Linbukse: På kryss og tvers / Linen Pants: Criss-Cross

Eldstemann på 6 år treng bukser. I lengre tid har eg beundra buksene som Saftis med Skrekk og gru-bloggen lagar; gutebukser i lin eller chambrey med litt vidde i beina og veldig stilige detaljar. (Tak ein titt på bloggen hennar, ho lagar masse anna stilig også!). Eg har lenge hatt lyst til å prøve meg på gutebukse i liknande stil, og i går sette eg i gang. Her er resultatet:

Inspired by several boys pants made by Saftis (who has the Skrekk og gru-blog), I have made these pants for my eldest child (he’s 6 years old).

Fargane på biletet over er eigentleg heilt feil, for buksa er ikkje grå, men mørkeblå, med dus-blå detaljar. Bileta nedanfor viser dette betre.

The colours on the picture above are wrong, the pants are actually dark blue with greyish blue details. They are better shown in the pictures below.

 

OM BUKSA / ABOUT THE PANTS

Om sjølve buksemønsteret:

Eg har brukt det vanlege buksemønsteret mitt (brukt blant anna i denne buksa, samme storleik nå ni månader etter, men lagt til litt i beinlengda.) Mønsteret har eg modifisert ved å la mønsteret gå omtrent loddrett ned frå knea og ned i staden for lett innskrådd (“boot cut”, blir det ikkje det?). Buksa har kropps-hoftemål + 6 cm rundt hoftene, og kropps-hoftevidde + 4 cm* i livet. I linninga er det 3,5 cm breitt strikk frå Stoff og Stil. Det viste seg at livvidde minus 10% var litt for slakt, så eg endte opp med livvidde minus 15%. Heldigvis var det opning i linninga bak, så det gjekk fort og greitt. Smekken er juksesmekk.

*Det var ein smule tilfeldig at det blei akkurat hoftevidde +4 cm denne gongen, men for eit par år sidan gjorde eg ein test i samarbeid med guten for å finne passeleg vidde på bukser i fast stoff som skal dras over hoftene utan smekk. Når ein vil at buksene ikkje skal slenge unødig rundt livet, men heller ikkje vere for trange å få på og av. Vi fann ut at om linninga i livet, før ein legg inn strikk, hadde vidde lik hoftemål+4 cm, funka det bra.

The pattern pieces are vertical from the knee and down (“boot cut”, I guess that is). The fly is false. The pants are made of linen without stretch, and to get it easily up and down, the waist of the pants have the width (child’s) hip measure + 4 cm. The width of the pants at hip level is hip measure + 6 cm.

Om detaljane:

Både lommer framme, bak og knelappar er kvar klipt i to eksemplar, som er sydd mot kvarandre, vrengt, og deretter sydd på buksa. Dette var noko eg hadde lyst til å prøve ut, om eg kjem til å gjere det slik fleire gonger, veit eg ikkje. Desse ulike lappane er sydd på med dei kvite saumane, med tillegg av nokre korte forsterkingssaumar akkurat der ein stikk hendene ned i lommene. Baklommene bretta eg utover og sydde på knapp før eg sydde lomma på. Dei kvite saumane er sydd med tykkare tråd en vanleg, det gjev ein fin effekt. Det er lurt å investere i stikningsnål/broderinål med større auge (sjå lista nedst) når ein syr med tykk tråd, det har i allefall spart meg for mykje trøbbel med andre typer tykk tråd tidlegare.

Oppbretten: Buksa er klipt mange cm for lang (faktisk ved ei feilberekning…). Så er den bretta opp på innsida/ vrange mot vrange, festa med ein saum, deretter er det dobbelte stoffet bretta opp på utsida. Bretten festa eg med fleire vertikale saumar i samme farge som stoffet.

All the pockets and patches are cut twice and stitched together and turned inside out before stitched to the main fabric. The white thread is thicker than original sewing thread, and a good tip is to use top stitch-/embroidery needle with larger eye when using thick thread.

Mønster / pattern: Eige / self drafted

Stoff: Kraftig lin frå Stoff og Stil. 
Tilbehør: Naturkvit Gütermann Mara-tråd tykkelse 70 kjøpt i Willys nettbutikk. Top stitch-/broderi-nål frå Stoff og Stil.

