Friday, May 28, 2010

Kwik Sew's Sewing for Baby by Kerstin Martensson - bib pants with vertical seam


Snaps attached.
1/2 in bias tape facing.
1/4 in elastic and casing; adjustable straps.

There are lots of baby clothes patterns in the book Sewing for Baby by Kerstin Martensson. I chose the bib-pants pattern with a vertical seam down the front and elastic in the back.

Some of the patterns in this book have a retro feel to it, while others look more modern.

Since I hadn't tried out any of these patterns before, I chose an old sweatshirt for fabric. The collar of the sweatshirt had holes in it, but the rest of the fabric feels great.

Pattern: Kwik Sew's Sewing for Baby by Kerstin Martensson
Size:
L 6-12 m (comes in XS, S, M, L, XL sizes)
Fabric:
old sweatshirt (cotton knit)

Things I learned:

  • While I hadn't had much success with refashioning up until now, I have now proven to myself that I can actually do it.
  • Interfacing the facing doesn't always work on baby clothes; even a light-weight interfacing makes it too still for baby clothes.
  • A 0.6 cm seam allowance is plenty for baby clothes.
  • Note to self: I almost messed up these pants, because I cut both sides on the same side of the fabric, instead of mirror images. I saved it by making one side on the reverse and the other on the right side of the fabric, and followed the same with the straps, thus making it part of the design, BUT if it hadn't been a baby garment, I probably wouldn't have been able to get away with that.
  • Applying snaps using a pencil eraser, a wooden cuttingboard, soft fleece, and a hammer is VERY time consuming. Not to mention, hard on one's fingers, because no matter how much you try to use the eraser to get the prongs to go through the fabric, sometimes, you can achieve better results with your fingers, but after applying 22 snaps, they do start hurting....

2 comments:

  1. So cute, particularly love the applique on the front. I hear you on the pain of hammering snaps - to avoid it I used to buy the sew on tape with snaps already on them before I bought my snap press. So much quicker and easier using a snap press, totally worth it if you're going to make heaps of baby clothes. I bought mine online in Australia, but I'm sure you could find one from a US site

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  2. Kristy, thanks so much for the comment, and in particular for the tips on the snap tape and the snap press. I have been thinking about buying a snap press, but I do need to make a lot more baby clothes in order to justify its cost. Hm... maybe I could put it on my wishlist for my birthday... (By the way, I read your blog on a regular basis, and I really enjoy it!)

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