Jalie Patterns

So, I did manage to actually SEW and FINISH something!  YAY me! lol

I finished Jalie 3132. It's one of their new top patterns that just came out.  I didn't use the nursing view, so I don't know how good it is.  However, I think the regular view is just great!  I think the front pocket is a touch too small, but that can be fixed if I make this again.

Now that that's done, i'm moving on to Jalie 3130.

I was able to get the pattern traced, the one adjustment I made to the armhole done and the pattern cut, all in one day.  So i'm making good time with this one.  I might actually get to cutting some fabric before the nigth is through.

FNSI The results.

I'll tell you, I have to give a lot of you ladies credit for the work some of you do.  You go to work all day, come home and take care of a family and then STILL crank out projects like crazy.  Me, I clean my kitchen so I can have a nice area to cut fabric with, and i'm pretty much finished.

I did somehow mange to get Jalie 3132 cut.  I even managed to get the kangaroo pocket finished.  Then I was done, it was time to clean up.  However, that's progress, and I might get the top done within the next week or so.

I do have to say to my credit though. I've pretty stressed the last few weeks, and that could explain the tiredness.   Hopefully that's going to clear up here real soon, and I can get back to sewing.  There are TONS of things I would like to get to.

Friday Night Sew In is Tonight

http://craftyvegasmom.blogspot.com/2011/10/friday-night-sew-in-signups-102111.html

The October FNSI is tonight.

I'll be working on Jalie 3132.  Which is one of just many great new Jalie patterns.  I traced the pattern last night while sort of watching Project Runway (what a SUCK season!).

That is all.

Happy sewing!

Jalie 2447

I have been on a bathing suit kick lately.  I think I own all the swim suit patterns in the Jalie and KwikSew lines.  This is Jalie 2447, made straight from the pattern with no alterations.  I had a few issues with finishing the neck tie and my clear elastic bottom edge on the tankini didn't go as well as I planned, but it's wearable.  Also, the fabric I used isn't very thick.  It was a nylon/lycra blend from Hancocks, but I think I could of went with something a bit heavier.  Good thing I placed a large order with fabric.com.  My fabrics should be here in a few days! lol

While I will admit, this suit isn't the greatest, as it's only my second attempt (I have bottoms I made from a KS pattern that I wear all the time.  Although my fabric choice was a bit questionable and they aren't holding up well). I can tell you that I don't think I will ever buy another bathing suit ever again.  Swimsuits are so easy to make.  Don't fear making one.  Give it a try!

Anyway, about that bottom edge on the tankini -- I was having a hard time just making a hem.  The fabric is thin and it just wanted to curl up so I had to use another method. 

Normally with knits I use Steam-A-Seam Lite to stabilize my knit seams.  I love this stuff.  If you struggle with knit seams, give this stuff a try!.  However, with the bathing suit, I didn't want to compromise any of the stretch, so the SAS was out. 

My second option was to use strips of wash away stabilizer.  This probably would have been a great idea except I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to get the little strips to stay still so I could stitch the seam.  Apparently what you are supposed to do is use steam from the iron to 'melt' the stabilizer to the fabric.  I will keep that in mind for next time. 

I ended up calling my friend Melody for advise.  She suggested clear elastic.  So, what I ended up doing on this suit was stitching on clear elastic to the hem, then turning and top stitching with a wide zig-zag stitch.  I'm not so sure this was the best option either.  I think I stretched the elastic a little to much and the bottom kind of rides up a bit and feels weird. 

I think next with suit, I'm going to try a bit harder to get the wash away stabilizer to work.  Although, part of me says the elastic is a good idea too -- if I had not stretched it so much.  There will be other suits to try out other techniques, I'm sure. 

If  you haven't made your own suit yet, I highly recommend it! 

What I did at the FNSI

I didn't have a whole lot of time for the FNSI, but what time I did have was actually productive.  First, I finished a little night gown for my littlest DD.  The night gown has been done for the most part for the last month.  Except it was a bit to short, so I needed to add a ruffle.  All I had was tiny scraps of fabric, so the ruffle didn't add much length, but an extra two inches is an extra two inches, I guess.  It took me a month to do that ruffle.  I feel so ashamed.  I used the tee-shirt pattern from Kwik Sews Sewing for Toddlers book. 

The second thing I was able to do was get started on this damn Jalie robe that's been laying around for at least 2 or 3 months.  When I started it, I didn't have enough fabric. So I had to order more from Fabric.com.  However, I was having a hard time trying to get a color match.  After three orders, I have given up trying to match the off white fabric that I have.  I'm just going to make the robe, then dye it purple, or something.  Anyway, I was able to get all the edges serged and get the robe half way assembled.  At this point, all it needs is the facing, sleeves and hems, then i'll be all done.  It's probably all of an hours worth of work.  Hopefully it won't take me a month to finish this because having this robe hang over my head is kind of starting to hinder progress for other things. 

So that was how I spent my FNSI time, hope yours was productive as well!

Jalie 2907 View A this time

I am trying the pocket diaper from Jalie. I think this one needs a few adjustments though. I'm just not sure how to go about it. Here are the changes I plan to make.

1) First things first. I want to use snaps and not velcro. I didn't add any to this diaper because this one is a 'muslin'. I can't believe i'm making a muslin for a baby diaper when I don't even make a muslin for half of the things I make for me. lol

2) The outer layer is PUL and the inner layer is supposed to be some sort of wicking fabric. I just used flannel on this one just to get an idea, but i'll be using fleece for anything I plan to use as a real diaper.

