Inspired by Chevrons - Part 1: Monsters Rock Chevron T-shirt tutorial

I have to admit, though I love all the projects popping up with chevrons, I just haven't caught the chevron craze myself. However, the angular lines are a tasty design element though. So I have finally decided to take the plunge and challenge myself to create and design with chevrons. 

Bright colors contrasted against a neutral background, angular lines, and asymmetry...yes, please! This rockin' monster print seemed to make a good jumping point.

Today I am going to show you how to make this awesome shirt ;)

I also have a tutorial for how to make these board shorts! You can find it here.

To make this shirt start with a any basic t-shirt pattern. If you don't have one you can trace a shirt that fits your child. There are tutorials out there to help you do this; like this one from Melly Sews. I used the "Little Buddies" T-shirt pattern from Ottobre 1/2010. Mark on you pattern where you would like your stripe to be; taking care to accommodate for seam allowance. I wanted my stripe on the left shoulder but didn't want tit to run into my neck or arm seams.

(This pattern tracing has seen some wear, but it's still in one piece.)

To cut your front panel lay your pattern piece flat on fabric rather than on fold. Cut the side, armhole, shoulder, and neck areas from your fabric. Mark center line but do not cut.

Fold or cut pattern on first marked line closest to the neck. Flip pattern piece over and align with center line. Continue your cut lines around this piece.

Now fold your pattern piece on the second marked line and cut the small section at left arm (not pictured).

Your two front pieces should look like this. The middle strip is where the chevrons will be added.

 

To make the chevrons cut 2" strips of coordinating fabric. I cut extra length on my strips so that I can use to make the shorts. (More of that tomorrow!). Then Cut the strips at a 45 degree angle at the desired length.

I made the black and red pieces both 3 1/2" long but also think it would be fun to make the lengths more random. The blue and orange strips were cut to meet the shirt length after accounting for 1/4" seam allowances.

 

Sew color strips together. When using small seam allowance on knit fabrics I like to use tissue paper underneath. This keeps my sewing machine from eating the fabric while I stitch. When your seam is sewn you can just rip the tissue paper off. Any leftover paper will come out when it is washed. It is the same idea as a tearaway stabilizer only cheaper :)

 

Assemble the second strip the same way. Make sure your two strips are mirror images. Press seams down.

Place the two strips right sides together. Pin carefully, making sure the seams of each color are aligned.

(You can see the leftover tissue paper in my seams. No stress; it will wash away.)

Sew strip together. Press seams open.

Place your strip down on the right side of your front panel with right sides together. Stitch in place.

Press seam out toward center. Place the left side of front panel and align with color strip right sides together. Sew in place.

Press seam out toward arm. Trim excess fabric off the top and bottom of your strips if needed. 

Meh, good enough for goverment work. LOL. I try not to stress too much about having things absolutely perfect when sewing kids clothes. I think they are kind of fun when pieces are random and unexpected.

 

The rest of the shirt is assembled  according to pattern directions. Sew shoulder seams first. The shoulder seams get the most stress so adding a seam stabilizer here is recommended. I like to use 1/4" lastin.

 

  

Stitch short ends of neckband with right sides together. Press seams open.

Fold long ends of neckband with wrong sides together and iron.

 

Align your neckband seam with center of back panel. Pin neckband to shirt with right sides together; stretching evenly as you go. Sew neckband to shirt. Press seam down and top-stitch it in place. (I didn't take pictures of this step.)

Next match center of arm pieces with the shoulder seams and pin. Stitch arms to shirt.

Now align your armpit seams and pin up arm and down shirt sides with right sides together.

Stitch together. Then fold raw ends of arms up and iron fold. Top-stitch your arm hems.

Fold bottom hem up and topstitch. Woohoo! We just made an awesome chevron T-shirt!

Tomorrow I will show you how to make the shorts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Casual Lady top for a Cause

Happy Mother's Day to all you rockin' moms, grandma's, and caregivers. 

A quote from my husband today "Being a Father, with all of my heavy-handed and blind smashing of wisdom, I can truly appreciate the power of a woman as a Mother. They operate on wholly different levels than any other being, not relegated to only one time and space, but, rather, occupying a dimension all of their own that is not confined by the boundaries of any other entity. The compassion and empathy that they feel for, and with, their children is nothing less than amazing. To all the Mothers in my life, whether you be one of blood or marriage, near or far, I laud your perfection of purpose, your eternal, unmatched love, and the absolutely magical way in which you work it. No one on this planet could exist without you. Honestly, none of us would ever want to were we without you." -Kale Holmes

 

I made my beautiful mommy a Casual Lady Top from Go To Patterns for Mother's Day. All proceeds from the sale of this pattern go to support the She's Worth It campaign. In this way I was able to honor not only my mother but women everywhere.

I added some fun pintuck detailing in a starburst pattern to this top. 

Here's how I did it:

First, I started by cutting my bodice front pattern piece about 1/4" in from the fold. This made my pattern a 1/2" wider through the center to compensate for the pintucks. The back bodice piece is cut on the fold as the directions indicate. No need to widen the back.

Next, I marked where I wanted my pintucks with chalk.

 

Then I folded my fabric on the first line and ironed the fold. I sewed a 1/4' pintuck on the fold. 

