Happy Birthday, Kyle!

22 years ago today, Kyle Lawton Behm came into the world!

What a happy baby with a proud big sister, Laura!

And today, here we are in our matching seersucker shorts:

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day! My daughter in Virginia called this morning, and I got to have lunch with my husband and son, Kyle at Two Urban Licks (where this delightful duck painting is hanging).

Fixing a Zipper on RTW

Son Kyle recently (oh, around Thanksgiving) asked me if I could fix the zipper on his Mountain Hard Wear jacket. The pull was gone and some teeth near the bottom were completely broken off. I said, maybe.


My first thought was, heck, I'll just get him a new one. I hadn't bought the current one, as it was a gift from an ex-girlfriend. Actually she didn't buy this one. She bought him a size large. He traded the large with a friend who had a medium but wanted the large. Kyle wanted a medium. Confused yet? But in the bargain, he got the one with the broken zipper.


Anyway, back to my first thought. I discovered those babies are price-y!! Certainly more than I wanted to spend, so repair it was. I bought a separating zipper from Sew True Supply which wasn't quite as long as the coat's, but very close. After doing some research (i.e., I zipped the half of the new zipper to the good half of the old zipper), there was a good chance I would only have to replace half a zipper.


Step 1 then... rip out the old one. As I ripped, I took pictures so I could remember what it looked like. I won't bore you with those, but if you're doing something similar, it's a good, and pretty obvious, way to have a record.


Here it is, sans zipper:

See the "fur". Yep, it was lots of fun to rip that sucker out, especially around the collar and the hem.


OK, then it was just a matter of sewing the new one back in. Boom, sewed it in, just like that. Zipped it up and whoa! There are seams at the yoke and collar that kinda sorta should really be lined up. Whoops. Starting with the yoke seamline, I picked out the stitches around it so that I could finagle it back into lining up. The fabric is stretchy so it was pretty easy. Then I did the same thing by the collar seamline.


You insert the zipper first sewing right sides together, then flip it back and topstitch it folded back. Does that make sense? I did the ripping out, lining up before the final topstitching took place for also obvious reasons.

Finally, the last spot to give me a little trouble was the little piece of fabric that I'm calling the neck guard, up by the collar. Putting it back in was a bit of free style sewing, but if it's not in correctly, no one can tell.

I'm not a huge fan of clothing repairwork, but this is one case where it really, really paid off. The new zipper is about 1/4" shorter than the old one, but again, it doesn't affect, well, anything. Kyle is warm and toasty once again!

A New Jasmine

Boy, have I been a blogging slacker! I can't really blame self stitched September, though that would be tempting. No, I've actually been doing a little traveling, meeting with some of the friends I've made on Etsy for a little get-away in Providence, RI and other points east. Aren't we all adorable?!

I had planned to sew lots of adorable outfits for the trip, and did manage to finish one top. And it's not the one I'm wearing in the above pic. But, on the Friday before I left, I was furiously sewing and finished the Colette Patterns Jasmine top.

I did wear it, but didn't get a picture with my camera. So I wore it again today and it's time to fill you in! I love it, by the way. Before I do any reveal, let me just say that beginner is the right rating. It's super easy, and so far, it's been the easiest to fit (for me) Colette pattern yet. I suspect I know why, and it definitely has to do with user error.


I made a muslin, and for the first time in my history of making Colette Patterns, I just traced a straight size 10. Usually, I try to do a little tweaking before the muslin stage, but not this time. And the muslin told me that I only needed minimal tweaks. Having a center front and center back seam made things easy.


My usual narrow upper chest problem was solved simply by pinching in the excess at the center seam. I did the same at the back center, though not quite as much. I shortened the dart by about 1/2", and shortened the length about an inch. I also shortened the sleeve about 3/4". Finally, I pinched out about 3/4" from the length of the back armhole, because it was a little long, but left the sleeve seam alone because it was gathered at the top anyway.

