The Happy Accident

I love it when I screw up and the end result is even better than I had planned. The other day I sat down with the remnants of my favorite little-boy pants material and the intention of making my youngest a new pair of pants. I had planned on making a simple, functional pair - no bells or whistles (though now that I think about it, actual bell & whistle pants might be fun for a toddler...someone else's toddler, of course). Anyway, unfortunately I was not paying close enough attention when cutting the legs out because when I came to sew I realized that one side of one leg had a huge gouge taken out from my last project with the material. What to do? I almost scrapped the idea because I was seriously not in the mood to get fancy, but instead i opted to add a simple panel to each side so I could cut off the hole. I turned the stripes horizontally for visual interest and the result?
Not too shabby if I do say so myself! I was so pleased with the pants that I dipped into the special Thomas the Tank Engine fabric that my sister-in-law had just sent. I figured it would be more comfortable around his tummy and more fun for him to wear!

Pantsed

Now that it's turning to Fall, I've turned my focus from making Flea Market goods to making a wardrobe for the kids. More accurately, "kid" because Oscar gets lots of great hand-me-downs from his cousin and Johan gets lots of great hand-me-downs from Oscar...so that leaves Irene, the oldest girl in the family, out in the cold. My goal for this year was to not buy any new clothing for her (except socks, a winter jacket... and maybe underwear but I'm actually toying with the idea of making those, too) super-cheap flea market goods are acceptable.
So I brought her to the fabric store last weekend and she picked out a beautiful wine-colored corduroy fabric (I love corduroy) and I chose the same in brown. I excitedly began making her some cords. It was during a cold spell, only after I was 1/2 way through with her second pair, that I decided to get their clothes out of storage. I was shocked to find that she has so many pairs of pants, from last year and from hand-me-downs from a friend which I had forgotten about, that they hardly fit in her drawers. Alas, between her pants (pictured along with her favorite home-sewn peasant blouse) and the pair of pants I made for Oscar, I'm already pretty much done with my winter sewing.

But, then again, when I see how happy they are when I show them the finished product - made just for them- and when I tell them to pick out their clothes for the day and they choose the clothes that I made over the store-bought stuff, it makes me want to keep on sewing. Maybe I'll have to make do with some pajamas or something.

Take 2!

We're coming up on our second flea market attempt this Saturday (which is why I haven't posted much here lately...I've been sewing, sewing, sewing!) After our relative success at last month's flea market, I should feel pretty relaxed about Saturdays, but I'm not. Because of the changing seasons, most of the clothes for this market are different than the popular items from last time. Sure, I have a pillow case top or two, but because I wanted to branch out I focused more on fall wear this time around. It was fun and I'm now excited to make my own kids' fall/winter clothes. For example:

although pants are not new for me, I've worked hard to improve my design. I now have learned the basic pocket (as opposed to a patch-style pocket sewn onto the clothes) and I had a lot of fun embellishing the pants. For the girls, print cuffs so the pants will grow with the child. And for the boys, stylish cargo pockets and a little something extra:
because if there's one thing Oscar has taught me about making clothes for little boys, it's that Thomas and his Friends go a long way to making a happy boy!
I've also made a few simple peasant blouses. Admittedly, they look kind of funny on the hanger but once on, they should be cute. Here's one I made for Irene this past spring.
And finally, last time I had been thinking about including some of my hairbands but was hesitant. There was just something I wanted to change but couldn't put my finger on it. After thinking about it, I came up with this new style. I know, I know...not too earth-shattering, but I'm excited to see how they sell.
Wish me luck on Saturday (and if you happen to be in Gwangju, stop on by!) ;)

Almost Time!

As the day of the big flea market draws near, I thought I'd post a few photos of some of the items I'll be selling. In my last post I showed some of the small, "filler" items like booties & bibs, but what I'm really looking to sell are the bigger items like clothes. In addition to the aprons above that my partner recommended we focus on, I've worked hard to expand my range of skills.

From fancy pants to simple skirts, I've managed to make a fairly comprehensive collection of clothing for kids. Above are some shorts for boys and a some for girls. I'm particularly proud of the girl's shorts because I got a chance to use my new pleating skills (this style of pleated pant leg is really popular here in Korea at the moment...not sure if it's "in" elsewhere in the world.) as well as expand my pocket repertoire from plain ol' square patch pocket to pleated pocket, and I got so excited by that, that I had to add pockets to my simple skirts below. I give you the deep pocket (right) and the shirred pouch. I love them both all the more when I think of all the rocks and little nicknacks that can be tucked away in there!
And of course I had to add some tops and dresses since that's where I began my clothes-sewing journey. Below are a few.
And my absolute favorite item at the flea market? The "Be The Reds" scarf top! "Be The Reds" is Korea's battle cry at international sporting events such as the World Cup. I had picked up a couple of scarves at a flea market a few months ago for $1 knowing that I'd eventually find a use for them. I'm so happy with this little top that I wish it could fit Irene, but alas, two scarves supply just enough material for size 18 months so, sadly, she'll have to find some other way to show her patriotism. I particularly love the fact that it says "we are twelfth" - you don't often see team shirts/paraphernalia boasting that!

My New Obsession

Pants!

I am currently obsessed with making pants. This is exciting because just a few years ago I was terrified of making pants. For some reason I had it in my head that pants were a "high level" sewing project. How wrong I was! My first few pairs were recycled projects - I used my old clothes to make the pants. By using a pair of the kids' current pants, I managed to make a pattern and make a couple of wearable pants for them. Nothing to brag about but they served the purpose. Above you can see Irene in her (toilet and in her) new sweats made from...my old sweats. I didn't add the stripe, in case you were impressed.

And here's Johan in a pair of T-shirt recycled sweats that I had made for Oscar when he was a baby. These were some of my proudest pants until now. So comfy and not too ugly!
Above is a pair of shorts that I made for 2-year-old Oscar from a pair of my old pants. Ugly. Uncomfortable. He never wore them. And of course there have been a number of pants involved with my pajama experimentation, but not until last week had I made a pair of pants I could be proud of. I present, the flat-front train engineer pant:

Ok, you're probably not impressed. I know. But I think it's a combination of the fact that I managed to make a pair of pants that aren't totally elastic-waisted (the front of the pants are flat, like big-people pants!), but I've also made them adjustable (the elastic in the back has button holes to adjust the size) and, most importantly, I love, Love, LOVE the seersucker stripes! This may be one of my favorite projects to date!