My daughter keeps growing and her wardrobe is in an almost constant rotation. Just when I think she has what she needs, she comes walking out of her room and I hear, “Mom, I grew again!”.
It’s usually when we are trying to run out the door or leaving on a trip, never the best times to sew. Fortunately, she likes the fit of the free Ginger Shorties from Sew Like My Mom. I can usually do a quick remeasure, reprint the few pages, cut and sew, and she has a new pair of shorts in under an hour. So the last time the scene played out, we went fabric shopping and I made her a few pairs, to hopefully buy some time.
This first pair was made from a Black Rainbow Foil Liverpool from So Sew English. She loves glitter and rainbow so these were a huge hit. I made her a coordinating Patterns for Pirates Jolly Roger Raglan in a purple French Terry I’ve had in my stash for a while.
This next pair was made from scraps from my recent Iris shorts ( you can see the sew along I did for them here). When she saw my shorts she fell in love with them and I was so happy I had enough scraps left to make her a pair of shorts, plus we got matching scrunchies, made by her. This fabric is a Scuba from So Sew English.
She picked a neon pink bullet from Sincerely Rylee for her third pair. She loves how it looks with her Sassy shirt and the bunny shirt she made for her birthday, back in April. She raided my stash for a coordinating fabric to make herself a headband too.
I am so glad that these are such quick sews!! You can see my time lapse of the scuba pair here.
Maybe these three pairs will last her through the rest of our warm weather, fingers crossed.
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Ever since I started sewing, I would take pictures of my makes and log the details in a notebook. It is fun to look back and see what you have made and how you have improved over the years. It’s also crazy helpful having details written out when they request the “exact same thing” a year later. Since this is my norm, my family knows, I will request photos of whatever I make for them, before they can have them. Cruel I know 😂.
I made the “mistake” of making my husband new shirts for him to wear under his work clothes, and he loved the fabric so much, he requested several others, in his favorite regular t-shirt pattern. For his work under shirts, I recreated his old store bought ones and saved a bunch of money. (You can see the full video tutorial here ). The work undershirts, are a much tighter fit, but for these new ones, he wanted a traditional, relaxed, t-shirt fit.
I pulled out our trusty t-shirt pattern, the Jalie 2918. Not only is this our most used mens t-shirt pattern, but it is also our most used t-shirt pattern for my son, yes, it has both mens and boys sizes included in one pattern! Naturally, my son wanted to have a few matching shirts with my husband, so they picked a few fabrics together. Not gonna lie, watching my guys fabric shopping together was amazing 💕
First up was this University Red dry-fit from The Fabric Fairy. This is the same fabric base I used for my husband’s black undershirts. I purchased 2 yards and was able to get both a shirt for my husband and son. My guys love how smooth it feels and the moisture wicking properties are a major selling feature for them, especially since they are always outside doing something active and we live in the hot desert.
They also chose the Royal colorway of the same fabric. There is a slight difference in the feel between the red and blue, but nothing significant and they didn’t even notice it.
My husband wanted a few more tops and picked out two other fabrics from my So Sew English stash. First up was this Sage performance. It feels a little slicker/stiffer than the Nike dry-fit, but again, it’s so minimal, he didn’t notice it.
And the second stash pick, was this Silver Yoga performance, with added HTV. I’ve only done HTV a few times and this one was a learning experience for me. Plus all the weeding! But seeing him wash, wear, and repeat, was totally worth it.
Because of my “Photo First” rule, they were not able to wear most of them for a few weeks. It was such torture, but they finally gave me some pictures when we went camping a few weeks ago. Then proceeded to wear the shirts the entire time 😂
Since there are a couple other color ways of the Nike dry-fit in stock at the Fabric Fairy, they have requested a few more shirts. My daughter fell in love with the feel of the fabric too, so I used the pinkfire colorway for a new tank for her. Which you can read about here.
In the sewing community, Sewjo is commonly referred to as the desire to sew, or being inspired to sew and create. So how does one loose their sewjo? I have never lost mine until recently and it was due to a personal loss which threw me for a physical and emotional loop.
Once I started feeling better physically I assumed I would just get back to sewing. Sewing has always been my outlet when I’m stressed or dealing with health issues. But not this time. I had absolutely no desire to even step into my sewing room. It was so bad I even told my husband I wanted to get rid of all my fabric and machines, and just walk away. Drastic, I know, but that was where I was.
Knowing how much I love sewing and how it has been such a life saver for me throughout the years, he wisely told me to take a break and just breathe. So I shut everything off and took a weekend away to focus on our two children and our little family. We spent the time working on DIY projects around our house. I painted my daughters antique headboard and chair, to match the rest of her bedroom set. We painted our master bathroom and cleaned up the renovation mess. Then we started building the drawers we are putting into our closet. It felt good to get “something” done, it was a creative outlet, we got fresh air, and had lots of laughs while we challenged each other to Mario Kart.
