Happy Father's Day...

...to the man who has washed every load of cloth diapers for the past four years!

You don't get much better than that!

Shorts On The Line: Lace Shorts

Welcome to my little part of the Shorts On The Line series!  If you're wondering how I got so lucky to hang out with such an amazing group of crafty women, well don't worry, so am I!  So you'll just have to forgive me for taking a second to thank Carla and Rachael for inviting me to be a part of this fantastic series.  Thank you!  But in addition to that I want to thank them for giving me the kick in the butt that I needed to actually get around to sewing my first(!) ever pair of shorts (well, if you don't count culottes as shorts, that is).

I actually bought Grainline Studio's Maritime Shorts pattern several months ago with every intention to whip them up in the spring. But then I totally chickened out and the pattern just laid around our house, buried under the mounds of papers that call our desk home.

Until now that is.

See that, people?  Shorts!  For me!

Now I did do something very un-Carolyn-like in making these shorts - I actually made a muslin!  But I mostly did it out of fear because I was really worried about getting the fit right since I've never sewn shorts before.  Unfortunately I made my muslin out of some left-over quilting cotton and so I thought that the size four was going to be a perfect fit.  But when I sewed up my first pair out of a bottom weight fabric that was thicker than the muslin cotton, the fit was a bit tighter (and therefore shorter) than I was looking for.  I hemmed and hawed and groaned over it for several days and then made my peace with the fact that I just wouldn't be happy wearing shorts that tight and short.  So it was back to the drawing tracing board as I traced out a size six and kept my fingers crossed that things would go better this time around.  And fortunately they did.

I purchased the gray lace overlay fabric at Pacific Fabrics back when I went to the Sewing and Stitchery Expo and the underlining is a cream cotton lawn that was hidden in a package of fabric that my little sister brought back for me from Pakistan.  I've been eyeing the fabrics that she brought back for ages but I've been a bit terrified at cutting into them and messing something up.  I figured though that if I was eventually going to find the courage to cut into them, some plain cotton lawn was the safest place to start.  Oh, and no handmade garment would be complete without a little something extra thrown in, right?  Hence the bright pink lace hem tape.  Ka-pow!

As for the pattern itself, I love Jen's garment construction because it results in a garment that looks handmade rather than homemade.  I mean look at this fly front!

It's a little sewing miracle in itself that it looks this good considering that I've never sewn a fly front before and that I had no idea what I was doing when I put it together.  Instead I just blindly followed Jen's instructions and hoped that this little sewing trust exercise would work out in the end.  And for the record, I totally trust her now.

I did choose to leave off the back pockets because I figured that I wouldn't really use them since the pattern already has very functional front pockets.  Plus back pockets would probably distract from the lacey awesomeness of the fabric.  I also chose to hand sew the waistband and the hems on the legs of the shorts to make these little suckers as pretty, pretty as possible.  Hand sewn hems aren't just for dresses, you know.  Show a little love to your shorts!

Now go check out some of the other great posts that are part of this fantastic series.   But most importantly - go sew some shorts!

This post is part of shorts on the line sewalong hosted by imagine gnats and small + friendly, sponsored by Jo-Ann, Pretty Prudent/Pellon®, and Hawthorne Threads.

6/10 - Petit a Petit and Family and Schwin & Schwin

6/11 - Delia Creates and Buzzmills

6/12 - Cirque du Bebe and Sanae Ishida

6/13 - Fake It While You Make It and elsie marley

6/14 - No Big Dill and Max California and Designs by Sessa

6/17 - girl inspired and Casa Crafty

6/18 - Frances Suzanne and Caila Made

6/19 - Made by Rae and Craftstorming

6/20 - Noodlehead and emmyloubeedoo

6/21 - Siestas & Sewing and Made with Moxie

6/24 - imagine gnats and small + friendly

The Porch

Today I'm guest-posting over on Vanessa's blog as part of her "Porch" series.  Want to know what I'm chatting about?  Go check it out!

What My Child Learned From Me In May

This is apparently what happens when your child watches you take a picture of yourself with a tripod every morning for a month.  Hopefully she'll learn something better from me in June.

Me Made May: Days 24 Through 31

Day 24: After many, many days of repeats I feel as if this new little Scout Tee is a breath of fresh air - bright orange, fresh air.

Day 25: In an attempt to mix it up I broke into my me-made items that don't get worn very often.  First up is this Sew Liberated Schoolhouse Tunic.  Great pattern, cute fabric, blah garment.  Unfortunately I only realized after sewing it all up that this just isn't a style that I wear very often - mostly because it's not particularly flattering on me.  So sadly this little garment sits in my closet most of the year although I do plan to break it out as a bathing cover this summer.  Perhaps I'll find a use for it yet. 

Day 26: There's been a run of cold, rainy, and miserable weather around here which, on the one hand, sucks because, you know, it's cold and miserable.  But on the other hand it's great because it gives me yet another opportunity to wear my glorified sweatshirt.  

