Tillbrook Romper

After seeing this post over at Mon Ami, I had to buy this pattern and make the romper myself. I found Mon Ami Journal through the Elsie Marley Kids Clothes Week challenge and both are excellent blogs for inspiration.

Luckily, I found the pattern on Etsy right away. It was a size 3. Perfect!

The pattern was super easy to follow. I didn't have any issues with the instructions or the fabric. I chose Alexander Henry's Tillbrook Sprites for the body of the romper and some of the coordinating print for the straps. There is a LOT of pink in the pattern so I went with a solid green for the top and I love how it pulled out the hints of different greens from the foliage around the fairies.

I used teeny tiny buttons for the top closure. They have a hint of pearl to them that's a welcome shimmer against the bold green. The ones in this photo are green. The original buttons are red so they pop out more against the solid.

The 3t is a bit roomy but I'm hoping we'll get some use out of this next year. In fact, it seems like there is a trend toward vanity sizing in kids clothes and that really pisses me off. Kids clothing should correspond as closely as possible to the age. Two-year olds should be able to wear a size 2, three-year olds should be able to wear a size 3, etc. Of course there will be bigger kids and smaller kids but you get the idea. Zadie grew out of most 2t big box store clothing right about the time she turned 2. But when I sew vintage clothing patterns in a size 3 they are massive. Ok, end rant.

Anyway, to solve the problem of the romper being enormous, I just sewed a second button about an inch above the original. I took the photo above (with gnome) after putting the romper on her for the first time. In most of the shots, it is just hanging off of her (and her hair is wild). The new button makes it fit much better and when she grows, we'll just start using the lower button. This is the garment I used for the snap tape tutorial so you're finally able to see it in action. I don't know why it took me almost 3 weeks to sew a couple of buttons on.

NYC Summer: Purl Soho

We took a weekend trip to New York recently to gather some supplies. Every time we hit the city, I make a point to stop into Purl. It was my first time in the new location and I thought it was great. Very roomy. They had a really nice selection of embroidery flosses, what seemed like the same amount of fabric, and a nice spot to look at patterns. Of course, there was the usual gorgeous crafty inspiration hanging out on every shelf and every corner.

The first thing to catch my eye were these little wool felt dolls by Mimi Kirchner. I didn't take any notes or photos of them while I was at the store but I couldn't stop thinking about them. When I got home, I did some snooping and found this awesome free pattern. I'm going to try to make one. I've had an idea brewing for a long time and I think this is what I needed to make it work.

I started my collection of Heather Ross' Far Far Away II with these lovelies. My color palette has been leaning toward this yellow and I bought several different versions of it on the trip (more on that later this week). The only embroidery floss available here is DMC and its generic counterparts so I decided to try some Trebizond silk (teal) and Londonderry spun linen (jonquil). They are both really lovely.

Of course, some Alexander Henry. I'd seen the larger print before but never the smaller one. I think they'll look lovely together and I have a pattern in mind. The polka dot trim caught my eye and I think it will look good with some fabric I picked up at Ikea. You never know...

Finally, I bought a teeny tiny bit of this Liberty of London gorgeousness to match the storage boxes from Target. I'm going to recover some pillows we have on the pullout in the office and I thought it would be nice to throw in a bit of this as an accent. It's not the same pattern but I didn't want to be too matchy matchy.

Snap Tape Tutorial

Patterns for kids clothes often call for snap tape. This is twill tape with pre-set snaps all ready for you to sew into your garment to make potty training and diaper changes easier. It seems to me that while this tape is handy, it's often hard to find. The tape I've found is also wider than I'd like and the snaps are set too far apart. I decided to make my own to get exactly what I want. Here's what to do if you want to do as little hand sewing as possible.

Materials: 1/2" twill tape. Size 15 or 3/8" snaps*. Garment in progress.
*Note if you want to use larger snaps, you will need wider tape.

As you can see in the image above, the FRONT of the garment will provide the top of the two flaps so that the opening will face toward the back. This is where I placed the open (female) side of the snaps.

1. Hem the bottom of the legs, leaving the crotch seam open (see sides of picture below).

2. Turn the BACK crotch seam under twice to completely finish the edge just like you did with the hem of the legs. Turn the FRONT seam under once about 1/4" to clean up the edge (not pictured). Stitch.

3. Cut 2 pieces of 1/2" twill tape to the width of the crotch seam, adding about 1/4" to allow for turning under at both sides.

4. Turn the ends of one piece of the twill tape under and pin. Stitch to the right side of the BACK.

5. Turn the ends of the second piece of twill tape under and pin. Stitch the twill tape over the unfinished edge of the FRONT crotch hem on the wrong side of the fabric.

6. Mark on the tape where you want to place your snaps so they will match up when closed. Set your snaps following the package directions. The prong (male) side goes on the BACK. The socket (female) side will go on the FRONT.

7. Handstitch the wide opening closed on both pieces of tape.

This is what the open (female) side will look like.

And you're finished!

I hope this will be helpful. It took me a couple of tries to figure out the best way to do this with the least amount of handstitching possible. Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

Project: More fabric

I bought these awesome apples and trees from Alice Kennedy's Timeless Treasures line. Like yesterday's post, these looked great together online but in person, it's way too busy. I can't put Zadie in something with this much print in it. Can you think of something to coordinate? Yesterday I showed prints with solids but I really prefer to mix prints. The owl print is this line is probably too much as well. I have in mind some sort of vintage dress pattern for this one.

