Triple Gauze Sleep Sack and Blanket

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Cherie

This month I’m taking a bit of a blogging break and enjoying time away from the computer. I’ve done a lot of sewing recently though, so I’ll have a lot to catch up on when I’m back! Reposting this project, originally published here, as part of the Miss Matatabi Makers series. Mmmm . . . triple gauze . . .

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Ooooh, do I have some amazing fabric to share with you today!

TRIPLE GAUZE. Did you know it existed? I did not, until very recently, and I am now a huge fan! If you think single gauze is lovely and double gauze is dreamy, well, triple gauze is downright heavenly.

The triple gauze available in the Miss Matatabi Shop is reversible, which makes it even more awesome! Before I washed it, it was smooth and soft. When it came out of the wash, it was like a fluffy cloud! Double and triple gauzes are multiple layers of gauze fabric that are attached every couple of centimeters, essentially basting or quilting the fabric. After washing and drying, the fabric was already like a perfectly lightweight quilt. Continue reading →

Starry Night Washi Dress

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Cherie

Bringing home this post from March, originally published here, as part of the Miss Matatabi Makers series. This is the THIRD Washi Dress that I’ve made (see 1 and 2), not to mention, the wedding dress I made from a hacked version of the pattern! Can you tell I love it? By the way, this fabric is still available in the Miss Matatabi shop!

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When looking through Frances’ fabulous shop, this gorgeous cotton voile caught my eye. It’s called Starry Night and comes in several beautiful colors. I knew immediately that this lightweight fabric would make something wonderful to wear for the upcoming warm weather months.

The pattern is the awesome Washi Dress by Made by Rae, with the large bow from the Expansion Pack. I absolutely love this universally flattering, easy-to-wear dress pattern! Continue reading →

Happy Homemade Sew-along // day two

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Cherie

Head over to Elsie Marley for Day 2 of the Happy Homemade Sew-along!!

I’ll be back tomorrow with Day Three 🙂

Happy Homemade Sew-along // day one

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Cherie

It’s here! We are FINALLY starting the sew-along! Are you pumped? I know I am!

First of all, it was brought to my attention that in my original sew-along announcement, I said that the deadline to enter your pull-over pictures into the Flickr group was June 30, instead of June 23. Unfortunately, I listed the wrong date and I’m soooo sorry if this caused an inconvenience to anyone! 😦 The correct date is next Monday, June 23. Of course, you can enter pictures into the Flickr group anytime, even if you can’t finish it by next week! But if you’d like it included in the drawing for the prize or our round-ups, your pictures will need to be uploaded by next Monday. Sorry again!

Today we are going to be locating our pattern pieces, tracing and adding seam allowance. Honestly, these first few steps are often the most confusing and intimidating for me when I use a Japanese sewing book – even more than the actual sewing steps! Using the English version helps A TON here, but it can still be a little confusing since it’s so different from using a PDF pattern, for example. So I’m going to walk you through the steps and the great news is, this will help you with not only this book and pattern, but you can apply these tricks and skills to any Japanese sewing book since they basically follow the same format!

Anyways, let’s get started.

On the directions page for the pull-over parka, it’ll list all the pattern pieces you’ll need. For this pattern there is the back, front, sleeve and hood and the pattern label is “s.” That letter is going to help us locate everything we need for this pattern. First I’m going to go through all the steps using the English version of the book since I think that’s what most people are using. But if you’re using the Japanese version of the book, I’ll help you locate the pattern for that book at the end of this post.

Pull out your pattern sheets. There will be two double-sided sheets labeled Pattern Sheet 1, 2, 3 and 4. Each has a table of contents, if you will. And you’ll see that the pattern pieces for “S” are scattered, one piece per sheet. The back piece is on sheet 1, the front piece is on sheet 2, the hood is on sheet 3 and the sleeve is on sheet 4.

I’m going to show you the front piece as an example. That is located on Pattern Sheet 2.

Unfold the sheet and you should be able to find the “S FRONT” pattern right next to the table of contents. The lines are burgundy and all the S pattern pieces will be in that same color, which will make it easier to find and distinguish from the other overlapping patterns. Congrats! You’ve completed step one – finding your pattern piece!

Now before you begin tracing, take a look at this diagram that is on the directions page of your book (below). This little picture has a ton of important information and you’ll find yourself referring to it quite a lot.

Super crucial note – Japanese patterns DO NOT INCLUDE SEAM ALLOWANCE. You must add it yourself!

