Another Beach Robe and a Tip

I have to confess, I'm a little addicted to making these beach robes! I made another for a gift for a friend....

My daughter's robe has been through the wash a few times and I noticed the last time she put it on that the bias tape was coming loose in places. Most likely due to my less than stellar sewing skills. So, when I made this most recent one, I decided to use a wide zig zag stitch for the bias tape.

I think it will be a little more secure, and I think it looks really nice as well.

Especially on the tie, where I like to add some fabric, so a little extra bulk.

Give it a try. Tell me what you think!

When you're too busy to sew....might as well shop!

Every year it seems like summer comes and though I think I'm going to have more free time, I end up with less. We've been doing a lot of fun stuff, but I've definitely felt too busy to do much sewing.

One fun thing we do every year is make a trip up to Portsmouth NH to visit a good friend for the 4th of July. He thinks the only reason we come is so I can visit this place.....


I stumbled on Portsmouth Fabric Company a few years ago just wandering around downtown. It's on a side street with little else and was such a wonderful surprise.

So on our recent trip up, I stocked up on some beautiful designer fabric that I can only really get online.

Can't go wrong with Amy Butler polka-dots.

I think I was channeling fall on this particular trip.

Gotta love owls.

Something for the boy. The airplane fabric on the left was 70% off!


I was on the fence about this one, but it was also 70% off making it something like $2.50 a yard, so I just went with it.

Portsmouth Fabric only carries woven fabrics and these days, my passion has really been for knits. So, despite all my shopping, I wasn't 100% satisfied until I found these beautiful and unique knits.

Now I just need a little time to sit down and sew! At least my little assistant can enjoy my new fabric in the mean time.

Hope you're having a fun summer!

Robes for the Beach

Have you seen the new pattern over at MADE? It's for the cutest kid's beach robe made from a towel (or 2). Just in time for summer!

I made my daughter's first. I'm not in love with the towel color, but I'll be honest, I was being cheap about it. I needed 2 towels for the 4T size and these were $3 each.

I pleated the back a bit when I sewed on the tie. Made it a little more girly.

For the boy, I lined the hood with a cute Kaufman train fabric and added a matching pocket.
Perfect for a day at the beach.


Happy Summer!

More boy tanks and one for the girl

Three more boy tanks. And to keep things fair....


One for the girl. Girly ruffles and all.

Hope you're staying cool where you are.

Boy's Muscle Shirt Tutorial Revisited

Last summer, I put together one of my first tutorials for a boy's muscle shirt. At that point, I only had a handful of posts up, and I don't feel like I really did the tutorial justice. So, now that it's summer again, and I'm feeling inspired by CTB Summer edition, I decided to add some updates to the tutorial.

First, I'll start off with how to make a pattern from a shirt.

Fold the shirt in half, inside out (I do this so I don't accidentally get marker on the outside) and lay it on your paper. As a side note, I use a roll of plain colored wrapping paper to make patterns. Much more economical than actual "pattern paper"


Trace around the sides, adding seam allowances to the shoulders and sides and mark the bottom of the neck where the ribbing meets the body.

I also mark my pattern for where the bottom hem would be if I'm re-purposing a shirt and using an existing hem as well as add 1/2 inch for hemming for when I'm not using an existing hem.

To finish drawing the shoulder and neck lines, hold the sleeve at the seam and trace. Do the same for the neck.

Here's my finished pattern for the front.

Cut out the pattern and lay it on top of the folded shirt to make any necessary adjustments. I ended up cutting a little off the shoulder and side seam allowance.

Another side note, pattern weights help a lot when making patterns and cutting knits. And, you can make your own with my pattern weights tutorial. They also double as fun sewing rooms toys for little ones.

OK, now on to the pattern for the back. First, trace your front pattern around all sides except the neck.


Then lay your shirt on top and mark the neck where the shirt body and neck ribbing meet. Draw the neck curve the same way you did for the front. Cut out the pattern and make any adjustments.

OK, now that we've got a pattern, we can make our shirt. My original tutorial has more detailed instructions, but I've added a little more detail about making the ribbing for finishing the armholes and neck here.

For this shirt I'm going to re-purpose a thrift store shirt from my stash, using the cute graphic on the front.

Here are the front and back pieces I cut using my pattern.