This is "Granville" from Alexander Henry. He is absolutely one of my favorite designers. But what the heck do I do with this? As you can see from the type on the selvedge, the pattern is huge. There is an identical print in a smaller pattern but I really like the larger one. I don't really care for the snakeskin-like print in this collection that is supposed to match. So what are you fabric gurus pairing with this one? I'm thinking it would make an awesome skirt.

Help a lady out.

Project: Giveaway!

Contest is over. Click here for the winner.

In celebration of the fabulous new look to the blog (see awesome banner above), I decided to do a giveaway. But first, more about the banner. Kimberly of FireDancer Designs had some of the best graphics I found while searching on Etsy. She has a nice, clean sense of design without a lot of fluff. She was super easy to work with (and I know I am not!). Don't you love it? I really don't know html but I am trying to teach myself some stuff. I was able to change the standard template colors from Blogger to the ones I had chosen for my Google Friend Connect gadget (see left sidebar) and Kimberly used those same colors for the banner. Somehow I also figured out how to remove the border that was around the compulsory header.

This blog isn't going to be about a lot of giveaways but a new look calls for some cheer. I stitched up this dress from a pattern I got on Etsy. It is a roomy size 2. The fabric is Alexander Henry's "Smiles Around the World" and is getting pretty hard to find. The dress has a cute little pleat up top and wide bell sleeves.

So if you want a chance to win this, leave a comment on this post. For extra chances, post it to your Twitter with @LemonCadet somewhere in your tweet. I'll randomly pick a winner Feb. 22.

For more about Project: Project, read this post.

Project: Spring Jacket

When I was pregnant I bought a bunch of patterns and books to make stuff for Zadie. Because our lives were such a mess, however, I didn't get much done. Finally I got the chance to use Baby Couture, something I picked up at Amazon for a couple bucks plus shipping.

The title is certainly deceiving as a pillowcase dress is hardly couture; the book also features pretty much the same couple of patterns but in different fabrics (weird, I know). In all, it was worth the $2.23 I paid for it (it's even less now). There is a cute jumper that I plan to make and an easy pants pattern.

For this jacket I used Alexander Henry's Starlings for one side and an organic cotton fleece that I bought for making cloth diapers (see "didn't get much done" above for why I still have yards of it) for the inside. It's technically reversible but I don't think we'll bother. For the cuffs I picked up that cute little Spring green woven from the quilting section of JoAnn's. And instead of adding buttons, I used some grosgrain ribbon to make a tie.

The pattern looked really boxy from the start so I went ahead and added about an inch to the sleeve length and lengthened the jacket over 2 inches because Z has a long torso like her Auntie. I tried the jacket on her before I hemmed it to make sure that worked. If I use the pattern again, I would probably add a bit more to the cuff so it would fold up higher. The fleece took up a bit more space than I realized. I also used a 3/8" seam allowance for the fleece layer and a 1/2" s.a. for the cotton so it would snuggle together better (note to self: learn sewing terms).

For more on Project: Project, read this post.

A new dress.

After much success with the Simplicity pattern, I decided to pick up something a little shorter, a little more casual. I can't find the pattern right now or I'd tell you what it was. It was not Simplicity and it was not simple. I thought it would be easy but I had a lot of trouble with it. The instructions said to do things that didn't make sense. When I would look up the words they were using, I still couldn't figure out what they were asking me to do so I just did what seemed right. I guess that's why sewing classes are useful. I've never really had one.

I love how this turned out. I used yet another Alexander Henry fabric that is fabulous. It's called Traffic Pattern. I paired it with a dusty blue polka dot that I picked up at the local quilt shop. Instead of buttons, I used snaps. I still don't know how to use my machine to make a button hole and what toddler is going to sit still long enough for you to button them into something. Mine sure doesn't.

Mr. Lemon assisted with the photo shoot on the porch by blowing bubbles to entertain the little one. More pics on flickr (link to the left).

Other Crafty Endeavors

This summer I took advantage of semi-lax summer hours and a cooler-than-I-ever-remember-it weather pattern, and made a whole bunch of stuff for my kid:
This is a little drawstring bag lined with a shirt I bought at Gabe's just for the print. I appliqued these crazy animals onto it. They're from some fabric someone gave my mom. It's very weird and safari-esque. We put the finger puppets we bought last year at Old Navy into it.





I love this little fabric book. I cut out the animals from the new Eric Carle fabric that my local quilt shop surprisingly had in stock. I appliqued them onto some of my favorite prints from my stash. The facing pages are all solids. The inside of the cover also uses some of the fabric from the Eric Carle yardage. I didn't have a pattern or directions to follow so I just sorta went with it and I think it turned out well. I improvised a Japanese stab binding and it has started to come apart from toddler abuse so I'll have another go at that with some thicker thread or I'll double up the embroidery floss. That number print is Alexander Henry.

This is a travel highchair. If you do a google search you'll see what one looks like in use. I used some more fabric my mom gave me (her church quilt buddies gave it to her -- you can't buy stuff this amazing). There is also some polka dot and corduroy from my stash and that paisley print is a fat quarter I got free when buying from an Etsy shop that was having a sale. Oh, and of course, that Joel Dewberry pink faux boix that I can't get enough of (literally). I like the way the prints work together.

Washington City Paper strikes again!

I was chosen to be the Craftiest Bastard of the Week once again by the Washington City Paper in Washington, D.C. These folks are the fabulous sponsors of the best craft show ever, Crafty Bastards.

I just got an email with the good news.

That's one of my designs up there featuring that amazing numbers print from Alexander Henry.