Projects

Tunkey Colors And You

Rachel — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:51:24 GMT

Well, I had hoped for some more suggestions, but here is what you threw out there so far.

Like anything? Love anything? More ideas?

Love, Rachel

Making A Tunkey OR A Tiger Monkey

Rachel — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:27:34 GMT

I have been messing around with Inkscape today trying to capture Esther’s beloved “Tunkey.”

With some help and guidance from my 5 year old daughter, this is what we came up with:

What could this look like as a fabric?

I’m going to tile this and see what happens.

Not sure about a background color. Any ideas?

Love, Rachel

Spoonflower Fabric Development Series 2: Computer Art Programs And What They Do

Rachel — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:54:17 GMT

Welcome back for Part 2 of my series in fabric development! Back for more, eh?

Today I’m going to talk about Computer Art Programs available for people just like you and me.

There are so many things to think about and cover for something like this; the only way I can really even begin to touch on it, is to just bring you through the process the way that I go about it. That of course is not to say that other ways are wrong…(smile)…I’m just remembering how my sister Megan always says that I design backwards. So, there. I do things backwards. But, somehow they get done.

“I don’t have Photoshop or Illustrator”

For those of you who have Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator installed and being used, that is awesome! This post will not really pertain to you. I assume that you most likely have some sort of artistic computer presence in your house being yourself or your spouse. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are amazing programs to use. They also cost a bit of money to get them legally installed which is what I would recommend if you decide to go that route. Be wary of pirated computer programs. Being married to a computer nerd myself (love you Jon!) I have been more than warned about downloading anything. But then again, things are a bit strict around here in that regard. The newest version of Photoshop is $649+ and Illustrator is $599. You can download a trial version for free and try it out if you like. There is a cheaper version of Photoshop called Photoshop Elements, so if you’re familiar with Photoshop, that could be a more practical option.

I have not had formal training regarding computer art programs. I did have an opportunity to use Photoshop and Illustrator in college when I worked as an intern for the Creative Department at MBNA America Bank. I’m telling you this because like anything, you will need to practice and learn the program—but it’s completely doable. You don’t need to get fancy…you can just stick to the basics and create a wonderful piece of work from your sketches.

That being said, I do not use Photoshop or Illustrator. For those of you out there who aren’t sure they want to invest in the programs before they know what they are getting into, there is another amazing option out there for you. Both of these programs are FREE Open Source Programs. Yes, I did say FREE. The first program is called GIMP, which is like Photoshop and the second is called Inkscape, which is like Illustrator. In this household my husband Jon has a motto that I will share with you, “Free is good!” To be honest, it took me awhile to believe him that anything out there for “free” could possibly be good. In my world, you get what you pay for and if it’s free, well, it’s pretty much crap. Things are a lot different in the computer world and I’m so glad to be married to someone who could educate me in that department. Both of these programs are incredible.

“What is the difference between these two programs?”

Who asked that? That is an excellent question.

Bitmaps vs. Vectors? We all win!

There are two main kinds of computer art programs: those that edit bitmaps (like Photoshop and GIMP), and those that edit vectors (like Illustrator and Inkscape). Here’s the difference between them:

Understand that (Inkscape) creates vector graphics and vector text. Vector graphics consist of lines and curves that contain mathematical objects called vectors.

Know that (GIMP) creates bitmapped graphics. Bitmaps consist of tiny dots of color. The eye fills in the spaces between the dots so the color appears to be solid. Bitmapped graphics are measured by the number of dots per unit - usually called dpi (dots per inch).

Realize that bitmap graphics are much larger in file size than vector graphics. Therefore, vector images take up much less storage space and can be downloaded faster.

Understand that you can scale a vector graphic to any size without losing quality. A bitmap will change quality if you enlarge it or reduce it.

Know that some filters can be applied to bitmap images but cannot be applied to vector images.

“HUH?”

