Good morning, friends! Today, I’m guest posting over at Straight Grain, and I hope you’ll check out my Belgian-inspired creations there. They were fully approved by K!!

Here are some teaser images…

Below, K is trying to assemble a cardboard peacock from a fabulous book that was a gift from a dear friend (I just noticed that K has chocolate all over her face – not the Belgian kind, though that would have been such a great prop!):

An upcycled dress:

Butterflies! How can you not love butterflies?

Pop on over to An’s blog for the details!!

Pre-KCW | Day 1 | Days 2 + 3 | Days 4 + 5 | Days 6 + 7

Done!!! All told, I made 13 items if I include the pre-KCW tunics which I think should count, don’t you? 1 dress, 3 coats/outerwear, 3 tops, 3 tunics, 2 pairs of shorts and a pair of capri pants. Not too shabby, I must say. You’ll notice that I didn’t get too wild with color other than the long cardigan — I had this idea of creating a “collection” if you will, so that things could be mixed and matched. I didn’t get around to making one more dress, a top and a skirt that would have made the mix’n'match so much livelier, but this is a sampling of what I was going for:

Left to her own devices, this is the combination K would throw together:

It was fun fun fun, and I’m so excited that KCW is seasonal now! I’ve been so immersed in sewing/prepping that I haven’t had a chance to see a lot of people’s creations but will be doing so over the next few days. If you participated, I hope you had fun too!

For the finale, I planned to do a pretty photo collage of outtakes, but then I decided to do something a little different. I try really hard to put forth the best photos I can when I create these posts, but anyone who takes pictures of kids knows that more often than not, things don’t go so smoothly. My child says the darnedest things during our photo shoots and quite frequently she refuses to cooperate or inadvertently strikes surprising poses. Keepin’ it real, folks. Here are some quotes and blooper shots – maybe it’s just me, but they make me laugh:

I’m a little bit ashamed that I have only one garment to show for the last couple of days of KCW. I’m doubly ashamed that it is an astonishingly simple tunic to make and should not have taken me so long. Have you seen Jessica’s prolific-ness? I had similar aspirations and didn’t even come close. Simply amazing! And all the clothes are fabulous!

But I toiled and it got done! And I think — if I may be so bold — this is very much my signature ‘look’. The loose, tunic-y style, the polka dots, an element of grey somewhere (the binding is cotton with grey stripes), a touch of sparkle (the dots are silver). The fabric is Nani Iro Pocho and it is divine.

This was the fastest photo shoot we’ve had to date. I got K up, she pulled on the tunic, I snapped a couple of test shots, pulled on the tights, and five minutes later we were done. I think it was due to this app/song (this is the YouTube version – warning: it’ll start playing and you might get funny looks). She loves it and is belting out the tune with abandon in these photos.

The tunic is from this book (love. this. so. much). I adore the little back bow tie detail and the flutter sleeves are a perennial favorite.

Alas, we had a situation right after the photo shoot. K was just about done with breakfast and we were about to head for school when she accidentally spilled a cup of milk all over the tunic. She was very upset and wailed, “But I really wanted to wear this to school!!” Travesty. But I was secretly pleased. Sometimes she only tolerates the clothes I make for the photos and then in a blink of an eye she’s wearing something else (that I didn’t make – which is getting harder and harder to do actually, which makes it sting all the more). She wore the Liberty-look dress instead with the linen coat, and that restored her spirits.

At any rate, I can stick a fork in KCW. I had a few more things I wanted to make that are actually cut out but not sewn, but you’ll get to see them in the coming weeks. Tomorrow, I’ll do a little wrap-up but for now, I’m going to let my sewing machine rest and get some housework done!

Good morning, friends! Did you have a nice weekend? I hope so! Mine was spent sewing and sewing and sewing…you know, I always make these impossible lists of goals for myself and then I’m completely shocked when I don’t get through even half of the list. Such was the case for this KCW.

I am, however, quite happy with what I was able to get through. Warning: a mega-load of pictures to follow…First up, the adorable sleeveless top and shorts combo. I should mention that I completed the shorts on Saturday, so the post title should technically include “part of day 6″.

I know that the fantastic Elepants and Elegance bubble shorts pattern is all over the sewing blogosphere right now for good reason, but the ones I made are from this book. They’re called “Kabocha”, which means pumpkin in Japanese. I used a butter yellow cotton. I’ve had these shorts on my to-do list forever, though I’d love to try Heidi‘s version with the buttons – the cuteness slays me.

The top is from the same book and in fact, I sewed up the same combo shown in the book — something I don’t do too often, but I love how they look together. The fabric is the GORGEOUS Nani Iro “Peaceful Cooing” in grey (I made culottes with the green colorway). I want to be wrapped in this fabric when I die. I may have said this about other fabric, but I mean it this time. I cut against the grain because I wanted the effect of the fluffy, cloud-like bits falling.

