Little Heartbreaker Pants - Sew Along July


Para o Sew along deste mês a Stacey escolheu as "Little Heartbreaker Pants. Estas calças têm bolsos, cintura elástica ajustável e um acabamento na bainha das calças que eu gosto muito. Tal como todos os projectos que tenho feito deste livro também este é simplesmente fácil!

A imagem que o livro mostra para ilustrar estas calças, confesso, não apelaram muito ao meu gosto, mas como queria participar no Sew Along do mês de Julho, fiz apenas um par de calças, para o mais pequenino (T 2/3), porque é sempre com ele que eu arrisco mais (é mais novo, não se queixa tanto e à excepção das cuecas do homem aranha ainda não tem grandes exigências na hora de vestir!).

Como pelas imagens tinha dado para perceber que estas calças têm um corte largo e ainda por cima têm 2 pregas na frente, optei por usar um tecido de linho que tinha em casa. É bastante macio, maleável e fresco e apesar do meu medo, não foi assim tão difícil de trabalhar com ele.

Costura interior de trás / Back inseam
A verdade é que estas são umas calças com acabamentos muito bons e eu admito que neste momento gosto muito delas. Acho que o facto de as ter feito em linho lhe dão um ar super descontraído e são ideais para o Verão. Já estou a pensar fazer umas semelhantes para o mais velho. Haja tempo, que vontade e tecidos tenho eu!


For this month's sew along Stacey chose the Little Heartbreaker Pants. This pants have pockets, elastic adjustable waistband and leg cuffs that I really enjoy. Like all other projects I have made from this book this one is also easy peasy! 

Acabamentos bolsos e cós / Pockets and waistband inside details



I confess I didn't like the image that ilustrates the Little Heartbreaker Pants that much, but I really wanted to participate in the Sew Along so I played safe. I chose to make a size 2-3 because I always feel more confortable taking risks with the little boy from the house (despite the Spiderman briefs he is not very demanding when it's time to get dressed!).


I realized this pants would be a little wide, so I chose some striped linen fabric I had around here. It is a very soft, light and breathable fabric and despite my fear of working with it, it sew beautifully. 

Truth be told, this pants have great finishing details and at this point i really LOVE them. The linen fabric give the pants a very relaxed look, perfect for summer. Let there be time and I will make another pair for the older boy!

Shorts on the Line


This month there is a lot going on in the blogsphere. One of the exciting events taking place in July is "Shorts on the line", organized by Rachel from Imagine Gnats.

I don't have much time but I really had to give it a try, plus my son can always use another pair of shorts!
For this project I used a pattern from the book Sewing for Boys.



I took the Treasure pocket pants pattern I had already traced in size 6/7 and redesign it to be slimmer and shorter. I took about an inch from each front and back pattern pieces. And I took 7 inches from the legs lenght.
I sew as the plans recomended and did topstitching in constrasting thread.

I wanted something really fresh do I used soft linen for both main and contrast fabric. I couldn't be more happy with the result; and as you can see neither could my kid! See how he moves!





Hop over to the Flickr group and find out what all these lovely girls have been doing!

shorts on the line button
Hit the button to go to the Flickr group!

Amor de Galo #4

Algumas peças que fiz para a Amor de Galo antes de vir para Oslo.

For the lovely Amor de Galo some special pieces I made before coming to Oslo.












Quilt plans #2

Como vos disse aqui, depois do primeiro quilt comecei logo a planear os próximos. Por isso, durante uma série de 4 posts vou mostrar aqui os planos que tenho para uns quilts e pedir a vossa opinião sincera quanto à escolha dos tecidos / padrões.

As I said here, after the first quilt I immediately started planning the next. So, during a series of four posts will show you the plans I have for some quilts and ask for your honest opinion as to the choice of fabrics / patterns.

 Para os meus queridos pais, uma colecção muito clássica, mas com um toque fresco de modernidade, o Barefoot Roses que comprei na Skye ReveFabrics. Depois de ver este tutorial (que coloquei imediatamente no Pinterest, claro) fiquei com vontade de viver perigosamente e arriscar tudo num quilt de granny squares.

strip piecing a granny square tute
image from I'm a Ginger Monkey
To my dear parents, a very classic collection, but with a fresh touch of modernity, Barefoot Roses by Tanya Whelan bought on Skye Reve Fabrics. After watching this tutorial (which I put immediately into Pinterest, of course) I was willing to live dangerously and risk everything on a quilt of granny squares.

Amor de Galo #3

Algumas peças que fiz para a Amor de Galo antes de vir para Oslo.

For the lovely Amor de Galo some special pieces I made before coming to Oslo.










 

Tutorial - Backpack Beach Towel



Here is the tutorial I promissed a year ago. Give it a try and let me know what you think! email me in case you have some trouble with the tutorial. I also have a pdf of the tutorial in case you want it, just email me and I will send it to you asap!