Så til slutt: Eg er veldig fornøgd med passforma på buksa, synest den sit superbra! Dekoren var ganske eksperimentell, og eg lurte på korleis det ville bli til slutt. Men det blei ganske tøft resultat, synest eg. Tidsforbruket er litt over det eg gidd å bruke kjempeofte.

God helg, alle saman!

Have a nice weekend!

Brannmannshjelm? / Fireman’s helmet?

Her er action-bilete av gårsdagens solhatt. Det fyrste som slo oss, var at det likna på hjelmen til ein brannmann! Ikkje heilt tilsikta, hehe.

Yesterday’s sun hat; it struck us that it looks like the helmet of a fireman! Not quite my intention, haha…

Mønster/ pattern: Eige / self drafted

Stoff: Stoff og Stil

Endeleg sying att! / At last I’m sewing again!

Vi har flytta til Oslo, og etter å ha budd her 12 dagar og ordna det eine og det andre, har nå turen endeleg kome til å pakke fram sy-tinga! Eg har sakna symaskinene veldig. Vi leiger ein 90 m2 stor halvpart av ein tomannsbolig, utan eigentleg mykje plass til syrom. Men heldigvis har forrige eigaren kledd inn eit rom i kjellaren, dette kom som eit gledeleg bonusrom, og her skal eg sy! Hurra! Bilete av rommet kjem nok seinare, tenkjer eg.

We have moved to Oslo, and after 12 days, at last it was time to unpack the sewing stuff! What a joy! As a bonus, there appeared to be a house in the basement which I can use as a sewing room. Hurrah!

Fyrste plagg ut er ein solhatt til minstejenta. Ho sov då den var ferdig, så eg er spent på korleis den passar. Eg har fått prøvd meg på vinyl-strykestoff, som eg har kjøpt av Laralil.

The first thing I have made is a sun hat for the youngest girl, I’m excited to see if it fits tomorrow! I have tried out the vinyl transfer I have bought from Laralil.

Forresten, fuglen er ein “sekretærfugl”. Ikkje høyrd om ein slik ein? Ikkje eg heller, før i kveld, hehe. Eg teikna ein fantasifugl, og så kom mannen min og sa at det likna på sekretærfugl. Så eg modifiserte teikninga litt, og så var det avgjort. Ein sekretærfugl!

By the way, the bird is a “secretarybird”. Never heard of such a bird? Neither had I, before this evening ;-) I sketched a fantasy bird, and my husband commented that it looked like a secretarybird. I modified it sligthly, and there it was; a secretarybird!

Pauseinnslag

Mellomste-jenta tok i bruk ein ny tights i dag, den blei sydd for nokre veker sidan. Det var liksom berre ein enkel tights, men i dag tenkte eg at eg skulle take litt bilete, og eg oppdaga at alle tre barna berre hadde heimesydd på seg… Så eg postar litt bilete av alle tre, eg :-)

The between-girl got a new tights today, made some weeks ago. I took the opportunity to shoot some photos of her, and realized that all three children wore home made clothes. So here are some photos of them all!

Tightsen er sydd etter eit Onion-mønster, men smalna inn litt i beina. Mønsteret er meir piratbukse-lengde, og eg la til litt for å få full lengde. Akkurat litt for kort, men pytt, det er eit vår-/sommarplagg :-)  The tights are made from a Ottobre pattern (a 2010-issue?, can’t remember, pattern packed away).

Kjolen/the dress er denne , og genseren hennar/her sweather denne. Apegenseren/monkey sweather her, og stripete bukser/stripy pants her.

Skjorta til minstejenta teikna eg medan ho var baby, og den skulle liksom vere str. 80. Nå passar den endeleg! (ho brukar 92). At last, the shirt I drafted a long time ago, size 1 year, fits the girl, she now uses size 2 years. The pattern is based upon a block from Aldrich’s book. More about the shirt here. The trousers were made for the between-girl, and now inherited down to the youngest.

