In tribute to Valentines Day next week, Carla and I created not 1 but 2 warm and cozy looks for wintery V-Day. First up is this one:

In this ensemble, we’ve paired our complete Raven look (hoodie + front pintucked pants) with our Chickadee Blouse.

The hoodie is soft and scrumptious in this faux rabbit fur, aptly lined in a delicate white + red dotted Swiss. You remember when we used the same fur for the lovely little cape featured here?

The tie on the hoodie is a simple wide grosgrain ribbon sewn into the seam (rather than on the outside of the fabric), and a small purple glass button closes the collar on the blouse.

Normally, we do not use quilters cotton for our kids clothes but here we made an exception for the perfect mix of Valentines colors of this pattern.

Finally, the Raven Pants are a fine wale corduroy (yes, they really are that red).  We added some coordinating fabric on the back pockets to tie it in with the blouse.

Happy sewing!

~Erin

 Have you been following all the Vintage May fun over at Skirt as Top and Craftiness is Not Optional?  I just couldn’t resist joining in the fun with a little vintage sheet project that I already had planned for Nora’s summer wardrobe–light and airy PJs for hot summer nights.

I love working with old sheets–surprisingly, they have a soft drape that makes them ideal for billowy projects, like skirts, full tops and, of course, pajamas!  I also keep the uglier ones on hand for muslins.

I actually used two different sheets for this project–both are incredibly soft to the touch, though the colors on one set have been substantially worn out. Luckily, the contrasting scalloped trim at the top of the flat sheet was still in great shape, so I was able to salvage that for the deep cuffs on the pants.

The pants are a cropped version of the Raven Pants, sans front pintucks but with slightly widened legs.  I kept the basic waistband, but modified it to add a drawstring tie in the front. There’s still elastic in the back WB, but I attached two fabric ribbons to each end of the elastic and secured them at the side seams by stitching in the ditch.  The ties are pulled out the front WB through a buttonhole I added before attaching it to the pants.

The elastic does most of the work to keep the pants on, but the drawstring is there to for a little extra security and a fun splash of color.  

The top is this pattern from a Japanese sewing book (the name of which eludes me): 

It uses bias tape to finish the edges around the neck and straps.  Very neat and tidy, though I found it to be very tricky when finishing the armholes–I am still not sure I got it right.  I also guessed at the Nora’s size because I couldn’t figure out the size chart.

I love the illustrations in these books–so darn precise, which is good with the text nearly all in Japanese (thankfully, numbers are not–you have to add in seam allowance and it can differ within a garment).

Anyways, here’s my version up closer:

I love the print on these sheets–a unique color and good mix of big and small flowers.

Do you have any Vintage May projects lined up this month?

Happy Sewing!

~Erin

We are freshly back from the beach, so I wanted to quickly share some shots of a few Clever Charlotte sewing patterns in action there. 

The weather couldn’t have been better and my little landlocked children maximized every minute they could of the sand and surf.

I showed you this Beach Eider a few weeks ago and the boy look will be coming up later this week.

Until then, happy sewing!
~Erin

We thought it would be fun to show some mix and match looks using our patterns from multiple seasons in spring colors.  It is so much fun approaching a project like this with a view to creating an entire wardrobe.  I think this shows off the versatility of individual pieces so fabulously.

We’ve already shown you this season’s Kestrel Coat, lined in the same fabric shown here for the Chickadee Blouse.

Of course we couldn’t leave well enough alone–the temptation was just too great to not throw in a few changes here and there.  Like the ruffle on the front of the Chickadee Skirt.   Or the short sleeves on the Eider Tunic, above (we kept the pintucks on the sleeves).  We also opted for a purchased belt to close the Tunic, rather than the cinched waist tie provided for in the pattern.

Or the fun, oversized cuffs on the Raven Pants (again, front pintucks intact)?

Lastly, for the Raven Hoodie–if you can still call it that since we dropped the hood just for fun–we used a contrasting thread color for a decorative touch, added a front pocket flap, sewed the waist ties into the side seams so that the ties could be tied off center (and allowing the front opening to overlap slightly) and left the outer edges exposed and frayed for, well, an edgier look (pun intended).

Happy Spring Sewing!

~Erin

Today’s post marks the last day of our Winter Wolle blog series!  It is also our 100th blog post!  Never thought we’d get this far!