Remember that K’s been really into sharks lately? Well, I made her some shark-themed clothing. I’m realizing now that I should have added eyes to the hoodie, but A for effort, I say. This is the same luscious mystery knit I used for the half-leggings here. Do you like her purple ankle socks? She was initially insistent about them but almost slipped and fell after trying the handstand, so took them off rapidly.

The teeth are made out of felt and hand-stitched in. I figured they’ll get funky pretty quickly and she’ll grow out of the shark phase in a minute so I wanted to be able to easily take them out. Friends, the piece de resistance is the zipper. It’s polka dot. I am beyond excited about this. I also got a black zipper with white polka dots. LOVE. They’re from here and I believe there’s also houndstooth.

If the hoodie and raglan tee look familiar, it’s because they’re the same patterns (and in the case of the tee, same fabric) as the outfit I made for Meg’s son. I had less tragic accidents with the hoodie this time but I used my sewing machine instead of my serger for the most part, which helped. The hoodie is from this book and the raglan tee is Oliver + S.

The tee was originally meant for Meg’s son, but the hem was so wavy and the neckline a total botch job, that I couldn’t stomach the idea of sending it. Because it was in my ‘fail’ pile anyway, I thought it would be a good canvas for a shark drawing. I did it freehand with a silver sharpie, then I outlined it with silver embroidery floss. It’s OK. Just OK. It looks a little too amateur to me. I do like the sun that K drew though. The important thing is that K loves it and couldn’t wait to try it on. (I know that photo is totally blurry, but I love it so much)

And the shorts! The same pattern as the madras ones here. Such a great pattern! The fabric is a green linen plaid from my stash – I believe my mom thrifted this one and the yellow cotton used for the kabocha shorts.

I have one last outfit that I’ll post tomorrow…oh, the bribes that needed to be wielded to get these shots! The photo shoots are always the hardest part, but I’m always so glad to be able to look back on all the photos, especially the super silly ones (there were some ridiculous and hilarious shots of K with half her clothes off, not post-able obviously…).

While I was sewing I listened to a lot of TED talks. Inspiring! Though I always feel bad for the speakers when their jokes fall flat. Much like it was for me when I was teaching art to fourth graders last week. A tough crowd, fourth graders.

Finally! I have something to show you that I created during KCW week. I’m calling it the “Popsicle Outfit”. Don’t those stripes make you think of juicy, fruity, refreshing goodness?

My intentions were to sew spring outfits for this round of KCW, and though I think these three pieces work very well for the season, they practically shout “summer!” to me.

For those of you with an eagle eye, you’ll see that K has no front teeth. She looks like she needs to be fitted for dentures…two teeth came out in the last two days and the tooth fairy has been working overtime. The Tooth Fairy was a little flummoxed when she found a note that said, “Dear Tooth Fairy, Could you leave me 100 dollars and 100 cents?” She left K a buck and a toothbrush.

Let’s start with the eyelet tank. J’Adore. I fully lined it with some slinky polyester-y fabric, and the pattern is from Happy Homemade V. 5. I had less than half a yard of the eyelet and barely squeezed out this top.

The cropped pants are made with a beautiful black linen blend. I love the side vent detail, and the pattern is from this book. Super stylish, yes? I decided to use some cute blue polka dot FOE (fold over elastic) instead of a waistband, and K says it’s very comfortable. Look at me, trying new things.

Now, the knit cardigan/coat…I was SO nervous cutting into this gorgeous fabric. I didn’t have a whole lot, and I even went back to the store to see if they had more just in case I messed up but they were completely sold out. No surprise. This knit is delicious. I simply can’t think of a better adjective for it – sheer, light, colorful, happy. I love it love it love it.

The pattern is from my new Sunny Spot, which I can’t get enough of. I’ve cut out several more patterns from this book already! Ah, my little geriatric vampiress. How she manages to eat, I don’t know. I think her gummy smile makes her look extra darling.

I have to come clean that I did mess up on the knit coat. The button holes are shameful, just shameful. All stretched out and wonky…I forgot to reinforce with interfacing and it was too late by the time I remembered. Additionally, I tried to edgestitch the hem, and it became crazy wavy and I used some serious muscle power to iron it out.

I also initially planned on using a slightly stretchy woven fabric to fully line the sheer knit, so I cut out several sizes bigger than I normally do, anticipating reduced stretchiness. At the last minute, I changed my mind and used a thicker off-white knit instead and so the coat hangs a little awkwardly on K – but I don’t think you can really tell.

Despite a few errors here and there, this outfit came out exactly the way I envisioned it, and this makes me exceedingly happy. Comfortable and chic – doesn’t get any better than that, right? (Perhaps I shouldn’t be going around calling my own creations chic – seems somehow un-chic to do that).

I have more outfits to share, but my model is not feelin’ it, and I may not be able to post pictures until next week – must come up with a way to make the photoshoot extra fun. At least she really liked playing with Gumby and Legos…