Tag: ladybug pants

Sewing: The Ladybug pants are finish! (… using my brand new sewing machine)

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First I want to introduce you to my brand new toy sewing machine: the Janome 4120 DCQ

New toy

It can do 120 stitches incl. seven 1-step button holes, and it also does letters, so I can write names and such. But my absolute favourite feature so far is actually the button you press and then it cuts the threads – I think I am in love with this button. And another thing that came in handy is that you don’t need to use the foot pedal, which is a great help for me now because baby girl is getting around a bit more now and wants to play with mum’s new toy, so I removed the foot pedal and am using the sew by button method.

Before I start to tell you about the Ladybug pants, I’ll show you what my old machine looked like. (I traded it in for a discount on my new super fancy machine.)

Old sewing machine

 

And now … my very first sewing project for my baby girl … the Ladybug pants.

The instructions in the book were lacking in helpfulness, so I had to use my inexperienced common sense to make the pants. I am not sure I will recommend the book for others, definitely not for newbies like me.

Attaching the binding feature…

Ladybug pants

 

Attaching the yokes…

Ladybug pants

 

I didn’t have my new machine at this stage, otherwise I might have used one of the decorative stitches to do the top-stitching in stead of this old boring straight one. 😉

Ladybug pants

 

The pants are slowly taking shape…

Ladybug pants

 

Trying out the overlock stitching on my new machine. 🙂

Ladybug pants

 

Sewing is so much faster using my new fancy toy!

Ladybug pants

Ladybug pants

 

I though sewing the two legs together would be difficult, but it actually wasn’t. What was difficult was to get the yoke/binding seams to align – as a photo further down will attest to.

Ladybug pants

 

And a bit of notching. (I also added some zig-zag for fraying later.)

Ladybug pants

 

Making a casing for the elastic waist.

Ladybug pants

 

Double hemming the legs.

Ladybug pants

 

And tadaaa!!!

 

As a first try at this, I am really pleased, but next time I think I will pay a bit more attention to aligning critical places. Just look at how off I was here:

Ladybug pants

 

I tried to take a picture of cute baby girl wearing the Ladybug pants, but she wouldn’t stand still. She is 8 (and a half) months old and thinks she can walk and want’s to explore everything. The pants a 1 or 2 cm too long still, so there is plenty of time for her to wear the pants before they get too small. I’ll try to remember to post a photo  of the pants being worn when I get a nice picture.

🙂

Sewing: Ladybug pants

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I am still very much in the process of learning how to sew, but I am taking a break from my Lined Tote Bag project until I get my hands on a new sewing machine, because I do not seem to be able to get the hang of sewing a 4 step buttonhole. 😦

I have been wanting a nice new machine for a long time, and am now in the process of selecting one that suits my needs within a reasonable price range. So far I am leaning towards getting a Janome DC2030.

– – – – – – –

So, I have cast my eyes on a cute pattern in the book ‘Cute clothes for kids’ by Rob Merrett. It’s a two piece set, but I am only going to make one piece: The Ladybug pants. 🙂

I recently bought some fabric from some German fabric vendor through their Swedish site: www.tyg.se – it looks like they have a big selection at affordable prices, which is great for a newbie sewer like me. And lucky for me, they have a fabric with ladybugs on it. 🙂

So here is my latest stash:

My latest stash

And a close-up so you really can appreciate the ladybugs…

Close-up of stash

I bought two colour variants of the ladybug fabric, but I think I’ll make them using the dark blue fabric and pair it with green. And then I’ll probably use the light lilac bias binding from my apron project.

Here is my selection for the Ladybug pants project

Fabric selection for pants

I’ve begun to trace the pattern and cut it out, but I am a bit confused about the line with the scissor symbol on it a bit further up the leg of the front and back piece of the pants. I am pretty sure I shouldn’t cut there, so for now I am just going to ignore it. It doesn’t say anything about it in the instructions. If you have a suggestion as to what it means, please do tell me about it.

Here’s the pattern:

Pattern

This will be my first time sewing something for my cute baby girl. I am crossing my fingers for a good result that she can wear.

🙂