I had wanted to complete this post yesterday–it seemed very fitting to end the wool series on the last day of February.  In my mind, March marks the transition to spring, and I’ve already started to shift my thinking in that direction.  But more on that later…

This final wool project is also the second installment of The Boy Raven Pants.  Today we’ve styled another boy look featuring our Raven Pants (here’s the first pair)–this time with cargo pockets and using a heathered brown wool suiting.  I loved working with this wool–it is soft and drapey and yet you can steam a very crisp seam.  The pintuck on the front of these pants looks so polished, doesn’t it? Ladies, your husbands will be asking for a pair of these to wear to work (without the elastic waist, of course!)…

Though sewing on a cargo pocket is not hard to do, I thought we’d  show you a quick trick for assembling the pants to make it all the easier.  You can also use the same trick for any type of side seam embellishment (like a satin tuxedo stripe).

Ordinarily, most pants patterns, including our Raven Pants, call for sewing up the inseam of the front/back panels together first (see left, below) and the side seams last.  The reason for this is to make sewing the crotch seam much easier.  However, in this case, sewing the side seams last means you can’t sew on the cargo pocket since you’d sew the other side of your pant leg underneath.  

So, to begin, sew the outside seams first (see right, below).

Now sew on your cargo pocket*:

Sew the inseam of each pant leg next.  This results in two, stand alone pant legs.  To join the two pant legs at the crotch seam, turn one leg right side out:

Insert the right-side-out-leg into the wrong-side-out-leg (so that the rights sides of both are facing one another), matching the inseams and side seams. The crotch seams should line up perfectly.  

Sew the crotch seams from front to back.  For added reinforcement, you may want to sew a second stitch line a few inches along the bottom of the crotch by sewing a 1/4″ away from the first stitch line inside the seam allowance.  

Clip the curves and finish the seam as you normally would (I pinked all my edges).  Pull the inside leg out and voila!  You’re ready to finish the waistband and hemming, as instructed.  

Though this wool is pretty soft, I thought I’d be safe by using an even softer material for the inner waistband. Here’s a shot of the plaid cotton flannel that I used for the inside waistband. So cozy!

* I haven’t shown you the step by step for sewing the pocket itself–but briefly for those of you who care:  The main part of the pocket has a narrow (1″ total) inverted pleat in the center front.  I turned under and pressed 1/2″ around all sides of the pocket, then basted those seam allowances in place (hence all of the extra, wonky stitch lines you see in the photo below!).  For the pocket flap, I doubled the height of the finished flap, folded it in half lengthwise with wrong sides together, sewed the short ends, then turned it to the right side.  I turned the remaining raw edges to the inside of the flap and pressed everything flat.    

I aligned the center pleat with the pants’ side seams then sewed both parts of the pocket in place using a 1/8″ edgestitch. When sewing the flap to the pants, I placed the long, open edge toward the top and topstitched it in place, thus closing the opening at the same time.

We hope you have enjoyed all of the different wool projects we’ve featured these past few weeks.  Look for some bright spring colors from us in the next few weeks!

Happy Sewing!

~Erin

To mix it up a bit, we thought it would be fun to feature some variations of our Raven Pants specifically with boys in mind.  For our “Mad for Plaid” version, we’ll introduce several new sewing topics: (1) removing the front pintuck called for by the original pattern, (2) sewing with plaid fabric without going mad,  (3) adding warmth to the pants by basting in a flannel lining, and (4) adding side seam pockets.  

That’s a lot to pack in, so let’s get going!

Removing the Front Pintuck

We can think of several instances when the front vertical pintuck featured on our original Raven Pants would be extraneous.  In this case, the pintuck would likely get lost in the bold plaid and may even confuse the design.  Thankfully, removing the pintuck is really simple:

Trace the pattern pieces directly from the original pattern, including the vertical pintuck line.  Crease the paper pattern piece along the vertical line and fold it over 1/8″ to one side (this narrows each pant leg by 1/4″ total). Tape the fold down along its length.  Now you’ll need to remove the same amount from the front waistband piece in a similar manner. Try to make the fold at about the point where the front waistband piece matches up with the pintuck line on the front pattern piece to preserve the curve.  That’s it!  Cut and sew the pants according to the written instructions, but skip the steps relating to sewing the pintucks.

Sewing with Plaid

Plaid is certainly a daunting design choice, especially for pants such as these.   By following a few simple pointers, you can do it, I promise.  

When cutting out plaid fabrics, subscribe to the woodworker’s motto: measure twice, cut once.  In other words, take your time and think it through before you cut!

First, you should cut out the two front pieces separately, rather than trying to fold the fabric and cut out both pieces at the same time.   Ditto for the back pieces.  Lay out the first set of front/back pieces on your fabric so that the corresponding notch points of the outside seams on the front and back pieces align at the same point on the plaid pattern.  This will help to ensure that those points will align on the outside side seam of the finished pants.