3) The outer PUL layer. YUCK! I think i'm going to cut a cute fabric and use some basting spray to stick the two layers together. Then treat it as one layer nad have the PUL hidden inside. I just don't like PUL either, but it's necessary.

4) I need to add snaps to my soaker insert. I'm not quite sure how to go about this yet. But the pad that gets stuffed into the diaper is not going to stay in one place. Also, the soaker really needs to be thicker. As it is now, it's only 4 layers of flannel.

5) I wish I had a real baby to test on. All this could be for nothing because I don't even know how they fit.

I do like these AO2's though so far. Mostly because I don't like the stand alone PUL covers. I'm going to make a few more of these -- tweaking as I go, of course and see aht I can come up with. I'll keep you posted.

I have a diaper! Jalie 2907

Well, I have ONE fitted diaper! One! I'm on a roll now! This pattern is really fast to make and you can assembly line them. Right now I have about 6 diapers cut and ready to go, and I have the soaker pads serged. Now I just have to finish the assembly.

This particular pattern calls for velcro, but honestly, I don't really like velcro, so I used snaps (applied with my new pliers, more on that below). I am under the impression though that snaps on fitted diapers aren't the best idea. Although I see plenly of them out there.

Here is one happy Elmo with a new diaper...


Now for the snaps. As I said in a previous post, I have 3 snap tools from Dritz. Pliers, a 'quick attatcher' thing and the little knob thing that you hit with a hammer. They all suck as far as i'm concerned. So, I needed something to add my snaps to my diapers.

I ended up buying a pair for pliers from KAMsnaps.com. The pliers feel a bit flimsly, but so far i'm pretty impressed. The pliers with a bunch of snaps were about half the price of just a press. A press is what I really wanted, but I just couldn't justify the cost. If I use the pliers a lot, i'll get a press eventually, i'm sure.

My Mad Diaper Makin' Skillz...

...Or not! lol















Well, here is my first attempt at Jalie 2907. These are view C, the covers made from PUL fabric. My snap panels don't match up. And my snap setting sucks. I think I lost half my snaps in the washer. Oops!

Snap panels: Looking at the pattern piece, the front and back match -- they're the same size. However, on my sample, the back is way bigger. I'm thinking that I may have streched a bit to much trying to sew on the elastic. I'm going to have to come up with a better technique.

The snaps. I have three different Dritz tools that attatches snaps. As far as I can tell, all three suck. I had the best luck with my dritz pliers, but they are still a pain.

I considered buying a snap press, but at over $100, I decided against it. Although, I may kick myself later because as far as I can tell, the resale value is really high. So proably could have sold it if I decided I didn't need it.

What I did settle on was another pair of pliers. But I hear these are a bit better than the Dritz pliers. They are pliers for the plastic (resin) snaps. They come with an actual die set, so we'll see how that goes. Apparently people like these pliers, so, if they don't work for me i'll sell them off on eBay at a small loss and then just break down and get a press.

I'm going to attempt another pair of covers probably tomorrow. And hopfully my terry from fabic.com will be here tomorrow too, so I can make the insert! YAY. Now all I need is some 1 1/2 loop tape (velcro). Wonder if JoAnns carries velcro that's that wide? I'll have to stop and check tomorrow.

Cupcake Hat Awwww! and Jalie 2907

If anyone is paying attention, I would like one of these for the new baby! How can you go wrong with a cupcake hat on a little baby? lol

Here is a link to the shop of the lady who makes these. NinisHandmades Shop on Etsy Check it out. She has a lot of really cute stuff.

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JALIE 2907

I have the diapers all traced, and I think i'm going to get cutting tonight. I'm putting a little thought into this project for once, and I think I may have traced the wrong sizes. I traced newborn and 1 month sizes.

The newborn size fits 6-9 pounds
The one month size fits 7-11 pounds.
The three month size fits 9-15 pounds.

I'm wondering if I should skip the 1 month size and just do Newborn and 3 month since that will cover me from 6 to 15 pounds. Or do I really need the one month size? It seems like i'm wasting time with that size. One, because it seems like that is just overlapping with the 3 month and secondly, the kid is probably going to be in the 1 month size for only 3 weeks before he grows out of them anyway. I guess I can start with the newborn size, considering that i'm probably going to start with a newborn anyway. lol

I have the PUL fabric waiting to go. I can start with the covers. I ordered terry from fabric.com. It's should be here in a few days. Has anyone ever tried using plain muslin for soaker pads or prefolds? The directions I have found say use twill, but you need a yard each, so I bet it can get expensive fast.

Vintage patterns, Jalie 2907 diapers and other ramblings.

I got some of my newly vintage patterns up on Etsy this weekend. These are patterns I KNOW i'll never use. So, instead of hording them, might as well find homes from them. I got a few 70's ones that I really am dying to sew, along with some of the 50's mail order patterns I got. I'm just waiting until the baby comes so I can see where my waist is going to end up. ;)

Visit my Etsy shop!

I would also like to take a quick second to apologize to anyone who has landed on my blog buy doing a Google search for Simplicity 2587. Yes, I see my stats. I know how you get here, just to find no useful information. Sorry!

Now for Jalie 2907:






















(How cute are these?!) I'm going to try my hand at making a few cloth diapers. I bought two yards of PUL fabric (from a company who shall remain nameless until they have been given a chance to correct their shitty customer service issues) and I have 6 yards of terry coming from fabric.com.

I'm going to make the fitted diaper and the diaper cover. I was going to go with the All-In-Ones, but I have been reading that they take forever to dry. I have the pattern traced, and I might start on the covers tomorrow -- as they require the PUL fabric. If anyone is interested Jalie.com has a video of their diapers being made. I haven't used it yet, but it could be a good resource if you need it.