Då eg henta barna i barnehagen i dag, hadde eldstemann trukke sokkane langt oppover buksa, og då eg lurte på kvifor, sa han at buksa var for vid. (Eg ser nå at eg skreiv dette i innlegget om buksa også, men tenkte den gong at det ikkje var så farleg…) Kanskje eg skal prøve meg på slike jersey-bukser/gute-tights som Skrekk og Gru syr? Trur nok han ville likt ei slik, og nå har eg kanskje fått nok tid til å venne meg til tanken/stilen med tights til gutar :-)

The boy has pulled up the socks over the pants, and when I wondered why, he told med that the pants were too loose. So maybe I will make a pair of “boy-tights”, inspired by Skrekk og Gru? (I have needed some time to get used to this idea/style about tights to boys, but I think I’m ready to try it out when my sewing room is operative again ;-)

Ha ei fin vår-veke!

Pause

Ein liten statusrapport :-) Nå er det like under to veker att til vi flyttar til Oslo. Syrommet har vore nedpakka ei stund, og slik ser det ut nå:

Då det var innreda som syrom, var det ikkje så lett å leggje merke til den rosa-turkise fargen på veggane (trur den forrige eigaren har eksperimentert litt med ulike dekor-teknikkar, var jo moderne ein periode ;-)

It’s now under two week left before we move to Oslo. My sewing room has been packed some time ago, and this is how the room look like now.

Når huset ryddast, må nokon prosjekt avsluttast, Heklinga har eg så godt som gitt opp, blant anna grunna senebetennelse-tendens. Eg har innsett at denne ca 1/8 jakka aldri kjem til å bli ferdig. Men det går an å forevige fargane og fryde seg over dei…

Some projects have to be closed, even though they’re not finished. I’ve realized that this 1/8 jacket never will be a whole jacket, partly due to a tendency for tendinitis. But instead I will be happy when looking at a photo of the colours!

17. mai er over, og her kjem eit stemningsbilete:

Mellomstejenta har barnebunad frå Vest-Telemark. Minstejentas drakt har eg komponert sjølv. Eldsteguten har heimesydd vest. Biletet er frå Mandal, der vi feira 17. mai (Vi bur, enn så lenge, i Kristiansand)

The eldest girl has a children’s national dress from Vest-Telemark (where I come from). The dress of the youngest is self-composed. I’ve also made the vest of our boy.

Til slutt: Nå har våren kome, også til vår hage. Desse bileta viser at ein kan finne det vakre også i hagar som i stor grad lever sitt eige liv :-) Spring has come. I’m pleased about the beauty in my garden, even though it’s well hidden ;-)

Under: Nærbilete    Under: Close up

Under: Nærbilete Under: Close up

Orkideane våre må forlate huset: Our orchids have to leave the house:

Om du tenkjer at hagen din ikkje er noko tess, kan det hende at det finst skjulte skattar der :-) Maybe your garden has hidden treasures too?

Om kveldane, når eg ikkje orkar å pakke fleire kasser, sit eg gjerne og surfar på sybloggar. Det er moro og inspirerande å sjå kva andre syr! Har du lyst på eit besøk på blogg (eller t.d. Pinterest), så legg gjerne att ein kommentar!

In the evenings these days, when I don’t have energy for packing more boxes, I surf sewing blogs. It’s fun and inspiring to see what other people sew! If you would like a visit to your blog, you’re welcome to place a comment!

The Third Beanie / Den tredje lua

A few days ago, I blogged about a couple of beanies I had made, and I also mentioned a third one. Here it is!

The beanie is very easy to sew. It was a quick experiment that turned out to have a nice result, I think.  Cute!

This is what I did:

Here’s the sketch of the pattern for the other beanie, size 50 cm:

I copied one of the columns by drawing from the top and downwards. but instead of drawing angles to make “a house”, I went on in the same oblique/skrå direction and then making a curve, like this:

I cut six panels and stitched them together. Then stitched the rib band to a circle, folded it/ironed it lengthwise and stitched it to the beanie.

Instead of having a 2 cm wide rib band (finished width), I made it 3 cm wide. I also made it a little bit shorter than the rib in the other beanies, 85% of head circumference using Stoff og Stil-rib. That gives length 42,5 cm without seam allowances.

Fabric: Jersey from textart.no (designed by Johanna Ahlard). Rib from Stoff og Stil.

