jacket placket-ish

For me, sewing is all about making things that are needed, recycling materials, and saving our family time and money. It's a fairly utilitarian view, but it is satisfying for me (and it doesn't hurt that I occasionally define 'things we need' as a monster coat or any dress-up clothes).

Still, straight out mending is the pits. Especially replacing zippers. Especially, especially zippers on winter coats. It's mending hell squared.

But how could you not replace a broken zipper on a perfectly good (expensive) jacket? When you know that the alternative is the landfill because no one else is going to fix it either. We crafty types are the last hope to extend the lives of good clothes that just need a bit of mending. In my mind, this justifies a bit of zipper-replacement discomfort.

Or does it? There is nothing quite like a dreaded chore to get the ol' mind ticking away. Knowing that Birdie Boy's hand-me-down jacket needs the zipper fixed NOW has been on mind for a week, but having no zipper to replace the old one with, plus a healthy dose of procrastination (laziness), has made this bit of mending positively loom.

Which was why I was tickled pink when an alternative solution to the broken zipper dilemma presented itself. In fact, it was not only a good way to duck having to replace the zipper, it was actually more environmentally friendly as there is no need for a new zipper and recycles part of an endlessly usable man's button down shirt. All in all, this is cheaper, faster, greener and doesn't require a drink to steady my nerves before I begin.

Ahhhh! I love getting out of mending!

With that huge build up, you all are going to be disappointed at this simple little fix. Here is Birdie Boy (with a stick, as always), with his jacket closed up snug:


Covering a broken zipper with a front placket
(or, what to do when you can't face replacing a zipper)

First, locate a button down shirt in a coordinating or contrasting material.


My shirt here, in addition to being a good-enough matching shade of blue, had already had it's arms removed to make sleevy pants, making it a good candidate for this project. I can see how some fun could be had, turning a boring jacket into something fantabulous with coordinating colours and patterns or contrasting top stitching.

Measure the length of the broken closure and determine an appropriate width for a placket. I chose 3" for my width.


Add 1" to the length measurement for 1/2" on top and bottom for a hem (add more if you require for a double fold hem).

Add 1/2" to the width for a 1/4" seam allowance on the sides.

With your shirt buttoned up and pressed if necessary, use your ruler and tailor's chalk to outline your placket. Keep in mind button placement as it will on the jacket - you want a button fairly close to the top, but not so close as to interfere with the presser foot as you hem the top.


Cut out your placket.


Hem the top and bottom edges (separately from each other - thanks Rachel R) with a 1/4" wide double fold. Finish the raw edges of the sides with either a zig-zag stitch (as shown below) or a serger.


With placket still buttoned, lay it down on top of the jacket with the buttons running down the length of the zipper. Fold under one side edge 1/4" to determine where to stitch on the placket. Turn over whole placket, with folded under edge held in place, and pin placket to jacket, right sides together.


Stitch placket side to jacket at 1/4"

Flip placket back over top zipper and orientate the other side in the appropriate place. Fold in other side edge and put in a couple pins to mark the correct place.


Undo the buttons, turn unsewn side back with right sides together, and pin the placket in place. Stitch side edge to jacket at 1/4".


If you are feeling up to it, top stitch the side edges to the jacket (which I didn't because I was feeling good-enoughness at this point, also see above comments on laziness).

And there it is, one once-again snuggly warm jacket.


I estimate that this bit of repair saved me $2.00 for a zipper, 20 minutes of seam ripping, 40 minutes of sewing in the zipper (including 20 minutes of breaks for deep breathing and centering), and half a bottle of wine (or $5, as I usually get what's on sale). Oh, and the whole cost of a new (previously loved) jacket.

If it helps you out too, please consider leaving a comment or making a small contribution to this site.

All forms of support are deeply appreciated :)

doll blanket

I sometimes worry that Smootch is going to grow up to resent my inability interpret a simple request like, "Mom, will you play dolls with me?" without angling in some time with the sewing machine.


On the other hand, she's getting lots of hands-on skills training in design and textiles manufacture, right?


The good times with my children all seem to be in the details and moments, not so much what we are doing, but how we go about it.

I suppose it's all right, this tendency to get lost in the triviality of pleasure, and that play is most satisfying when all involved have a say.

I imagine Barbie and Quasimoto agree. Or at least relieved we finally got around to the part where we actually play with the dolls.

sleevy pants

I know there are a few tutorials floating out there on how to turn sleeves into pants for children. There are so many because it's such a simple and convenient thing to do, not to mention cute. They make great pajamas from a knit material, winter coverings from a felted sweater, regular pants from almost any shirt, and are perfect using up the extra sleeves from a men's dress shirt when making a cheytown dress. I have made a dozen or so over time and I've gotten the method down to a quick 15 minute pair of pants (even faster if Birdie Boy is napping).