Sew side seams and shoulders with right sides together. Turn right side out and press.

Next we will need to make ribbing bands to finish the openings. Measure the neck and armhole openings. We will be using strips of ribbing 1.5 inches wide and 1 inch shorter than the measured opening.

So, my armholes were about 8 inches all the way around, so I cut 2, 7 x 1.5 inch strips. The neck was 14 inches all the way around so I cut another strip 13 x 1.5 inches.
Next, fold the strips in half matching the longer sides and press well.
Open up the folded strips, match the shorter sides, right sides together and sew with a 1/4 inch seam. I used my serger for all the seams, but you could also use a regular sewing machine. I would recommend using a longer stitch length than you would use on woven fabric or a wide zig zag.

Fold the ribbing back up with the seam allowance on the inside.
My original tutorial shows show to pin these ribbing bands to the shirt and sew in place. Basically, you match the raw edges on the ribbing with the raw edges on the armhole, pin and sew. Probably easier to understand when you see the pictures.

For this shirt I used my twin needle to sew a top-stitch along the neck and armholes. This is totally optional, but gives the shirt a more finished, store-bought look. It's helpful to iron your finished seams with a good amount of steam. It makes the fabric shrink up if it's been stretched and come together better.

All that's left on this shirt is the hem. Since I wanted to use the graphic on the shirt I was upcycling, I couldn't use the existing hem. So, I serged around the bottom, then folded it up 1/2" and used my twin needles to sew it in place.


Done! In the time it's taken me to write this post, I probably could have made 3 of these muscle shirts, they're that easy!

A perfect fit.

Enjoy. Let me know what you think. There's a lot between the original tute and these additions.....hope it's not too much to digest. Do send me a link or pic if you make one, I'd love to see!

Another BOY Celebration!

Have you heard the news? Dana at Made and Rae at Made by Rae are hosting a Summer Celebrate the Boy series. This is just the kick in the pants I need to make some summer clothes for my little boy.

In fact, I am so excited about this upcoming series that I went ahead and made a pair of shorts today.

I used some gray linen I had on my shelf and traced a pair of shorts that fit my skinny boy, for the pattern. I like the overall look. The top of the shorts isn't great, but luckily it's mostly covered by his shirt. My favorite part is the bottom hem. I used my twin needle to make 2 parallel hem lines for a faux coverstitch. It's hard to see in the blurry picture above. As soon as I'm done typing, I'll be heading to my sewing room to make some more.

So, go check out the summer celebrate the boy series starting Monday, June 1. I know I can't wait for some inspiration!

New Sandbox!

Now that it finally feels like summer, my family has been spending A LOT of time outside which got me thinking about building a sandbox. Then I saw this post over at Made and felt even more motivated.

I bought 2 wood boards that were 1 inch thick, 10 inches tall and 12 feet long. I cut them into 4 pieces each 5 feet long so my finished sandbox is essentially 5X5.

We had some wood leftover from an addition we put on our house last year, so I came up with some pieces to make a bench along one side.

This was a really easy project, the kids had a ton of fun helping paint, and it all cost less than $100 (believe it or not the sand is the most expensive part). Thanks for the inspiration Dana!

Hope you had a fun and productive weekend too!

While I wait.....

The final vote for Rae's Spring Top Sewalong was on Friday and I'm patiently awaiting the results. I would love to win, but I'm also so excited to even have made it to the finals.

In any case, I got some time to sew today and I thought I would channel my anticipation into another project for myself. I'm starting to really enjoy this selfish sewing thing!


I used a this top I bought from Ann Taylor Loft as a guide. This top has a casing around the arms and neck with elastic, I shirred mine instead. Much faster, but a little less control over how much it bunches up. My sleeves ended up a little shorter too.

I really like the result and it's a top that I'll wear. And it's yellow! I love yellow, but don't end up buying much yellow. I had this fabric sitting around, one thing I love about having a large fabric stash.

Another winner in my book!

I made the final cut!!!

I'm sooooo excited to have made it to the final round of voting in Rae's Spring Top Sewalong. I hate to beg for votes.....but go check me out along with the other finalists at Made by Rae. Voting starts Friday morning at 10AM Eastern time and will go until 5PM on Saturday.

Here's my top again, in case you haven't seen it.

Wish me luck!