Okay, basically there are two kinds of images you can work with. The first type of image is called a Bitmap. A bitmap is a pixel-based image with one bit of color information per pixel. These are the types of images when you blow them up really big you see all those squares and it doesn’t look so great anymore.

Picture of my daughter Eleanor.

Part of the photo blown up so you can see the “pixels.”

Common types of bitmap graphics are GIF, JPEG, Photoshop, PCX, TIFF, Macintosh Paint, Microsoft Paint, PNG, FAX formats, and TGA.

The second type of image is called a Vector.

Vector graphics are made up of many individual objects. Each of these objects has individual properties assigned to it such as color, fill, and outline. Vector graphics are resolution independent because they can be output to the highest quality at any scale.

This is really cool because no matter how big you blow it up or how small you shrink it, your image looks absolutely perfect. Your lines and shapes are beautifully smooth.

Here is part of the image I worked on in my last post. I’m going to blow it up so you can see the cluster of birds in the upper left corner.

You could continue to blow this image up forever and the lines would stay smooth and never get the boxy “pixel” look. Like I said, really cool.

“Do you use both programs? If so, what do you use them for?”

I do use both programs. I use Inkscape to make my initial drawings. After some practice, it becomes easier to mess around with your shapes and colors and you’ll find that you can create things you may not have thought of. After they are finished, I export the image and load it into GIMP where I crop and re-size to the exact specifications needed. (We’ll talk more about Spoonflower specs later!)

“Well, Rachel. This is all fine and good, but when I download these programs, I’ll just be staring at them and won’t have the slightest idea where to start!”

This will most likely be true. However, there are some great tutorials you could look through and just play around with it. ALSO IN PART 3 OF THIS SERIES, I will take you from start to finish through this process. We will start with a hand-drawn sketch and turn it into a Vector Art Image. To do this, you will need Inkscape.

Get ready!

Love, Rachel

Spoonflower Fabric Development Series 1: Thinking About And Creating Your Design

Rachel — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:08:21 GMT

So, I know everyone probably knows how excited I am about Spoonflower, a new company that will print out YOUR fabric design on high quality 100% Kona cotton. The question at hand for people like us is, “How on earth do I get to the end result of receiving my lovely creation and being extremely happy with the outcome?”

What a great question! Let’s go through this designing/creating/editing/uploading process together to get to our FINAL swatch to upload to the amazing creators of Spoonflower. There are a lot of steps to go through and to think about.

Step 1 Think About Your Design

I know this may seem silly since that is the point of a fabric design, but stay with me a moment and let’s think about what exactly what you want to do:

An image print? (ie. flower/animal/object design)
A background print? (stripes/dots/ethereal feeling)
Both?
One image only? (One large cat)
What colors do you want to us?
Will you use another fabric with this design?
If so, will your fabrics go together (colors/shapes/etc.)

This is just a short list I wanted to throw out there to get you to start thinking. For me personally, I need to start with a sketch and a color scheme.

When I get started I usually have an inspiration that comes from somewhere. Ever notice how the latest fashion designers have their show and the very next week every store from Nordstrom all the way through Target have the same exact styles? Interesting. Anyway, in the place that I’m at TODAY, I’m designing with a goal in mind and my goal is Spring 2009. I have a theme in mind: BIRDS. I have colors in mind: white, pink, green, yellow, and brown. This comes from the fabric inspiration of Alexander Henry’s “Aviary.”

This is an older fabric and I have still seen two other color-ways of it available to buy on the web (Sew Mama Sew), but I think it’s getting kind of scarce. For Summer 2008, I released a Mamma Made design using this fabric and it’s been pretty popular, so I may even re-release it next season. Usually that doesn’t happen, but we’ll see. Here is that design:

Another inspiration that I want to use in my new fabric comes from my “Lilly Bird Dress.” I may want to take this design in a new direction. This is also from my Summer 2008 collection:

This bird image was inspired by a drawing my niece Lilly Hannah drew me, thus the name, “Lilly Bird.”

