Sew-Along #24 - Sweet Polly Playclothes - Lesson #6

The Sweet Polly Playclothes by Izzy & Ivy Designs

Please read through the Sweet Polly pattern directions before beginning this sew-along. You will need to keep these directions handy. If you have any questions, suggestions, or tips to share during the sew-along; please make sure to post them on our Facebook group.  Also, if you would like to see any of the images larger that are posted in this blog, just click on them
to enlarge. 

Hello and welcome to the final day of the Sweet Polly's Play Clothes Sew Along.  If you have done all of the days, today you will have the final pieces in your 6 item wardrobe just perfect for mixing and matching!  So let's get those last 2 pieces done!

The Flare Pants/Skinny Leggings
Today we are working on the Flare Pants and the Skinny Leggings.  The construction on both of these is identical, you just end up with a different leg shape in the end.

When I am making basic leggings or pants, I always construct them in the same order; front seam to front seam, back seam to back seam, outside side seams, inside crotch seam. There are other ways to do it (constructing each leg first and then sewing the crotch seam at the end, for example) but this is the way that makes most sense to me, so I stick with it.  

Putting Them Together

You will want to grab your 2 front pieces and place them, right sides together, matching the curved front seam. 

Now do the same with your 2 back pieces. 

 

Sew along the curved edge of each group using a serger or a sewing machine with a stretch stitch and a ballpoint needle.  

Now open up your back pieces and lay it right side up.  Open up your front pieces and lay that on top, right sides together. 

Match the front to the back along the long outer side seams and sew along the side seam. Repeat for the other side seam.

At this point, they should look like pants.  Match the seam together at the crotch and sew from the bottom of one leg, up around the crotch seam and back down the other leg. 

 

Waistband

At the waist band edge of the pants, fold over the top edge to 1 and 1/4" (wrong sides together) and press. 

Sew along the folded edge at 1" to create the elastic casing.  You will want to leave an opening approx 3" wide along the folded edge in order to insert the elastic.

Note from Danielle: I like to add a row of stitching around the very top edge of the waistband.  It just adds a little more professional look to your waistbands.  Be careful though that you sew very close to the edge though so you do not make your waistband too narrow for the elastic.

 

Now take the elastic that you cut (measurements on page 10) and insert one end into the opening you left in the waistband.  I like to use a bodkin, but elastic threaders or a large safety pin also work well. 

Pull the elastic through the casing, making sure you leave the other end of the elastic sticking out of the casing. 

Overlap the two edges of the elastic and sew the edges together.

Stretch the waist band to pull the elastic completely into the waistband and sew the remaining opening of the waistband closed.

Hem
For the final step, turn under a 1" hem on the bottom of each pant leg and press.  Then sew at 3/4" around the edge of each leg to form a hem.

And voila! You are done!

I hope you have enjoyed the sew along and hope to see you back soon for one of the other fun sew alongs planned for this year!  Thanks for joining me!

Sarah

* If you would like to earn entries into the prize drawing, please make sure to submit a photo(s) of your completed lesson six item(s) to the Facebook Album by 12:00 noon CT, Friday, May 15th.  Note: If you are making more than one item during the sew-along, please submit a separate photo for each item. Also, if you have any questions the Facebook Group is a great place to ask.

Sew-Along #24 - Sweet Polly Playclothes - Lesson #5

The Sweet Polly Playclothes by Izzy & Ivy Designs

Please read through the Sweet Polly pattern directions before beginning this sew-along. You will need to keep these directions handy. If you have any questions, suggestions, or tips to share during the sew-along; please make sure to post them on our Facebook group.  Also, if you would like to see any of the images larger that are posted in this blog, just click on them to enlarge.

The Ruffled Capris

Hello and welcome to Day 5 of the Sweet Polly's Play Clothes Sew Along.  Today we are going to start on the bottoms in the Sweet Polly's Play Clothes pattern by sewing the ruffle capris.  

Side Seams

The basic construction of all three bottom options in this pattern are very similar with either a different shape to the leg or the addition of detail at the bottom, as is with this pair.  So most of the steps will be the same for the other two bottoms (leggings and flare pants).  

The first step in constructing the ruffle capris is to match one front leg to one back leg, right sides together, along the long side seam.  You will notice that the crotch seam of the front and back do not match.  That is fine, you just want the side seams to match at this point. 

Sew along the long side seam using a serger or a sewing machine with a stretch stitch and a ballpoint needle.  Repeat with the remaining front and back piece.  

