Pajama Day

Two posts back to back .... well I wanted to post the projects in order of completion!
Last week and this past week end was filled with dance rehearsals and dance recitals for the little MEC. Her performance was endangered by a nasty bee sting.
Well you see for the last few months MEC has lived with her hands glued to the floor doing cartwheels, hand stands etc... so when she was practicing her cartwheel in the grassy area at school the day before the big big stage she must have disturbed a bit and she stung her in retaliation!
The sad part is that there are a lot of dance moves requiring a fully functional right wrist! She did very well considering her impediment....

Back to the PJ party, every year after the big big stage the kids get to dance in their PJ to top it all it is PJ day at school tomorrow. So yesterday MEC tells me mom I need a new pair of PJ, I want some baggy one and a tee shirt like Taylor Swift in the music video of "You Belong to Me".

Luckily I have been stashing a bit by sewers standards of fabric and I had the perfect flannel! I know it is summer but you gotta do what you gotta do!

For the bottom I used the "Lazy day Pajamas" by Blank Slate Pattern. The flannel has hot pink, pink, dark gray and light gray graphic about music which is fitting since she will be wearing it at dance! I chose white flannel for the contrast bottom. I made piping with a light gray bias tape I have. This was again a quick sew. I started by cutting and taping the pattern and finished up everything in a little over 2H00. Again I screwed up the elastic which ended up twisted inside and too big! The one modification I would make to the pattern is adding 1inch to the waist piece. 

The top was made with the Field Trip Raglan Tee shirt by Oliver and S. I happen to have the pattern printed woot and I just had to cut the right size. I up-cycled an Eddie Bauer tee shirt that had gotten the boot from my husband's closet because the bottom rolls up! I had some pink cotton jersey purchased a while back at Fabrics.com and the neck band was a light gray ribbed cotton.
This took me a little over an hour to sew. I am proud to say that for once there is not white thread dangling off that tee shirt! It is probably the best tee I sewed and was able to adjust the tension of my serger so the white thread does not show too much :)

Here is the PJ in action.... Hip Hop move baby!

I need to go scrounge some XXXL tee shirt or jersey dresses on sale at Old Navy Marshall or maybe even Target! These are sometimes the best source of knit fabric!

"Beau comme un camion rouge"

From the french expression "Handsome like a red truck!" I won't attempt to explain where this expression comes from but it is often used when talking to a boy.
I try to be fair and sew something for my girl followed by something for my boy.

I have to admit that I feel I am afraid I'm reaching the boundaries of using PDF pattern straight out of the box. Most patterns I bought a while back have a max age between 8yrs and 12yrs. This means I have to master a new skillset pattern grading!

Back to our "red truck", MAC chose a bright red twill and blue stripe searsucker for his new pair of short! I used the  for a pair of shorts in a bright red twill and blue stripe searsucker pockets.

The pattern used for this pair of shorts was the Clean Slate Pant from Blank Slate Pattern. I used the size 8 tried to make it a tad more baggy and slightly longer. Every seam besides the outside edge of the pants were double top stitched in white contrast. I did not sew the zipper and button but opted for the faux zip using the technique learned while sewing MEC and MAX Oliver and S short. I did opt for a flat front.
However as usual I did underestimate the size of the elastic and the shorts are a little too big at the waist.

It was an easy sew and was whipped in a couple of hours.
The shorts a little narrower than I would like and for the next pair I have attempted to grade the pattern to size 10 and 12. However I totally went with my gut and my scientific approach to things.

However I think it is about time for me to learn a bit more about the science of grading pattern and this online class by Melly Sew may be just the thing .....

Lets try again

Let's give another go at this blogging thing! As you may have noticed I have been MIA most of this year, a little bit because well I have been super duper busy with things not really worth blogging about, and a little bit because well I have been struggling with what I want to blog about.

So I think this place will be to post things that I like in general but not so much about me if that makes sense. Things I like - Crafts, Decoration, Fashion, Food and pretty things in general.

So let's try this again shall we....

We have moved at the end of last August and most of my creative energy has been spent turning this house of ours into a home! We have still quite a long ways to go but our home is slowly emerging. I will try to post before and after pictures....

In this house I do have a sewing room/guest room and after clearing up the mess a bit I started sewing again after a 6 months hiatus.

I fell in love with this fabric and debated on using it for a PJ set or a skirt!

I remembered the Market Skirt by "Dana Made It" that I always wanted to make but never found the time to. I rummaged through my stash of fabric and found some blue twill, some red bias tape and whipped this skirt for MEC

I love how a very simple sew turned out so nice and very JCrew like. I may even make one for myself!

