Ruffle Flap Top

A few months ago I saw a girl on the playground wearing a shirt similar to this one. I thought the idea of the ruffly sides was really cute. Unfortunately, since I did not know the child I could not just walk up to her and take a closer look, or even take a picture, so I made this from my memory. I actually really don't remember what the shirt looked like, but I think this one turned out kind of cute :)

Anyway, it is really easy to make, you just need to alter a normal shirt pattern a bit. I will briefly talk you through it, but I don't have to explain much, if you know how to make a regular t-shirt...

You are my sunshine top

Here is my tutorial for my "You are my sunshine shirt" I will be uploading to the Sew in tune flickr group. It isn't really a full tutorial, I kind of just explain what tutorials I used to make it. But If you are an intermediate sewer you should be able to follow along....So here is how I made it:

You are my sunshine summer outfit

You must think I am crazy, but honestly, I am sick of sewing things for the winter. I find it difficult to find thick fabrics (other than fleece), and well, short sleeves and shorts are so much faster, not to mention how fun it is to make sundresses…

So, even though it is February and cold, I decided to get a head start on Littleheart’s summer wardrobe. I surfed around the net for some inspiration and then started making these sketches:

I really hope I can try out all the ideas from my sketches, and bring you lots of fun, new tutorials.

This first outfit I made for a fun series called Sew in tune. It is actually the winter version of the series, but hey, people in Australia are not going to be sewing winter clothes right now, right? Anyway, you are supposed to sew something inspired by a song. I actually had the outfit idea first, and then realized it was perfect for the series, because it fits the song “you are my sunshine”. My grandmother, may she rest in peace, used to call me her sunshine, and I feel the same way about Littleheart. So this is the perfect little outfit to start off my summer sewing.

I will post both a tutorial for the top and shorts. My pattern is as usual, the size of Littleheart (3-4T) but you can easily make both with any top and shorts pattern.

So come back soon to find the tutorials for the “You are my sunshine” outfit.

Update: You can now find the tutorial for the shorts here and for the top here.

Fleece Jumper with a pouch

Today I am going to teach you how to make the second project from my "Fun with Fleece" series. It is a fleece Jumper (or tunic, depending how long you make it. I actually was thinking this year a Jumper, next year a Tunic). It is a really easy, fun little sewing project you can sew up in an evening...Let's get right to the point!

Fleece top with a zip

As you have probably noticed, I like to make every-day clothes. I don't like to make things that are worn only once, I like to see them worn and feel like it was worth all the hard work. 

I got some pretty fleece a couple of months ago. My first project was a coat for Littleheart I made during KCWC. I discovered it is actually really easy to work with fleece, and was excited to go on to my next project.

This time I searched the internet for some inspiration. Mostly I found fleece jackets and coats (which I did not need, since I just made that), but I did stumble across this cute fleece sweatshirt from Old Navy. A simple sweatshirt, but the bottom part is gathered, which makes it very feminine. I looked at it closely, and decided, it is actually really easy to make. I just needed to trace a simple bodice piece, cut two rectangles for the bottom part and of course the sleeves. I left out the collar, since I myself don't love collars.

And this is how I put it together:

Mom's perfect fit shirt - the winter version

This summer, when my mom came to visit, she brought along her favorite t-shirt, and I made her a couple more by tracing the original one. When she came back for Littleheart's birthday, she confirmed that they were officially her favorite shirts! Unfortunately, it is now too cold in Switzerland to wear them, so I decided to surprise her with two more, only this time I made them with long sleeves. 

If you would like to make Mom's perfect fit shirt - the winter version then download the basic shirt pattern here and the extra pieces for the long sleeves here.

Follow my tutorial for the summer version here and you will have a winter long sleeve shirt in no time!

I will be linking up to some of the link parties on this page . 

Woven neck shirt

I am working on Littleheart's fall/winter wardrobe at the moment. It is hard to know what to make - in Israel the weather is hot and then suddenly gets cold, with very little time being cool. So I decided to make some layered outfits she can wear for the cool and the cold days.
I made this outfit a while back, but I didn't have time to write up the tutorial before all of the sewing challenges, so now finally, I am posting about it. This is basically an outfit made of leggings, a long sleeve shirt and a shrug. 

You might remember the little shrug from KCWC. The leggings are very basic, and not worth talking about. But this shirt is special, because the neckline is woven into it.

Want to make one? Here is how...

