Oliver + S Class Picnic Blouse and PANTS

Hello, everyone!  Hope your week is off to a good start!  Mine is so far...

Today I'm sharing with you my latest completed project--an Oliver + S Class Picnic Blouse and Pants set.

Yes, I said pants and not shorts!  If you are at all familiar with the Oliver + S Class Picnic Blouse and Shorts pattern, then you know it is for a blouse and pair of shorts like the ones I made here this past summer.  Ella loves her shorts outfit, so I thought I would make her a fall ensemble using the same O + S pattern but make pants instead.

First, let me talk to you about the blouse.  After taking Anna's class on details at the Sewing Summit, I decided to add a few extras to this blouse. Notice the hunter green piping along the front as well as the two blue buttons.  Plus, I sewed a band to the sleeve edges in the same fabric I used for the front and back facings.  I think these details definitely enhance the visual interest of this blouse.

Isn't this girl just precious?  

Ok, here I must admit a mistake I made in sewing this blouse together.  I mixed up the front and back facings and didn't realize it until I already had the piping and buttons sewn on!  There's not much difference in those two pattern pieces, so I choose not to take it all apart and redo my work.  I honestly can't tell a difference in the fit, and my bet is that you never would have known it either!

Now, on to the pants.  I used my size 5 shorts pattern pieces as a guide in creating the new pattern pieces needed for the pants.  This included the shorts front, back, front facing, and back facing pieces.  I am not going into any great detail on how I created these, but I will say that I used a pair of pants that fit my daughter well as a go by for determining the length of the new O + S pants.

The trickiest part of converting the shorts to pants pattern is the adjustment of the front piece inside seam.  It is angled, but you can't simply extend that angle out to the length you need.  Instead, you'll have to just play with it and adjust the angle the best you can.  It's really no big deal.  Mine worked out just fine.

Where I had a little problem, however, is that I was working with limited fabric, something like just under 3/4 of a yard of denim fabric which was 60" wide.  In order to get the pants front and back and facing pieces all cut out of the denim, I had to make the facing pieces slightly narrower than the  pattern specified.

I did not take this into account when cutting out the waistband pieces, so my front waistband ended up being roughly 1.25" too short!  My solution was to add that little square piece of denim to the middle front of the waistband.  I think it kind of looks like I meant for it to be that way!  Don't you?

The most difficult part of the assembly of these pants was sewing all the way down and then back up the facing pieces.  I did not anticipate this when I decided to make pants instead of shorts.  If you decide to make a similar pair of pants, I would suggest sewing half way down each side of the facing piece from the top then sewing half way up each side of the facing piece from the bottom so that your seams meet somewhere in the middle.  It is very difficult to sew down that narrow leg tube shape and not get a nice smooth seam.  I went very, very slowly and constantly checked to make sure I wasn't getting any other fabric stuck under the presser foot.  Let's just say it was a tense few minutes of sewing!

And then I forgot to sew the tags in while I was sewing on the waistband.  I do this all the time!  Do you? Anyway, I improvised and sewed them onto this little strip of fabric and then sewed it into the pants.  It looks pretty sloppy from the inside, but the outside is nice and neat since I sewed directly over the seam. If you are interested in sizing and care labels, read my post here.

While this outfit is not girly looking at all, it is a great outfit to wear for playing and exploring the outdoors. Plus, Ella can wear these pants with pretty much any t-shirt or other blouse as long as the waistband is covered. She loves the outfit and says it is super comfy, so even though it has a few little mistakes, who cares! As long as she's happy, I'm happy!  And I'd say she looks pretty happy!

So I Bought an Embroidery Machine

What was I thinking?!  Days before I left to go to the Sewing Summit, I ordered a Brother PE770 embroidery machine off of Amazon.

I had debated the idea of purchasing an embroidery machine for some time, but it was my friend Lila's oohing and aahing over a couple of "stinkin' cute" reversible dresses that my friend RaeAnna (of Sewing Mama RaeAnna) appliqued for me that pushed me over the edge!  Before I knew it, I was researching machines and placing an order!  I had no idea what I was getting myself into!  Ha!

It was at least a week after I returned from my trip before I could really try out my new "toy", and things didn't go so well at first.  During my test run of the new embroidery machine, the upper thread wrapped around a small piece of felt that is attached to the bobbin case with some adhesive on the back. Of course the machine jammed, and I had to take the metal plate off just to clean out the mess.  The little piece of felt was now not so sticky anymore and several more similar failures occurred.

At the time, I really had no idea what was the best stabilizer to use with cotton quilting fabric or knit fabric.  I asked the ladies at the embroidery machines at Joann's and was directed to a package of tear-away stabilizer. I'm sure tear-away stabilizer works well for some applications, but I did not like it!

After discussing these issues with RaeAnna several more times as well as consulting numerous online resources and a Facebook embroidery group, I decided to try some of the Pellon #40 cut away stabilizer.  I also took a little Elmer's stick glue and stuck that little felt piece back down to my bobbin case (because the Brother authorized service rep said it would be at least 3 weeks before he could even look at my machine).  After making these adjustments as well as tightening the bobbin screw about an eighth of a turn, I finally had success!

I made a couple more test runs and then made my daughter this cute little t-shirt!  My first appliqued item!  Yay!

Now my friend Lila had a friend who wanted me to make her granddaughter a similar "stinkin' cute" little reversible dress.  After exchanging emails and pictures of fabric and applique designs back and forth Monday morning, this is what I made...

Don't you just love this little turkey?  I used Joel Dewberry's Heirloom fabrics for the appliqued feathers.

Covered button for the closure on the back using more of the Heirloom fabric.