Of course I had to tweak the pattern a bit to fit my fabric and thus the bottom layer is much higher than what Dana has in her pattern. Besides that I kept the same width ratio.

Layer 1 - 1.4 * waist

Layer 2 - 1.6 * layer 1

Layer 3 - 1.2 * layer 2

Next time I would probably increase the ratio of layer 3 in order to have a fuller third tier if I keep it that high. 

I really like the bias tape at the bottom I find it ties the skirt. I have a small rectangle left to be used to make a cute pocket on a skirt or an accent for a dress.

Next up some fire red shorts based on the Clean Slate Pants by Blank Slate Pattern 

abstract or not

Trying to strike a balance between abstract and detailed... still working on it

Work in progress, only the third watercolor in 5 years....

watercolors

I'm back at my parents for three weeks of vacation in the french country side.
I dug out my dad's forgotten watercolor box, a cute little black box with a bunch of square of colors and a golden brush. I love it I have the same. Mine is also forgotten somewhere in my painting bin amidst the chinese brush painting brushes and pigment.
I love painting supplies.
Anyways sitting in the garden looking at things around me made me want to take pictures. Unfortunately I packed my camera but forgot the charger.... So I have to try my hand at painting again.
It is rusty but here are a few of my first tries.... maybe when we settle in our new home my little black watercolor box will be close to me often....

Bike shed at my parents house in Burgundy.

Tried to recreate the dark gray skies above the golden wheat fields... 

4 cousins going horse back riding.

In the sewing department, I have made a pair of shorts using a Oliver & S boy pant pattern loved the pattern and made the picnic shorts a pleasure to sew. 

Interesting find

No sewing or crafting lately.
Last week end we were very busy and I will share why with you later this week hopefully. MAC had a birthday party to attend at 6pm on Saturday pretty far south from us. Not the most convenient location and time but he was really excited.
My husband and I really really don't have a liking for birthday parties whether it is for our own kids or attending others. We like the few friends we hang out with a lot and that's about it. I know very very asocial of us, actually probably more introverts.....
So we drop of Miles to this birthday party at Ultrazone a lazer tag thing and go run a few errands with MEC at home depot and then we are in need of a place to eat.
We are in the sports arena area which is not known for their haute cuisine, to make matter worse we are all hungry tired and cranky. B is also sick....

So we need to find a good place to eat and fast!

I pull up my phone and yelp a restaurant in the neighborhood which isn't too greasy or boring.

Taste of Himalaya a nepali/indian place pops up with lots of stars. We are a bit reluctant to try but decide to drive by and see what it looks like! Well it was kind of a hole in the wall but with a lot of people in so we decide to give it a shot!
I'm really glad we did it was delicious! B who went to India said the flavors reminded him of his trip there.

We had chicken tika masala and it was delish. It may not be the best place for kids especially if they are not super into spices. However they served us a complimentary dal soup that MEC found absolutely delicious!

All in all it was a great success!

Ultrazone is another great success of the night! MAC had an awesome time there with his friends. The moms were actually super nice and we had a friendly chat.

MAC wants his birthday party there and it is probably the first organized birthday party that I approve of. Now we just have to find the time to invite his friends and make reservation... especially since his birthday was yesterday!!!!!

Not much

Nothing creative is happening at this house! Unfortunately my full time job, the family and my interest in diverse books and shows are eating up my free time to sew booh.

I did start a pair of shorts for MAC based on the Oliver and S pattern Field trip cargo pants and some houndtooth fabric to make a statement!

I have to say so far I love the quality of the pattern and I learn to do things the right way! Win win right!. Unfortunately I won't be able to finish them for a while because I have to pack all my sewing things back in the garage for a little bit of time. You see my sewing room is the dining room and every once in a while we need to use that room for its intended purpose. To be honest we also need to have this room clean. I love seeing my sewing mess in display but not all agree with me!

We also have gone a lot to the mountain lately to do a little bit of this....

I wish but mostly this!

I have always loved the snow and mountain probably because I never actually had to shovel any of it ;) 

The kids are old enough to learn snowboarding and since we live by the beach, our big trips are taken to visit family in France (I know tough right). We decided that our family and friends vacation would be to go snowboarding! 

It is an amazing experience to see you kids develop and they both love it. At 6, MEC is going down blues saying Yeeeeeh and clapping her hand! MAC is tooling around having a blast!

Anyways the season is done for us as the summer is looming!