Sewing: Game Day Jerseys for the Holidays

I opted out of sewing Christmas dresses again this year. I love doing it but decided to make casual clothes for the girls instead. This decision was certainly influenced by the fact that I was wrapping up my new sewing pattern, The Game Day Jersey.

I made Game Day Jersey dresses for Scarlett and Tess.

And a Game Day Jersey tee for Audrey.

The dresses are sewn with Girl Charlee Fair Isle Deer jersey and coordinating solid jersey from Jo-Ann.

Audrey's tee is sewn with Girl Charlee Glasgow Plaid in black and red and black jersey from Jo-Ann.

And the darling puppy was borrowed from our neighbor! 

Hope your holiday projects are shaping up nicely! I'm down to some last minute sewing--trying to see how much I can get done by Christmas Eve. It's always interesting to see what gets finished compared to my expectations. We'll see.

Sewing: The Game Day Jersey Tee and Dress (New Pattern!)

Hello, friends! I am so excited to announce the release of a new sewing pattern. Hooray!

Introducing The Game Day Jersey. It's a new Wee Muses sewing pattern.

It's a tee. It's a dress. Something for boys and girls.

The jersey is a classic look for boys of course, but we all love it on girls too, right? Whether your girl prefers to be part of the cheer squad or jump in the game, the Game Day Jersey pattern has a look for her. 

This pattern includes a unisex football-inspired tee with yoked top and a variety of sleeve lengths: sleeveless, short, three-quarter and full-length. It's got a slick rounded hem and sporty straight sleeves. The fit is far from boxy but there's plenty of room to move.

To score extra points, there’s a dress too! 

With a higher waist and an a-line skirted bottom that hits at the knee, and the option of a full skirt or a skirt with sporty stripes down the side. 

Designed for stretch knits, this could comfortably become your child's year-round uniform!

The Game Day Jersey is a premium quality children's sewing pattern and includes:

• a digitally graded and drafted pattern for sizes 2 to 10 years
• markings, instructions and an assembly guide for easily printing and assembling the 24 page pattern
• digitally drafted, clear illustrations for sewing each step
• tips for sewing with knits
• detailed yardage/meters charts
• detailed body measurements (in inches and cm) and finished garment measurements 

This pattern was tested by nearly two dozen sewists in the US, Europe, Australia, and Mexico--it's suitable to print and use! (Looking for a testing roundup soon.)

The Game Day Jersey sewing pattern includes the following variations:

    The Game Day Jersey Tee includes sleeveless, short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve or long sleeve variations.

The Game Day Jersey Dress includes sleeveless, short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve or long sleeve variations and options for a full skirt or a skirt with a sport stripe down the side.

While The Game Day Jersey is a simple sewing project the possibilities truly never end. Play around with contrasting fabric for the yoke or sleeves or skirt or side stripes to keep things fun. No matter your pick, I’m sure your child will be a big fan of The Game Day Jersey!

This pattern is suitable for sewing with light (but not too light--nothing near tissue) and medium weight knit fabrics such as jersey, interlock, lighter weight French terry and double knits such as ponte and scuba knit. A high quality knit with good recovery will yield the best results. 

Speaking of knits, here are all the details on the combinations my girls are wearing here. Audrey's dress was sewn with a teal knit from Jo-Ann and Little Bloomy Dream organic cotton jersey from Lillestoff. Scarlett's tee is sewn with some of the Little Bloomy Dream as well as some Fawn Silhouette jersey from Girl Charlee. Her skirt (which is self-drafted, and potentially a future pattern) is sewn with the fabrics I used for Audrey's dress. Tess's dress is sewn with "Variete" from Liandlo and yellow interlock from Jo-Ann.

You can find The Game Day Jersey pattern in my Etsy shop!

Craft: Covered Comp Book with Leather Cord Gift for Men (Tutorial)

Got a man on your gift list? I find them more challenging to give handmade, which is my favorite way to give. A bit more tricky to knit or crochet or sew for them. So I came up with a handmade gift for men they don't have to wear: a paper covered comp book with a leather strap. In this age of technology a notebook with a vintage vibe is such a great change of pace, don't you think!?

I love this map and license plate paper I found at Jo-Ann. I used it to make this comp book for the Jo-Ann Fall Lookbook a few months ago. I purchased the suede lace there too.

