new cat behavior

At last!  I can finally say I am totally, 100% done with my son's Superman costume.  Now I just need to hide it away so it won't get trashed or lost before Halloween!  That is, if there is ever a time when he's not wearing it...

Now I just have to finish my costume and make a new shirt for my daughter (she had a growth spurt and now it's too small!).  Soon, very soon!

After that I can post about the dress and belt I made to wear to my 10 year high school reunion, which happened this past weekend.  I had such a good time, it was awesome.  I really liked how everything I made turned out, and think I looked pretty darn good. 

So, back to the superheroes.  One of you, my fabulous readers, asked for a tutorial on the pants, so I'll do that plus the cape since I had to make a new one anyway.  Click here to go back to the tutorial for the logo t-shirts.

When looking at lots of superheroes I've discovered that most of them have the same style of pants, which makes this pattern very versatile since you just need to customize with your particular hero's colors.

For the pants I started with an existing pattern for a pair of pants in my son's size.  I drew the shape of the contrasting colored brief and "boots" (just below knee level). My son was very insistent that he wanted the "pointy part in the front" on the boots, just like in his Superman coloring book.



I traced the shape of the brief on separate pieces of paper, without any seam allowance on the bottom where it transitions from the brief to the pant. Same thing with the boots, except no seam allowance on the top where it transitions from the boot to the pant.





You can either cut out a full pant and just lay the contrasting color pieces over the top and sew them on (I did that for the brief). Or you can just cut the part of the pant that shows, with seam allowance to overlap and sew together with the contrasting pieces, which is what I did for the boot area. [I really hope that sentence made sense to you!] Once I had the pieces cut out I laid the contrasting pieces on top of the pant and pinned it.


I also pinned a piece of tear-away stabilizer underneath and sewed an applique stitch over the edge of the contrasting pieces. NOTE: Be very careful about the direction of the "grainline" in the stabilizer. Make sure it is going in the same direction as the seam you need to sew. If it's going the opposite direction it will pull, stretch and pucker your seam when you try to tear it off.


Make sure it is going in the same direction as your seam and you'll end up with a nice finished look.




After I finished all those seams, sewed the front pants and back pants together at the center seam. Then I clipped the curves to make sure it fits well and doesn't pull.





Then I sewed the side seams and the inner leg seam.



I left the cuffs unfinished to make sure they were long enough, folded over the waistband, and stitched around it, leaving a space to insert the elastic. I inserted the elastic and finished the waistband in the same way that I did in this tutorial.

Now on to the cape! I started out with 1 1/2 yards of cotton broadcloth. I folded it in half with the selvedges on the top and bottom, then cut from 18" at the top to the corners at the bottom.



Of course after that I measured my son and discovered I needed to cut about 6" off of it (which I did at the top). Then I folded the edges over twice, to conceal the raw edge and keep it from fraying, on the sides and the top. The bottom was the selvedge so I just left it alone.



Then I measured on my son's shoulders to see what would be a good width of cape for him. In his case it was 12". Then I pleated the cape on one side to get it down to 6", then mirrored the same pleating to the other side. I didn't measure, but just played around with it until it was right and looked good.



[I apologize for the photos... I haven't quite figured out how to shoot red effectively!]

Next I added little squares of Velcro (okay, it was generic "hook and loop") to the corners of the cape, and the corresponding spots on the shirt. And then I could check one more thing off my never-ending list of things to make!





I cannot tell you how excited my son was to have another cape! He spent the next 30 minutes running up and down the hallway seeing how his cape would fly behind him as he ran. I think he likes it.





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I apologize to everyone who was waiting specifically for this part of the tutorial!  Life has been quite crazy and unsettling living in hotels, finding jobs and now looking for a home [I wish we could afford a house with a yard for the kids, but for now it will have to be an apartment].  I had my husband take the car to work today (instead of having me drop him off) so the kids and I are intentionally "stuck" at the hotel so I can give myself some time to write and complete the tutorial.  Finally!



I "cheated" on the shrug and didn't go straight from measurements to draft the pattern.  Instead, I took a dress of my daughter's that fit snuggly on top.  The shrug needs to be snug so it doesn't fall off easily.  I also used a knit fabric so it would be comfortable.