By the way: Here is a photo of our little girl trying the second beanie at the end of the photoshoot. Guess what happened next, haha…

Sleeveless top and baggy pants

Men først, nokre tanktar… I går pakka eg alle stoffa mine ned for flytting. Eg tør ikkje seie kor mange flyttekasser det bli, det er litt for pinleg… Marknaden for flotte klesstoff har jo berre blomstra dei siste nokså få åra, og så har også stofflageret til mang ein hobbysyar også. “Åaa, så stilig eit stoff, berre mååå ha det!” Nokon som kjenner seg att? ;-) Mange spør om det lønner seg å sy sine eigne klede. Eg brukar å svare at det nok lønner seg om ein berre ser på materialkostnadene til kvart enkelt plagg. Men for kvart plagg eg syr, har eg stoff til fem plagg på lager (anar ikkje kor mange plagg, eigentleg). Og utstyret kostar. Og alt tilbehøret som kjøpast inn. Så nei, det lønner seg ikkje. Men så handlar deg heller ikkje om å spare pengar, sjølv om dét å spare pengar ikkje er å forakte. Men det handlar om å lage noko, skape noko, og å bli i godt humør av det. Og det er ein måte å slappe av på i ein travel kvardag. Av og til tenkjer eg at eg er heldig som har ein rekreasjons-måte som er nyttig for noko. I tillegg til at barna mine går i heimelaga klede, vil dei også at eg syr klede til bursdagspresang når dei skal i bursdagsselskap. Det er noko som eg som mor aldri kan ta for gitt, og eg er takksam for at dei set pris på det som er heimelaga. Om du også har saum som hobby, kva set du pris på ved hobbyen?

But first, some thoughts… Yesterday I packed all my fabrics into boxes. I won’t tell how many IKEA boxes in total, it is a little bit too embarrassing, I think… In only a few years, the apparel fabric market  in Scandinavia har flourished, and so has the fabric stock of many a home seamstress too. Anybody else having it that way? “I just looove that fabric, got to have a piece of it”… People often ask me if it pays off to sew your own clothes. I use to reply that if you calculate only the stuff used in a single garment, it often pays off (assumed no salary for sewing clothes to yourself). But; for every garment made, I have fabrics in storage for perhaps five (??) garments. The machines cost. Lots of notions/tilbehør. So no; it doesn’t pay off. But it was never about saving money, even though saving money is nice. It’s about making something and be happy about it. Creation and recreation. Sometimes I feel fortunate that my way of recreation happens to be useful. Not only do my children wear home-made clothes themselves, but they also wants to bring home-made clothes for presents when going to birthday parties. A mother can never take that for granted, and it makes me grateful that they appreciate what’s home-made. If you sew, what do you appreciate about your hobby?

My four-year-old needs summer clothes, and this set was made for her on my “birthday in the sewingroom” 1,5 week ago. Quick and easy garments.

Baggy pants pattern:

I have written about the pattern for the baggy pants earlier in this post. The pattern is a modification of a trouserpattern with rib around the ancles (type joggebukse). With intructions from Armstrong’s book, I lowered the crotch/skrittet about 1”/2,5 cm (I think maybe this is a little bit too much). Then I cut the pattern along an imaginary/tenkt sideseam and spread the patternpieces 2”/5 cm before tracing around it to make one single pattern-piece without sideseam.

But after drawing the pattern and tried it out, I found that the pants were too wide on the top, below the waistband/nedanfor livet. So I tried to stitch a sideseam that removed the 2”/5cm at the top, then running stitching a sideseam starting where the original (imaginary) sideseam, going in a slightly oblique/skrå direction downwards (follow the link above for illustration), and that works very well. As it is quicker to cut one large piece than two small, I still cut the pants using the first, too wide baggy pattern, and then modifying it with a sideseam.

Rib at ancles: The baggy pant legs are wider than the rib is able to stretch. I solved this by stretching to the maximum and making some additional folds with my fingers as I sewed (I use the overlocker).

The top:

The edges on the top are made of the single jersey, same as I used in the pants. I cut a 4 cm wide band and pressed wrong side to wrong side lenghtwise. After stitching one shoulderseam, I stitched it right sides facing to the top’s neckline, pulling from almost nothing to as much as I could, depending on the curves (I pulled most in the little curves right behind the shoulderseams). The topstitch using the Coverpro stabilizes the neckline. But since I stretched the fabric very much when stitching it, I guess it is best used on garments with a quite wide neckline (so you don’t need to stretch it very much to get it over your head). I forgot to topstitch the arm openings…

The little detail with the ribbon and heart button is an idea to fell into my mind, I’m not sure how it will work in the washing machine. The ribbon is only attached with the buttin, maybe I’ll have to place a few stitches there too?

