My last post covered about half the things I made from January through April, and here I’ll share the things I made after the crucial date of Feb. 27, when my son was born and the world teetered into chaos (unrelated, although kind of not).
Before that, though, I’ve been meaning to share two small but exciting (to me!) improvements to my sewing life!
First: snaps! Kids’ clothes often involve snaps and I’d been using a standard snap kit, with metal rings and a set of pliers. But it was pretty disappointing: the snaps were hard to attach and, worse, tended to pop off. On a tip from another blog, I bought a KAMSnap kit, which is widely available and pretty inexpensive. I bought the plastic snaps, which come in a huge array of colors, and I’ve been really happy with them. I find them much easier to apply than the standard snap kit, and much sturdier. I love all the colors — you can even get them in cool shapes. So that’s my first small win!
Second: serged seams! I love my serger, but I’ve had a terrible problem with wavy seams. All the guidance I’ve read suggests that the answer lies in adjusting the differential feed. So I adjusted. And adjusted. And adjusted. The seams stayed wavy, no matter how fervently I pressed them, to the extent that I was about to give up on serging things. Finally, I posted the question in a Juki Facebook group. The very first comment yielded the answer: my stitch length was way too short! I lengthened the stitches and the wavy seams magically straightened out! I’m not sure why the stitch length made such a difference, but I’m SO happy to have fixed this problem. Now I want to serge everything!
Franky baseball tees
OK, on to the actual projects. My records show that my first postpartum project was completed March 8, about a week and a half after Davy was born. I made two Franky baseball tees from the Tilly Stretch book, one from some kind of pink terry and the other from a tiger-patterned double-knit from Miss Matatabi.
I’m not sure what possessed me to make this pattern, specifically. I guess I just wanted something stretchy and comfy to accommodate my newly unfamiliar postpartum body. I like them both fine, but I’m not crazy about them, which is too bad, since I really like the tiger fabric.
Winnats tank
Continuing in the comfy-and-stretchy vein, I next made a Winnats tank from Wendy Ward’s A Beginner’s Guide to Sewing with Knits book. I really like this one; it’s super comfortable. I’m sorry to have used up this mysterious striped knit, which I got by the pound at Sas Fabrics, in El Segundo. It’s quite heavyweight, like a ponte, and is great for tops.
Baby shirts and pants
I made a bunch of onesies before Davy was born, but shortly afterwards, I remembered something that had occurred to me with my last baby: shirts are actually easier than onesies, since they’re a little simpler to put on, and what is the point of a onesie, anyway?
Actually, there’s not much point to any item of baby clothing, particularly when you’re not allowed to leave the house, but why have a baby if you don’t dress him up?
Anyway, I chose a shirt pattern that would be easy to maneuver over his giant head, the raglan-sleeved baby jacket posted by Spoonflower. I substituted binding for ric-rac and snaps (KAMsnaps! woot!) for velcro. Cute and easy.
The pants are the Just Hatched pattern from Made by Rae, which is adorable, with a giant diaper butt.
Appleton wrap dress
Next up was the Appleton wrap dress by Cashmerette, which I thought would be comfortable and easy to wear. It is both of those things, although I made the mistake of cutting the skirt a little too big. It’s meant to be more of a pencil shape than a twirly shape, but the way I cut it, it’s neither here nor there. Also, the instructions don’t ask you to interface the waist tie, but I kind of wish I had, since of course it stretches.
The fabric is a nice knit, a gift from my mom, who accidentally gave me 6 yards instead of the 3 she’d intended. So I still have a good amount left. Dora wanted a matching dress, so I made her the Boardwalk Wrap Dress, by New Horizons. I have not yet been able to corral her for a photo, though.
Easter skirt and tee
I was determined to make this a really happy Easter for Dora, despite our homebound status, and she requested an Easter skirt. She’s been a little less interested in twirly things lately, so I went with the Super Easy Skirt with pockets by Lili and Stitch. It was, as advertised, super easy, and I made her a matching pink tee. There was also a purse in the mix, though I don’t have a picture of that.
The fabric is a recent purchase, I’m sorry to say. I’ve been really good about not buying more fabric lately, but this organic cotton Birch knit was less than $9 a yard (why so cheap?? IDK!) at a place called Prickly Pear Fabrics, and I couldn’t resist. I also picked up some strawberry-patterned cotton and this cotton barkcloth decorated with sloths.
I’m now working on a long-promised Fairfield button-up shirt for my husband. It’s a fairly complex pattern, at least for my quarantine-addled brain, and my desire to work on it comes and goes. So I may take a break from it to work on something a little simpler — maybe the Closet Case Fiore skirt, which I have the physical pattern for. I need to have a real come-to-Jesus moment with the tape measure to figure out what the hell is going on with my postpartum body, but for the time being, I have enough on my mind.
I hope you’re safe and that you and your loved ones are able to ride out this quarantine in relative peace and security. Here’s hoping my next update comes in a happier time!