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A Little Non-KCWC Sewing

10/15/2012

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For those of you who don't follow Elsie Marley, last week was KCWC. That stands for Kid's Clothing Week Challenge- in order to participate, you agree to spend one hour a day working on making kid's clothes for one whole week. I did not officially participate, but I did sew some clothes for 5 last week!
If you've never heard of it, you should definitely check out Elsie Marley and her KCWC flickr group.
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5 is still a huge fan of spending as much time outside as possible, regardless of the weather. With the increasingly colder weather, we've been trying out some new warmth-inducing outfits. The boys reached a consensus on overalls with a long pants, long sleeves one piece underneath. We only have one of each of these, so Fred requested some more for dirty outside playtime...
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I'll have more (and better) pictures of these soon, but for now, here are the details:
The Pattern: I drafted a pattern from his existing ones, simplifying a few of the extra fussy details.

The Fabric: The outside is from Jessica Jones' Outside Oslo line, and the inside is brown cotton flannel from Joann's

The Sewing: I decided a flannel-lined overall would be the best for cozy-ness. I only ended up using 1/2 yard of each fabric, which was super exciting.
They came together surprisingly easily, probably 2-3 hours total sewing time. My pattern for the legs turned out a bit wonky, so I had to re-cut and then bind the hem. I really liked the result though.
I used snap tape on the inseam and replaced the buckles and standard overall buttons with regular buttons. That was a bit of an adventure as I sewed the button holes completely random sizes and then just tried buttons from my stash until I found ones that fit. Almost all of them are different sizes.

Overall, I'm calling them an unmitigated success. 5's reaction- "wooooooooow"!
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The long pants, long sleeve one piece was way easier and faster- I will definitely crank out a bunch more of these! Again, proper model-y shots coming...

The Pattern: drafted from his existing one, minus the hood and button placket on front, converted to raglan sleeve.

The Fabric: recycled T-shirts and red cotton ribbing from Joann's (plus snap tape bought online from an Etsy shop a few years ago)

The Sewing: This is like a fancy version of his raglan shirts that I can whip out in about 15 minutes! This one probably took me 30ish though, because of the snap tape. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how easy this was- sew sleeves to body, minus last seam, add ribbing and top-stitching around the neck, sew up last seam, sew side seams, sew crotch panel, add snap tape, sew on ribbing around the bottom of legs, done!

Overall, super fun with bonus sense of accomplishment!

Coming up in the next week or two- a new recipe and a perfect holiday/ baby gift tutorial!

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Mama Sewing

8/12/2012

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Earlier this summer, I was despairing over the lack of perfect tank tops laying around. Then I realized that I make clothes. Duh. I copied my perfect raglan T pattern from the armpits down and then added a bit of winging it for the neckline. Voila! Perfect racerback tank!
On the prototype (not pictured) the straps nearly outwitted me, but I think I have it figured out now. I have been so happy to have these few that I have made in the last month of near 100 degree temps, especially as I'm ridiculously picky about my tank tops. I prefer everything to be a racerback and it has to be fitted but not clingy etc etc.
Now I just need Joann's to have my favorite teal ribbing back in stock...
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August!

8/5/2012

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The summer is flying by so fast! It's a bit late, but I thought I'd try to catch up a little...
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While I'm away at work all day, 5 and his Dad go on adventures! Every day! They go to the river, fish, bike all over town, walk to the coop for bananas, and get up to all kinds of mischief.
(5 is wearing one of his most recent mama-made tanks, refashioned from one of my favorite old T-shirts).
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Also, since my last post, 5 has become obsessed with "counting". His method of counting is whimsical at best- there's usually a color or two thrown in and he repeats his favorite numbers at will. So far, I am loving 21 month old math.
He has become an avid copycat, repeating the most entertaining words uttered in any given sentence (read: watch. your. mouth. mama.)
My favorite August development though is his newfound use of the words big and tiny. Tiny especially, because it's all his. Fred and I don't say tiny. Our books don't say tiny. We're really not sure where it's from. But we love to hear everything in our lives that is now big or tiny.
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The best parts of my day? The hugs and kisses I get leaving and then returning from work. The boy has really learned to show some love.
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Summer Sewing

7/21/2012

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What small amount of sewing I have squeezed in in the last few weeks has been thoroughly summer-y. With triple digit temperatures and all three of us spending so much time outside (some of us for work, some for play...), 5 and I have had need of more tank tops! There is a whole parade to be modeled and photographed, but that little dude is rather uncooperative while sleeping, so I'll just show you the one for now...
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I'm so happy this one worked out. It's made from an old shirt of mine that is so ridiculously small I can't really believe I used to wear it. I loved this shirt and it makes me feel kind of magical to be able to change it into something my son can now love.
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Here's a nice detail shot where you can see I took my time and did a little zigzag stitching so the ribbing would lay flat. I don't think I did it on the other ones I made for him, but I was feeling pretty proud of this one.
I also just perfected my own tank top pattern- all the things I like in a tank top, together, at once! Sometimes it takes me a really long time, but sewing for myself is soooo satisfying. It may just be enough to get me through another hot hot sweaty exhausting week. Hooray!
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The Fashion Man

4/30/2012

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Whew! After all that sewing, it's time to enjoy all the wonderful fashion statements we can make.
5 prefers to incorporate non-standard elements into his ensembles.
Here are the highlights:
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Here we have 5's cereal box hat creation.
He doesn't limit himself to just cereal boxes, no, yesterday he attempted to don a butter box hat.
Alas, it was much too small for his head.
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Here we have an excellent Mama-made outfit, combined with precision by you-know-who.
You can't tell from the pictures, but he even picked mismatched socks for himself.
The hidden one features soccer balls.
Of course.
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I seriously did not think that I would ever be posting pictures of my underwear on the internet, but, I also did not think that I would ever have a son who needed to wear as many pairs as possible as hats and/or necklaces.
This happens every laundry day.
Please forgive me.

Happy Monday, Friends!

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Fashion Plate Fred

12/5/2011

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No, that's not some cool, European jet-setter on his way to the latest hip event- it's my husband Fred modeling some of my creations at the Finlandia University Student and Alumnae Fashion Show! I'd never dressed him in anything I'd made before, so it was quite a showstopper. I originally got him to agree to model a much more boring outfit... and then changed it up at the last minute! I think he got into it though, he seems happy enough on the runway...
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This is one of the outfits from the costume commission I've been working on for a few months. I'm finishing up the last piece tomorrow and it gets shipped off to Sweden by the end of the week! Yay for (nearly) finished projects!
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Male Model OR Musician?

11/18/2011

4 Comments

 

The Snake Charmer

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yes. that is a cork in the bottom of that recorder...
Amidst a week chock full of craziness, 5 figured out how to make sound come out of this recorder. Pretty cool. Last night he was mostly singing into it, copying the noises he heard his dad make with it and then, BAM, he was playing it.

Perhaps he realized that, while he has achieved great success early in life, male modeling will only get one so far, and he should really broaden his interests. He was, after all, the only model at the Finlandia University Student and Alumnae Fashion Show last night who was able to generate interest while sleeping down the catwalk. That's right, I said sleeping- he fell asleep 10 minutes before the show started and I carried him in my arms for the whole show. He was a hit. Hopefully I'll have some pictures next week.

Preview for Monday: we're going to try to take our family picture for our holiday card this weekend. It may or may not involve hand made coordinating family outfits. Yeah, I went there...
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    Author

    My name is Ansley Knoch. I am the creator of Rispok, a line of accessories for big and little people made from repurposed materials. I live in Madison, Wisconsin with my husband, Fred, and our son, also Fred, better known as 5.

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