Even though I know this and have known this forever, I still forget sometimes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve traced my pattern pieces super close together or close to the edge of the paper only to realize that I need to add seam allowance and have no room. LEAVE ROOM FOR SEAM ALLOWANCE!

Take a look at “front” pattern piece on the diagram. It’s on the bottom right corner and you can see that it is placed on the fold. The other edges will need seam allowance added. The standard seam allowance is 3/8 in or 1 cm. If there is no number specified in the diagram, you can assume that the seam allowance is 3/8 in (1cm). Looking at the front piece, the only edge that has a different seam allowance is the bottom edge where it says 1 1/4 in (3cm). Be sure to leave room for seam allowance when you trace your pattern piece.

There are several ways you can add seam allowance to your pattern. Some people like to do it while tracing. Meg shared a SUPER awesome and simple tip on one way to do that in her post during the Japanese Sewing Book Series. There are also some tools that add seam allowance as you’re cutting. I just do it the old fashioned way of tracing the pattern first, then measuring the seam allowance and drawing those lines separately.

Trace your pattern! I lined up the edge of my tracing paper with the edge of my front pattern piece that is on the fold, since that side does not need added seam allowance. Making sure I had room on the other sides for adding SA, I traced the lines for size 2. Be sure to trace any markings from the pattern as well.

Use a ruler to measure 3/8 in (1cm) from the side seam and draw a line.

For curved edges, I measure and mark the seam allowance every centimeter or so and then connect the dots.

Be sure to label your pattern with the name of the pattern, which piece it is, what size and also label any edges on the fold and trace any other markings.

Woohoo! One pattern piece down, three more to go! Follow these steps for the rest of your pieces.

The other night, I got an email from Gail asking specifically about the sleeve pattern piece. At the bottom of the sleeve, it tells you to add 1 1/4 in (3cm), but the seam allowance flares out at an angle. The pattern doesn’t give you any information about how to determine that angle or why you’re doing it that way. Since I was pretty stumped, I consulted my Japanese pattern gurus, Sanae and Frances to find out more. Frances located this helpful link and like a light bulb, it suddenly all made sense. That site is in Japanese, so I decided to make my own little diagram to help explain . . .

If you add seam allowance to your pattern piece and it continues to angle inwards at the bottom, when you fold it up to hem, you won’t have enough width. Your hem will be narrower than the sleeve and you’ll have trouble sewing that hem down without stretching or some pleating of fabric. No good!

Instead, you want the excess fabric at the bottom of the sleeve to angle outwards so that when it’s folded up, it is at the same angle as the sleeve. That way you’ll have enough width to reach the edges of the sleeve and hemming will be a breeze!

Does that make sense?

Still, it doesn’t tell you exactly how to create these lines and honestly, I just eyeballed it. You could fold the paper at the bottom of the sleeve to trace the sides (the bottom edge is slightly curved, but I think you could ignore that and it’d still be fine. Either way, I wouldn’t stress about it too much, just do your best 🙂

If you’re using the Japanese version of the book, all the steps are exactly the same, the only difference is that the pattern sheets are a little crazier and finding the pattern pieces you need is more difficult.

Up at the top of the directions, it tells you where you can find your pattern pieces. In this case it’s on “side A.”

Side A of the pattern sheet lists the four “S” pieces you’ll need – back, front, sleeve and hood.

This is what that crazy mess of a pattern sheet looks like. Look for the letter “s” and you’ll notice that all the S pattern pieces are green. Others are black and some are shaded in green – this will help you tell the patterns apart. Dig around – you’ll find all your pieces!

Yay, there they are!

Then follow the rest of the steps above.

Once you’ve traced your 4 pattern pieces, added your seam allowance and labeled the pieces, go ahead and cut them out and lay them aside for Day TWO! Also, if you haven’t yet, be sure to wash, dry and iron your fabric so you’ll be all ready to cut and prep for sewing tomorrow.

Be sure to share any in progress photos on Instagram (#happyhomemadesewalong) or the Flickr group and if you have any questions, leave a comment! Can’t wait to see yours as it comes together!

Tomorrow’s post will be up on Meg’s blog. See you there!

See the rest of the sew-along posts here:

Announcing . . .
Where to buy the book
Hoodie Inspiration
Mixing it Up
Fabrics

What you’ll need

Schedule and Sew-along Prize

Happy Homemade Sew-Along // where to buy the book

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Cherie

Thanks to everyone for entering the Happy Homemade Sew-Along Giveaway! The three lucky winners are:

Shanna R.
Annette H.
Stephanie S.