Once you have a garment that fits correctly to copy, lay it out on a piece of paper and mark the edges of the shoulder seam, side seam, and the center of the back neck.  You can very the length of the shrug depending on your desired style.  I made mine end at approximately mid-way down the back (or maybe a little above).  I also extended the shoulder seam a little bit towards the neck so it would fit closer than the dress does.   



Square a line down from the center neck and over to the side seam.



Draw straight lines for the side and shoulder seams. They will be at slight angles as shown below. You can extend the lines out so it's a little faster when adding seam allowance.



Draw the curves for the neckline and armhole. For the neckline you want it to be nearly straight across at the middle and curve up toward the shoulder. For the armhole you want most of the curve to be towards the bottom of the armhole. The closer you are to having the intersections of the lines 90 degree angles the smoother your connections will be when sewing. (Which is what you want)



Add seam allowance (I usually use 1/2 inch), fold line marker and labels. You will need one of these when cut on the fold. It is the back of the bolero.



Get a piece of tracing paper and place it on top. Trace the shoulder and side seams only.



Draw the armhole coming in further than the back piece. From about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch depending on the size of your child.



Next draw the edge of the shrug for the front. You can make it more or less curved as you desire, just make sure the corners on the shoulder and side seam are close to 90 degrees angles.



Add the seam allowance and labels, then you have the front of the bolero.



For the sleeve I went back to my daughter's dress for a guide. I layed it flat in half and marked the top, under arm point, and where I wanted the sleeve to end. I made it rather small because I knew I was going to add 1/2 inch hem and leave a raw edge. You can also measure on your child and estimate how long it would need to be to end where you want it.



Draw the lines to complete the sleeve. A straight line on the top of the sleeve, the very curved line on the armhole (draw it the same as the curve on the finished garment), and the slightly curved line on the bottom hem.



Cut out the sleeve without adding any seam allowance. Draw three (or more for a larger size) straight lines parallel to the top of the sleeve. Mine are about 1/2 inch apart. Don't add any close to the under arm portion of the sleeve.



Tape the sleeve to a piece of paper only on the top edge of the sleeve and cut on the line closest to it. Measure out 1" on the top and 1/2" on the bottom and tape down.



Repeat until you've done the same with every line and it looks like the photo below.



Draw curved lines as shown below, going down a little at the middle of the hemline.



Use another piece of tracing paper placed over the top to trace the new shape of the sleeve, add the seam allowance, labels and fold marker.



And there you have the pattern for the bolero. I didn't make a pattern piece for the ruffle as I just used elastic thread to gather a strip of fabric and wasn't sure how much it would take.

I will post the sewing tutorial next as the 4th and final installment of the tutorial. Woohoo!

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I'll be linking up to all the awesome parties on my "Blog Link Parties" tab including whipperberry.com

Finally,  I'm starting to post about the pattern and construction of the toddler dress and shrug (I'm going to call it the toddler maxi dress).  I've decided to split it into 4 parts - pattern for the dress, sewing the dress, pattern for the shrug, and sewing the shrug.  Here is part one -- Drafting the dress pattern.  (You can do this!)

I apologize in advance for the photos -- taking pictures of tracing paper in a poorly lit room is not easy!

First, start out by measuring your child.  This pattern works well for girls old enough that they won't be crawling, and young enough that they haven't started developing into a more adult figure (probably up to about age 10-12).  If you want to make it for an infant who is crawling, just shorten it to knee length or a little above.  I'm going to make this pattern in approximately size 3T.



Measure the chest at the level that will be the bottom of the bodice (it's an empire style dress which means the bodice [top of the dress] ends just below the "bust line", so just estimate the right level for your child).  My measurement at that point was 20".

From that point measure down to ankle length.  My number was 21".  Divide that number by 3.  Two thirds will be the top tier of the skirt (14" for me), one third will be the bottom tier of the skirt (7" for me).

For the shoulder strap you can ignore what I drew on the figure and just measure from the chest level in the front to the same level in the back, going over the shoulder.

Write down these measurements and keep them handy. 

Next we need to turn that chest measurement into something we can use to draft the pattern pieces.  We need to add "ease" (for comfort and movement) and convert it into quarters of the whole bodice.