Day 27: Once upon a time I loved this top and wore it often but I now I just feel blah about it.  I'm not sure if the elastic stretched out or if it always looked this way, but it just seems sort of shapeless now and not flattering in the least.  On the upside though, it remains ridiculously comfortable and is perfect for eating ginormous Thanksgiving meals.

Day 28: Back to the self-drafted tee.  I'm beginning to think that I need to make another one.

Day 29: A new shirt (!) based off of the Alma pattern by Sewaholic.  I need to get around to blogging about this little sucker.

Day 30: Otherwise known as "The day that non-pregnant Carolyn wore her pregnancy clothes to work" since I made this little pencil skirt back when I was pregnant with C.  Truth be told, I still wear a lot of my maternity clothes.  In fact, I often wear my maternity leggings to bed at night.  That's right - Ben is a lucky man.

Day 31: Finishing Me Made May not only with double me-mades but also with double-orange because in addition to wearing this me-made bike jersey on my way to work, I changed into this me-made shirt once I got there.  Going out with a bang, people!

And with this Me Made May is done!  If I were a more thoughtful person I would have something deep and meaningful to share with you about this experience, but truth be told, I'm just pooped and I can barely muster up one sentence.  So if there's just one thing that I'd like to say about Me Made May it's this - the group of women in the Me Made May flicker group are some of the most of kind and supportive people that I have ever encountered on the internet and if you're thinking of participating in a Me Made event in the future, do it.  You won't be disappointed.

And The Winner of the Roly-Poly Pinafore Is...

...Monica from Adirondack Inspired!

Congratulations, Monica!  I'll pass on your email address to Rachael and you should be getting your copy of the Roly-Poly Pinafore shortly!

And thanks to the rest of you for leaving a comment!  I loved reading what everyone's sewing plans are for this summer.  It definitely gave me some ideas of things that I need to add to my own summer sewing list!

And yes this picture has nothing to do with this post.  This picture is just a cautionary tale of what happens when you leave your husband, your baby, a sweatband, and a camera together.   Don't say I didn't warn you.

Cool-ottes

I feel like I'm always approximately one year late to every sewing trend (case in point - the Tova top that I sewed long after everyone else had given this pattern a try), so it's nearly a miracle that I'm sewing a pattern that was only recently released.  I think that alone speaks volumes about how excited I was to sew up Megan Nielsen's Tania Culottes (or shall I say cool-ottes because, you know, they're cool).  In fact I was so excited to sew them up that I couldn't wait around to find the perfect fabric and instead I just headed to the only fabric store that is located near me - Joann Fabrics.  And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where the story takes an unfortunate turn because upon entering the store I became smitten with this black and beige fabric.  Sure it was polyester and I've never actually sewn with polyester before but look how cool the print is!  And look at the lovely drape! 

Unfortunately when I bought the fabric I didn't know that making a narrow hem on polyester fabric is one of the most maddening things that there is (and trust me, there's a whole lot of hem on these little culottes).  And while I had high hopes of escaping polyester static cling by just air drying the culottes, apparently that alone doesn't work (please see exhibit A - the fabric totally clinging to my butt cheek.  Awesome).  So for now we'll just consider this version my somewhat wearable muslin.

On a more positive note, this pattern really is fun and easy and like nothing else out on the market.  As for sizing, I cut out a straight size medium which is a bit bigger than my natural waist size but my natural waist is pretty high so I was thinking that by making it a big bigger it would just sit at a lower part of my waist.  Unfortunately, by making it a bit bigger the waistband looks a little bit funny where it hits on my body so for my next version I'll probably just cut out a size small for the waist.  And while this length is incredibly cute and I would have rocked it in my twenties, I'm think that the next time around I'll add a little big of length to the culottes by tracing out the length of the size large. 

But can I just finish by mentioning what is one of my favorite things about this pattern?

It only has four pattern pieces.  Four!  Now that's something that I can get down with.

Roly-Poly Along Plus A Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on Imaginegnats' Roly-Poly-Along!  I'm ridiculously excited to be part of this blog tour - mostly because I love this little pattern and was really excited to get the chance to sew it up.  While this pinafore pattern is updated in many ways (hello pockets and center pleat!) I love the vintage look of a classic pinafore and I wanted to hold on to that feel for my version.  In an attempt to do just that I chose to keep the fabric very simple (just some teal cotton lawn that I purchased from Fashion Fabrics Club) and I let the focus of the pinafore be on the design and the small amount of embroidery that I added to one side of the front. 

I am no embroidery expert by any stretch of the imagination and I've just dabbled in it here and there in the past with some mixed results, but working on this project has made me fall in love with it.  Mostly because after approximately 100 attempts I have finally (quasi) mastered the french knot and I'm officially smitten with it.  In the future I shall be adding french knots to everything in sight - clothes, shoes, food, my children.  Whatever I can get my hands on.  You better not get too close!

While this pattern is perfect for allowing you to mix and match fabrics for both the outer fabrics and the lining fabrics, I chose to just use more of the teal cotton lawn for the lining of the pinafore since the lawn is a tad bit sheer and the pattern on any lining fabric could be seen through the cotton lawn (I learned this how I learn so many things - the hard way).