So, here is,

Shirt sleeves to a child's pants (vegbee's way)

Before you start, locate a pair of pants (of the same type of material, either woven or knit, depending on what kind of shirt you are using) of the child's that fits well to use as a guide. You could use a pattern to make these pants, but better to use something that fits well now.

Begin with an adult's long sleeve shirt. The larger the child, the larger the shirt needed.


Use the pants as a guide to cut the sleeves off at the appropriate length, noting that there will be no need to hem the bottom, but adding extra room at the top to put in an elastic waist.


Turn one sleeve inside out. Tuck the rightside out sleeve inside of the wrongside out sleeve, lining up seams and, if necessary, plackets. Also, with plackets or decorative elements, you may also want to note which way should be the back, side, front, or whatever way you would like the sleeve's details to be orientated.


Smooth down and place your sleeves with your desired front side facing up, noting which edge is to be the inside leg and which to be the outside.

Take your well fitting guide pants and turn them inside out. Fold the pants along the center crotch seam. Take note that the center seam allows for more room in the back of the pants.


Lay the guide pants down over top the sleeves in the appropriate orientation. Slip you finger into the sleeves to separate the top parts of each sleeve from the bottom. Cut along the front part of the guide pants center seam, including a seam allowance, of the top two layers of the sleeves only (though, you cut all four layers right now, it's actually no big deal, so don't sweat it).


Flip over your sleeves and place the guide pants over once again in the appropriate place. Peel back the front center seam of the guide pants to reveal the back side of the pants. Cut the final two layers out according to the back side of the center seam, adding seam allowance.


Your sleeve pants now are already in the perfect position to sew up the center seam.


Turn your pants right side out. Add an elastic waistband.


Apply sleeve pants to child.

a very uncrafty halloween

The Princess
(Sung to the tune of "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers)

On cool fall's eve, in a townhouse in Port Alberni
I met up with my daughter, to discuss Halloween
"What do you want me to sew?" was my big question
She took time answer with a different suggestion

She said, "Mom you know I love you and I love all that you do.
My twirly dresses are my favorite and I like my silly pants too.
But when it comes to Halloween I want a different kind of dress;
Let's go to the store and buy the frock of a Barbie princess."

So, I swallowed my dismay, tried to smoother my crafty horror
My daughter wants a costume bought from a store!
But looking at her expression, I knew I was out of luck.
She said," C'mon, Mom, let's face it, your princess dresses suck.

"You've got to know when to make 'em, know when to fake 'em.
Know when to straight stitch and know when to buy
You never make your skirts as glittery as the real thing
They'll be time enough for handmades, when Halloween is done."

Every sewin' Mama knows the secret to survivin'
Is known when to sew away and when to call it quits
Because your child may come from you, but her mind is all her own
and in her imagination there is only one tiara that fits.

So when she finished speaking, she looked at me with hope
Will it be a trademarked store bought dress or a linen skirt in taupe?
I said, "Sweetie you know I love you and I know you love princess bling;
I'll help you with your costume but I'm not buying a damn thing."

'Cuz I know when to make 'em, know when to fake 'em.
Know when to straight stitch and know when to buy
It's not my fault that princess don't wear patchwork
So, there'll be time enough for handmades, when Halloween is done."

***********************************************************

Presenting Smootch's collection of do it herself costumes, worn to various classes and activites during the week of Halloween. All costumes were sourced from her dress up box and bureau.

The dance class cheerleader:


The ice skating princess (with hood, in case she needed to blend in with commoners):


The swimming pool Halloween party mermaid (found a month ago at The Free Store... well, it was free!) with brother pirate.


Trick or treat mermaid in rubber boots (she went with a sure thing) and brother kitty kat:


Another shot of the kitty, because he was so cute, even though his whole costume was some lines on his face (though he did crawl around on the sidewalk meowing and chanting "trickr'tree" which was all the evidence that anyone would need that he got the whole thing):


So it wasn't, to my creative shame, a crafty halloween at all. But I was proud of myself to just let Smootch do her own thing, even though I refused to actually buy a poorly made princess dress with a vinyl picture of Barbie on it and Smootch loved everything she wore. This is a good lesson for me, as someone who makes clothes for my own children and professionally, of knowing when to get involved and when to reign in my ambitions, relax, and let her do it herself.

a quick peek

I am so very close to being done with the newest pattern. This one has been done and redone in so many stages, spanning a ridiculous amount of time, with all the crazy changes going on over the past year (well, a year and a half if you want to count the baby ;). Hopefully, with a little luck, this little pattern will be off my to-do list before the next move in less than two weeks.