So for me, I have a couple things to think about. Do I want a print of birds? Do I want a print that could BE a nice bird? There are so many avenues to think about and explore when it comes to fabric design. It’s kind of overwhelming a bit. But EXCITING!!!

Color Palette:

I’m going to start working on a stripe pattern first. I’m letting you look into my creative process so please don’t be too critical. You really need to mess around with a bunch of stuff and play before you come to something that really seems to fit with where you are going. You can sit down with some paper and some colored pencils and mess around. I’m going to do it on my art program (which I’ll talk about later) just so it comes across easier on the screen.

Ouch. This one really hurts my eyes! I’m pulling this apart.

You can see how I’m playing with the color and tweaking the width of the stripes just a bit. I kind of like the chunk with the green/pink/brown/pink/green with the bits of white interspersed. I like the concept of the yellow, but maybe I need to tweak the shade a bit. I feel like my eyes hurt when I look at it. Maybe a bit too cheery. Plus, there aren’t any rules that say you HAVE to use all the colors. This is a general color palette for my entire line so I can mix and match as much or little as I want.

I kind of like this buttery yellow better. Need to think on that a bit.

This is kind of a cool stripe.

You know what? I’m going to take a break from the stripe because my brain is really hurting right now. I can come back to that at a later time. The point is that you get what’s going on. Mess around and have fun!

Here is my original “Lilly Bird” drawing that I made on my art program from a hand-drawn drawing my niece Lilly Hannah made. Here is her drawing:

I promise I will talk about the art programs available in Part 2 of this series!

I’m going to mess around with this sketch and see if I like anything. Fun is the name of the game here!

I kind of like the feel of a more random placement like in the Alexander Henry fabric.

A couple twists and turns and by changing sizes and rotation I have this little piece going on:

Let’s see what this would look like tiled—and remember we are just working on a drawing concept. We haven’t even begun to implement color yet.

Kind of boring if you ask me.

Flipping them around adds some extra interest and the smaller birds are making cool flower-like patterns.

Not sure if I like it because the legs seem to stick out like sore thumbs. That could change when you get the color going. I love the smaller birds though.

Okay! This is it! My wonderful husband, Jon Galloway, steered me in this direction of flipping the bottom two mamma birds. Yay! That’s why I married him! I really do love it. Here is my sketch!

I thought I would get to plug in some color, but that’s going to have to wait for the next installment. Next time I will talk about different art programs out there for you to use on your computer. I want to encourage you and let you know that I have never taken a class on computer art programs. This is something that anyone with an interest can learn. Like anything (sewing for example!) it just takes a bit of practice. The hard part is actually coming up with the concepts. But you are all artists out there! You can do it!

I know that you absolutely can upload hand-drawn drawings onto Spoonflower, but even a hand-drawn drawing should probably be cleaned up a bit on an art program to get rid of lines and dark shadows. All of these things can and will be transferred onto your final fabric. It isn’t Spoonflower’s job to clean up your work—it’s your job!

More later on this awesome series!

Love, Rachel

Want To Design Your Own Fabric?

Rachel — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:47:45 GMT

Well, now you can!!! I was so very excited when I read a post from Dress A Day about a new company called Spoonflower.

"Y'all have heard about Spoonflower, right? The web site of my (fabric) dreams, which lets you upload your own design for printing? (It's in beta right now, but you can sign up for an invite at that link.)"

This is really exciting to open this door of creative possibilities for us wanna-be fabric designers! Spoonflower is still in Beta Testing, but you can sign up on their waiting list to receive a personal invitation to participate. At the moment, fabric max is 5 yards, but I believe that is only during Beta. Check out their site for fabulous videos on How Does Spoonflower Work? and Shipping Your Fabric! They also have a quickly growing flickr pool of custom made fabrics by people just like you and me!