Congrats!

Now if you didn’t win the giveaway, but still want to participate in the sew-along, but don’t yet have the book . . . well, you better get moving! If you’re ordering online, you’ll need some time for shipping. So where can you get one? I’m here to help!

But before we get to that, I just wanted to talk to anyone who might be on the fence about getting this book . . .

GET OFF THE FENCE.

This is definitely one of THE most popular Japanese sewing books and for good reason! It’s packed cover to cover with really great, classic styles that you can use over and over again. See more pictures in my book review and Meg’s (she has a ton of photos of all of the amazing things she’s made from the book). And it’s not even expensive! The book has 20 patterns. I’ve seen the book priced between $13-17 and even with shipping costs, we’re talking maybe $1-2 MAX PER PATTERN! That’s an amazing deal.

Now that you’re ready to buy it, where should you start? Well I find online shopping super convenient, but sometimes I don’t like paying for shipping and handling if I can avoid it. If you’re interested in the English version, Happy Homemade: Sew Chic Kids, I’d call your local bookstores. Larger chains might carry it or maybe your local sewing/fabric shop.

If you’re interested in buying online, I’ve found a few places you can try:

Tuttle Publishing
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Rakuten.com
Book Depository
Bookworld (Australia)
Penguin Books (Australia)
Amazon UK (Oh hey! The book is in French!)

If you are up for a challenge, and want to buy the Japanese version, Happy Homemade Vol.2, the best bet to buy it locally is at a Japanese bookstore like Kinokuniya. Some Japanese supermarkets have book sections, so you can always try those as well.

As for online sources, here are some links:

Amazon
Kinokuniya
Etsy
eBay

Ok, it’s time to get shopping! You gotta make sure you can get the book in your hands by Monday, June 16th when the sew-along begins!

*Edited to add: a couple of people commented that they found the book at their local LIBRARY! That’s brilliant! What a great way to check out the book and see if it’s worth buying. So definitely check there first if you’re still on the fence about buying the book*

Do you know of any stores, local or online that sell either version of the book? If so, leave me a comment and I’ll add it to the list!

Sidekick Mini Mini Suitcase

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Cherie

I’m posting over at Miss Matatabi today with my May Miss Matatabi Makers project. Errr . . . let’s pretend it’s still May, ok?

I made a MINI Sidekick Mini Suitcase with this adorable Nesshome Cheater Patch fabric. It was no small feat and I thought I might never finish, but a few nights worth of hard work and I’m reeeally quite happy with how it came out. The inside of the case is lined with some super soft double gauze too. Go and check out all the details and plenty more pics at Miss Matatabi!

And did you catch my Happy Homemade Sew-Along announcement?? Be sure to get all the details there AND today is the last day to enter the giveaway for a copy of the book! Go now and enter!

Frozen’s Elsa-Inspired Dress

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Cherie

LET IT GOOOOOOOO
LET IT GOOOOOOOO
CAN’T HOLD IT BACK ANYMOOOORE!

Every. single. day. Yup, we’re still living in a Frozen obsessed world over here. You know, we actually held out (and still do) when it comes to letting her watch “princess” movies. Frozen is the first and really only that she’s seen, but she has dove head first into obsession and we’re just kinda going with it. What’s the point of being a 3 year old if you can’t be an awesome ice power yielding queen.

After my last blog post, I decided that I wanted Yuki to earn the dress since she’s so used to getting things all the time and she’s starting to think that things come so easily. So I created a little sticker chart and told her that she needed to help out around the house to earn stickers and when she got 10 stickers she could have her dress. She did things like putting away everyone’s laundry, hanging diapers for drying, setting the table and wiping it clean after dinner, etc. She didn’t complain too much about doing the work and was super psyched to earn each sticker.

And she was reeeeeally excited to finally get her dress!

Ok, on to the dress . . . this is inspired by the dress Queen Elsa wears when she “lets it go” and embraces her ice powers. It’s definitely not a replica of what she wears in the movie, but heavily inspired by it. I had a few criteria when designing the dress in my mind. I wanted it to be knit – comfy and easy to put on and take off. I wanted it to be easy to clean. And I wanted the materials to be inexpensive.