A sneak peek of the newest version of the cover:

Smootch is impressed with it. She wanted to know if it was really my pattern and not a magazine. What a compliment! Extra dessert for that girl! (She`s got me all figured out.)

I also wanted to share that sometime this month a couple of my tutorials will be featured on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog during their Handmade Holidays month. If you do not already visit often, you should check out the Handmade Holidays for tons of tutorials and giveaways. Very worth a daily visit through November. Plus, you`ll get to see my very special banana filter again :D

outgrown handmades

The clothing we wear is so much more than a covering for our bodies. Our wardrobe is infused with meaning; it speaks of us and, more importantly, to us. Our clothes are our wearable memory albums, reminding us of the moments of our lives and the relationships we have. A quick survey of what I am wearing right now is a topography of my associations, roles, and concerns. These pants I am wearing right now were pulled out of a friend's garage sale, a friend I now miss terribly since she moved to the other side of the world. I think of her every time I wear them. I also feel a bit of guilt as one of the pocket buttons fell off a month ago and I still haven't sewn it back on. My shirt was a promo from a crafting site. Smootch has a similar one, or had, rather, as she outgrew it long ago and is now worn by her little brother. Sometimes we both wear our matching shirts and have a laugh at our sameness. My poor, tired nursing bra is older than my son and is a direct announcement of my humility (cheapness) as well as to the sweet functionality of my body as a mother.

If we are fond of our own clothing because of their familar presence in our lives, we can become positively smitten with our children's clothes. We communicate with our children through their clothing. There is the subtle comfort in the warm pajamas, the encouragement in the rubber boots, the protection in the jacket. And there is the obvious communion. How many times have I put a particular blue sweater on first Smootch and now Birdie Boy without saying, "Your great grandmother made this for you." I say it because, of course, handmade clothes are physical manifestations of love and adoration. A handmade dress says nothing if it doesn't say, "You are loved."

Their clothes talk to us too. Their trousers and shirts and even their socks and diaper covers whisper to us about their first solids, their first steps, their dancing and singing and quiet naps. A single tee shirt can hold hundreds of memories, all the amazing and tramatic things that can happen in a single year of a child's life. How fast a small box of baby clothes can reduce a grown woman to a goopy puddle of sentiment now that the baby is gone and off to school! Or grown and has babies of his own. The outgrown clothes remind us to be mindful of who our children and we are now, and to savior this time because it will also one day be only a memory.

So what to do with the outgrown handmade clothes? I'm never sure what to do exactly when my handmades have done their tour of duty, particularly if the garment in question was made by somebody else. When is a handmade a keepsake or heirloom and when should we just get over it and send it to the thrift store?

Sometimes my handmades have gone through two or more children as hand-me-downs or passed along to friends with younger babies. I usually only pass along to friends who appreciate the connotation of handmade or clothing with stories (just because.) I have sent some to thrift stores, lacking anyone appropriate to pass along to or it's something I didn't like in the first place (it happens). I've picked up many items obviously handmade in thrift stores and appreciate them all the more for it. A couple of baby sweaters, made by loving grannies, are in storage and will be kept until my babies have their own babies. Some items I've made have been worn into rags and simply sent out to pasture. I've redesigned and reconned many of Smootch's dresses. Dresses are great because the skirt can be separated and it's wearability prolonged through another growth spurt.

I know of others who have sold their outgrown handmades on ebay, Kijiji, and such. Others have broken down the clothes into patches for blankets and pillows. I am interested in hearing your reflections on your outgown handmades - what do you do?

trouser saga part IV (or so)

You remember that whole dealie with the boy needing bottoms, and I made him some, but then the girl child stole them, but then dad made him another pair, and then I made him a few more just to make sure he's good and covered? And the whole thing happened just a month ago?

Right. I'm trying not to take it personally, but it really does seem like the boy is conspiring against me. First he doesn't sleep (well, hardly ever) and now he grows. All of his new trousers are sitting an inch and a half above his ankle bone. An inch and a half! In a month!

Fine. It's a good thing trousers are simple to make and allow for a touch of creativity with embellishments and whatnots. Actually, I've made so many now that I slip into a meditative like trance by the time I'm reinforcing the crouch seam. Trouser zen: when I hem I hem.

Here we go with the first of the new set of boy trousers. Please note my superb mothering skills as the boy:

Stands on car

Dangles dangerously over the railing (tide was low so it's okay, right?)

Eats god awful amounts of chocolate

But cute pants right?