Lego Man Shirt (Embroidered Freezer Paper Stenciling)

A couple weeks ago was my cousins son's birthday. He turned 7 and just started first grade. One of his favorite things is Lego, so I wanted to make him something special with a Lego design. I looked around the web and found a cute T-shirt idea  here and here. 

I think the felt is really cute, but I have been dying to try out freezer paper stenciling ever since I started sewing, and my mom just came for a visit and brought me four boxes of freezer paper (I can't get it here). So I took the idea of the Lego Man t-shirt, and painted the man on with fabric paints using a stencil.

Unfortunately I didn't realize that fabric paint does not show very well on dark fabrics (at least the kind I have) so I was a little disappointed when I applied the paint. I did do three layers though, which made it look much better.

Then my mom suggested sewing around the edges with embroidery thread to enhance the Lego Man a bit and make him "stand out". So I did, and I love the way it turned out!

You want to make one? This is how!

Mom's Perfect Fit Shirt

My mom came to visit us in August, since Littleheart's daycare went on a two week break. It was great, we had such a nice time, and of course it went by way too fast. My dad also came for a long weekend, here is a picture we all took at the port in Tel Aviv.

(by the way the dress Littleheart is wearing is from this lovely tutorial).

When my mom arrived, she showed me some of the things she bought in the States when she went to visit my grandfather. She pointed out one of the shirts, and said it was the perfect fit for her, she just loves it! So I said, hey, let's make you a couple more!

I traced the shirt to make the pattern, and I have made it available for you here (seam allowance not included). It is size large/extra large. (Make sure when you print your page scaling is set to "none". Otherwise your printer will shrink the pattern.)

In the end it was actually a really easy shirt to sew. I made my mom two, and she was really happy.

Here is how you can make the perfect fit shirt!

Knight's Pleat Sleeves

Littleheart's second Birthday is coming up next month, and I want to make her a special outfit for the occasion. I am planning on making her a rainbow birthday party, and am designing her outfit accordingly. I will post about the finished outfit when it is done, but today I would like to show you how to make a Knight's Pleat Sleeve (which I am using for her birthday shirt). I saw this sleeve on a woman a while back, and have recreated it from my memory (so I am not sure if it is like that shirt, but I like the outcome, so who cares, right?). I call it the Knight's Pleat Sleeve because it reminds me of the armor the medieval knights used to wear:

This sleeve works for any shirt, adults or children.

Want to make it? Here is how!

Pintucked Shoulder Shirt

Here is the tutorial for the last shirt in my "One Pattern - Three Shirts" series. If you missed the other two you can find them here and here. I call it the pintucked shoulder shirt. The neck in a loose, hanging neckline, so you need to wear it with a tank top underneath. I think it looks really nice with a lacey top, but plain would go too.

Shirred Front Shirt

This is the second shirt in my "One pattern - three shirts" series. I call it the shirred front shirt (I know, not very original). 

Pleated Neck T-shirt

This is the first out of a series of three shirts I made using the same basic pattern. 

What you will need

1.5 yard of lightweight, knit fabric

Fusible interfacing

Download my basic pattern (for size medium) or draft your own using my tutorial. 

One Pattern - Three Shirts

Now that Littleheart's summer wardrobe is more than complete, I have been working on a few pieces for myself. At first I was a little intimidated about sewing for me, but I have found that it is actually really fun, especially when you are on a budget and can't go out shopping whenever you feel like it. You just imagine what you would like to wear and try it out!
After looking around for inspiration, I came up with three shirts I could make out of a single pattern! Each shirt starts out with the same one pattern, which gets altered for each design. In the next couple of weeks I will show you how to make each one of these shirts. If you are size Medium you are welcome to download my basic pattern here. If not I will show you how to draft your own, it is not hard.

Update: I have now posted all of the tutorials for the shirts above. This is where you can find them:
Pleated Neck Shirt
Shirred Front Shirt
Pintucked Shoulder Shirt 

The outfit that started it all...

You might recognize this outfit, it is the shorts outfit I made for "Shorts on the line" this summer. This is the outfit that gave me the push to start my own blog. I had been thinking about it for a while, but I had the usual concerns, "am I interesting enough?", "is my sewing good enough?", "can i commit to it?"...So I kept on putting it off. Then Melanie, who writes a monthly column for Sew, Mama, Sew! contacted me and asked me if she could use my picture in an article she was writing about sewing trends. She said she would link the picture back to my blog. Of course I was thrilled, and told her she was welcome to use it, but that I didn't have a blog of my own yet. So Melanie linked my picture back to my flickr picture and that was it. I told myself, if she chose my outfit out of the many, then maybe I do have something to offer. And so here I am...