Sewing a baby kimono
YAY. I finally did it. Yesterday night I sewed the first piece of baby clothing. After my sewing skills sucked a little bit lately this was a tough task which I was a bit afraid of. But this time I had a tutorial and it didn’t look difficult so I gave it a try. Actually I can’t say I gave it a try – it HAD TO be good as I did this for my colleague who wanted to give this to her neighbor who’s moving away tomorrow. So I had to do it yesterday evening and I really wanted it to be nice.
I decided to sew a little kimono from a cute Japanese fabric that I once bought. I cut the fabric in the office as it’s easier there. More space, a bigger cutting mat, better light.
The tutorial I had came from Habitual blog which is totally worth a read. The kimono consists of 3 pieces which are basically just sewn together, add binding, done. Not really, though. I wanted it to have a lining as well and really I had to think hard and ask a colleague how to do this. For nothing in the world I wanted to have the seams showing on the inside of the little jacket. We couldn’t find a solution but she gave me the tip to make little prototypes from scrap fabric in order to figure it out. That was GENIUS!
When I cut the scrap pieces this is how my fabric turned out… made me think of Texas :-) (this was just a side note)
The solution was to sew the jacket once with the nice fabric and once with the lining, put both pieces inside each other and connect. Easy! Since the patterns are so freakin’ easy both pieces fit into each other perfectly. When it comes to sewing – I must admit – I’m not the most accurate.
Additionally I sew in the HAPPY SERENDIPITY label and a ribbon on the side of the nice fabric to close the kimono. Then I pinned both pieces and sewed them together. NOW – a day later – I know that was totally unnecessary because I could have done this when sewing on the binding. It just caused an extra stitch that is a bit visible on some places but yes… lesson learned.
After the pieces were connected I seamed the sleeves.
Adding the binding was a task. I’ve never worked with bias tape before so because of that I had to find a tutorial for how to make it. I used the same white fabric as the lining (which was a very soft bed bed sheet from organic cotton before).
That was basically it. I love the result a lot.
Since it’s a farewell gift one of the closing ribbons says “Forget me not”. Thought that would be a sweet addition.
From the leftover fabric I made two little buttons to hang on the tag.
Gosh that was fun. I really enjoyed this. 3 hours of peaceful sewing are priceless!
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11 comments
Ach, wie süß ist das denn? Ich bin verzückt! Liebst Grüße von caro
.-= caro´s last blog .. =-.
This is too cute! Our neighbor is pregnant…I think I may attempt this.
.-= Brigitte´s last blog ..Mama Needs A Vacation =-.
you definitely should. it’s really easy and is so adorable for a little one!
wow. superschön, lou!
OMG, i MUST make this for my nephew!!!! This is sooo adorable, i love the fabric you used too! THANKS soo much for the awesome tutorial!!!!
OMG Lou this is about the cutest thing I’ve seen!!! This would make such a perfect baby shower gift!! here comes the entrepreneur in me….you totally should sell these :)!!
.-= Piper´s last blog ..{shake it up – week 23} =-.
Piper, I actually sold this :-) I don’t know whether I’ll do mass production now but I will definitely consider this for my (hopefully soon to be opened) little shop!
Lou, this is the sweetest baby clothing thing I’ve seen! I agree with Piper: you should go for mass production! LOVE IT! The fabric is perfect (whare’s that from???) and the little details like the buttons are lovely!
Bravissima!
Ciao!
Suze
.-= Suze´s last blog ..The store is OPEN! =-.
Fantastic! I love how you added the lining, it really makes all the difference! I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried French seams, but they’re great for items that don’t need lining (like skirts) but yet you don’t want ugly seams. Here’s a link to my favorite tutorial on the subject: http://www.oliverands.com/blog/2010/04/french-seams.html
But I really love this kimono top lined. Great work!
.-= MelanieO´s last blog ..New Sale Category =-.
Suze.. the fabric i bought at a craft fair last fall. it’s something japanese. kokka or something. can’t remember now. yeah.. now that you guys are encouraging me so much maybe i will do some kimonos for the store. let’s see if i can get nice fabric again.
Melanie… i had NO idea!! that is great. ugly seams were the main issue when i sewed this. ah thank you so much! i will try this on some scrap first. sounds pretty easy!!
ahhh…so cute. I love it!
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