Here's an excerpt from Kim (Spoonflower Owner):

"I've just gotta say here how excited I am about my new Spoonflower job. I had a half-formed mental picture of what it might look like, but I don't think I was prepared for how incredibly cool it is to see people's fabric designs printed up and in a big stack in my own house. It's like going to a new fabric store with designs you've never seen before! Really, that almost NO ONE has seen before. So cool. One thing I wasn't expecting was how much being printed on fabric really warms up a design. It might look digital on the Flickr site, but in real life, on cotton, all the designs looked warm and organic."

"How much does it cost?"

"This is of course the MOST-asked question. Below is the pricing for fabric during the beta period, and it applies only to the Kona® cotton from Robert Kaufman. We may adjust these numbers at a later date and pricing will certainly vary between products as we endeavor to introduce additional fabric options."

Swatch (8" x 8") $5.00
Fat quarter (21" x 18") $11.00
1 yard (42" x 36") $18.00
2 yards (42" x 72") $36.00
3 yards (42" x 108") $54.00
4 yards (42" x 144") $72.00
5 yards (42" x 180") $90.00

Now all I have to do is WAIT for my invite! I'm not so good with that....especially when I'm so excited!

Update: Yay! I just got my invite! Keep you posted.

Love, Rachel

Sewing Butterick 4790 Walk-Away Dress - Don't Waste Your Time!

Rachel — Sun, 25 May 2008 06:40:38 GMT

Butterick 4790 has been voted one of the top patterns to sew this year. PatternReview.com sewers highly recommend this pattern and they aren't alone. This pattern has become very popular and is know as a quick, easy, and beautiful sew. It's been called the most popular pattern ever produced:

In 1952, Butterick Pattern Co experienced a phenomenon it had not known since the 'Garibaldi Suit' of the late 1860's. They released pattern #6015, and dubbed it the 'walk-away' dress, because it was so easy you could "Start it after breakfast... walk-away in it for luncheon!". It's simple yet flattering wrap design and easy construction were what made it so popular.

It may have worked for some people but I thought this pattern was a disaster.

Technically, the idea is very simple and rather clever. It's one long piece of fabric that you pull over your head and the front two pieces hook together around your waist in the back and the back skirt wraps around and hooks in the front. Just like that. Done. It's a very quick sew, so it's also a great pattern for instant gratification... if it happens to fit you.

I made this dress for my good friend and daughter's pre-school teacher, Maggie Putnam. Maggie is a beautiful woman and her figure is very slight. She is petite, small busted, and has a slight concave in her upper chest. I cut the size appropriate for her measurements and made adjustments accordingly. Everything was going very smoothly and Maggie was very excited.

Here she is for one of her fittings. I was not pleased with how the bodice was laying on her. I ended up making a solid princess seam from shoulder through center bust point connecting to the existing fitting darts; this gave the bodice a nicer fit. Luckily the pattern is a bit busy, so the seams blended in well. I lowered the neckline a bit as well to open up her chest a bit. It really seemed to come together quite smoothly.

Here is the finished dress:

Maggie felt so very beautiful in her new dress. She wore it for the pre-kindergarten Valentine's day. I peeked in on her bustling around the children and getting things together during the party and our eyes met. I was completely mortified when I saw the dress and rushed out the door with tears in my eyes. "Why?" you may ask. "It looks simply beautiful! And she looks absolutely adorable in it!"

"Yes," I would concede, "but that's when she is standing completely still."

Sigh. I went home and my mind could not get rid of the picture of Maggie trying to get the food, crafts, and games together with one hand glued to the front panel of her skirt to keep it from riding up dangerously high.

"Well, she should've worn a slip," you might say.
She did wear a slip.
"Well, maybe she wore the wrong slip."
No, she wore the right slip.

So, the question at hand is, "WHAT WENT WRONG? HOW DO I FIX IT?"

So, why was the skirt riding up? Her carefully fitted bodice looked like a baggy mess on her.

The back was equally ill-fitting. The print on this fabric makes it a bit more difficult to see, but believe me, it's all there. Where on earth are the shoulder seams?

