again I will try to remember to cut it the same as the others.

The fabric I used is a nice light weight cotton that sewed up like a dream. I used it and the buttons from my stash. I really love the sleeves the way they poof out at the bottom half. It makes me happy and makes me think of princess sleeves.