Supplies:
½ yard of fabric
1 towel (I used a towel from IKEA with 28 x 55’’)
44’’ of cotton ribbon (1 and ¼ inch wide)
1 yrd cotton cord
2 Strap slides
1 cotton cord
Scissors, rotary cutter, cutting mat, safety pin, pins.


Take your fabric and cut 2 of each:
                Back pack main panel: 11 x 12’’
                Cord carrier: 2 x 11’’
                Back pack straps: 5 x 18’’
                

Fold one of your cord carriers/casings in half, wrong sides together and press to create a crease
Fold one of your cord carriers/casings so that its length is 1/2 inch shorter than your main panel’s smaller side. Press

Fold again in half, with the folded short edges turned inside. Place on the shorter edge of your main panel.

Pin in place making sure the short edges of the cord carrier stay 1/4 inch away from the long edge of the main panel

Cut two 6 ½’’ pieces of ribbon and place each on the long edge of the main panel, opposite to the cord carrier, as the figure shows. Be certain  to place them at an angle and 1/4 - 1/2‘’ away from the short edge.


Put the remaining main panel on top of the first one, with right sides together and pin all around it. Don’t forget to mark where you start and stop, so that you leave an opening when sewing for turning.
 
At this point you should have a sandwich with the 2 main panels, 1 cord carrier on the top and 2 pieces of cotton ribbon on the long edges near the bottom on the opposite side of the panel from the cord carrier.

At this point you can add a tag wherever you want.

Sew all around the big rectangles remembering to leave an opening. Stitch back and forth on top of the cotton ribbon to strengthen the seams. 

Cut any extra ribbon and the corners.



Turn inside out and smooth the seams. This is how it should look now.


Edge stitch the cord carrier. Now let’s work on the straps.


Fold each strap piece in half with right sides together and sew the long edges. Turn each strap inside out.
Now take the remaining cotton ribbon and cut 1 piece for each starp. The pieces of ribbon should be the length of the starp minus 1/2 inch.

Edge sew each ribbon piece to the starp.

 This is how your straps should look like at this point

Now, let’s attach the strap slides. Do this for each strap.



Insert strap in the strap slide as shown in the picture. Fold the end of the strap that is ribbon free ½ inch and again another ½ inch to enclosure the raw edge.

Sew the strip slide in place with a short zig-zag stitch back and forth a couple of times to give some strength to the seam. 

We now have two straps finished
Now let’s place the main piece on top of the towel. Make sure you place it in a bottom corner and follow the finished edge of the towel. Don’t forget that the attached ribbon goes in the bottom of the towel while the cord carrier goes up.


Take the cotton ribbon and turn it inside. Repeat for both sides.

Pin the main piece to the towel half way up the sides.
Mark the place where the cord carrier attached to the main piece touches the towel. This is very important because it will mark the place to attach the other cord carrier directly on to the towel
Take the last cord carrier (at this point this should the only piece of fabric left) and fold the long edges ¼ inch to the wrong side. Press to create a crease. Fold in half and press.

Now, using the pins as guides, place the above mentioned cord carrier and place it on top of the towel.

Make sure you leave ¼ inch for seam allowance and fold the short edges so they meet the guiding pin.
 When in the right position, pin in place and sew the bottom long edge of the cord carrier to the towel. 

At this point you should consider using a matching thread in your bobbin so that it will not show on the other side of the towel.
Sew a straight line along the crease.
After sewing the straight line, fold the edge to the wrong side of the fabric and press.
Mark the middle of the recently attached cord carrier and place the straps starting from the middle point.
Pin in place and baste stitch


Fold the free long edge along the previously marked ¼ inch crease and fold the cord carrier in half again, making sure the long edges are turned in. (As in the picture)

Pin in place and edge stitch, making a double passage on top of the straps to provide more strength to the seam.
The worst part is over and you can now take a deep breath.


Remember we only pinned the main panel half way? Now let’s place the straps between the main panel and the towel.



Make sure your cord carriers are sewed correctly. They should be falling right on top of each other!
Pin in place all around the rectangle, leaving only the edge with the cord carrier free. Sew all around three edges, leaving the edge with the cord carrier free.





Take the safety pint and attach it to the cord. Pass the cord trough the cord carriers.

 
 
Insert the cord stop tie a knot with both cord ends.
And we are almost finished!

Turn your main panel inside out and place the towel inside the space left between the main panel and the towel: that is our backpack!

 Finish the raw edges of the two pieces of ribbon. I finished mine with a zig zag stitch made with contrasting thread. Do as you please at this point. Pass the ribbon trough the strap slides as shown in the picture.

 And there you go, DONE!

 Now it’s time to take it to the pool side, for a ride!





I would like to ask you all not to pin or share pictures of my kids and to please give me credit whenever you use my tutorial, a simple link to the blog is enough. In case you want to make these to sell please let me know. Enjoy!