KCW: Baby Raglan Dress (Another Brindille and Twig Patter I love)

Well Kid's Clothes Week just ended and I had a lot of fun working on kid's clothing projects for one hour each evening. I was able to finish two complete garments and get a lot of pattern cutting/taping done. I'm also half-way through a darling dress for the daughter. (I'm going to keep calling her that because I have no idea what we're going to name her anymore...)

This is my favorite project for this week:

I have every intention of uploading better photos of this baby dress. The style is a sort of oversized sweater that I will probably pair with some funky colored leggings. 

The Good:

- This Pattern. Plain and simple. It's easy, straight forward and absolutely DARLING.

- My fabric. Which is actually THIS jersey cotton blend from Girl Charlee. This new journey of sewing clothes for my kids has been full of knit fabric. I have absolutely no fear of knits and neither should you if you want to try sewing. Having a really cool serger helps, too, but is not necessary. Also, ribbing is fun. I need to accumulate a much bigger stash of ribbing with a lot more colors.

- I plan to make a few more of these with some funky color/pattern combinations with the pockets and sleeves. And in different sizes so the daughter can wear them a lot. I just LOVE this pattern.

The Bad:

- I only had one real blunder with this dress and it was 100% my fault. I was finishing this project up around midnight and was extremely tired. I was on the very last step, attaching the ribbing on the bottom of the dress, and I had completely zoned out. SO! The big seam which is supposed to be nicely hidden in the back of the garment is front and center for all to see. Unfortunately, I serged it on and was way too lazy/tired to unpick the darn thing and it's going to stay that way. Oh well!

Brindille and Twig Sewing Patterns

We are having a baby girl in December. Yes, I'm ecstatic. Yes, I'm a little nervous about how much more money I'm going to be tempted to spend on this kid than the darling son I already have. There is just so much out there for girls. Dresses, leggings, headbands, cute little everythings. It's overwhelming enough that I've been able to refrain from draining our bank account for this Hatchling who still has 14 weeks to bake. (Well, almost. Paying for the delivery two months in advance has been brutal.)

However, Baby S has inspired me to start sewing. This wasn't originally in an effort to save money. I find sewing therapeutic and I have been wanting to make clothes for a long time. I have a hard time spending money on clothing and sewing give you the opportunity to have something just the way you want it. Color, pattern, fabric, all of that. And I love that. That being said, I think I can create personal, unique clothing for my family and do it on a budget.

So, I made some leggings//
I have been sifting through the many baby legging tutorials/patterns on pinterest for a couple of months. There are a lot of great ones out there, but nothing seemed to be exactly what I needed. For starters, a lot of these patterns were supposed to based off of pants you have for your child already. And most of them were patterns for one size, to be modified by you, the seamstress. I don't know about you guys, but patterns are already incredibly intimidating to me. I didn't want to waste time and fabric on that. I was looking for something legit. In desperation, I searched newborn/toddler legging patterns on Etsy.

Boy, did I hit the jackpot. Sewing friends, head over to Brindille and Twig and give the brilliant Melissa Hendrickson ALL of your money. The woman is an absolute genius. Not only are these patterns convenient PDF's, which means you're not wasting any sizes of your pattern by cutting out the tiniest one, but they are easy to read/understand and a breeze to sew. I immediately purchased two patterns. The first was her Baby Leggings. Okay, obviously this lady knows how to display her patterns. The fabric she chose for each of her products could make ANYONE want to sew. But the thing that finalized the deal for me was the fact that both these patterns range from size 0-3 month to 2/3T. Again, jackpot.

The fabric I used is from the Doodles Collection at Joann. It was on sale and these pants are tiny, so I had a ton of leftover fabric.
I finished this masterpiece in less than 30 minutes. Needless to say, I will be make more. Many, many more.

Pax asked me why they were "half crotch" and I had to remind him about diaper butt.
Hah. I love baby clothes.

And then the scariest thing I have ever sewn//
The second pattern I bought was the Envelope Neck Tee.
I'm just going to say quickly, as someone who hasn't really sewn in several years, I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this. I'm sure the cute example shirts listed in the shop had a hand in this, but perhaps I just felt like pushing myself. Not only does this garment have real SLEEVES, but the whole envelope nonsense going on that we all love on babies onesies/shirts. I'm SO glad I went for it, though. This shirt was easy to make.

Obviously, it's not perfect and I'm definitely going to invest in a serger since I've got the knit fabric bug, but I am very proud of how this turned out. The grey fabric I bought for this shirt required a LOT more of my patience, but it's soft and drapey and will make a great tee for my girl.

Let me also just add, really quick, that I was dreading the whole ribbing situation on this shirt. BUT! My rotary cutter and cutting mat made that a cinch and the rest was a piece of cake.

So, I'm going to wrap this up, because it's already really long, but the bottom line is, sewing is extremely rewarding and I'm excited to get even better at it. If I can get those tiny sleeves on that shirt made of extremely stretchy fabric, then by golly I can make whatever the cuss I want. Bam.

I'm most excited about the fact that both these pattern are no doubt going to be utilized for Parley too. Onward!

Please go check out Brindille and Twig. 

This is the pattern I'm getting next!