And for the reverse side of the dress, we have a cute elf shoe filled with a lolly pop and candy cane.  I just love the soft pink and green colors!  Don't you?  The shoe fabric is the green on green chevron from Riley Blake Designs.

This font is called "Bonnie", and I purchased it from 8 Claws and a Paw. RaeAnna told me about My Editor free embroidery software that I downloaded and used to merge the individual letters of the name into one embroidery file for my machine.  It was pretty simple to use, especially since RaeAnna walked me through it over the phone!

Covered button for the closure on this side of the dress as well.

I know I still have a lot to learn, but I was extremely pleased with the end result.  I certainly hope that little Lucy will enjoy her new dress as much as my daughter and Lila's daughter have enjoyed theirs!  Thanks again, RaeAnna, for all your help!  I hope I'll eventually be able to embroider as well as you!

Chevron Washi Tunic

Has anyone else caught the Made by Rae Washi Dress/Tunic fever?!  I know I have!  This tunic is my second Washi pattern item, the first was a Washi dress, and I think I love it even more than the dress!

And I just learned that Rae has added a pattern piece for adding long sleeves!  I can't wait to try that out.

If you recall from my post on making the Washi dress, I didn't make a muslin before I jumped right in and made the real thing.  The fit of that dress was quite good, but there were a few things I wanted to do differently when I put together the tunic.

First of all, I lowered by about a half inch the dart for the bust.  In order to do this, I just traced the pattern bodice piece again and adjusted the dart location accordingly.  This made the bodice of the top fit better on me for sure.

Secondly, I started the rows of shirring about 3/4" to 1" lower than where the pattern specified.  This adjustment also provided me with a better fit by preventing the back from having that "riding up my back" feeling.

Next, I used Rae's video tutorial on how to line the bodice of the top instead of using facings.  I pretty much knew how to do this already, but I watched it completely because you never know when you might learn a new trick or two! For my bodice lining, I used some basic muslin fabric.  It's very soft and matched the light colored chevron on my fabric.

I don't remember Rae's tutorial including under stitching of the lining along the neckline, but I added this in order to help keep the neckline seam nice and smooth.  

I'm not a big fan of hand sewing, so if you are one of those people that wants the inside of a garment to look as lovely as the outside, then you better skip this next picture!

From now on, I'll definitely be lining the bodice instead of using facings.  This method was just as quick and easy, but in the end, you don't have to worry about the facing pieces trying to pop out the neck opening.

And the final adjustment I tried to make didn't work out like I had hoped. When I made the dress, I went with the U-shaped cutout along the neckline, but I felt like the top was constantly gaping open.  For the tunic, I decided go with the basic scoop neckline and cut the shoulder width and neckline by the XS size of the pattern while using the M size for everything else.  Sadly, this didn't resolve my problem as you can see in some of the pictures.

If anyone has any suggestions on what I should try next, please leave me a comment!  The gaping is not a huge problem, but I am definitely aware of it, especially when I have to bend over.

When I wore this top and the dress at Sewing Summit, I had people constantly saying they loved it and asking me if I made it.  This time, I was proud to say, "Yes, I made it!", and I know for a fact that a few people immediately pulled out their phones or ipads and looked up the pattern!

All in all, this is a great pattern and a great top--no doubt!  The Washi tunic only took me a couple of hours to sew, and I just love wearing it!  Can't get much better than that.

So you'll definitely be seeing more Washi dresses and tops from me in the future--most likely very soon!  I've got some beautiful voile fabrics that I've been hoarding, and I'm going to be totally selfish and make myself a long-sleeved Washi tunic with it.

Sewing Summit Swag

This is it!  My final Sewing Summit highlights post.  It's all about the swag!

The sponsors of the Sewing Summit did not disappoint.  I literally had a wagon-full of goodies!

Upon registration, everyone was given a Mood bag filled with things like patterns, a thread box tin, batting samples, tote bags (one from the Green Bag Lady), scissors, and more.

Each and every time we entered the banquet hall for a meal, there would be more freebies sitting in our chairs, like a copy of Ruby Star Wrapping, Mollie Makes, and a BabyLock bag with information on their machines along with a needle and thread sample.

During the Saturday luncheon with keynote speaker Joel Dewberry, everyone received this colorful guide to his latest venture--sewing patterns.

Craftsy handed out cute little gift bags with everything needed to make your own mason jar pin cushion as well as a coupon for a discount on Deborah of Whipstitch's A-line skirt class.

And Jessica from Me Sew Crazy put together (and I'm being literal here--she really made the tote bag) these amazing bags full of fabric, Pellon samples, cutting mats, scissors, rotary cutters, boxes of thread, magazines, and patterns!  These swag bags were only handed out to the attendees of the Joann's Fabric and Craft Stores Girl's Night Out Dinner that I attended.

Jessica even hand embroidered my blog name and framed it in a cute little hoop.  She is so sweet!

Finally, I managed to get some fat quarter samples from Riley Blake as well as FQ bundles from Windham Fabrics and Clothworks. Oh, and I can't forget the t-shirt my roommate Lindsay gave me from CraftFoxes.

Everyday of the Sewing Summit felt like Christmas morning!  What fun!  And to top it off, my roommates gave me some amazing gifts as well.

Rachael from Imagine Gnats, gave me these gorgeous Liberty of London fat quarters.  I know your jealous!  Aren't you?

And Lindsay from Lindsay Sews, made me this very useful notebook/business card holder from LBG Studios free tutorial.  I enjoyed using it so much during the conference that I'm still carrying it in my purse now!  Thanks ladies!

I made my roommates these laminated drawstring bags filled with some treats, but I'll save the details on them for another day.

Thanks again for following along on my Sewing Summit Highlights journey! Hope you'll stick around to see all the new projects I've been working on lately.