At preschool, there is a group of kids that is REALLY into “dress up” and almost every time I go to pick Yuki up, she’s got a raggedy piece of tulle tied around her neck or head or wherever and she’s walking around like she’s the queen of the world. It made me realize that these kids don’t need some fancy expensive costume to make believe – they can pick up any simple prop and turn it into whatever they see in their fantastic imagination. So my goal was to make it special, but keep it simple.

I went to my favorite cheap fabric store, Fabrix. It carries “off-price surplus and closeout fabrics and trims” so it’s hit or miss what you’ll find in there, but sometimes you come across something perfect for a really low price. I get a lot of my solid knits there when I find good colors. Anyways, I walked in hoping to score some blue knit when I laid my eyes on this:

$Frozen fractal fabric from Fabrix$

And the words that immediately popped into my head were FROZEN. FRACTALS.

Now, I have no clue what frozen fractals even look like, but if you’re familiar with the song, “Let it Go,” Elsa belts those words as she is constructing her beautiful ice castle at the climax of the song. Here are the images from the movie that I think of when I see this fabric and what became the inspiration behind the dress.

I actually went back to the store to see if I could buy more yardage to give away to one of you, but it was already gone!! 😦

And that’s the actual Queen Elsa dress. So with those images in my head, I went to design a simple and kid friendly dress. Along with two yards of that frozen fractal knit, I got two yards of whatever sparkly tulle they had and a little bit of trim, all of it costing about $2.39 per yard. Score! For the sleeves and top of the bodice I used leftover burnout knit that I think probably also came from Fabrix, but I used in this shirt here.

I started with the ever awesome Flashback Skinny Tee pattern by Made by Rae for the bodice. I widened the neckline to more of a boatneck shape, but I think I went a little too wide and deep. I brought the sides in a little, rather than slightly flaring out at the bottom, shortened the bodice and changed the shape of the bottom to a slightly curved V. I cut the pattern along the colorblocked lines that you see and added seam allowance to attach the pieces. The sleeves are unmodified.

I was just going to make the dress purely knit and leave off any tulle so that I could throw the dress in the washer and dryer without working about it. But I worried that it looked too plain and not special enough, so I gathered some of the tulle and attached it with the skirt. I like the way it looks, but it does make cleaning the dress a bit harder.

Watch out! Ice power!

With the rest of the tulle, I gathered it a bit and zig zag stitched it to a piece of sparkly elastic from Jo-Ann, to make the cape. Elsa doesn’t even wear a crown for the second half of the movie, but Yuki wanted one, so I sewed some trim onto a piece of craft felt, and folded and sewed the bottom 1/2 inch to make a casing to slide a headband through. Took me just a couple of minutes – yay!

She loves it. She wants to wear it every minute of the day. She’s started telling people her name is Elsa. I’m happy that she is happy, but I really hope this phase doesn’t last forever because I can really only handle listening to “Let it Go” so many times.

And the Queen does her chores. She wore her well-earned dress to a Sing-Along Frozen showing at the Castro Theater over the weekend. Her classmate wore a beautiful mom-made dress as well. They got to walk across the stage in front of the entire theater with all the other kids in costumes. She belted out the words to her favorite songs and stuffed her face with popcorn. She said it was the best day ever 🙂

Lullaby Layette Baby Jacket

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Cherie

Did you hear? The new Oliver + S spring patterns have been released! There are two adorable spring dresses/tops, and a baby/toddler layette pattern set. I’m so excited to help roll out these patterns by sharing a couple of things I made. I looove the dresses, but was eager to give the Lullaby Layette patterns a try first. The set comes with 4 views – a bodysuit, a shirt, pants and a jacket and covers sizes 0-24 months.

The first thing I made was the raglan style, reversible jacket (View D). I’m always looking for cute outerwear for Kaya. She’s got plenty of onesies, but it can get chilly in all seasons around here, so a jacket is always a must. The pattern calls for wovens, but says knits can be used too. So I definitely wanted to give the knits a try – it just seems like it’d be warm and cozy.

I made size 3-6 months for Kaya who is approaching 6 months. I debated whether I should go with the 6-12 month size for longer wear, but the smaller size still has plenty of room to grow.

The pattern, as you can expect from all Oliver + S patterns, is wonderful. I love the glossary of sewing techniques that they include at the beginning of every pattern – you can learn a lot just by reading that part alone! But then this set includes 3 separate patterns (one that can be made in 2 ways) and each has well written directions with great diagrams. You always get really professional quality clothes when you use O+S patterns and you learn a ton of great sewing skills.