Ruffles

Now we are going to work on gathering the ruffle for the bottom of the pant using the ruffle pieces cut from the chart on page 12.  One quick and easy way that I like to gather long ruffles is to set my machine to a straight stitch with a long stitch length.  

Then I firmly hold the thread at the top of the machine and begin sewing. 

The fabric will gather as you sew along the top edge.  I like to make sure I am sewing the ruffle stitch at a smaller seam allowance than what my pattern calls for, that way I know it will get caught in my seam and I will not be able to see that thread in my finished item.  

Repeat this for both ruffle pieces along one long edge.  

Now, open one leg piece out flat, right side up.  

Lay the ruffle piece, right side down, along the edge of the pant leg, matching the gathered edge of the ruffle with the bottom edge of the pant.  Pin the ruffle along the bottom edge.

Now sew alone the pinned edge, removing the pins as you come to them.  

Repeat this process for the second pant leg.  

Ruche Casing

Now we will apply the casing for the ribbon.  Take the ruche casing you cut (measurements on page 12) and lay it in top of the long side seam.  The casing should be aligned with the short side of the casing along the bottom edge of the pants (above the ruffle seam) and centered on the side seam.  

Pin the casing into place and then stitch down the center of the casing (down pant side seam), then again down each outer edge of the casing (approx 1/8" away from each edge). Repeat for the other pant leg.  

 

Note from Danielle: It is perfectly acceptable to leave the raw edges of knit exposed, as in the casing here.  I however, sometimes I prefer to not have the raw edge exposed as is the case with my capris.  Here is how I like to do it.

First, you might want to cut your casing just a bit larger.  I then grab my wash away wonder tape (affiliate link).  I have a slight addiction to this stuff.  I add some to the sides of the back of my casing pieces.  You don't really need full length strips like this.  It's probably overkill, but like I said, I really love this stuff.

 

After sticking all the sides down, I then topstitch the top and bottom of my casing.

 

 

This way all the edges are turned under and secured before applying the casing to my pants. I proceed to attach the casing just as Sarah and the instructions describe.

Putting Them Together 

Once that is complete, lay one pant leg out flat, right side up and then place the other pant leg right side down on top of it, matching the front curved seams and the back curved seams.  Sew along the curved front seam and the curved back seam.  

 

Once the front and back seams are sewn, match the front and back seams to each other, right sides together.  

At this point, they should look like pants.  Match the seam together at the crotch and sew from the bottom of one leg, up around the crotch seam and back down the other leg. 

Waist Casing

At the waist band edge of the pants, fold over the top edge to 1 and 1/4" (wrong sides together) and press.  

Sew along the folded edge at 1" to create the elastic casing.  You will want to leave an opening approx 3" wide along the folded edge in order to insert the elastic. 

Note from Danielle: I like to add a row of stitching around the very top edge of the waistband.  It just adds a little more professional look to your waistbands.  Be careful though that you sew very close to the edge though so you do not make your waistband too narrow for the elastic.

Now, take the elastic that you cut (measurements on page 10) and insert one end into the opening you left in the waistband.  I like to use a bodkin, but elastic threaders or a large safety pin also work well. 

Pull the elastic through the casing, making sure you leave the other end of the elastic sticking out of the casing.  

Overlap the two edges of the elastic and sew the edges together.

Stretch the waist band to pull the elastic completely into the waistband and sew the remaining opening of the waistband closed.  

The final step is to run the ribbon up from the bottom of one side of the ruche casing and down the opposite side.  Then tie the ribbons together, pulling the casing up to make a cute ruche.  

And you are done with the first pair of pants!  Congrats and I will see you back for the final lesson when we will make the leggings and/or the flare pants.  

Sarah  

* If you would like to earn entries into the prize drawing, please make sure to submit a photo(s) of your completed lesson five item(s) to the Facebook Album by 12:00 noon CT, Thursday, May 14th.  Note: If you are making more than one item during the sew-along, please submit a separate photo for each item. Also, if you have any questions the Facebook Group is a great place to ask.

Sew-Along #24 - Sweet Polly Playclothes - Lesson #4

The Sweet Polly Playclothes by Izzy & Ivy Designs

Please read through the Sweet Polly pattern directions before beginning this sew-along. You will need to keep these directions handy. If you have any questions, suggestions, or tips to share during the sew-along; please make sure to post them on our Facebook group.  Also, if you would like to see any of the images larger that are posted in this blog, just click on them to enlarge. 

Welcome to Day 4 of the Sweet Polly's Play Clothes Sew Along.  

