Homemade Friday: Summer is for Sewing

I've been sewing feverishly.  And not feverishly as in I have a fever while I'm doing it, although why I do not when my husband has been deliriously ill for almost a week is a mystery.  Seriously.  He's weak and hollow-eyed and losing weight.  He's been so sick that he actually went to the doctor, which is remarkable in itself.  They said it was just an infection and gave him an antibiotic.  He's sleeping now.

He was home sick on Monday, then took Thursday and Friday off for us to do family things together, but that didn't work out so well. 

However, I still found time to sew.  Mainly because I put in headphones and listen to a book and ignore everyone. 

It's working for me.

In the past two weeks I've made a dress for me, a skirt for me that I have to redo because it's too big, a skirt for Adele, a dress for Adele, a pair of bloomers for Adele, and a pair of shorts for Sebastian that he has yet to actually choose to wear but I have high hopes that if I just put them in his drawer one day he'll become smitten.

I love the instant gratification of sewing.  Knitting is a lesson in patience.  I can pick out the pattern and yarn and if I'm lucky and work super fast and have thick yarn and needles, I'll be done in a week.  With sewing, I can do it all in a day provided my children don't act too needy.

I'm still not proficient, and I choose projects that don't need buttons or zippers because buttons scare me and the one time I sewed in a zipper it looked ridiculous. 

Elastic waists are my friend, is what I'm saying.  And not just because of my lingering, childbirth-caused lower-belly-pudge.

The little skirt I made for Adele was crazy easy.  I found the pattern at Wal-Mart for $1.  Simplicity has a pattern line called Sew Simple that has one pattern included for around 97 cents.  The first time I saw them I made the cashier double check because I couldn't believe that the price was so cheap.  Patterns are normally expensive.  Hell, fabric is normally expensive.  It makes it hard because I want to sew to save money, you know?  I don't want to have to buy loads and loads of clothes for my kids when I know I could sew them myself. 

The fabric I chose was left over from a skirt I made for myself years ago, one that I can still zip (I made my mom sew in the zipper!), but that, if I want to wear it, it has to be almost all the way up to my bubs.  So I don't wear it.

But the material was adorable for her.  It's girly and simple and flowery.  The skirt sewed up in no time.  You cut it out, sew up both sides, sew a waist seam, insert elastic, then hem it.  And she looks so cute in it!  Chris loved it and requested I make more. 

I've already cut out another one. 

I attempted to take photos of it, however Adele would like for you to notice her monkey.  Because it's in need of attention.

 

And here she is running away:

And here's a picture of the print up close:

The next thing I want to show you is something I started years ago.   As in almost two years ago.  As in look at this post and see how little both of my babies were and tear up a little just like I did because SUNRISE SUNSET I WANT MY BABIES TO BE BABIES AGAIN JUST FOR A LITTLE BIT.

As you can see, this is still not the best-fitting garment for Adele.  It's incredibly broad, even though I crossed the straps in the back, which only made a gaping whole and weird pucker.

But look!  Bloomers!

Those fit fine.  I sewed them today when I was supposed to be starting shorts for Sebastian but then I saw these bloomers cut out and shoved in Weekend Sewing, which is where the pattern is from - and I figured that maybe two years is long enough to keep them waiting.  Luckily I'd cut out the 18-24 month size instead of the 6-12 size so they still fit.  Because she is tiny.  Tall, but tiny.

You can find the pattern free on Martha Stewart, apparently.  But I recommend buying the book.  I've also sewn the Huck Finn Pants - which I wrote about here.  And I'm almost finished with the dress I said I wanted to make in that post, the Flower Girl Dress, which is freaking adorable even after I had to take the entire thing apart because I'd made it too small.  So.  The book is worth it.

And now I'm on to more sewing.  This time the shorts.  Sebastian needs more shorts.  I'll show you later.

Also, Adele, if you would stop growing so fast that would be awesome.