The construction of this jacket is pretty simple and it comes together quickly. It is raglan style, with a simple pleat in the shoulder. You make the jacket and the lining in the exact same way and then attach them together (in a seemingly) seamlessly way that doesn’t require any flipping inside out and hand stitching closed. The hardest part of the whole process was attaching the snaps. I had a helluva time with them, until I realized I was doing it wrong. Once I figured it out it went a little better, but I had one fall off after I thought I was all done. I used the “Easy Attacher” (affiliate link) which actually helped a lot, but Kristin said that the snap fastener pliers (affiliate link) are even better.

One of my goals for 2014 was to try use more fabric from my stash, and though I haven’t stopped buying new fabric completely, I am trying to search through what I have before I buy more fabric and notions. And it’s been fun finding old fabrics and giving them new life when paired with something unexpected. Both this jacket and the bodysuit that I’ll share later this week were completely made with stuff I already had at home! Yay me! 😛

The mustard knit is from Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley and I bought it awhile back to make Yuki a cardigan. I cut it out and everything, but it never got made. I don’t even know what happened to those pieces, but hopefully I’ll find them again in time for Kaya to wear. Anyways, there was enough fabric left to cut out this jacket! It seemed perfect for baby outerwear – a sturdier, thicker knit, but still had some stretch. Someone on Instagram asked me if it was “ponte,” and I don’t actually know what that is! But I looked it up online and the description seems to match pretty closely. Anyone else have a guess?

The other side is a white/black striped knit that I’ve also had forever and used for the shirt in this outfit. It’s pretty thin, so it was nice to be able to pair it with the thicker mustard knit. And the pink bias tape was originally going to be used to bind a baby blanket/quilt that never happened. I do love this kinda funky and modern combination of colors.

So now ~~Yuki~~ – eek, Kaya! I honestly just typed Yuki’s name. Do you guys mix up your kids names all the time too!? Anyways, Kaya has a new jacket for this transition into spring. Oh and yes, spring! It’s coming, can you feel it!? Soooo exciting!

I’ll be back with a truly springy/summery bodysuit for Kaya later this week. What are you sewing for the spring?

*This pattern was generously given to me for this review, but all opinions are, as always, 100% my own.*

Stamping and Stenciling

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Cherie

Today I’m leading a workshop on fabric stamping and freezer paper stenciling for a group of local high school students! Sounds fun, right!? Well I’m hoping it is, but until recently there was a slight problem . . . I’d never done freezer paper stenciling before! Crazy huh? I mean, I’ve done stenciling with contact paper like on these t-shirts and these leggings, which is really really similar. But everyone always raaaves about freezer paper, so I thought it was about time to give it a try.

The challenge was that freezer paper turned out to be not as readily available as everyone said it was. I kept hearing that it’s found in the grocery store by the aluminum foil and saran wrap. But I checked several stores and couldn’t find it! Finally I just ordered some online. Turned out to be easier than going to a store 😛 (I got mine from here).

I loved the process. I’m not going to explain it, since there are a ton of great tutorials out there already. But this is just the kind of thing I love to do to personalize or embellish a project. I love adding a unique touch to an otherwise plain project.

I started with some onesies to go in the divided basket I made for Kristin’s baby. I loved cutting out the stencils, but peeling off the stencil after the paint is dry and revealing the image is definitely my favorite part.

I’m also making a onesie for Kaya . . .

and this “Makers Gonna Make” stencil from Delia’s free printable is going to be a shirt for me!

Then last night I played around with potato stamps and made random patterns on scrap fabric. It’s such a basic and common crafting project, but MAN is it fun!!

I wonder why I don’t do this more often!

Anyways, wish me luck with the high schoolers today. They’ll be stamping and stenciling on shirts, tote bags and pillow cases. Should be fun!

Birds Eye Everyday Skirt

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Cherie

Hey! Enjoying your weekend!? Hop on over to Miss Matatabi to check out my new skirt made from some goooorgeous Nani Iro Birds Eye fabric. Can you tell I’m getting ready for spring??

Miss Matatabi is my favorite online source for Nani Iro and other fantastic fabrics from Japan. Seriously, check it out. I just spent way too much time drooling over all of the new stuff she’s been adding to her shop. IT’S SO GOOD. If you don’t know, now you know.

You’re welcome.

Anyways, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen a tiny preview of this skirt and the injury I sustained while making it. It was totally worth it though! Head on over to my guest post to catch all of the details of this skirt.

And enjoy whatever is left of your weekend!

you and mie

let's make things

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