To make this comp book you'll need:

• a standard composition book (9 3/4" x 7 1/2")
• 2 yards of suede lace (as in shoe lace) or thin leather cord
• Krylon Easy Tack Repositionable Spray
• 2 pieces 12"x12" scrapbooking paper (I used Paper House Productions sku#67636 53499 from Jo-Ann)
• X-acto knife or scissors
• Drill with 1/4" bit

To make the book: (you may also want to refer to my phototutorial for covering a comp book)

• Overlap the two pieces of scrapbooking paper by at least an inch and use the spray adhesive to adhere them to form one larger piece of paper. This overlap seam will be on the backside of the composition book.
• Follow the directions on the adhesive spray and coat the wrong side of the scrapbooking paper.
• With the composition book closed, position the composition book with the front cover down on the wrong side of the paper close to the edge, on the opposite side from the seam, and with a bit of extra paper on the three sides of the cover. Press down firmly on the book to adhere the paper to the front cover.
• Fold the remaining paper over the spine tightly and across the back cover. Smooth down the paper and press it firmly to adhere.
• Using an X-acto knife or scissors, carefully trim the extra paper from around the cover.
• Open the cover of the composition book and place it on a piece of wood. Drill one hole through the front cover from the inside of the book. Place this hole about ½” from the front edge of the composition book cover and center it from top to bottom.
• Take your suede lace and thread it through the hole. Tie a double knot to secure. Wrap the leather around the book and tie a loose knot to close it.

Now you've got a handmade gift that would work for the men in your life too.

Cooking: Citrus Salad with Pomengranate (Recipe)

This salad is so simple. There really isn't much to it. But that's just what we need right about now, right? Easy is just the thing for December and sometimes we need to be reminded of an easy idea with a big payoff so I thought I'd share this.

This citrus salad is such a great complement to rich holiday food and it works equally well at brunch or lunch or dinner. 

To make it, buy a selection of citrus: grapefruits (ruby red is especially pretty), navel oranges, blood oranges, even mandarins. Also buy pomengranate arils.

To slice the fruit, first cut a slice off the top and the bottom of the fruit (think of the "North Pole" and the "South Pole" and then cut the peel off in long strips, think "longitude," all the way around. Now that the fruit is peeled you can cut it into 1/2 inch slices.

Toss the citrus mixture with pomengranate seeds. That's it, if you'd like. Or you can drizzle grenadine syrup over the mixture for a tiny bit of sweet. This salad is especially pretty garnished with a spring of mint.

There you go! Simple, pretty and guilt-free.

Thanks to you! 20% off

We are spending a long weekend with extended family to celebrate Thanksgiving. There are so many things to be thankful for! I am trying to teach my children to live in Thanksgiving daily. To appreciate the beauty around them, the conveniences of their daily lives, tender mercies, and the people who love and cheer them on. It's interesting how research is surfacing now about gratitude and how important that attitude is for achieving happiness.

I hope you enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with people you love, buoyed by thoughts of your many blessings.

And if you are also turning toward Christmas and shopping I wanted to thank you for reading my blog and supporting my creative endeavors with a 20% discount in both my Etsy shops. Just enter the code THANKS20 ,  This is good through December 6. Thank you!

www.Etsy.com/shop/WeeMuses

www.Etsy.com/shop/AestheticNest

Knitting: Ribbed Knit Maxi Scarf in Pastel Plum (Free Pattern)

It's the right time of year to sit with some knitting, especially if you can whip up something cozy. So I'm sharing this simple pattern for a Maxi Scarf (it's nearly 8 feet long!) in a trendy Fall pastel. I designed this scarf for the Jo-Ann Fall Lookbook, which debuted a couple months ago, and it could honestly take the place of a sweater, or make a big statement with a pastel coat.

I'm loving the Fall pastel trend, aren't you? This dusty lavender is so beautiful. 

Especially in this chunky, "thick and thin," yarn, Patons Cobbles.

To knit this Maxi Scarf you'll Need:

• 5 Skeins Patons "Cobbles" yarn in Frosted Plum
• Circular Knitting Needles in Size 15 (10 mm)

Gauge: 4” is about 6 stitches and 7 rows.

To Make:

Cast on 18 stitches.

Row 1: Purl 3, Knit 2, Purl 3, Knit 2, Purl 3, Knit 2, Purl 3. 

Row 2: Purl the purl stitches and knit the knit stitches (Knit 3, Purl 2, Knit 3, Purl 2, Knit 3, Purl 2, Knit 3. )

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until your scarf measures 94” (or a length you prefer).

Bind off all stitches. Weave in ends.

Wrap up!

Crochet: Triple Strand Earflap Hat Tester Roundup

It's definitely hat weather now! And it's high time to thank my great testers for helping me with the Triple Strand Earflap Hat pattern. It's such a thrill to have hard work validated and I really appreciate their willingness to try out these hats and provide feedback. Click through to see all the variations they came up with, and some really cute faces.

Crochet: Easy Afghans for My Girls

Though we've had unseasonably warm, beautiful weather around here, the temperatures are dropping so it's time to snuggle up!

I love Fall with it's golden colors and chill in the air.

So I made my Easy Baby Afghan in a larger size for Audrey and Scarlett, so they would have one similar to Tess's, which is the original size.

I can't tell you the numbers here but I added about twice the chain stitches (compared to the original pattern) at the beginning and used 6 skeins of the three yarn colors. The nice thing about this pattern is that you can chain until you have the width you would like and then just crochet rows until you get the right length. Pretty easy!

Three girls and three blankets. Sounds just right.