Monday 3 February 2014

KCW - Day 1 - Pattern printing and Fabric Choices

I am filled with admiration for all those women who manage to sew for KCW, do their photography and have amazing blog posts all at the same time. My previous seasons of sewing I have tried to accomplish all of this, I've done the prep work in advance, cutting fabric and patterns ahead of time. What I've found is that between my 2 active children, my etsy shops which inevitably get busy and life in general something always goes wrong and it stresses me out. So this season I decided to participate on my own schedule. I'm still sewing my hour/day, sometimes more, but I'm blogging this all a week late so I can still manage my life.

I also thought I would go through this season from the very beginning. Other than a little advance thought about which patterns and items I wanted to complete as listed here I even shopped my stash as part of Day 1. I love that I finally have enough fabric collected that I can dream up projects and start work on them right away. Given that many of my project ideas strike at nap time or late at night when the fabric stores have closed this is a real win.

So here is what I managed to accomplish in my first hour of sewing for my kids (please forgive the lackluster photographs, they get better as the week goes on, I promise):


These are all the fabrics I'm expecting to sew with this week, less the fabric for a dress. I just couldn't decide where I wanted to go with that yet. Practicality suggests a play fabric but who said it ALL had to be practical?



Destined to be 2 pairs of pajama's for the little guy, I have a fun, snuggly flannel print and 2 knits to make a wintery pair for immediate wear and a t-shirt I started last year (kind of cheating, I know) to hem and pair with a lightweight Spider-Man print fabric. This is the first time my little guy has really weighted in on the fabric choice so I'm excited to finish these and get them into circulation for him. Well, that and the fact that many of him pajama's only reach mid-calf of late.

 
 
For my daughter it is always about the nightgown. I'm torn on the pattern, usually I just do a long-sleeved peasant-style dress but maybe this time I'll adapt one of the other dress patterns and mix-it up a little....juries still out on this one.

 
 
Another project for the boy, I want to do a vest to layer him up this season and next as it hopefully starts to warm up. I've pulled out 2 fleece fabrics but I may swap out the blue for some blue knit accents. He's been dying to wear his "puffy" vest lately so this will be an excellent surprise.

 
 
Continuing with the vest theme, the little guy got a lot of Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys over the holidays and he has been asking for a Jake vest, so here is the start. I've even printed off the Frontier Vest Pattern by Dana of Made you can get a copy here, complete with a tutorial on making a quick western-style vest.
 
I'm a bit of a fanatic when bringing new fabric home and it tends to hit the washing machine before it makes it into the drawers so I am literally ready to do some cutting. I know it's a matter of some debate as to whether fabric should be pre-washed and pre-shrunk but I love having the head start. Where do you weigh in on the pre-wash debate?
 
 


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