It is the time of year when I focus on back to school sewing. The Boy doesn’t really need too much. He really just likes to wear exercise pants/shorts and t-shirts. Not exactly exciting to sew.
The Girl, at least, is a little fashionista. She likes new clothes, but they must be comfortable. She told me last spring that she liked the peplum tops with the lace on them, so that is what I set out to make.
This was the first one. It doesn’t match the rest of the two outfits, so that isn’t in the “mini-capsule”.
Peplum tops are pretty easy to make if you have a circle cutter. I just take the measurement on the sewn waist of a basic knit top, divide it by 4 and then you have the opening width you need for cutting the circle on the fold. You then just go out from that measurement at equal intervals to make the length of the circle.
A little math, not too much.
That is all I did for this peplum top. I took a basic knit top, cut it at the waist and added the peplum circle skirt to it. The leggings are Oliver + S Playtime leggings.
Now for the capsule part. I bought most of these fabrics at different times. The thing with having a big stash of fabrics is that you can usually come up with stuff that matches!
The jeans I drafted off of a RTW pair that fit her. The RTW pair did not fit in the waist, so I had to put in elastic in the back. These I made to fit. She usually has some complaint or another and on this she said the crotch was too tight. Not sure how that is possible, since it seems like it has enough room, so next time I will lengthen the front crotch a little bit.
This is a fairly stretchy coated denim, which can give you issues when putting on things like pockets. To make sure the pockets didn’t stretch and look all wonky, I did a line of stitching around it before folding the edges under and attaching it to the back pieces.
Due to the coating on the denim, I had to use a press cloth for all of the ironing. This was especially true when putting the rhinestones on the pockets. You have to leave the iron on the fabric longer, and it would have surely melted the coating onto the iron.
The matching top is a knit with a bit of a ribbing feel to it. I was trying to come up with something for the style so it wasn’t just a plain top. I wanted it to be a little shorter to show off the pockets in the back of the jeans, too. I saw this pin on Pinterest and decided to try to do my take on it.
I didn’t have a lot left of this fabric, so the sleeves were going to be a little short. I added stretch lace backed with a white cotton knit to the ends of the sleeves and the shoulders. The cutouts on the side don’t go up very high. This is a winter shirt and I wanted it to still be warm.
The blushy colored top and leggings are a very nice plush velour. It was a bit too stretchy, so it does have some issues with seams rippling a bit. When she is wearing it, they don’t really show, though. She said this was pretty comfy.
I didn’t hem the circles, as that would probably end up being too bulky. We’ll see how they wash up. I might need to do that yet, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Now she has a few new outfits for her fall wardrobe. I have a few other ideas on things to make, so I will work on that after some charity sewing I want to get done.
I love it! My girls informed me this year that they don’t wear skirts, leggings, dresses, etc. So it’s lots of perfect tees, some sweats, and a store bought jeans. I’m starting to have more fun sewing for the boys and I (because they aren’t as picky!!) 🙂
Thanks, Kristi! They do tend to get picky, don’t they? She doesn’t really like wearing dresses all that much, though I have made her some this year. I definitely ask her thoughts on what she wants, but for the most part she is pretty good. I just know she wants things that she can easily move in, since she is pretty active.
Wonderful! I need to go through my girl’s wardrobe and see what missing pieces I need to make her. Time always goes way too fast!
Thanks! I hear you on the time going too fast. Life is so busy lately that I have been having a hard time finding time to sew. We got one sport out of the way this past weekend, though. A little more time now!