This dress calls for 4 3/4 yards of fabric -- most of it being used for the back circle skirt. That is a lot of fabric and a lot of weight back there. Maggie does not have the curvy shape up top to keep the bodice and shoulders in place. All weekend I fretted over ways to fix this problem. I'm a professional! And this is a really easy dress! What is wrong with me??? The worst was when Maggie told me that her fellow co-workers were consoling her during lunch and coming up with solutions for her to fix the dress. How awful! She was embarrassed, very uncomfortable, and felt really sorry for me.

I thought about putting weights in the front of the skirt hem. No good. You shouldn't wash them and how annoying and very impractical to have to take them out every time you wash.

I thought about putting a 1" grow-grain ribbon doubled to make an "inside belt" along the waist for extra stability. What can I do to keep the waist and therefore the shoulder seams in place?

In the end, I did none of those things. I needed to think about Maggie first and I knew how very uncomfortable she was in the dress. She did not feel secure in the garment at all. If I made the belt, it might have been a quick fix that maybe would've worked, but my goal was to make her a dress she felt beautiful and confident in. I ended up taking my big scissors and chopping off the bodice from the circle skirt. It was sad, but the right thing to do. I put a waistband on to finish it. It would still wrap around the waist and fasten in the front.

I found another re-printed vintage pattern, Simplicity 3673.

I chose to make her the straight shift to be the base dress under the circle skirt. With this option, she would feel very secure in the garment and still get the look and feel of the old dress. Not only that, but if she wanted to wear the dress alone and be more stream-lined, she could do that as well. Maggie chose a solid red for the straight dress. To keep the design flowing with the previous fabric, I piped the neckline and armscyes in the black and white print and also made a belt out of the print for when she wore it without the overskirt.

The changes I needed to make to this pattern were minimal. I did make a muslin mock-up and I needed to take out some extra-fullness in her upper-chest. Besides that, it was a perfect fit for her. When I saw her face light up, I knew it was the right thing to do. She wore the red dress without the circle-skirt to the end of the year Spring Program. Her husband requested she wear it that way probably because she looked like a little hottie. She looked and felt absolutely beautiful. These are some poor shots from the Spring Program.

(You will notice that the belt has slipped down in the front as well as the back. It is supposed to rest on the seam right under the bust. I noticed this during the program and sewing some quick belt-loops on the side seams should take care of that.)

You maybe would also laugh when I tell you that I was sewing the belt that very morning during the "practice program." Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the dress with the original over-skirt. I will get some shots this week and amend this post.

IN CONCLUSION: How do you fix the Butterick 4790 "Walk-Away" Dress? I don't have any clear definite answers to give you regarding the pulling and sagging dilemma. After I sewed the dress and encountered the problem I talked to my sister Megan who had also sewn the dress some years ago and had the same exact problem. Hers was a bit worse because she made the dress reversible--twice as much weight in the back! She is small busted as well and never really wore the dress.

It's a problem that hasn't been discussed on the internet so I decided it was time that someone did. I question whether this pattern can really result in a good fit. Many people say they've had success with this pattern...I'm definitely not one of them.

Love, Rachel

AMENDED #1 Kathleen from Nova Scotia emailed me about having this same problem. She has indicated that she would like to try and fix the dress. This amendment could give you some ideas to kick around.

"WELL, I'M GOING TO FIX IT ANYWAY!" Good for you! If this is the direction you would like to take with this garment, you could try a couple things that might help a bit.

First of all, you really need to make sure that the dress fits perfectly on your body. That means the shoulder seams are exactly in place, bust seams line up perfectly and the most important is that the back waist seam is EXACTLY on your waist as well as the front. Sew a 1" grow-grain ribbon along the front (exactly where it should hit your waist) and fasten it tightly and securely in the back with a solid skirt-hook. They use grow-grain under ballet costumes to keep them secure and in place. I know that you'll see the stitching on the front of the garment--it shouldn't matter since you'll be pulling the back skirt over to the front anyway.

