The last of the maternity sewing!

This past weekend I finished up the last of the maternity sewing for my daughter! We have just 9 1/2 weeks to go until the due date. HOLY MOLY!!!!! I'm gonna be a GRANDMA!!! 

Whew, such excitement I am feeling :)

Anywho... Onto the details.

These 2 dresses were both an adaption from the Megan Nielsen Perfect Nursing/Maternity top. The shirt I made for her from this pattern came out quite nice and she said was very comfy without being too from fitting. (The other option was more of a body concious tight all over dress and she wanted nothing to do with that at this stage!) 

Changes from the pattern: I added even more room over the belly for more comfort. The original pattern had 3 pleats over the belly on each side and I added a fourth for a total of 3 more inches of belly room. I also just lengthened the front and back pieces to about 29 inches for a nice pleasing a-line skirt.

The brown and pink dress was made with the waist piece and the darts. The skirt is a beautiful cotton jersey that I got at Linda Z's in Arlinton heights. It was a dream to work with and Mel says very comfortable. The pink sweater knit on top is a remnant from my stash that I have been holding onto for a while and was very happy to use up! I did a regular 1 1/4 inch stitched hem and a narrow hem on the sleeves.

In the pictures it certainly looks like she could have used more of a sway back adjustment but I think that is mostly from the protruding belly!!! And since she wants to use these post pregnancy for a little while I just left it be.

The grey and pink dress was made just a bit differently. The floral abstract print is a very thin sheer cotton gauze. So soft and pretty! So this dress was complelty lined, except for the arms. The lining is a soft, thin grey blend rib knit. In reality the to is underlined, the fashion fabric and the lining were basted together and treated as one, I used the serger to finish all the inside seams for a neat look. The skirt is actually just a separate lining. Keeps the dress from being see through and also keeps the fashion fabric from clinging to itself. I used the same pattern pieces, however instead of pleats I did nice soft gathers across the front.  And yes... There is no waist piece, I actually could not find it during construction. Of course it showed up as soon as I attached the waist and the bodice!!  It would have been less bulky with the waist piece but since the fabrics are so soft it worked out just fine. 

For the hems on this dress I just did rolled narrow 3 thread hem. Just a smidge wider than a regular rolled hem. And the lining on the skirt portionwas cut an 1 1/2 shorter and also just a rolled hem. I went back and forth on what type of hem to use! I even made 3 sample hems!! In the end the rolled hem won out because it was the lightest and daintiest and seemed to fit the fabric/use best.

And that concludes the maternity wear sewing projects! 

She got 4 tops, 3 skirts and 2 dresses. The only maternity item she actually purchased was a pair of dress pants. Between my sewing and clothes she got from a friend she has been well dressed for her pregnancy! 

Here is a sneak peek at the baby quilt... Shhhh, don't tell anyone I showed you!

Now, on to baby sewing and of course some sewing for myself :) 

Jeans # 3 and why NEVER to use cheap/inexpensive denim

My third pair of jeans ended up being a major bust :( this is what happens when you use fabric that is not if good quality. A very, very frustrating experience. 

The idea behind this third pair was to make a couple of small changes in the fit and use a denim with a small amount of spandex in it for recovery. The spandex in a high quality fabric provides excellent recovery and is supposed to keep things like knees and hips from bagging out. However, be warned.... If you purchase cheap denim fabric with a small amount of spandex you will NOT get good recovery, you just get more and More and MORE stretch. Which results in EXTRA baggy knees and hips and thighs. 

Case in point. Take a look at the pictures below. The photos on the left were taken right after laundering. This was how they were in fitting during construction. A fairly fitted pair of jeans with some slight additional changes needing to be made. (A slight scoop,in back crotch and and a wedge removal at top of back leg.) not a bad fit for jeans and lovely topstitching details! 

The pic on the right was taken exactly 24 hours later after an 8 hour wearing. On the side view you can clearly see the knees bagging and all the extra stretch in the hip /thigh area.

These are the EXACT same pair of jeans. I certainly cannot have my my jeans growing all day as I wear them. And I'm not talking about the normal ease of jeans as they relax onto your body I'm talking about the fabric just growing and growing!!! Booooo. 

Lesson learned, quality fabric makes a quality garment! 

At th every least I can use these as another pair of wearable muslins. They will be good for gardening and around the house work. Now I need to find some quality denim and try again. On the meantime I have a very nice pice of finewale black courdoroy that I can make up. 

On another not about pants. I met up with Sarah Veblen at the Sewing and Quilt Expo last week. And she gave a good looksee over my non-stretch pair of jeans and she thought the fit was almost perfect! She said to try scooping the back crotch a bit. I did a pants fitting with her and Rae Cumbie for the perfect pants pattern. I need to make some non-jeans style pants and I thought it would be nice to work less on the fitting and more on design and sewing! 

This weekend I've been working on a quilt for my granddaughter and have 2 maternity dresses cut out for my daughter. These are the last of the maternity sewing that I have planned. Hopefully these will hold her out for her last 11 weeks!

On a not so fun note.... I am once again battling a nasty cold this time it is all in my chest. Really dragging me down... I think I will have to skip my physical therapy tomorrow and instead go visit my regular doctor and see what is going on.

Happy Sewing

March 2014 Wrap-up!

Seriously, another month gone by!

I was originally thinking that this month was going to be super slow in the sewing front. After all I was super busy with work at the start of the month and then I had knee surgery. Well, turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought :)

I guess I really maximized my sewing time. Gotta love when that happens!

March started with a pair of jeans and ended with another pair of jeans! Although I still need to blog about the second pair of jeans.

So here goes:

5 fashion items: 2 pairs of jeans, 2 concert tee tops, and 1 maternity/nursing top

5 baby items: 4 crib sheets and 1 chenille blanket

2 home dec items: 1 recovered antique telephone chair in an old coffee sack. And covered 6 dining room chairs (this was a total refashion, these chairs were light blond wood with white seats!)

I just realized that there are a couple items on this list that I have not blooded about! Guess I better get cracking :)

On the list for April....

2 hooded baby towels

Favors for the baby shower

The baby quilt

A dress for my daughter for the shower

A dress for me for the shower

And a dress for an evening event

Another pair of jeans

I guess I better get cracking!! Never enough time :)

Happy Sewing!!