PRP: Nothing But Knit Challenge

Hello... is this thing still on?

It's been so long since I have blogged, I am worried I might have forgotten how. Here goes nothing.

Honestly, it's all this little girl's fault.

Let me explain, I was pregnant with her, and my biggest symptom was exhaustion. I could barely function. I wasn't hit that hard with my other pregnancies. When I finally felt like myself again in the third trimester, I decided to do some sewing.

That's when I threw my hip out and ended up in physical therapy and had to use a cane the rest of my pregnancy. Like who does that? Oh yeah, me. It was embarrassing. All from getting up and down a couple times from the sewing machine.

But that's behind me, Project Run and Play is starting a new season, and I have been dying to get back into sewing. 

So here I am.

Week 1 is "Nothing but Knit." I love sewing with knit fabrics! When I first learned how to sew, I only bought knit fabric at the store because it felt more like clothing than quilting cottons. I didn't know I was supposed to be intimidated by it.

I did use my serger for most of the construction, except for hems, which I did with a double needle and woolly nylon in the bobbin. But a serger is not necessary, I loved sewing knits on my regular machine long before I had a serger. Knit is forgiving, comfortable, and doesn't fray. What's not to love?

There are four weeks in Project Run and Play. I have four children. My goal is to sew each week for a different child.

Kylie, my oldest, is up first modeling her new outfit:

Cardigan: 

Club Knit (cotton lycra) fabric by Raspberry Creek Fabrics

Slouchy Cardigan pattern by Heidi and Finn

Tee:

Club Knit (cotton lycra) fabric by Raspberry Creek Fabrics

Vintage V Neck pattern by Blank Slate Patterns

Pants:

Ponte de Roma fabric from Joann Fabrics

Moto Maxx (plain front leg view) by Love Notions

I love this outfit.

And this girl.

I love this girl too.

Even when she makes faces like that. She's so funny. She loves her teddy bear, I wonder if other eight year olds love their teddy bears too. I guess that doesn't matter. I wouldn't change a thing about her.

 I had so much fun with the stripes on the shirt. It was like color blocking with stripe direction. I even lined up the stripes pretty well on the side. 

It was cold outside and she was such a trooper. 

She was so excited that I put that floral fabric on the lining of the pants pockets.

What a fun challenge! Now I'm off to go sew some underwear left over from the scraps. 

Spring Kids Clothes Week Day 3 and 4

Day 3 and 4 recap of Kids Clothes Week: I made the last piece of the Wild Things set I have been working on the last few days. This last piece is a pretty literal interpretation of the theme as I just happened to have some "Where the Wild Things Are" flannel fabric in my stash. I fell in love with the fabric when I first saw it at Joanns and I bought it without any real plans for it back when Emmett was a newborn.

I decided to turn it into a pair of toddler overalls with a pattern from Peekaboo Pattern Shop. The pattern is made especially for knits, but can also be made with wovens. Flannel might not seem like the obvious choice for a pair of spring/summer overalls, but I had a vision and I'm very happy with how it turned out: 

You might notice I paired it with one of the shirts from day 2. Here are all the pieces together, in kind of a weird picture I took on the stairs. It was late and I was too tired to arrange them beautifully anywhere else. 

The only combination that might not work would be the dinosaurs and the overalls. But if it happens, it won't be the end of the world. I'm sure Emmett could pull it off. Those are also the two pieces that were the inspiration for this "Wild Things" theme.

It was fun to sew for my little boy! My older girls will get some sewing love this week as well, but for right now this little guy is in the spotlight:

This is what he does best: hits the ground with random objects he finds. He found this stick in the yard and ran over to this dirt pile to see what would happen when he banged the stick on it. He is so funny. When he isn't hitting ME with things of course. 

Spring Kids Clothes Week Day 2

My recap of day 2 of Kids Clothes Week is pretty boring. I made a couple basic tees to go with the mix and match "Wild Things" set that I started on day one. I used the same pattern, the Day Camp Set by Peekaboo Pattern Shop.

The first tee was made from recycling one of my long sleeve basic stretchy shirt that was in my closet. It had a couple bleach spots, so I never wore it unless it was to bed. I decided it might be fun to add a lot more bleach spots which would be more appropriate on a little boy than on me. I had fun with it and lightly misted it with bleach, then added more drops of varying sizes. 

I actually love how it turned out. My husband, however, thinks it's silly and doesn't understand why I would do this to a shirt I took the time to sew up myself. But he says since he doesn't have to wear it, he is ok with it. 

A possible bonus is that it helps tie in with the "wild things" theme as it is on the wild side, isn't it? Or is that a stretch? It doesn't matter since the rest of the mix and match set will fit the challenge perfectly and these tees are just fillers for the set.

The other tee is recycled from a waffle knit shirt from my husband's closet. It's pretty basic, but a fun color.

Please ignore the spot on the neckline. I tried it on Emmett and being a toddler, he had a runny nose which I didn't notice when I put it on. Ewww... sorry about displaying his bodily fluid on the internet. I will wash the shirt before he wears it, I promise.

Both shirts were easy to sew and fit great. I took in the green one a tad to make it more fitted and am very happy with it. Since the shirts were recycled, I used the original hemline to make this an even quicker project.

Just one more (very important) piece to this mix and match "wild things" set to complete!

Spring Kids Clothes Week Day 1

Hello old blog... I remember when I started you, I vowed to make you my baby and spend lots of time filling you with projects and cute kid stories. You must feel so neglected.

See the problem is that very shortly after creating you, I started growing a new baby. Here's proof:

I know that this wouldn't have stopped most bloggers from continuing to keep up with their blog. However, this time, this pregnancy, I was not one of those women. I was hit with pregnancy fatigue so hard that my husband had to periodically check my pulse.

Seriously.

I was not hit this hard with my first three pregnancies. It was the strangest feeling.

I didn't even want to sew. That's when I knew I just wasn't myself.

Finally, it's the third trimester and the itch is starting to come back. It's not full on chicken pox yet, but it's starting to tingle.

Just in time for the Spring Challenge of Kids Clothes Week, the perfect opportunity for me to try to get my sewing mojo back.

The theme this season is Wild Things. How fun!

After stepping out of my pregnancy fog, and making sure the kids were still alive and the house hadn't burned down, I decided to first focus on my toddler Emmett.

My goal for this week is to create a few mix and match pieces to fit with the "Wild Things" theme.

The first two pieces I made on day one were created using the free pattern Day Camp Set from Peekaboo Pattern Shop and some fabric I was gifted from a friend back when I found out I was having a boy. So besides supplies, this project was free. Score!

I am not sure of the fabric source, but the shorts are made from what feels like home decor fabric. They are heavy with a hint of stretch.

The tee is made from a jersey covered with dinosaurs. The pattern definitely fits the "Wild Things" theme. In fact, the dinos are so wild, I think one of the t-rexes is eating a triceratops. Or they might just be in an intense battle. It's hard to tell, but they are for sure wild.

I wanted to return to my blog with a bang on my pictures and my first project, but a quick easy project was just what I needed to get back into it.

My pictures had to be fast because we were on the way to IKEA this morning. I promised my grade school daughters that I would take them there to play since they didn't have school. The play place fills up fast, so we had to hurry and get there early. A quick photoshoot on the driveway was all we had time for.

I'm really happy with how this outfit turned out. I think Emmett is too!

Please ignore the fact that he needs a first haircut. I'm in denial that my baby is getting big.

 Quit growing up baby boy!