Another Quick Pillowcase

Not as quick as the last quick pillowcase, because this one involved a zipper.  A zipper isn't an issue, but there was an unexpected obstacle

 Can you see the problem?

Maybe a different angle will help

Screaming Loud Jacket

So.  The shorts I posted yesterday.  The way I ended the write up by lamenting about the extremely obvious print repeat on each side of the center back seam?

Yeah.

However, since the same print elements even ended up on the sleeves, it tips over from unfortunate to funny...right?

Screaming Loud Shorts

You should have a good idea about the kiddo's taste in clothes at this point, so you know why I had the idea to ask him if he'd like a pair of shorts made from an incredibly loud print that was in the friend's relative's destash

MadrasPatch Pants

Yesterday, a patchwork pillow.  Today, patchwork pants.

The base fabric is the other piece of ready-made madras patches, which I know is a "traditional" preppy thing, and I was ready to make a pair of shorts for my sarcastic child to wear.  When I double-checked with him that he did want shorts made from it, he asked for pants.

Hmm.

I consulted the measurements listed on good ol' KwikSew 2544, and confirmed that he's currently at size 12 in leg length and somewhere between size 10 and 12 in waist width.  (That pattern goes to size 14, so I think there are a few more years of use coming from that pattern.)  I then laid the pieces roughly on the cloth and confirmed that there was just enough for the main pieces.

Quick Project Today: Pillowcase

In the fabric destash brought by the friend were two pieces of patchwork madras yardage.  A-ha, I thought, these will make fantastic Obnoxious Shorts™ for the kiddo.  I showed him the pieces and asked if he'd like that--to my surprise, he picked up the brighter piece, buried his face in it, and said he'd like that one as a pillow.  I countered with the offer of making a pillowcase and he agreed.  I threw that together today.

(I sense a theme here.  A very square theme.  Hey, hmm, maybe it's time to put the creeper blanket back on his bed--he has gotten back into Minecraft lately...)

 The piece was just big enough to make a standard pillowcase, too, with a generous 5½" hem on the open edge.

Even though it was probably something that I would realize was futile if I think about it too much, I did serge the seam I sewed along the bottom and side, as well as the edge of the hemmed part.

Iron things?  Oh, no, of course I didn't do that.

But I did top stitch!

This is along the bottom seam, and I decided to do it because the patchwork itself had so much top stitching, so that seam looked bare without it, since the patches are somewhat close to square down there.  I didn't bother with the side, since the patches visible there are very narrow.

I was also amused by how well this coordinates with the rag rug that was also in the friend's relative's craft destash, and is now on the floor of the kiddo's room

Jewel tones, my friend.  Jewel tones.

Pastelloween

I realized, partway through sewing this, that the idea for it--even the very buying of the fabric that inspired it--was extremely influenced by PMS.  I'm still not sure if it was a good idea, but it's finished, so here it is.

Quick Projects Yesterday: Thrift Shirt + Thrift Skirt = This Dress

So I had, at different times, thrifted these

  And in the past, I did wear them, although not necessarily together.  I realized that I probably would not wear the shirt, because it would require something with a waistband to go with it, or me making a jumper, and in a solid color, which...maybe someday...  So I looked at all the thrifted things with waistbands that I also am not currently inclined to wear and decided the fabric weight and pleats-instead-of-gathers of this would go well with the cut and fabric of the jack'o'lantern shirt.

(and then I was prepping them and noticed the name on the skirt tag...geist...ghost...so...extra appropriate, yeah?  yeah?)

Anyway.

I cut the shirt off  at about waist level, making the cut gently curved but still using the stripes as a general guide, and cut the waistband off of the skirt and sewed them together, pinning the pleats in place and stretching the skirt slightly to fit the shirt edge.  The skirt fabric is a crinkly weave with a lot of stretch (for a 100% cotton woven.)

I may only wear this one or twice a year, between the weather staying hotter longer and my general dislike of wearing orange, but how could I resist those dobby weave jack'o'lanterns?

Quick Projects Yesterday: Pillow

There was a bit of loudly-printed polyester fleece in the cloth brought by the friend from the relative's craft hoard, and as soon as the kiddo spotted it, he asked if it could be a pillow, which I finally sewed yesterday and stuffed with a bit of the "rediscovered while destashing" fiberfill

 It's stuffed very loosely, and I stitched a bit in the center (because it is stuffed so loosely that it fit under the presser foot) to hopefully keep things from clumping too much in odd areas.  And I sewed it with the other side up, so things aren't aligned super nice here.

And I machine-sewed the opening closed

 because he'll either ignore this or use it so much that hand-stitching would not have lasted.

And, uh, for size reference, here's my foot (size 7½-8 shoe)

I can't remember the last time I sewed something so fast.  And the kiddo is happy with it!

Procrastinated Green v2.0

Two-and-two-thirds years ago, I sewed this jacket for the kiddo

Despite his lukewarm reaction when presented with it, he ended up wearing it constantly.  It also acquired a lot more pins, which made a lot of holes in the front, which I patched with decorative appliqués, reinforced the front pieces with interfacing, and eventually added a layer of woven cotton for more strength.

Seams popped, got re-sewn, and popped in different places.  I stopped caring if the thread even vaguely matched.  Pills formed, betraying the high synthetic fiber content.  The child's arms grew longer than the sleeves could respectably cover.  Paint wore off of the zipper pull.

The only thing that could convince him to stop wearing it was nasty hot weather, so he hasn't been inclined to wear it for a few months, so I was looking for suitable cloth to use to make a replacement.  Happily, I blundered into a few yards of just-about-the-same-shade green cloth in a visit to a thrift store about a month ago (seen here under the old jacket)

I also blundered across this in a thrift store at some point

Yeah, there's no front zipper, but there's a front seam and it goes down to size XS, so it's close enough, and here we are

This one wasn't curtains

The fabric (another piece from the amazing amount of fabric brought by a friend dealing with a craft hoarder relative's stash)  was not quite two yards long, 52" wide, and hemmed on each end in a very home-made way--so, whatever it had originally been, it wasn't a curtain.

And now it's a dress

 that I can't decide if it would have looked better as a piece of furniture