Hawaiian dress shirt

 Spring has certainly arrived here in Anchorage, Alaska.  During the day we reach temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s so the snow that built up all winter long is slowly disappearing.  But at night, it gets down to the teens, so I would not call it warm quite yet.  From what people tell me, this has been a mild winter and spring has arrived a bit early.  I think the lower 48 sucked up the cold snowy weather that belongs up here.  But what do I know?  It is just my first year here and I spent most of the winter down in Georgia.

On Saturday, we enjoyed the Spring weather by going to the Eagle River nature center to hear a class on local woodpeckers and then went on a walk to enjoy the park and see some actual woodpeckers and the holes they have created in trees along the path.  It was a gorgeous clear day, but the trail was a bit treacherous with lots of ice caused by the snow melting and then refreezing into a slick sheet covering the path.

Also this weekend I have been spending my time finishing up the kids' Easter outfits.  Eli's was especially fun because he picked out a wild Hawaiian print fabric.  I guess the long winter has go to him and he wants to dream of a warmer climate.

I used the same burdastyle boy's dress shirt pattern shown HERE and HERE but this time I had to make it two sizes bigger.  He has been shooting up this winter and those flannel versions are getting quite short on him.

Because Spring is still quite chilly and Summer could be a long ways off, I kept it a long sleeve shirt.
And I am getting better with the cuffs and am quite proud of how expertly I have sewn this one.  But it is my 4th time using this pattern so I really should be getting good at it.

I have written an official review of it over at Sew Cool for the Tween Scene because it does come in sizes for older boys.  If you would like to read about the details of the pattern, head over THERE.

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Little Fox

I made it home for my youngest daughter's third birthday.  It feels great to be back in Alaska and no longer in Georgia separated from my family.  My last week in GA though I took advantage of not having kids around and did some major sewing for Isa's birthday.

I found some super cute fox and lady bug fabric at Joanns so I bought several of the coordinating fabrics to make her a complete birthday look.  I used patterns I already had on hand, the W pants and Beachy Boat neck shirt by Blank Slate Patterns.

 All the knits that coordinated were in the colors that went with the fox fabric but were in totally different patterns or were solid.  And I wanted to create something of interest on the shirt.

So, I bought a zig-zag pattern knit, a pink knit, and some sheer with little daisies.  All of these fabric coordinated with the twill fabric I used for the pants.  Then I set out to do some reverse applique.  First, I set out to find a good fox silhouette.  Good 'ole Google images was perfect for that!  I found a fox head, printed it, and cut it out.

Second, I pinned a wide strip of the sheer on top of the cut front of the shirt.  I pinned the silhouette on top of all three centered.  I then stitched around the fox's head and eyes with a straight stitch.  Next, I cut the excess sheer off from the outside of the fox face and zig-zagged around the raw edges of the face.

Third, pinned a piece of the patterned knit behind the fox and again zig-zagged.  Finally, I cut the excess of the printed fabric.  As you can see, I left the pink for the eyes intact and sandwiched between the two layers.

 I did change the shirt pattern just slightly.  I used a knit binding on the sleeves and neckline and then faced the bottom hem.  I just like that look a bit more.  And the bottom hem is faced with the patterned knit so it will still look cute when it inevitably is flipped up.

P.S.  Project Run and Play is having inspired by animals week, so this was perfect timing.

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Flipping the boat (boat neck, that is)

One of my favorite blogs I have found through Project Run and Play is Frances Suzanne.  It is written by two sisters who sew some of the most classically beautiful clothes for their nieces.  It is these two ladies that have motivated me to use piping in various projects.

Well, for several months they have been hosting a "flip that pattern" fun filled contest/sewalong.  I participated one month and decided to again.

March is the month of the Beach Boat neck. I already owned that pattern so I decided to make a button up shirt version.

 I cut the front as two pieces instead of on the fold and gave it about another inch on the center.  I also rounded off the corners next to the neck.

 Then I used contrasting knit to make a binding for the hem and around the front to create a placket for the buttons.  For the bottom binding, I used a decorative stitch to give it more interest and tack it down.

The original pattern has 3/4 sleeves and I wanted long sleeves so I made long cuffs in the same knit as the binding.  These few changes made the top take twice as long to sew as the normal Beachy Boatneck would take.  But, I do like the way it turned out and so did Isa.

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