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What a long post, *phew*, soon time to stop ;-)

Fabrics and notions: Pants: Jersey from Textart.no, rib from Stoff og Stil. Top: Made from the same rib (stretch jersey) from Stoff og Stil, edges from the jersey from Textart. Ribbon from Farbenmix.de. Heart button from KAM.

Beanie Time! / Lue-tid!

Right now, I’m in Oslo on a business related travel, and yesterday I had a look at the house that soon is going to be our new home. As a bonus, there was a room in the basement that I think could be used as a sewing room, yippi!

Before I left for Oslo, I made a beanie for the youngest girl. Three, actually, but I have only got picture of her wearing the first one:

Besides the need of a new beanie/hat, I also took the opportunity to review my “baby hat tutorial” from last year. You can find the tut here: Baby hat tutorial.

Maybe it’s best to show the pattern first, well,  a sketch of the pattern (you can not print this and get the actual pattern, the proportions are not right!)

Child’s head circumference 50 cm:

All measures are without seam allowances. I cut both shell and lining on fold from single jersey.

In addition, I cut rib band (from Stoff og Stil): 44,5 cm x 6 cm, included 1 cm seam allowances. (Makes a 2 cm wide finished rib band)

So, back to the beanie on the picture above: It fits very well, except for one thing; it has a little bit “conehead-shape”, and that’s because I let the overlocker cut a little bit too much in the curves:

Here’s a photo that shows the shape. When it’s a little too narrow in the top, the hat tends to pull it self upwards.

So I made one more, and this time it got a more rounded shape. The little girl was just about to fall asleep when it was finished, so I couldn’t bother her. And the next day, there was no time for photoshoot… So here the hats stands by themselves on the table:

So what do I think about this design?

First: Next time I make a hat for the youngest girl, it will have a tie band/knyteband!

I like this design, but I’m afraid it’s not very flexible regarding size. When using a rib band as narrow as 2 cm, the rib band is situated below the widest part of the head, and therefore the rib band tends to  pull the hat downwards. And that’s great! It prevents the hat from falling off. But, what if the hat is just a little bit too big? Then the rib band pulls the hat down into the eyes. At least that was the experience last year. So, basically it’s a great hat –when it fits.

So why don’t the regular beanies (dei vanlege luene) without rib, like the type Kokalal makes, fall down into the eyes? That’s because they are typically tightest around the widest part of the head, not below the widest part. Therefore, the beanie doesn’t need to have exact heigth to fit, and that makes it’s more flexible. That’s a major advantage if you sew for sale or for gifts and cannot try the beanie on!

But I have a plan for this model :-) Next beanie in this actually quite traditional design with six parts in the top will have a wider rib band, let’s say four cm wide instead of two.

Did I mention that I made three beanies a few days ago? The third one is based on this pattern, but is a kind of a baskerlue (don’t know the english name…). I haven’t tried it on yet, and am excited to see how (if) it works when I get home!

Fabrics in this post: Patterned jersey from Ixat, polka dot jersey from Textart.no. rib from Stoff og Stil. Byt he way, I placed a long prong KAM snap at the top to connect the shell and lining.

Just before I say goodnight: A last photo for Grandma and uncle Hallvard:

I want to make more of these…

We’re about to move to Oslo, in a month or so. I have to pack my sewing stuff *Man, a whole month without sewing…* This week’s blog posts are about things already made. This post will actually be a memo for myself, I want to make more of the type of decor (vrangsydd dekor) in the former post!

This is what I did (click on images to enlarge) (norsk tekst på bileta):

Next time: Different shapes and sizes!! A baby elephant, perhaps? Or a fish! I think it will be soooo cool, making appliques with lining!  Anyone want’s to try it out? Or have tried it already, I can’t imagine I’m the first one in the world to do something like this?!

Fabrics: Velour and rib (Stoff og Stil). Fusible interfacing: Cheapest there is…