quick ma, make us some pants!

    

Kwik-Sew's Sewing for Toddlers knit pants in an indestructible polyester knit,
fast pants made out of old t-shirts,
and Kwik-Sew's Sewing for Toddlers side seam shorts made from an old shirt

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Actual sewing content!

I've been busy working on the boys' kwikies and fast pants. I finally finished a second pair of grey kwikies so the boys can match. They went real fast this time. I think I'm getting the hang of this! And as the weather is getting warmer and the sun stronger, I figured another two more pairs of white fast pants were in order. They're just the thing for running around on the playground on a hot day, or eating ice cream on the 4th. Loose and fun, light and, most important, easy to wash!

Next, I fixed the fast shorts that I needed to make. Someone had sent us one pair of shorts for the boys (why?!), so I decided that I should sacrifice one more old t-shirt so that they could have an even number of shorts. I think they ended up so cute and B seems to like them too.

And the most exciting of all, remember this fun banana shirt that I wanted to salvage the material from? I removed the sleeves, leaving me with a rather odd muscle shirt and enough fabric for the first pair of banana pants. I've still got the waistband and hems to do on these, but they're going to be great!

I did no sewing last week, as the boys were having trouble sleeping and I didn't want noise from the sewing machine in the next room to add to the problem. Actual sewing content will have to be limited to this cute pic of B lounging in his fast pants. He's telling me to move out of the way so he can see Blue's Clues.

I spent my sewing time knitting, of course, and am almost done with my Smooch tank. I redid the shoulder shaping on the back. And I've even finished one shoulder on the front. One more shoulder and three needle bind off, here I come! Look at that, I'm even avoiding sewing in my knitting projects!

Not too much to report this week. Most of the sewing I've been doing recently is seaming on my wannabe sweater. I'm really excited about finishing it and so have put most of my machine sewing on hold for a bit. Another knitting project has also taken up a lot of my sewing time - the boys' knitted lederhosen from last year. The straps kept stretching, so I am finally getting around to sewing in some grosgrain ribbon to stabilize them. I've never done this before and am very thankful to fellow knitbloggers, Melissa and Claudia for sharing their tips!

Although my excitement about summer shorts and tops has waned with the return of the cold, wet weather here, I did make a start on converting an old t-shirt into a pair of shorts for the boys, but they didn't come out as well as the first pair of fast pants did and I've got to fiddle around with them a bit more. I am also working on trying to salvage the material from this funky old shirt of mine so I can turn it into some way cool shorts for the boys.

Check back next week for:

- the return of good weather, and
- finished fast shorts, lederhosen and perhaps banana bottoms

or

- the continuation of cold weather, and
- finished groovy (and warm) cotton pjs

The first pair of the now falsely named kwikies (right in picture) is finally done! With all the moving and breaking of arms, I hadn't had time until this weekend to set up the sewing machine and get back into it. I like the kwikies a lot. The elastic is a bit too loose, so I'm planning to go back in, cut and resew. If I ever make it out to the fabric store to get more elastic, I've got several other pairs of kwickies waiting to be sewn. I think the next ones will be shorts!

During the move, I came across some old t-shirts that were just begging to be turned into some summer fast pants (see Kristi's the domestic sphere for instructions) for the boys. I tried making one pair this afternoon (left in picture) to see how I like them. What a fun little project! I love how the hem is already done for you, since you're using the t-shirt hem. I took out a little fabric on the sides and made side seams because I thought the original size would end up crazy baggy. Now they're just baggy enough to be silly and fun! I think these would also be really cool as shorts.

And now some action shots: B in his kwikies and S in his summer fast pants!

I screwed up my courage to do the waistband on the kwiky prototype and realized that I don't have the right elastic. I bought some for my groovy pajamas which I thought I could just swipe it for this project, but it's too big. I didn't want these to have a wide waistband and didn't plan enough allowance into the pattern. So no waistband yet.

The machine is all set up for the kwikies and I'm worried I won't be able to get the tension right again, so instead of switching back to groovy, I went ahead and stitched the hems on the legs. My first hems!! I used the twin needle for the first time and it was so cool. They're not perfectly straight, but I think they came out pretty well.

And I went ahead and cut out fabric for three more kwikies. Another in gray and then two in brown. I should have enough to make shorts if I decide I like the fabric and the pattern.

I'm about halfway done with a prototype pair of kwikies. I've been working out the pattern and trying all the various seams. I haven't ever worked with stretchy knits before, so I've been doing a lot of testing. Eli sent me some helpful links about working with knits: here and here (thanks, Eli!). It's been real fun trying out new things with the sewing machine. I got to use my ball point needles and the overlock foot!

So far this prototype pair has come out a bit short in the crotch and the seams are all a bit puckery, but otherwise, I'm really liking them. And B doesn't seem to mind them either!

I'll make some adjustments to the pattern and, after practicing a bit more, should have a better sense of how to make those stretchy seams come out smoother. Next, I've got to add elastic at the waist (another first!) and figure out how to use my neato twin needle to do the hem.

The boys need some lightweight spring/summer pants to replace some pants that they already have and are about to outgrow. So, I picked up some knit fabric online, studied my Kwik-Sew Sewing for Toddlers, and closely examined the pants I'm trying to copy.

They look pretty simple. There are no side seams, just a center seam, inner leg seams, elastic inserted in a casing at the waist and simple topstitched hem at the bottom. I want to fiddle around with the Kwik-Sew pattern a bit, so that the pants end up looking more like the ones I'm copying, and then I should be all set to make what I hope will be a few quick and easy pairs of pants!