The photo on the right shows my numbers.  You will have unique numbers depending on the size of your child.  Take the chest measurement and add ease.  You'll need to add more ease if your child will be wearing a shirt underneath.  An easy way to figure out how much you need is to take a flexible measuring tape, hold it around where you took the chest measurement (with the undershirt on, if applicable), increase the circle until it looks like it would allow enough space for comfort and movement and make note of the measurement.  [I really hope that makes sense... it sounds complicated when I try to write it all down!]  Take that new measurement with ease and divide by 2, then divide by 2 again to get quarters.  Then the back needs extra length to overlap for the closure so add 1/2".  You can add more for an older child, but you may not need to.  These are the measurements without seam allowance. 

For drawing the actual pattern pieces you can use regular computer paper for the smaller pattern pieces and tape pieces of paper together for the larger pattern pieces.  I use a large roll of tracing paper (36" wide) which I picked up from an art supply store.

We'll start with the back bodice.  Draw a straight line equal to the back width we just figured.  One of the tools I use most often when making patterns is an 18" long, 2" wide clear ruler. [Pardon the well worn ruler in the photos.]



I made the height of the back of the dress 1.5", so I measured up 1.5" using the ruler the long direction and traced it.



Complete the rectangle, making sure the corners are squared (90 degrees) and label the pattern piece. You'll need to cut 4 pieces for the outside back and the lining. You can either cut 4 of the main fabric ("self" in my photo) or 2 of the main fabric and 2 lining fabric.

self = main fabric

Then we need to add seam allowance. The commercial patterns you can buy in fabric stores usually add 5/8" seam allowance, but I like to add 1/2" because it's a lot faster when using the ruler to add it. You can add how much you prefer. This piece will be sewn on all sides, so we just extend the lines of the pattern piece and add seam allowance to every side.


The first pattern piece is complete!

For the front bodice start by drawing a straight line equal to the front bodice measurement we figured. (Mine was 5.5") Then on one side it will be sewn to the back bodice, so square up a line equal to the height of the back bodice (which for me was 1.5"). Then on the other side it's the center of the front. I chose to have the middle rise to 2.5". You can measure on your child and estimate where would be a good height for the top edge of the bodice. Square and draw a line equal to that height.



For the top edge you can freehand a curve or use a french curve. I just freehanded the curve below. Just make sure it levels out near the edges to make smooth transitions when sewing.



The taller side of the piece will be placed on a fold, so mark it on the pattern piece as shown below. Then add seam allowance on all sides except the side that is on a fold. An easy way to add seam allowance to a curve is move the ruler along the edge lining up with the 1/2" mark on the ruler, make a little dash, then turn the ruler and continue making dashed lines. When done play connect the dots to complete the line. [Hopefully the photo can explain it better than I can!]



Since this piece is on a fold it will be the whole front of the bodice. So we need to cut two pieces, one for the outside and one for the lining.



Now, to start on the front skirt we'll take the measurement for the front bodice pattern piece from above (5.5" for me) and multiply that by 2, 11" for me (doubling the width results in a good amount for gathering). Draw a straight line equal to that width. Then square a line up equal to the 2/3 of the skirt length (mine was 14").



Another of my favorite tools when drawing larger pattern pieces (and cutting fabric in straight lines) is a large quilting ruler.

Complete the rectangle and add seam allowance on 3 sides. Mark one (taller) side as the fold line. For this piece we'll only need to cut one and it will be the front top tier.



For the back top tier we double the width of the back bodice (which was 6" for me). Draw a straight line equal to that length, then square up a line equal to the 2/3 skirt length.



Complete the rectangle and add seam allowance to all edges. Because we have a seam down the middle of the back we'll need to cut two of these pieces.



For the bottom tier we start by doubling the width of the top tier. You can pick either the front or back measurement to double. Then we'll use the same piece for the front and for the back. I chose the front (11" for me) and doubled that for a total of 22". Draw a straight line equal to that length. Then square a line up equal to the 1/3 skirt length (mine is 7").



Then add seam allowance. One of the short edges is on a fold (and it's the same for the front and back since we don't need to have a seam in the middle of the back on the bottom). Add 1/2" to the top and the other short edge. Then on the bottom add 1" to allow for a finished hemline. We'll cut two of this piece (one for the front, one for the back). 



For the straps I didn't make a pattern. I actually just cut a 2" wide strip of fabric, no extra seam allowance. Then while sewing the dress I did a test fit to determine the finished length of the straps. You can make a pattern piece for it if you like.

And we're done. Look at that, you're a pattern maker!

[I really hope everything made sense! Feel free to contact me if something needs more clarification.]

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I'll be linking up to the parties listed on my "Blog Link Parties" page.