The Cardigan

Today we are wrapping up the final top piece of the sew along with the cardigan. 

I made 2 of these, one for each kid.  For the first one, I made it as directed by the pattern. But for the second one, I added a little ruffle along the placket.  I will show you how to do that in case you want to give it a try.  

Shoulders, Sleeves, and Side Seams

For the cardigan, you will start out the same way as with the T-shirt; match the shoulder seams, right sides together and sew the two shoulder seams.  You will want to use a stretch stitch and a ballpoint needle if you are using a sewing machine, or use a serger (as discussed in Day 2 of the sew along).

Once the shoulder seams are sewn, lay the cardigan down, right side up and open it out flat.  

Then, place the sleeve, right sides together, along the edge of the arm opening of the cardigan.  You can match along the raw edges and pin them in place if you want.

Sew along the raw edges of arm opening and sleeve remembering that if you have pinned, you need to remove the pins before you get to the knife on your serger or before you sew over them if you are using a sewing machine.  

Now repeat this process to sew the second sleeve into place.  

Note: At this point, I like to fold my hem into the sleeve and press it (1" fold) just to mark it and make it easier to stitch into place later.  Once it is pressed, unfold the hem and proceed to the next step below, sewing up the side seams.

Once both sleeves have been sewn into the arm, match the side seam (right sides together) from the bottom edge of the cardigan, under the arm of the cardigan and down the length of the sleeve.  Now sew this seam in one pass. 

You now have the basic shell of your cardigan and we are ready to add the bindings and placket. 

Bindings

Measure your neckline opening (without stretching the fabric) and take that measurement, multiply it by .75, and cut your neck binding piece to that length.  Alternatively, you can cut a piece longer than your neck opening and then trim the edge when you are done sewing it in place (I prefer the first method).

Once your binding is cut, fold the piece in half lengthwise and press it. 

Now, align the binding raw edge with the neck opening raw edge, right sides together, and stitch the binding piece to the neck opening.  You will need to stretch the binding piece as you go so that it stretches to the length needed to extend along the whole neck opening.  (If you are trimming at the end, just stretch the binding slightly along the whole edge of the neckline.) 

Once you have the neck binding in place, trim away the excess of the binding (if you did not pre measure and use 75% of the opening) so that it is even with the front edge of the cardigan.

I did my first cardigan using the sew and stretch method without pre-measuring but didn't like how it turned out.  So I did the other method with my second cardigan and it came out much better!

Now follow the same process for the bottom binding, applying it along the entire bottom edge of the cardigan.  

Once both the neck binding and bottom binding are in place, you will add the plackets.  

Ruffle Trim

For my ruffle trimmed cardigan, I cut 2 additional strips about 3" wide, and folded them in half lengthwise.  Then I gathered the strips and pinned them along the raw edge of my cardigan front (not overlapping the bottom or neck binding).  I did this for both sides before I added the placket.  Once the ruffle was in place, I proceeded through adding the packet as normal. 

Placket

To stabilize the placket, you will want to iron interfacing to the wrong side of both placket pieces.  

Sorry, I switched fabrics here because I realized I didn't take great pictures of this part the first go around.  There are only a few with the different fabric, so hopefully it isn't too confusing.

Once the interfacing is applied, fold the place in half lengthwise, right sides together, and sew both short edges. 

Once the edge is sewn, turn the placket piece right sides out, using a point turner or chopstick to push out the point.  Then press the placket. 

Now match the placket piece, raw edge to the right side of the front edge of the cardigan (over the ruffles if you added them) and stitch along the edge.  

Repeat for the second placket.  Once the plackets are sewn into place, press the seam allowance toward the cardigan along the plackets and the neckline.  Now, topstitch from the bottom edge of the placket, around the neckline, and back down the other side of the placket.  

Hemming
Finally, turn your pre-ironed hems back up on the sleeves and stitch 3/4" from the bottom edge.  

If you want to add buttons or snaps to your cardigan, you can also do so.  I left mine without because that is how we like to wear them.  Plus, that way you can see the cute cascade ruffles we added to the t-shirt!

And with that, you are done!  See you soon with Day 5 of the sew along when we will start on the pants!

Sarah

* If you would like to earn entries into the prize drawing, please make sure to submit a photo(s) of your completed lesson four item(s) to the Facebook Album by 12:00 noon CT, Tuesday, May 12th.  Note: If you are making more than one item during the sew-along, please submit a separate photo for each item. Also, if you have any questions the Facebook Group is a great place to ask.