Finishing Up!

Tuesday, February 1-  Button holes!  Sewing on buttons, too and finishing

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Actually, it's Wednesday.  And I am over this massive snow-ice-rain-winter storm.  Over it.  I woke up to chunks of ice beating my house, my salted sidewalk iced over, thunder, lightening, and thinking we were the only school district in this part of the state not with a 2 hour delay or closed.  Sent my kids to school with the Dad and 10 minutes later he brought them back. "No school" he says.

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WHAT?!

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We didn't get the notification phonecall.  It wasn't on the radio.  The janitor told them.

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Glad to see my tax dollars working like they should.

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*Grumps*

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I'm hoping I can finish this before the power starts doing that flashy-blinky thing like it did yesterday.  Bear with me.

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On the up side, Phil didn't see his shadow this morning!  WOOT!

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Before you sew the button holes, you need to transfer the markings for the button hole placement from your pattern.  OR, you can decide where you want the button holes to be and just draw them on (especially helpful if you're using bigger buttons).

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There are several ways to make button holes.  Many modern machines have the buttonhole stitch built right in.  I sew on vintage machines, and therefor, use the vintage button hole attatchments designed for them.

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Once the button holes are sewn, you need to cut them open.  Be careful not to cut thru the buttonhole threads!  A friend of mine places a straight pin at each end of her button holes, so that her seam ripper or scissors doesn't cut too far (the pin stops them blade).  I cut, using sharp pointed darning scissors, from the outside towads the middle of the button hole.  It's just a matter of preference.

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I loike to try my buttons to see if they fit before cut more than one hole open.

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I use a fabric marker with disappearing ink to mark t.he center of the button holes for button placement.  Make sure you line your side panels and front panel up to your satisfaction before marking.  Then, just make a dot in the center of each button hole, onto the side panels.

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Sew your buttons on!  SewMamaSew has an excellent tutorial for sewing on buttons by hand, if you need some help.

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The directions go on to say that you should stitch a few inches of the front facing & the side panels together to prevent gapping.  I have no gaps, so I'm skipping this step.  It's up to you  :)
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All done!

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*Notes: the Brawn is in cloth diapers, so I made the size 4 pattern with the correct pattern length (since these are supposed to be cropped), and they fit over one of his fluffiest diapers with ease and fit like a full length pair of pants.  If you cloth diaper, I suggest definately going off the measurements of the hips at the widest point for choosing your pattern size.  The Brawn usually wears a size 2t pants at the moment.*
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Hopefully, the Brawn will cooperate and allow me to get some photographs of him in his new pants today, so I can show them off!

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Also, if you haven't already, enter the giveaway, I'm extending it thru midnight PST tonight, because of the winter storm.

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Be sure to e-mail me a finished picture of your pants to thejenni dot girl at gmail dot com, so that I can show everyone's pants off when I get back from Baltimore on February 7th!

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Hemming the Legs and Vents, Giveaway too!

Monday, January 31-  Hem the pants and finish the side vents

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Before we actually start sewing today, I have a surprise!

The Hubs (aka: the Dad) & I are going away to Baltimore this comming weekend like we do every February (a certain freak snowstorm threatening the country had better miss us and not repeat last year's snowpocolipse, or *somebody* is going to pay).  I needed a haircut and some mid-winter pampering before we left town, and I needed to do it without the Brawn and his desire to not be in his stroller when it's not moving.  That either meant A.) the Dad would have to miss some sleep and watch him so I could go & I would feel rushed  B.) I do it over the weekend when the Brains could watch his baby brother while his Dad napped in the other room.  I chose B.
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I am waxed, polished, washed, cut, and curled.  It looks great!  Still long, but with lots of face framing layers in the front and long sexy layers in the back.  The Blonde thinks I'm nuts for the eyebrow waxing (She's ripping the hairs out of your skin, Mom!)  I feel human!  In fact, while sitting in the chair, having my eyebrows hairs ripped from my flesh, I thought to myself, "I should do a giveaway as part of the Sew-Along!"
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I asked the Blonde what I should do for the giveaway.  She thought for a few, and said, "Buttons!"
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That girl is definately my daughter.
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We bought some pretty awsome buttons at JoAnn's, brought them home, and now I'm fighting the desire to keep them.  I will part with them, but it won't be easy.  It would probably be easiest on me if someone gave me a really good reason to stuff them in a padded envelope and send them away to a new home.
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the Blonde and I thought these buttons were perfect because they don't scream boy or girl, the trees are green and that means it is summer and WARM on the buttons (we miss being warm), and they are vintage recreations.  LaMode says that these are replicas of what one would have found between 1860 and 1900.  They are 1" accross, are supposed to be handwashed (I'm assuming one could use the delicate cycle on their washer if they wished unless thair washer beats their close clean), they are NOT plastic, nor were they made in China (Italy produced).  I *think* they are mother of pearl, but I'm not sure.
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Here's the rules:
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1.) Be a follower.  I want to know who's stalking me.  It fluffs my ego.
2.) Leave a comment telling me what you would do with these marvelous buttons if they were your's
3.) Winner will be chosen at random using a random number choosing website
4.) Comments will be closed for entry February 1st, 2011 at 11:59pm EST
5.) You do NOT have to be participating in the Sew-Along to enter 
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The Sailboat Pants were designed to be cropped pants, but work well as full length trousers as well.  Because they were designed to be cropped, they were designed with slits.   I think slits are cute on both clam diggers and trousers, but they are just as cute when full length and ventless.  It's really just a matter of taste, or, in my case, mood.  I'm moody and like a variety.

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Hemming is pretty easy.  First, we are going to fold the hem 1/2 an inch towards the wrong side of the fabric/project and iron.

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Then we fold another 3/4 inch more to the wrong side, and again, press with your iron.

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I like to sew my pants' hems with the legs right side out.  It allows me to see my allowance, so that I don't sew all the way around the leg and find out I completly missed the folded hem.  I use the guides on my machine to insure that my stitches are all the same measurement from the bottom of the hem.  Not that I have ever, ever, ever had a crooked folded hem allowance.  Ever.  (If you're buying that tall tale, I have a beach house in Arizona for sale) 

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The vents are easier than you would think.  Turn the pants inside out, if they aren't already, and fold the vent edges to the wrong side.  In other words, fold them away from you, so that they are tucked in on themselves and press.

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Top stitch, 3/8 inch from the edge of the split, pivoting at the top of the vent to stitch straight accross, then pivot again, 3/8 inch from the split edge, backstitching at the ends to lock your stitches.

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Repeat on the second leg.

LOOK!  PANTS!  All that is left, is the buttons and button holes!

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Tell me about your buttons!  Are they big?  What color?  Vintage?  New?  Plastic?  Wood?  Handmade?  Do you love them?  Did you enter the giveaway so you can have more fabulous buttons in your life?

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