NOTE: In sewing the front "inside belt" there will most likely be a part of the belt around the back of the waist that WILL NOT BE ATTACHED TO THE FABRIC. Pay close attention to the curve that wraps around to the back. If you just simply sew the belt onto the fabric, the front skirt will not lay smoothly.

Attach the grow-grain to the back waist as well stitching right in the middle of your seam. The idea behind this is to completely stabilize the waist and try to keep things from moving. Hopefully this will reduce the movement to a minimal.

In addition to this, another thought could be lining just the front part of the dress, while keeping the back unlined to give the front a bit more weight.

I'd love to hear from you on this topic! Did you have any problems? If so, what did you do to fix them?

Love Again, Rachel

AMENDED #2 - A POSSIBLE SOLUTION!

You've made the dress, love the dress, and want to make it work so you'll actually wear it. This could be the solution:

Cut the bottom of the front dress panel at the waist plus 1/2" (for seam allowance). Construct and sew a full pencil skirt and attach the waist to the front original remaining dress panel. You can also put a waistband on. This could be a great solution. The front skirt will not move and be completely stabilized. The weight of the back skirt could actually be a positive by pulling the upper bodice smoothly into place. You can still pull the dress over your head and wrap the back circle skirt around your waist.

Anyone want to make it???

Idea of a pencil skirt you could use.

Rough sketch of the new flat of the dress with a full pencil skirt with kick pleat.

Love Again Again, Rachel

Cloth Shopping Bags Are All The Rage! Sew Your Own.

Rachel — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:37:12 GMT

So, I know I just posted something on making your own lunch bag, but along those same lines I wanted to talk about your "green" shopping habits. For those of you who care about that sort of thing, you could make it into a fun craft time and sew your own "paper" or "plastic" bags for shopping. The girl to help you out is Oh, Fransson!. Check out her blog and visit her Etsy shop to order her pattern for these bags. They look simple and really fun to make.

(Photo from Oh, Fransson!)

Cheers! And happy bag making!

Love, Rachel

Just For Fun--Sew A Lunch Bag!

Rachel — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:11:59 GMT

Sew Mama Sew is an amazing site for sewers of all kinds. They hosted a tutorial contest and I love the one by Sewing Notions on her Square Lunch Bag. Check it out!

Esther wanted me to sew her a lunch bag because she takes a snack to pre-school everyday. I thought I'd give it a try. It's a quick, easy sew. I love instant gratification.

I did put a little bit of elastic on the two sides just to tighten it up a bit, but it's a really sweet little bag even if you don't use it for lunch. Guess which one of the fabrics Esther picked out and which one Mamma picked out. Yup. Kitties. AGAIN!

Love, Rachel

Fabric Choices And Quality - 100% Woven Cotton - WHY?

Rachel — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:16:39 GMT

Hello! Today I am going to talk about the fabrics that I use in most of my Mamma Made garments (by request!!!). What do I use and most importantly, WHY do I use it? These are really good questions that I hope I can answer for you.

Firstly, I need to think about my audience: Moms.

"Moms? I thought you made children's garments."

Well, I do. But tell me, who has to wash, dry, and maybe even press up these garments? Who is going to care about the wearability and practicality of these garments? And so I say-- Moms.

As a mother myself, I know what I like to put on my children. I pick 100% cotton materials for them because they are extremely durable and last through endless washings. Plus, you can dry them as well. Who wants to take their kids clothing to the dry-cleaners? I don't and I won't. For my dresses, I use 100% woven cotton materials.

Now all 100% woven cotton material is not alike. There are different "hand" weights, or how they feel in your hand. Some are really thin and when you hold them up in the light you can see right through it. Many of these fabrics you can wash and dry, but when they come out of the dryer, they are a crinkled mess. It is not fun to iron them out and in some cases, you can never really get those creases out. My daughter Esther begged me to make her Christmas dress out of some 100% cotton woven fabric that she spied at Joann Fabrics. Against my better judgement, I said yes and made it for her. This is what it looks like when it comes out of the wash, and to be honest, no matter how well I press and steam, these horrendous creases don't really leave.