I then repeated this step for next two lines. 

When the pintuck were all I sewn i ironed them down. 

The rest of the shirt was constructed according to the pattern directions.

What an easy peasy way to dress a basic shirt :)

 

I love you mom!

Hang Ten Rash Guard

We've been featured! 

Back in my first post I shared pictures of the rash guards I made as a tester for Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop during Kids Clothes Week. Well the pattern was just released and we were featured. Yay!

Check out the listing for the Hang Ten Rash Guards. We are on page 2 of the pattern and page 4 of the listing pictures :)

Look at those handsome boys!

This pattern is very versatile and easy to sew. It can be made with short sleeves or long, side stripe or no stripe, and for a boy or girl! 

The waves on the black shirt is some embellishing that I added. Yes, you can totally applique on swimsuit fabric. Just make sure you have wooly nylon, or other stretchy thread, in your bobbin and use a narrow zig-zag stitch. If you are still nervous about sewing with swimsuit fabric? Don't have a serger? Then check out the video tutorial from Jalie.com that walks you through the steps. It is easier than you'd think!

Self-bound petal cuff tutorial

Okay Rockers...or should it be Stitchers?...or maybe just ladies? I have my first tutorial for you!

It's more like a mini tute but I thought it was worthy of sharing since I was unable to find anything like it on the internet. I did look. Even if I know how to do something I still like to be told I'm doing it right. But, alas, I was on my own with this one. But it works! It really, really works! (did you hear the little jingle I was singing with that one?)

So, without further ado...self-bound petal cuffs!

On the pants, silly! ;)

 

So you may be thinking "Why use this method when I can just use  bias tape to trim my cuff?"
Well, for one bias tape uses up a lot of fabric. This method works great if you are limited on fabric. Also, bias tape trim can be bulky. With this method you will have about 2 layers of fabric less in the trim than you would using bias tape.

To make these capris I started with the Hosh Pants pattern by Emmylou Bee Doo. You can find the pattern in her Etsy store Lou Bee Clothing.

First, we need our cuff. To make these pants capri length I cut the pattern to a size 5 width with a size 3 length. You can cut your pattern shorter, or the cuffs a different width, depending on your preference and size of child. From there I then cut a 3.25" strip off the bottom (this put me right about the 12 month size length). This will be our cuff. 

Alternatively, you could cut the main pant at desired length first, then a separate strip that is 3.25" x the width of the leg across the bottom. Just below the knee is a nice length for adding a cuff.

Next, round the two bottom corners on each cuff. 

Now we are going to use the cuff we just cut to trace the lining/trim/binding. Remember, its all one piece :) To do this you have to know how wide you want your trim to look and double that. So, you want your trim 3/8", then you add 3/4" around the side and bottom edges of your cuff measurements. If you wanted 1/2" trim then you'd add 1" around the sides and bottom measurements.

Here is my unsewn cuff and lining pieces laid on top of each other.  I wanted a visible but not too wide trim. I planned to use a 1/4 seam allowance to sew these together so I added about a 1/2" to sides and bottom for my lining/trim.

Then you will sew a basting stitch around each curve of your lining/trim piece. I visualized where my curve ended and marked just past that spot on the side and bottom of one curve. Then I folded my fabric in half and transferred those marking to my opposite curve. This ensured my basting stitch started and stopped at the same spot on every curve. Sew your basting stitch around the curve between your two marks. Repeat on the other 3 curves of your lining/trim piece. Do not baste the curves of your outer cuff piece. We want them nice and flat.

 I didn't think about the white thread not showing up well in the pictures when I stitched this. So I marked it with blue chalk to make it more visible. 

Next, pull on one end of the basting stitch to gather your curve. I find it easiest to gather it up tight, then pull it out to smooth around the corner as I'm pinning my pieces.

Pin lining/trim to outer cuff piece with right sides together. It is easiest to start pinning at the top corners, then smooth the gathers around to match the curve of the outer cuff piece. 

Continue pinning 'til you reach the center, then stop, and repeat, starting at the opposite corner. Do not pin the top of the cuff. 

Don't worry about the middle looking funky. It will smooth out when we turn it.

Now sew around the sides and bottom of your cuff with right sides together.

Through the top opening, turn cuff right sides out. Iron flat. Do not turn seam allowance under. Your lining piece should now form a nice trim around your outer cuff piece. Stitch in the ditch between outer piece and lining/trim. And your cuff is complete!

So what does "stitch in the ditch" mean anyway? Stitching in the ditch is a sewing technique that involves sewing in the seam line. This technique works great to hide your top stitching while securing your fabric underneath. 

 Now lets attach it. Fold cuff in half lengthwise and mark center. 

Place cuff inside pant leg with right sides together. Align your center mark with the leg inseam. Starting from your center mark and inseam, pin cuff to leg until you get to the end of your cuff. Stop, and staring again at the center mark, pin around in the opposite direction. When you are done pinning your cuff should overlap just a smidgen. I am holding a bamboo chopstick in the overlap above to make it more visible. Bamboo chopsticks make nice turning tools too ;) 

Sew cuff in place and press seams up. And we are all attached! 

Check out those sweet cuffs! Woot, woot!

Keilana just loves them. She was smiling so big her hands had to help hold it!