Interactive Moster Tee By Stacey of Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy

I'm thrilled to have our Stacey of Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy, as our guest blogger today.  She's the mother of, you guessed it, three boys.  Her blog is filled to the brim with great boy projects, activities, and mother approved boy books. The best part about her projects is that they have the boy in mind.  Her projects are fun to view, and even more fun for the boy receiving them.  If you're the mother of a boy, be sure to stop by her blog.  She's very clever, and I'm so happy to have her sharing today's project.

Hi there! I'm Stacey and I blog over at Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy! I'm very excited to be here to share for Toptoberfest.  With three boys running around, most of my sewing falls into the boy category.  I've found that the secret to spicing up their wardrobes and convincing them to wear the "mommy made" clothing, is a variety of t-shirts.  And if the boys get to pick the themes, all the better.  Star Wars, vikings, ninjas, and personal jokes all end up in the laundry time and time again. 

Today I'm sharing my tutorial for an interactive monster t-shirt.  Post naming, I'm thinking I should have gone with "perpetually changing monster t-shirt" or something along those lines but while I've gotten the hang of sewing, clever t-shirt names allude me.  Regardless of what you call it, it's sure to be a hit with your little one.

Supplies:
t-shirt
wool felt scraps (I prefer 100% wool.  It tends to be more expensive but washes with much less pilling)
Velcro
Heat and Bond or other fusible interfacing
coordinating thread

Step 1:  Cut pieces from wool felt.  Before cutting the body, eye stems and horns, follow package directions to apply fusible interfacing.

Step 2:  Cut small squares of interfacing for the eyes and mouth pieces.  Iron on per package instructions.  When you are deciding on monster "accessories" keep in mind that you'll want at least two different color combinations of each facial feature in order to mix and match. The boys helped me to choose which colors and mouth features they wanted for their monsters. I find they are immeasurable more excited about a piece of clothing if they get to make choices during the project.

Step 3:  Iron the body, horns, and eye stems to your shirt per the interfacing package directions.

Step 4:  Sew around the edge of each piece in order to applique it to the shirt.  For the eye stems, I made three rows of stitching.

Step 5:  Cut a positive/negative piece of Velcro for each facial feature and each place where you want it to attach.  Sewing a rectangle around the outside edge, attach the all of the positive pieces to the monster body and the negative pieces to each "accessory".

That's it!  You are now able to mix and match to create a new monster each time you wear it.  One note:  if you have a clothing sensitive kinda kid (like my middle one) you may want to be sure they wear an undershirt underneath or place a piece of fusible-cut away stabilizer behind the shirt when you sew on the Velcro pieces.

Here's just three of our monstrous creations.  My oldest two thought this was such a great idea, I've been commissioned to sew two more.  Next time around we'll play with the body shape.  Personally, I've always been partial to the "Monsters Inc." monster type.

One word of warning, the line between the monster's facial features and one's own, may begin to become confused.

Here's hoping your little one has a better monster face than mine.  Maybe he thought I meant he was supposed to make the face he makes when he sees a scary monster.

Thanks for having us, Tricia.  The boys and I would get a huge kick out of seeing your monster shirts, so please feel free to stop on over and share if you decide to make one.  Have a great day!









Wasn't that great!  What little boy wouldn't love getting dressed in the morning, when it involved creating a one of a kind monster face.  Love it!  Thanks Stacey for sharing your great project.

2 Color Block Shirts, From T-fest: 2 Plain Shirts by Christie of Lemon Squeezy Home

I'm so excited to have Christie from Lemon Squeezy Home here today, sharing a great refashion/remix project with us.  It's such a clever way of introducing some color blocked clothes into your closet.  If you haven't visited Christie's blog, be sure to do so.  She has some impressive sewing skills, and some of my favorite top tutorials out there.  For example, The Easy Peasy Shirt, The Frumpy Shirt Refashion,  and if you're looking for a great Halloween shirt, the Bat Shirt is perfect.





Hello!  My name is Christie and I’m excited to be here today to share a really simple and fun project that can be done pretty quickly.  The best part about it is that you use two existing shirts and turn them into two colorblock shirts.  No waste!  All you need is two shirts that are the same brand and size, wonder tape, and basic sewing supplies.

 



First, I measured about 2” up from the underarm seam and marked a line.





Then, I lined up the under seam of the sleeve, starting at 1” by the cuff, and then matching it up to the line already drawn on the bodice of the shirt.

Do the same on the other arm.

Now carefully cut that line (I used a rotary cutter), being careful not to stretch the fabric.  That way you’ll be able to match it up easier.

Now do the same thing on the other shirt. 

Trade the bottom half out and match up the shirts.  *Now, please take note that I’m well aware that my sleeve seams where it meets the bodice do not match up perfectly!!! I thought I was doing a great job, but once it was sewn together, they were not matched perfect.  But guess what?  You don’t really notice until you point it out to someone, so just don’t point it out.  Honestly, when I sewed the second shirt together and tried even harder to match up the seams, the sleeves were a bit trickier to match up at the cuff, so I say, just do the best you can to match it up and it will still be cute.* 

I stuck wonder tape to the right side of the bottom portion.

Pull off the paper on top so the top is sticky now as well.

And start matching up the right side of the other shirt (make sure it’s the front of the top shirt with the front of the bottom portion). 



Match up the cuffs as well as they can get.

Now it will look like the picture below.

Again, start putting wonder tape onto the right side of the shirt again, and press the right sides together of the shirts.