The fabric is a madras I had in my stash, and I picked up the dark navy linen contrast at Gail K's in Atlanta. I did interface the collar pieces (not in the instructions) because the linen was a bit floppy.


One other big change was in the cutting out... I actually cut it on the bias cross grain. Is that a thing? Instead of placing the grainline arrow on the vertical, I placed it on the horizontal because I wanted the chevrons to look like the V's that you see and not upside down with the widest part pointing to my hips.


Finally, I have this thing about being trapped in my clothes. Do you know what I mean? Anyway, I put a 9" invisible zipper from the hemline up on the left side and solved that problem.

The madras colors varied greatly from stripe to stripe, so the matching is as good as it could get. I'm thrilled with it. Even the sleeves mostly match.


If I make it again, I'll pinch just a bit more out of the center and that's it.


Yesterday, we had a visit from Kyle, and after packing up more cool-weather clothes and a few other things, he went back to school today. It was fall break after all, so we were thrilled he gave us a few hours.

So is Danny the Dog saying "who is this boy?" or is he thrilled, too?

The Matchy Siblings -- Easter Edition

As promised, just a bit more cuteness to fill in while we're all waiting for Self-Stitched September to start! Are you participating? I just placed an order to Gorgeous Fabrics and fabric.com, so fall sewing planning is in full swing. I'll give it to you buy the numbers tomorrow. In the meantime, the Easter edition:


Easter, 1991. This is Kyle's first.

 Kyle's pattern is one called "Allan's Bubble" that was in the now defunct Creative Needle Magazine. Laura's is the Basic Square Yoke by Chery Williams. I used commercial smocking plates for the picture smocking. I think I might have made Kyle's little shirt, too.


I stayed with the pink and blue combo in 1992 as well.

I do not remember at all where these patterns came from, but probably a magazine. You can't really tell from the pictures, but Laura's dress is open from the waist and an eyelet slip peeks out. Kyle's outfit is a shorts romper with the matching patchwork pattern. I know I made his shirt. I made all the piping on all their outfits, and used a thin crochet cotton to make that baby thickness.


I can almost guarantee that Laura was talking as she opened each egg in her basket!


In 1993, I got really fancy! And they didn't really match, but they certainly went together!

Laura's smocking is called Counterchange, and is a type of pleaterless smocking. The design on her dress is called Lydia's Basket by Ann Hallay. The stripes on the fabric are used to help form a grid that makes the pleats as you embroider. I don't remember the dress pattern I used.


Finally, because these are not digital pictures, I can't really manipulate them that well, but I wanted to enlarge Kyle's picture so you can see just how cute he looks.

 

This was taken a couple of months before his 3rd birthday. The pattern is the boy's button-on suit by Ginger Snaps Designs. And his dad told me not to make little smocked shirts with bunnies for Kyle any more. It was a sad day. I did make a few more things for Kyle after that, but things like camo pants and Halloween costumes. No more bunnies.


By the way, I've kept all these special outfits. They were passed on to my sister for her girl and boy, and when they outgrew the outfits, she sent them all back.

The Matchy Matchy Christmas Siblings

Did you know that September is right around the corner? Yep. And since there will be lots of Self Stitched Sept (SSS) pictures, I thought I would take a walk down memory lane a la Carolyn, and show you just how adorable my kids were when they were little. I am just a little biased, I suppose.


I liked for them to match on Christmas and Easter, and so of course, I had to make them matching outfits. Even with a boy and a girl I didn't have any trouble finding what I wanted to make. And so as not to make your eyes glaze over, I'll just do one holiday at a time.


Christmas 1990 was Kyle's first.

I'm not sure what these patterns were, but undoubtedly one of the Big 4. McCall's maybe? Anyway, I used 2 different green cotton checks and red satin ribbon as trim. You can see that Laura's vest has a bigger check than her skirt. Her top is a RTW, and I think Kyle must have had on a long sleeve onesie. Oh, before I get any farther let me apologize for the picture quality... way before digital!


Christmas 1991 I got a little more ambitious.