Did I magically find my sewjo? Nope. But I felt refreshed mentally and true priorities were once again apparent. Priority number one, spending one on one time with my daughter. So when I asked her if she would like to have a girls date with me, she gave an overwhelming YES!! and promptly asked if I could make us matching shirts for our date. SIGH. Remember me, no sewjo to be found??
I couldn’t tell her no though. Her excitement was obvious and after the sadness it was apparent she needed that time, just as much as I did.
We spent some time going through patterns and all the fabric in my sewing room. After a week of dragging my feet, we finally had things figured out.
We decided on the tank version of the Knoxville from New Horizons Designs, in grey rayon spandex, and some fun vinyl writing. The Knoxville has the twist knot or bottom knot, shirt or tunic lengths, five sleeve options, and three neckline options including a cowl. We chose to do the twist knot, shirt length, and the scoop neck options for our tanks.
It was the first time I have made this pattern and it was hard to muddle through. Not because of the pattern or directions, but because I desperately didn’t want to sew. I did it though, and the end product was smile worthy. If you want to see a time lapse of me sewing them up, you can on my YouTube here.
Something I wanted to mention was that I graded to a larger hip, per my measurements, but I probably could have done a straight size as the shirt has a nice amount of ease in the waist and hip. Fabric choice will also affect the amount of ease and drape of this shirt.
One other thing I noticed was on my front bodice, the side with the knot, was considerably longer than my back bodice on that side. After a quick search in the Facebook group I found that certain fabrics can get stretched out at that part due to it being cut on the crossgrain. The solution was to ease that extra amount in when sewing the bodice together. I did that on mine and it worked well. So keep that in mind when you go to make your own version.
Now we are all ready for our girls date this weekend in our matching Knoxville tanks and I found a little of my sewjo.
Here’s to taking those little steps and finding the joy in sewing again. 💕
P.S. Yes, I chopped 14″ off my hair 😂
This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you.
If you read my last post, it was about my son’s clothing list he “needed”. My daughter’s list was a little more conservative in its length, but now that I have completed it, she seems to need additional things. I kind of feel like she is playing me. Oh, just make a few things Mom. Oh, would you look at that, guess I need this now and ohh what about that?? Hey Mom, what is that fabric for? Oh do you think you could make me something in it too?? Oh Mom, that is so soft, it’s like your hugs… Okay, I made that last one up. You get the point though. She loves my makes and that is such an awesome feeling.
My kids love the fabric options from So Sew English almost as much as I do, so when she was making her list, she asked if she could shop for fabric on their site. She made her list, complete with fabric choices, and this is what she picked.
First up is this super fun Lilac Unicorn print Double Brushed Poly. Not only does it have unicorns all over, but it also has the foil stars. I tried so hard to get good pictures of the stars, and just couldn’t quite get it. She wanted a shirt to wear with leggings and jeans, but requested something a little different than what we had done before. I showed her the patterns I had already but hadn’t made for her yet, and she picked the Spice Cake Dolman from Pattern for Pirates.
The Spice Cake is the girls version of their Pumpkin Spice Dolman for women, which just so happened to be one of the first tops I made myself. The pattern can be made with a short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve, or a long sleeve. You can choose a straight shirt length, curved tunic length, or a banded option with short or tall bands. For her unicorn shirt, she picked the long sleeve, curved hem tunic length.
After my last time lapse, I had a few questions regarding the clipping I did to my seams when hemming. You can see it at about 1:32 in this current time lapse. Since I took my coverstitch out of time out and have been giving it another chance, I have found that I get less skipped stitches, if I clip into my seam allowance, and split my hems opposite directions. I do not clip all the way through, just up to the left needle thread. This also helps when I am hemming sleeves or pants, as it allows me fold at exactly the right amount. One other note about this time lapse. I usually iron my curved hems while I am folding them. I just did a finger press on this one, since my iron was out of commission. Ironing before stitching is definitely something I don’t like to skip, especially when doing curved hems.
To finish off her “first” list, she asked for two new pairs of leggings. She wanted something really colorful with lots of pattern, that she could wear with solid tops. She picked the Navy “knit print” double brushed poly for this pair.
And for the second pair she picked this pretty Lilac scales print double brushed poly. The lilac dbp is only available in a bundle now, but there are some colorways of the French Terry scales, in yardage.
For both pairs of leggings we used the Bonny leggings from Made for Mermaids. This is a pattern we have been using for her for a while, and she just loves how they fit. The pattern is free, has several length options, and also comes with a skirt, which she loves as well.
I should have known her list was going to grow, once I found the piles of clothing they hid when making their need lists. Guess I should start working on those “extras” soon. Although, I do have a few things on my “need” list, so maybe they will be next. 😂
This post may contain affiliate links. This means, if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Let’s be honest, we all know it goes right back to adding to my fabric stash. All opinions on this blog are my own.
Sew Gr8ful 