 



Now sew the seams, making sure not to catch any parts of the shirt you aren’t supposed to ;).  I used about a 1/4” seam.

So now the inside will look like this.  Iron the seam down.

Repeat steps to make the other shirt.

And you are done!

See how this seam I didn’t get quite matched up:

But here I did!

 

And let’s see how Poppy likes it.  She broke out her best modeling skills for the shoot.

 

Thanks for having me today, Tricia!

Thanks so much Christie for sharing such a great project.  Clark would love some shirts like this.  I have the hardest time getting him to rotate the items in his closet.  He picks a couple of his favorites, and then wants to wear them everyday.  I'm sure if I made some red and blue color (the only colors he's willing to wear right now) blocked shirts, I could sneak them into his rotation. Thanks for the great tutorial Christie.

Top-toberfest: Easy As Pie Tank

Top-toberfest is here, and we are going to start it off with a super simple (ungraded) free pattern. With the arrival of Fall, you may be wondering why I'd be sharing a tank  pattern, but tanks are great any time of year.  I love layering them under cardigans, and the burnt orange seems seasonally appropriate to me. This particular tank is also great tucked into a pencil skirt. It's made out of a lightweight sheer polyester, and blouses nicely.  With side bust darts, it has shape at the top, and has a slight flair at the bottom (perfect for disguising a stubborn post baby bump).

It also has a slight racerback cut in the back.

This free pattern is size small.  I realize that not everyone wears a small, and I apologize, but I don't have the pattern drafting/grading skills to adjust it.  However, this free Sorbetto Top pattern from Colletterie similar, as well as the Wiksten Tank pattern for purchase.

Materials:

1 1/4 yard lightweight material

Printable sewing pattern (size 4/6)

Coordinating thread

Sewing supplies

"Sharp" sewing machine needle for lightweight fabric

*rolled hem foot, optional

-If you don't have an overcast serger, you may wish to use french seams on the shirt to encase raw edges.  You can find a tutorial here. You will need to adjust the seam allowance on the pattern to do so.

Step 1: Print of pattern.  Assemble pages according to diagram on pattern.  Make sure that pages are printed to scale.

Step 2: Cut out one tank front piece on fold.  Transfer bust dart markings to fabric

Step 3: Cut out one tank back piece on fold.

Step 4: With the remaining fabric, cut several 2 inch strips of fabric on the bias.  Connect ends to form a long bias strip. Create double fold bias tape by meeting the edges of the fabric in the center, pressing, and then meeting up the folded edges and pressing again. For more information on creating bias tape see this tutorial.

*I used a 1 inch bias strip, creating very small double fold bias tape.  Next time I'd bump it up to 2 inches.

Ahhh....bias tape.

Step 5: Sew the bust dart.  Find the markings from the pattern, there should be two on each of the outside edges of the front piece, and one a few inches in. Pins are used to indicate marking points.

Match up the two markings on the outer edges of the fabric.  Pin in place.

Starting on the outside edge, sew in toward the inner marking. Rather than back stitching when you reach the inner marking, leave threads long, and tie off ends.  Doing so will eliminate puckering. Press dart down.

*You will only be sewing one seam (on each side).  The dart with pull the fabric in a small amount to allow for a better fit at the bust.  

Step 6: Place front and back pieces with right sides together, matching up side seams.  Stitch together. 1/4 inch seam allowances are included in this pattern. 

  

Step 7: Match up shoulder straps, stitch together.  Press seam to one side.

Step 8: Hem the bottom of the tank.  To do so, press the bottom edge of the fabric up 1/4", and then another 1/4" to encase the raw edges.  A rolled hem presser foot can also be used for this step.

Step 9: Attach bias tape to both arm scythes, and neck.  This is the trickiest part of the whole pattern, but it is doable.  I'll show how.

Start by opening up your bias tape.  Match up the raw edge of the bias tape with the raw edge of the garment (right side out).  Leaving a 2 inch tail, begin attaching the bias tape about 1 inch away from the side, or shoulder seam.  Stitch along the outside press line of the bias tape, all of the way around the opening, until you are about two inches away from the starting seam.  Leave a tail at least two inches long

You'll now have two tails of your bias tape. Pull the bias tape so that it is tight, and matches up at the seam.  Pin in place.  Stitch the two tails of the bias tape together (not to the garment).  The seam should Press the seam open.

The bias tape should now be just the right length for the remaining section of the garment.  Finish stitching the bias tape across the remaining couple of inches.

Next, fold the bias tape back to it's pressed position.  You will want the bias tape to fold over the raw edges, and extend beyond the first stitching line of the bias tape. Stitch the bias tape down, about 1/8" away from the seam, this will secure the bias tape, and catch all layers of material.  Repeat the process for both arm openings and the neckline.

All done.  Easy as pie right?  When it comes to sewing with sheers, this is a great starter project.  With only two pattern pieces, and a simple bust dart, it's not too intimidating.

Tips for sewing with light weight materials:

-Use a Sharp needle, it will help prevent threads  from pulling.
-Reduce the amount of pressure on your presser foot by using your sewing machine's adjustment dial.  Doing so will allow the fabric to feed through the machine with greater ease.
-Use pattern weights and a rotary cutter to cut out your material.  The material won't shift as much during the cutting process. Don't have pattern weight?  I like to use tuna fish cans, they are heavy enough, and have a low enough profile that they don't get in the way.


*PS- I was going to have my husband take some pictures of me sporting the tank today, but instead we spent the day in the hospital having his appendix removed.  My mannequin photos will have to suffice.