Once you’ve cut the first set of front and back pieces, use those cut fabric pieces to cut out the second set of front and back pieces, rather than using the paper pattern pieces again. In so doing, you’ll be able to directly align the plaids of both pieces before cutting out the second set.

Look carefully at the photo below–you almost can’t see the original pattern pieces laid on top of the fabric!  This is because I carefully matched the horizontal and vertical plaids at key points.  

Here’s where I should make a tiny confession–the plaid on my cut pieces did not align perfectly with the plaid underneath around the entire perimeter of the pattern pieces.  Was the fabric wonky when I first made my original cuts or now with the second set?  After a few frustrating moments trying to get it all to be perfectly aligned, I had an epiphany–certain areas of the sewn garments are more critical than others, so I should really prioritize getting the plaid to line up at those spots. For these pants, the center front and back seams and the two outside seams were the critical spots, so that’s what I focused on. I also made a decision to not concern myself how the waistband lined up. I saved myself a lot of frustration and was not disappointed in the end. 

Finally, as shown further below, when sewing these critical seams together, be extra careful to match up the corresponding plaid points.  It helps to pin the fabrics together at each matched point and remove the pins just as you reach each of them with your sewing needle in order to prevent the pieces from shifting while sewing.

Adding a Flannel Lining

When I asked my son if I could make him a pair of plaid pants, he immediately thought of his most-favored flannel plaid pajama pants.  Not wanting to disappoint, I promised him I could make them as warm and soft to the skin as his PJs.  I decided to sew a flannel lining to the inside of the pants rather than have the lining hang loose.  Given that the outer plaid fabric was a heavy twill, the flannel lining made for rather bulky seams, but JR doesn’t seem to notice.

The lining pieces were cut from the same pattern pieces as the main pant legs, then stitched to the wrong side of the main fabric pieces using a 3/8″ seam allowance and a slightly longer stitch length (3.0).  The only change I would make in the future is to cut the lining pieces 1″ shorter at the ankle and forgo stitching along that edge.  This removes some of the bulk at the bottom hem, which gets turned up twice.  Once you’ve sewn in the lining, proceed with the rest of the assembly as instructed, treating each layered piece as one piece.

*** Side note about the knee patches: The knee patches are largely intended to add some additional boy flair to the finished pants and are less about function.  I added the knee patches before adding the lining for a cleaner look/fewer stitches inside the pant leg.  Either way, you’ll want to add them before assembling the pants because it is MUCH easier to sew around the perimeter at that point.    I used a medium weight corduroy for its greater durability and simply zigzagged around the edges.  I like the less refined look of raw edges, but you could certainly find a way to finish these edges.  You could also add in a layer of quilt batting or several layers of knit fabric to add a bit more cushion.

Adding Side Seam Pockets

My final alteration to the original Raven pattern was to add pockets to the both outside seams.  I find little boys love the thrill of stuffing their pockets with all sorts of urban detritus and watching what survives a run through the wash, so I offer these instructions with a fare bit of caution.  (I should also add that this same pocket shape and sewing method works well for skirts and dresses with side seams.)

First, I sketched the pocket so that there is a good 1/2″ seam allowance on the edge that will be the opening in the outside seam.  I also ran the top edge of the pocket flush with the top edge of the front pant leg so that the pocket would be supported by the seam joining the front leg to the waistband and not just hanging down from the side seam.  {Here is the downloadable pocket pattern piece that I created for these size 6 pants.  It’s important to print this in actual size (in Adobe, look for the option to print “actual size” or “do not scale to fit”).  To open in Adobe, you may have to “save as” to your local hard drive, then open with Adobe.} 

Next, cut 4 pocket pieces from a plain muslin or similar soft, pliable fabric (even an old Tshirt)–nothing too stiff or thick!

Baste the pocket to all four pant leg pieces (front and back) with wrong sides facing.

When sewing the front and back pant leg pieces together, match the pockets and pant pieces together with right sides facing. At this point, you should also carefully pin the outside edges of the front/back pieces so that the corresponding plaid points align.

Starting at point labeled 1 in the picture above, sew around the pocket to points 2 and 3 with a standard seam allowance.  At point 3 (on the 1/2″ seam allowance), pivot your needle so that you can continue sewing down the outside edge of the front/back pieces.  Note that the top of the pocket remains open.

Once you are ready to sew the top waistband to the pants, make sure the top of each pocket is pinned flush with the top of the front pant leg. Treat the pocket and front as one piece when sewing on the waistband.  That’s basically all there is to it!

We’ll be featuring several more Boy Raven looks throughout February and hope you’ll be inspired to try out your own version!

Happy Sewing!

Erin