Friday 26 September 2014

Oh baby! First up-cycling outfit ever! Project Run & Play s10, week 2

I'm so happy to be back for project run & play season 10, week 2!
First a picture...



 The theme for this week was using hand-me-downs (or up-cycled clothing) to make something modern and fashionable for your child to wear. This was a challenge for me as it was the first time I have made a completely new outfit using old/unused clothing. I have only altered clothes too big or too small to make them fit better. So I opened my cupboard to look for some inspiration and on the top shelf I spied a bag with some of my little one's baby clothing I hadn't the heart to give away for sentimental reasons. Hmm! It would be truly 'up'-cycled if I could get it to work together!

 I gathered a few tops in similar colours, a baby hat, and added a strappy top I no longer wear to the mix.
The design had to incorporate lots of little pieces from baby size tops to be able to make something that would fit her now and I didn't want it to look patchworky, so I took an idea from a layer on one of the tops (see below, bottom left pic) & played around with a mock crossover layered effect...trying to fit in the precious little embroidered details.


So far so good! After serging the edges and adding lace and vintage ric-rac to the hems, I layered the front onto a piece of white knit cut from an old t-shirt of mine. In case the top edges showed if the layers lifted, I sewed them down with ric-rac trim to neaten...



The back was cut from a printed onesie, trimmed with lace, then topped with a leftover hem which served as a casing for elastic.



 I carefully removed the binding from my strappy top and re-used it to finish off the armhole, cap-sleeves and neckline. I had an inch left over when done! The shorts fit out of this strappy top perfectly and I re-used the
hem for the shorts hem :) Hearts added from some leftover scraps...



  I wanted to use the brim of the hat on a new one, and found a McCalls slouchy cap pattern perfect for the soft knit. The pattern pieces fit perfectly on all the little sleeves :) And a lovely bonus! I could use the hems once again as the edges. One top had sleeves with a scallop edging which had to feature in the front above the re-covered peak. The little embroidered heart applique covered the join beautifully! A vintage button and some elastic in the back for a snug fit finished it all off.


Except for the cap, all the patterns were self-drafted by trial and fitting on my little snuggly girl. That little embroidered front detail describes her so well! It says, "I like lots of cuddles and kisses xx"


Thank you for looking and reading this much! Whew! I've enjoyed making this and thanks to PR&P am inspired to continue making my girls some 'new' clothes. I'm pretty sure next week will feature my eldest daughter in denim.

Till next time, be blessed!

Thursday 25 September 2014

Lucy in the pool with shades.

We had a little photo shoot at the pool in our Project Run & Play season 10, week 1 outfit. As you can see, little madam loved posing for the camera before having a swim :) So cool in our shades!


Friday 19 September 2014

Hello! Project Run & Play...Sewing for Peanuts:)

I might just love Project Run & Play a little bit! Ha!
Here's what I made, and then I'll share the story...

  Let's see...10 hours before the linky closed I was sketching ideas for a Lucy inspired costume.


 Who doesn't love the Peanuts characters? Since this first week of season 10 is all about finding inspiration from 80's cartoons, I had been thinking way too long over which character I'd like to choose as my muse should I decide to actually start this blog, design and sew an outfit and then be brave enough to post it ...I really wanted to sew along, having followed the past 4 seasons avidly, and voting each week for my favourites.
 So at the eleventh hour, this is who I came up with...Lucy! The bossy know-it-all but totally lovable little girl in the iconic blue dress. But, instead of a dress I thought I'd make a swimming 'costume' (lovely irony!) incorporating all the little details...


I knew I would have to use material in my stash, and find a creative way to style the outfit, as my little girl was in dreamland already. She will be so excited to see her new cozzie in the morning, I'll have to let her model it and post some more photo's!
This is the fabric I found. Some blue lycra (of course), a bit of white lycra with silver glitter ( if Lucy was a fashionista she would have loved glitter, don't you think?), and a piece of white cotton mesh (which has probably been in my stash since the 80's, ha!), because a girl has to have a cute little cover-up!

The initial sketch got adapted a little after I found the fabric. I didn't want to use only blue, so the peplum became white as did the little scallopy detail around the neck, which kinda mimics the neck flower shaped frill. And here she is...


Including a classic Lucy quote! I had to give a shout out to ol' Charlie Brown too... I found a white towel and added a black velvet ribbon border that I pinned into a zigzag pattern. Here is the back...


Which had to have a bow!The swimsuit pattern was self-drafted using a couple of previously made ones, and for the cover-up I used a vintage Butterick pattern as the base because it had the perfect A-line shape and little puff sleeves!


I love how it turned out, and I can't wait for my little one to try it on!

Until next time...Be blessed!