In line with keeping my fabric choices fairly simple, I also kept some other aspects of the pinafore fairly simple.  I left off the pockets since this version is for my one year old and she's barely learned to walk let alone put something in a pocket.  I also chose not to stitch down the pleat on the front and I instead just made the pleat and basted the top of the pleat together before sewing the lining on.  I also opted to add a bit of interfacing to the lining where the buttons and the buttonholes are to make those parts a little sturdier (especially since my fabric is fairly thin). 

And lastly, something unexpectedly lovely about this pinafore is the fact that C loves the texture of the embroidery and can often be found running her fingers over those little flowers.  And that just makes my heart go pitter-patter.

But enough of me blathering on about my little creation.  How about a chance to make your very own?  Rachael has kindly offered one free Roly-Poly Pinafore pattern in a giveaway.  To win, go ahead and leave a comment below letting me know what your spring/summer sewing plans are (or fall/winter for those of you in the southern hemisphere).  I'll leave it open until Friday, May 31st (11:59 pm - on the dot, baby!)

Now how about checking out some other stops on the Roly-Poly-Along?

5.13 Jill Made with Moxie / Stephanie The Crafty Kitty
5.14 Stephanie NeurosesGalore / Cherie you & mie
5.15 Ari Max California / Caila Caila Made
5.16 Veronica SewVery / Tara Girl like the sea
5.17 Nancy owen's olivia / Adrianna Crafterhours

5.20 Ajaire Call ajaire / Sarah EmmylouBeeDoo
5.21 Laura Craftstorming / Jessica a little gray
5.22 Frances Miss Matatabi / Nicke kiss kiss quilt
5.23 Amy formwork design / Kat Sew Chibi
5.24 Joanne Rose & Dahlia / Amanda Kitschy Coo

5.27 Celina Petit a Petit and family / Delia Delia Creates
5.28 Christy a.Amelia handmade / Carolyn Fake It While You Make It
5.29 Bonnie Fishsticks Designs / Maria La Inglesita
5.30 Jane Buzzmills / Kate Things for Charlie
5.31 Polly Jack & GeeGee / Molly Rose & Odin

(Rachael kindly gave me a free copy of the pattern to participate in the Roly-Poly along but all opinions, as always, are my own)

A New Scout Tee For Me. Whopee!

I feel like I've had a bit of choice paralysis lately. 

So many patterns.  So little time. 

<< for the record, that would be a temporary tattoo on my arm.
I'm sure you can guess who my "tattoo" artist was>>

So it's a bit odd that when I'm having a hard time deciding what to make next I go back to something that I've made two times before - the Scout Tee by Grainline Studio.  I think I was drawn back to this pattern though because I knew that because it's a fairly simple top it would really let the fabric shine which was perfect for this Anna Maria Horner voile that I've been itching to cut into.  I mean, look at the color of this fabric?  Gorgeous.  Even my four year old things so which obviously makes it true.  I also chose this pattern though because I know that it's well-drafted and includes great finishes which results in a fantastic looking garment (And by "great finishes" I mean no facings.  Blah!  I hate facings!).  Plus, the previous two Scout Tees that I made are now way too big on me thanks to my ever-shrinking reduced-nursing chest so it was definitely time for a new Scout Tee.

<<sure I could have ironed this shirt before taking pictures, but what would be the fun in that?>>

For this one I cut out a size 2 but added some length to it since I typically like my shirts a bit longer.  I also chose to french seam the side seams and I made my first attempt at french seaming the sleeves which I 'm going to go on the record as saying was a huge pain in the butt.  The first one was a bit of a hassle but went in beautifully and I was so proud of myself.  The second one was also a big hassle but it went in far less beautifully and there are still some tiny puckers at the top of the sleeve.  As always, I'm hoping that people will be too distracted by my ridiculously bright top to notice the teeny-tiny puckers.  And if they do notice them - well, puck them (Yes, that would be my second sewing-related cuss word.  I'm on a roll, people.  A roll.).

Me Made May: Days 18 Through 23 (The Ones In Which My Children Discover Photo-Bombing)

Prepare yourselves for a not-so-tantalizing week of repeats.

Day 18: I think that it was this shirt that cemented my love for voile.  Now if only I knew how to actually pronounce it.

Day 19: We meet again, ridiculously bright Renfew.  You're an oldie but a goodie.

Day 20:  Hello again, self-drafted tee.  It's lovely to see you again.  You're so soft and drapey and the most delicious shade of purple (even though you look black in this picture).  Let's be friends forever.

Day 21: Back to this tank, although this time with a wool sweater thrown on top because it's decidedly rainy and chilly around here lately.  Brrrr.

Day 22: All dressed up for court - or as my child likes to tell me, "Mama, you look like a man today."  Although I'm pretty sure that a man wouldn't wear this me-made shirt.  But I guess he could if he really wanted to.  I mean, who doesn't love a shirt with flowers all over it?

Day 23: Say it with me - Tova!  Tova!  Tova!  (Get it?  You're supposed to chant it like "Toga!  Toga!" No?  I'm the only one who thinks that's hilarious.  Well fine then.)