Yes, navy blue velvet. And Laura's pinafore bib is organza. Kyle's turtleneck is RTW. I'm not sure of her dress pattern, but the bib was from a company called A Garden of Smocking Designs. The applique design was from Sew Beautiful maybe? I'm also not sure about Kyle's romper pattern was, but it had buttons at the shoulders and snaps down below for easy diaper changes.


Apparently, they still fit the next year, and they were super cute, so I didn't bother with new outfits for Christmas 1992. The pictures don't lie. I'm including the 1992 pictures because they show the applique so well.

I'll let y'all absorb the awesome cuteness of these, and do the Easter outfits in another post.

Happy Birthday, Kyle! A Semi-Me Made Project!

Happy birthday to my baby boy, Kyle! He's not so baby any more though, as we're celebrating his much anticipated 21st birthday. Should be fairly tame tonight, what with dinner with mom, dad, 2 grandmothers, his sister and brother-in-law all in tow. We are on vacation though, and at a beach where we've spotted several suitable after dinner establishments. Laura and Thomas will be taking him out for those activities. Tomorrow he plans to head west to Auburn, Alabama where he'll hang out with some high school buddies for the weekend, and possibly what happens in Auburn will stay in Auburn.

Champagne for lunch, what could be better?

While I had some help with the above "me made" project, lol, I am wearing a never before seen on this blog dress tonight, and tomorrow I'll be back to the regular programming. Oh yeah, there will be some commentary on yesterday's outfit, not yet posted as well, and it's not all good.

Thanksgiving Road Trip

I understand for security reasons, many bloggers don't want to let the world know when they're traveling, and I was feeling the same. So, this past week, I was actually not in Georgia, but had flown north to Virginia Beach with husband, son, daughter and son-in-law to celebrate the holiday with Roland's brother and his family.

We tend to be homebodies on Thanksgiving, but this young man,

our nephew, Aaron, is heading to Afghanistan next week. He joined the Marines 2-1/2 years ago, and has already been to Iraq, but this time seems far more dangerous. He wanted everyone that could, to come join the family for Thanksgiving, and a bonus early Christmas celebration, and we were happy to do just that.

We made our flight plans back in early October, way before the current TSA hoopla. I'm happy to report that no one in our group experienced the full body scanners, or the dreaded pat down. In fact, I think we made it through security in Atlanta in record time.

All went great in Virginia Beach, and we consumed massive amounts of turkey, pie, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and real Italian meatballs and spaghetti sauce. Unfortunately, Kyle had a cold which got progressively worse, and last night, after landing in Atlanta, and fighting the traffic at the airport, we found ourselves staring at this:

Yes. That's the kind of thing you see in a hospital. In an ER. Kyle had been having trouble breathing the entire weekend, and we had even visited Urgent Care in Virginia Beach, but as in the past, he got worse instead of better. We finally left about 2:30 in the morning, and we headed straight to the 24 hour McDonalds for cheeseburgers. Yum?

Well, they were yum! And today was all about catching up with mundane household-y kinds of things. Happily we have food in the house now! Tomorrow we might even have clean clothes!

Don't Mess with Lady Grey!

Seriously! [editor's note: that is NOT Lady Grey in the picture, but clearly must be her protector!]

[Saturday, Kyle, Roland and I went skeet shooting. Beautiful fall weather, fun company and well, not much success on my part of hitting those orange flying saucer-like "skeets".  Never mind that, what about the sewing?!!]

It almost looks like a coat!

Sleeves will be added tomorrow! And the lining is all cut out. Looking back at Gertie's tutorials (click on the sidebar sew along icon to see them), there will be more pad stitching with the collar before the lining is tackled though. Check out a close up of the pad stitching on the lapel:

I've got lots more projects lined up to start right after the coat is finished (and maybe worked in even before it's finished). Some of them will be Christmas gifts, so they won't be revealed until later.

My Baby Boy Turns 20!

Happy Birthday to Kyle!