This is just sad to me. Sadder when it takes me a half hour to press it out and it doesn't even look that great.

This leads me to my next sentence. I LOVE QUILTING COTTONS! What makes quilting cottons so special? Well a couple things.

1. Quality. Anyone off the street can go in and feel the quality of quilting cottons. Always let your hand guide you because you are going to feel the fabric against your skin. There is a nice "weighty" feel to this fabric without being heavy. It has a wonderful drape which is perfect for dresses. This softness combined with the perfect drape is one of the reasons I love it. It's wonderful to sew with and you can get nice crisp lines. Here are some more technical finds:

Egyptian Cotton: Egyptian Cotton is a long staple cotton, valued for its softness and texture. Longer staple fibers help produce a softer fabric, either sheet or towel. Egyptian cotton also is known for its high absorbency and so valued in towels.

Pima Cotton: A very strong, high-grade cotton of medium staple developed from selected Egyptian cottons in the southwest United States.

Kona Cotton: Kona Cotton is a premium all cotton quilt broadcloth from Robert Kaufman. Kona has a high thread count giving it a wonderfully meaty hand--a joy to work with. This high quality cloth is also excellent for fine apparel and for home decorating.

Read More Here

"Thread count is defined as the number of threads, warp (lengthwise) and weft (widthwise), woven in a one-inch square of fabric. Many consumers take thread count at face value without understanding that it is affected by a number of factors, including the ply and the thickness of the threads used. Ply refers to how many threads are wrapped together into a single thread. Single-ply fabrics use threads on their own, while two-ply fabrics are formed by two pieces of thread twisted together. Here is where the definition becomes confusing. Should a two-ply fabric’s threads be counted as one, single thread; or as two, individual threads? Or, more practically speaking, are those 600 thread count sheets truly 600 single-ply threads-per-inch, or are they 300 double-ply threads-per-inch?" Referenced Here

You can see the soft flow and perfect drape in this dress. The bodice has substantial structure and clean lines. This is superior cotton. Coming out of the dryer you will have to press, but it is minimal.

Funny enough, I found this article that talks about cotton being used in skin care now. This is most definitely the fabric I want next to my baby's skin. Cotton: The Fabric of Our Skin Care

2. Pattern.

I am consistently inspired by the beautiful patterns available in the quilting cottons. Since this is my strange way of designing (I find the fabric first!), it's pretty great that fabric can be so inspiring. The creative options are limitless. Here is a sneak peak of some of the fabrics that are being used for my Summer 2008 collection.

I'm going to remake the "Wildflowers" dress in the top fabric because it was so popular. The original fabric (bottom) is also still available.

Who knows what these two vintage beauties will bring.

I'm going to have fun with these combinations as well.

The inspiration....

...comes to life.

I love fabric! Only the best for my Mamma Made kids!

Love, Rachel

I Want To Sew Some Clothes For My Child!

Rachel — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 05:13:51 GMT

If you have ever had or now have this thought but don't know where to start keep reading! I will save you a LOT of grief if you choose to listen to my words of wisdom.

You have a new child and he (or she) is getting to the point where you have a couple of minutes to breathe, he actually looks like a human being now, and you want to bestow your love on him (well, maybe more to show off how cute he is) and sew a little outfit. What do you sew? What should you make? The possibilities are endless! (Oh, and did I mention that you are a beginner?)

YOU HAVE A BABY GIRL:

(Photos courtesy of Flickr)

Dress: You will be tempted to sew a dress. They are sweet and relatively simple to construct in the grand scheme of things. I know I'm going to rock the boat a bit by saying this, but don't sew a dress! They look cute and all, but if your daughter is an infant, you have to hold her all the time and the dress gets all bunchy and unsightly and then you have diaper butt....I know, it's a thing I have. If she can sit up and crawl, it's even worse. She can and will "trip" on the skirt of the dress and it frustrates her to no end. Finally, let's talk about cozy. It seems to me that babies are most comfortable in stretch-knit fabrics (the bottom dress is made in a stretch-knit). You could attempt to sew stretch-knit, but it is a bit tricky to get the feel of working with it and from keeping your neckline and armscye from being completely stretched out permanently. Your other option is a woven cotton (like the top picture) and it just seems a bit stiff to me for such a little baby. My advice is....sew the dress when your daughter can walk! It will last a bit longer and will function in a much more practical fashion.

