Oliver + S After School "Shirt"

 

Oops, before the Christmas gifts post I have Oliver + S winter dresses!

 

 

I used the "After School Shirt + Pants" pattern but made the shirt into a dress by increasing the length.

 

 

The pattern, like I have found with other Oliver + S patterns, was really easy to follow, came together perfectly and looks very professional.

 

 

Because the dresses were so close in size (size 4 and 5) I couldn't tell them apart, so I embroidered their names on the front of the dresses.

 I used a blue and brown fabric for the skirt portion that has little reindeer and snow flakes on it. It is winter themed without being too "in your face" about it.

 

 

The back of the dresses have the same 2 button yoke.

 

 

They turned out really cute, so cute that they wore them in our family photo this year... 

 

 

to a Christmas church musical...

 

 

In school Christmas Choir performances....

 

 

And even family reunions!

I love these dresses.... probably would love it as a shirt too. I will put that on to my to-do next list :)

 

~Jessica

 

 

Freezer Paper Stenciling

 

Ok- so I have been super busy lately and neglected my blog. So I am going to quickly post as many of the projects I finished in the last two months in the next couple posts.

 

 

First up is my Elemeno Shirts. Aren't they so cute, espically on a preschooler.... guess it is preschooler humor anyways.

 

 

I found this idea on Pinterest. And entered in the lettering in my Sure Cuts Alot program and cut it out of freezer paper using my Cricut.

 

 

Up next is the shirts I made for my Jaybird soccer team:

 

For this shirt I just used an Exacto knife and cut out my design.

 

When I began my project I was just going to make coach shirts for myself and my friend Janie,

 

 

but then I went on to make some Jaybird FAN shirts for the parents,

 

and then I made all the girls team shirts. For the girls' shirts I used the cricut to cut out their names from freezer paper and painted it on to the back of the shirts.

 

When it was all said and done I made 18 shirts!!!

 

And last but not least is the "I Know I Play Like a Girl" shirt:

 

I designed the shirt using the Sure-Cuts Alot program and cut them out with my Cricut.

 

 

Iron it on and sponge paint onto the stencil.

 

 

And *voila* you have a professional looking t-shirt!

 

 

 

 

Ok- those are the shirts I made, up next are some of the christmas gifts....

 Jessica

 

Quilted Autumn Rainbow Dress

 

So this week's challenge for Project Run and Play is Fall Holiday Wear.... my favorite fall holiday? My eldest daughter's birthday!

Her 5th birthday is coming up in a few weeks and every year I take my kids birthday photo. I like to make them something special to wear for this photo op.
Here are the last year's: Jaden, Julia and Jace.

 

So for this year I thought I would kill 2 birds and use this week's challenge to get Jaden's birthday dress finished.

And thus the Quilted Autumn Rainbow Dress was made.

 

 

After cutting all the diamonds I sewed them together into strips, then sewed the strips together.

I ironed all the seams flat then sewed around all the diamonds onto a thin lining material.

 

 

I used Simplicity Pattern 3511 but "thinned" it out a little bit. I have made the pattern several times before and it is always so big and loose (Bias Pattern Remix and Simplicity 3511) so I made this dress a size smaller and then took off about 3 inches in the width of both the bodice and the skirt part.

 

 

I am throwing Jaden a rainbow / art party so this dress fits in perfectly with my plan.

 

This is my first attempt at quilting, not too hard, but defiantly time consuming. I couldn't imagine making a quilt to fit on a bed- but this rainbow pattern would really look good in a little girl's room.

 

Hope you all have a great weekend! Check out the other Fall Holiday Outfits in the Flickr group.

~Jessica

Boy's Week

 

This week's sew along challenge for Project Run & Play was creating an outfit for a boy. I love making stuff for my son, but as he gets older I have to check and recheck that I am not doing something that will cause the outfit/bag/etc to be unused and labeled uncool.

So my challenge this week so to create an outfit for my 8 year old son....

 

I used the Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop's pattern for skinny jeans, thinking they are cool now right? Well, he is 8 but I made a size 10 so that they would be not so skin tight and I a giggling now thinking of his look when I had him try them on =) They were SO tight, an 8 would of never even been pulled on!

 

 

So my fix? I added a tuxedo strip down the side. They increased each of the legs 1.5" and the but/crotch area 3". Now they look more like straight leg pants instead but I got the thumbs up from him and he was able to sit down without busting a seam.

 

I freezer paper stenciled an understated, over sized Mushroom from Mario onto his shirt.

 

 

His jacket I made by refashioning an old shirt of mine. The hardest part was making the shirts darts into less of a woman's shape and more boxy like a cargo jacket. I fully lined the shirt and added pockets and button flaps onto the shoulders.

 

I wanted to paint or applique something onto the back of the jacket, but like the yellow shirt, my idea was shot down.

 

Check out other Sew-Along participates at the Flickr site.

Have a great day!

~Jessica

White Trench Coat with Silver Painted Doodles

 

 

 

This week's theme for Project Run & Play is the White Sheet challenge. Luckily I had this thick, beautiful, expensive white sheet that my sister had given me when she took her full bed out of the nursery.

 

 

I decided to make a trench coat of sorts. Something with a modern twist, making it white.

 

 

The entire jacket is lined and the zipper is hidden. This was a very exciting project for me. Not only did I make up the whole pattern but I had to figure out what needed to be done first, next etc.

 

 

I hand drew some doodles/stars and painted them with silver fabric paint.

 

Added a Mandarin collar and a silver button.

 

I have about a million things on my to-do list today so I have to get moving. Check out the Flickr group to see what every one else did with their white sheets!

~Jessica

Project Run & Play: Fashion Icon Week

 

It's Week 2 of Project Run & Play Sew Along! This weeks challenge/theme was Fashion Icon. I thought I would go retro and choose Twiggy & her 1960's style to base my run and play outfit off of.

 

 

Twiggy is best know for her short hair, androgynous looks, skinny frame and thickly mascaraed eye lashes. But in terms of her style, Twiggy popularized the shift dress in the '60s- a dress that had a firmly rectangular tilt, guiding rather than conforming to a woman's body. Also widely popular at this time was bright psychedelic patterns and colors.

 

 

So here is my interpretation:

 

 

 

The dress is made with a thick gray cotton and the geometric design is appliqued asymmetrically onto the side of the dress.

 

 

The 3/4 sleeves and the boat neck collar also are fashion trends of the 60's.

 

 

I drafted this pattern myself.  I don't have a really have a good tutorial for it because I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out.

 

 

 

The neck scared me a little but it turned out exactly how I planned it so I couldn't be happier!

 

 

Jaden likes it too, so it will at least get worn =)

 

 

And it will work perfectly for our Texas winter!

 

 

Always my go-to model, Jaden is really stepping up her game by posing while jumping... I might be creating a diva!

~Jessica