Four for the boys.....

Here is the fourth and last pair of shorts that I will be making for a while.  The material for these came from a long dress that my daughter was finished with.  They will fit a 4 year old boy.  I originally planned to make 5 pairs but realised at the last minute that the material I had set aside for the fifth pair was too girly for any boy to want to wear.

So this is the little collection of shorts that will be going off in the post to Sew Scrumptious for delivery to various countries in Africa and Asia:

Here is the free pattern and tutorial that I used for the shorts.  They were a very economical project as I already had the old t-shirts and thread.  I bought good quality waist elastic as this is a crucial part of the shorts!

I tend to sew in short spells....excuse the pun....and I feel that this spell is now over.  I have started on another project which I have been looking forward to for a few weeks.....but that will be another blog post.

Third pair of shorts....

Here is the third pair of shorts I have just sewn from this simple free pattern and tutorial.  Once again I cut up an old t-shirt and reused the material.  It is a soft shade of khaki green and should fit a child aged 2-3 years.  I have 2 more to make and will then send all 5 off to Sew Scrumptious for delivery to various countries in Africa and Asia.

....just a brief post today as I am still going through a very busy spell.

First ever shorts.....

I just had to blog about the first shorts I have ever sewn.  They should fit a 2-3 year old and are destined eventually for Sew Scrumptious.  Their "Dress A Girl Around The World" project is well known and they have distributed over 10,000 dresses to Africa and India.  Shorts for boys are also in demand but fewer than 1000 have been distributed. 

Having made my first ever pair of shorts, I am converted and will concentrate on these in future.  I have the material already waiting to be recycled and I recently bought a big roll of good quality woven elastic which is perfect for waistbands.

I have many old t-shirts like this baggy, shapeless horror:

I use them for exercise classes and keep them far longer than I should because I can't bear waste.  Now I can give them a new lease of life and buy some new ones.  Woo hoo!

I used the following free pattern and tutorial.  The pattern is one simple piece approximately resembling an inverted T.  You cut two of these shapes, do quite a small amount of sewing and ...hey presto....you have a pair of shorts.  I opted to make the 3/4 length shorts, though the pattern is easily adjusted to make long trousers or shorter shorts.

I can make age 2-3 years shorts from my old tops and when Hubby throws out his t-shirts I will probably be able to make age 5-6 years shorts.  In fact most t-shirt material is just the right strength for these shorts and it usually doesn't fray so is easier to finish.

I noticed that this particular t-shirt had a nice notch detail at the side seams.  So I decided to incorporate this into the legs.  Laying the pattern piece on the material wasn't as straightforward as I expected so the side seams have ended up slightly more to the front.  But I don't think this will be too noticeable when they are being worn.  Actually, I was making things more difficult for myself.  The pattern doesn't require outside leg seams.  The material simply wraps around the leg and is seamed on the inside.  In future, I will follow the pattern unless there is a really special detail on the side seams.

I liked the little appliqué detail on the t-shirt.  It ended up on the unused part of the material but I didn't want to throw it away.  So I added it to the hem of the shorts.  It is a nice little decoration and acts as an aide memoire to little boys trying to tell the difference between the front and back of their shorts.  It also draws the eye to the notch detail which I liked and wanted to use.

A skilled sewer could make these in an hour.  I took my time but still finished them in an afternoon.  I'm pleased with how they turned out and there will be lots more to come.

More girls' dresses....

Here is a little quintet of girls' dresses that are destined for Sew Scrumptious which is an organisation that distributes dresses and shorts to girls and boys living in Malawi, Kenya, India, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Philippines, Tanzania and Zambia. 

These dresses are sometimes called pillowcase dresses as it is possible to make them from spare pillowcases. They are basically 2 pieces of material sewn together with ribbon ties at the shoulders.  I have left the ribbons undone for easy packing.  I also like to add a contrasting band at the hemline.  It takes longer but is worth the effort.

I don't have any spare pillowcases, so I bought a similar pattern and some suitable cotton material.  The Winnie the Pooh material came from a market stall at a good price.  The rest of the material came from a charity shop at an even better price.  They were selling large pieces of material for only 49p.  I managed to cut the two light blue dresses from one piece of material.  What a bargain. I made the mistake of oohing and aahing so much about the price that, when I went back the next day, they had doubled and even trebled it.  They still sold their material, but not to me!  The blue theme in the dresses is my way of keeping down costs for thread, bias tape and ribbon.

These particular dresses should fit girls aged approximately 4-6 years old.  I managed to buy material in the same charity shop that will be suitable for boys' shorts and I have found some easy patterns.  It seems that less than one in 10 items sent to Sew Scrumptious is shorts.  i can just see the boys' hopeful little faces when the donations arrive.  So next year I will sew some shorts to add to my parcel before I post it.

My sewing projects are finished for 2013.  I have some knitting left to do which will fill my dwindling free time.

Not a sheep in sight........

This is slightly off topic for a wool/knitting/crochet blog but I just had to show the 2 dresses I made this week.  I used to sew a lot many moons ago and even made my own coats, trousers, jackets and blouses.  Then I stopped sewing and promptly forgot nearly everything.  These dresses have been a steep learning curve and I'm pleased with the way they turned out.

They are very similar to the pillowcase dresses that people make but I actually followed a Simplicity pattern.  I looked at lots of online tutorials about how to make this type of dress but gave up partly because I don't have any spare pillowcases and partly because I bought this lovely material for the bargain price of £1 a year ago and have been itching to use it.  The blue material at the hemline is from an old sheet that I had already chopped up and used to line a baby blanket last year.

These two dresses are supposed to fit a girl aged 6 years old.  The organisation I am thinking of sending these to is Sew Scrumptious which distributes dresses to girls in Africa, India and other countries worldwide.  With that in mind, I made a great effort to make these dresses as indestructible as possible.  They will hopefully be handed down and worn by many girls over the next few years.

As I am not lucky enough to have a sewing room, I have to use the dining room table.  This time of year the room is bathed in natural light and warmth.  I'm going to take advantage of that and do a bit more sewing before the weather changes.