Bubble Suit: "What about a bubble suit?" you may ask. This will not cause the baby to trip when she crawls and is much more practical. It is-- I concede that fact. But I need to let you novice seamstresses know, that an infant needs to have snap tape along the crotch for easy changing. If you choose not to put this in because it is a bit tricky to set the tape in, you will be sorry. Who wants to take a jumper on and off a baby every time you need to change them? Not me. So, the snap tape must stay. I have been sewing for over 15 years and in many professional establishments and I think that snap tape is a bit tricky. I can do it of course, but you need to be very patient in order to make it look like it's supposed to be there. Here is a custom garment that I just completed for a baby girl sized 9 months. You would be surprised to find out that a little outfit like this one is much more time consuming than a dress.

A dress you can make sleeveless, but this has the yolk, set-in sleeves, buttons down the center back, elastic casings, and of course the snap tape.

Why do you think I make Megan design all the baby wear for 2T and under??? Because I'm SMART! Sigh. So what does this mean? Where does this leave us?

YOU HAVE A BABY BOY:

(Photo by Melissa Lee Photography)

Pretty much the same applies for a little boy. Look at my nephew here. He's smiling AND he's in cozy stretch cotton. He's just a baby. If you would like to venture down the road of stretch cottons, I think you should! Once you get the feel, they come together very quickly and it helps to have a serger to zip all those seams together. Otherwise, wait until your little boy is a bit older. You can make some really cool pants that just pull up and if you like the "old man look" you can find some pretty simple patterns for button-down shirts.

"Yeah yeah Rachel, you've done a lot of talking and not giving a lot of substantial advice. What on earth should I sew?"

This is what I'm going to tell you.

1. Sew some blankets - receiving blankets, cozy blanket, or a blanket to lay on the floor for play. Basically all you need is a yard of fabric, cut it into a 36" by 36" square, then bind it with a satin blanket ribbon. Done.

2. Sew a bonnet. (Simplicity 3840)

3. Sew a hat. (Simplicity 3555)

If that isn't your thing, purchase some stretch-knit plain onesies, one-piecers, or pants and tastefully embellish them. Find some really cool fabric and cut out a design, fuse it onto the onesie (or whatever) and set your machine to zig-zag and machine applique it. You will have something unique, you put some work into it, and yet it's still cozy and functional. Really important.

What could you do with your imagination with this and this?

In conclusion (now that I may have held your attention on this blog for the last time) wait to sew for your baby just a bit. It doesn't have to be super long. In fact, it's probable that by the time you really feel like sewing anything, you've already passed the super baby stage anyway. For girls, wait for dresses until they can walk. Then sew dresses like crazy! Try the machine applique technique with some cool fabrics you may find at fabric stores like Super Buzzy or my favorite, equilter.com.

If you HAVE waited and are still waiting to get some sort of return for your time on this long post try these tried and true simple, yet sweet children's patterns:

(Simplicity 3854) Toddler dress and bloomers.

(Simplicity 3511) Young girls dress and pant options.

(Simplicity 3512) Young girls slightly more stylized dress.

(Simplicity 5581) If you can ignore the awful fabric, you can see that the shirt has clean lines and the pants are cute cargo pants.

(Simplicity 5366) This was going to be a joke at first, but I actually think that with the right fabrics you could really make a KA boy's cowboy shirt.

(Simplicity 9958) Then you can make your husband and sons matching boxer shorts. Hee hee.

Alright, I've droned on long enough. My sister is going to give me hell for this one. Good night!

Love, Rachel