Loes Hinse Tank and Simplicity 8863 (OOP)

I've been working on a tank top and skirt set from some stash fabric that I seem to have an endless supply of! I think this project represents the 3rd and 4th garments out of this rayon or polyester textured print!

The tank is from a favorite, the Loes Hinse Tank Group that I've made several times. The skirt is an OOP, Simplicity 8863 (circa 1994), that I'm trying out for a future project. I made the straight version shown as a photo and drawing on the pattern envelope. Skirts were so much longer in the 90's. My skirt is 7" shorter than the pattern! True, I'm 5'4'' but that's a lot.

During the rest of the summer, I'll be wearing it with tank untucked over the skirt, like this:

Then when it gets cooler or I need more coverage in cold A/C, I'll wear the tank tucked in with this matching cardi:

I've had the sweater for a while, but it's been a wardrobe orphan lately. It's nice to have something that it goes with. One of the nice things about this set is that it can be worn in a lot of ways--together,  with the matching sweater, or as separate pieces with other items from my closet.

First Day of School Project-Butterick 3475

 Here's the little boy's outfit, which was made from Butterick 3475.

The shirt also used a remnant, this time a piece that was left over from this project. It's a Michael Miller quilting cotton from Ann Silva's, another local store I support. The pants are made from a cotton twill I found at JoAnn's. Definitely not something I was expecting to find amid all the crafts.

The shirt was made pretty much straight from the pattern with a couple of minor changes. I topstitched the front facings down, because I just didn't see a kid wearing it any other way. I also switched out the direction of the buttonholes from horizontal to vertical--it's a shirt, not a blouse after all.

I made some changes to the pants though based on some mom and grandma advice from my sewing buddies. I added a fly zipper, and kept the elastic waistband too. Some guerrilla sewing, but everything came out well and I'm very pleased with the result.

The cargo pockets were made pretty much per the pattern.

All in all both outfits were fun to make and provided a great learning experience. I will definitely make some more kids' clothes in the future.

First Day of School Project--Butterick 5776

I'm all done with the First Day of School Project and have two outfits to show for it! The first one I'm sharing with you is the girl's outfit, which was made using Butterick 5776:

The top is made from a remnant I left from a peasant top I made for me (and apparently never blogged!). It's organic cotton that I picked up at Santa Fe Fabrics on my way to a church vestry retreat last year. Really nice and a pleasure to work with. The pants are a cotton that I purchased at Stitchology  during one of the project sew-a-longs that Melisa hosted.

I didn't end up adding all the embellishments I intended but it's just as well. The top got some lace trimming around the hem, courtesy of the ASG Trading Post:

And here's a shot of the capri-length pants:

More Charity Sewing

I have been working on the First Day of School Project this weekend since our July 11 donation day is rapidly approaching.

The girl's outfit is essentially done, although I'm still considering some trimmings to "girlie" it up a little bit. The pattern has some fabric bows in one of the pant views--how cute would that be on the capri pants! And if I'm feeling ambitious, I also have some pretty lace for the hem of the matching peasant top.

The boy's outfit is well underway with the sewing I did on Saturday. Last weekend I actually found some decent cotton twill that coordinated with the shirt, so I've been working on them this weekend. I modified the pattern to include a fly zipper, which worked out pretty well. I used a combination of Sandra Betzina's technique and the method shown in McCall's 6391, which happens to be the pattern I found that has fly front shorts...for a girl.

I consulted with DH and learned that the fly stitching needs to be on the left side for boys, which is the opposite of the pattern. So I worked in mirror image, and I'm very pleased with the results. More fly front garments in my future after this!!  I'm keeping elastic in the waistband as well, because I don't have an exact size for the little recipient.

In addition to finishing the shorts, I need to make buttonholes for the boy's shirt and sew on buttons. That shouldn't take too long.

I had hoped to have some more outfits made but I think two will be all I can do for this year. The coordinator of the project wants to do it again next year, so I'll do more in between other projects and have them ready for next time.

I'm hoping to post some pictures tomorrow (fingers crossed), so you can see what I've been working on  for the kids.

Loes Hinse Tank, Plus Bonus Simplicity Sarong!

Last weekend I took a little break from 1st Day of School sewing to sew up a tank top from the Loes Hinse Tank Dress Group. Below is a picture from Loes Hinse showing a dress view from the pattern.

I used a piece of batik that was left over from a sarong-style skirt I made from Simplicity 7231 (oop).

I made this skirt several times pre-blog, and brought it out again for a tropical party we were invited to last summer. I wore it with a T shirt for the party, but always felt like the outfit needed a little something more. I was so happy to discover that I had enough fabric left for the tank top!

The Loes Hinse Tank Group is a "go to" pattern for me. I've made several easy little casual dresses from it that I wear in the summertime. Just the perfect thing for our 100 degree heat this time of year.

Here's the tank and skirt together. I love the pieces for the effect of a dress. And it's so cool and comfortable to wear!

A detail of the tie at the waist...

In addition to this summer, I'm really looking forward to bringing this outfit along on our next tropical vacation. The pieces can be worn like this or separately, so it's really versatile.