Monday, September 16, 2013

Happy Little Art Smock

Erin came home from school last week with a letter from her art teacher requesting the children bring in an art smock to wear during class. The teacher suggested that they bring in an old large t-shirt of their parents to use but since art is Erin's favorite subject and I happen to sew and also happen to have the book Little Things to Sew by Oliver + S, I decided to make Erin an art smock instead. I have had this book for awhile and have only made one other item from it. There are so many cute things to make in this book, it really is a shame that I have not made more. I plan to remedy that and thought the art smock would be a great place to start!



Now, this letter came home on Tuesday and Erin had to bring her smock in on Friday, so naturally I ran right upstairs and traced, cut and sewed this baby up that night - ha! I couldn't even type that with a straight face! Okay so I didn't leave it all to the last minute. I did trace and cut the pattern on Wednesday but didn't actually sit down to sew until about 3:00pm on Thursday. Doesn't sound so bad right? Well then Erin gets off the bus around 3:20, homework needs to get done then it was off to CCD. During which time I have a meeting to prepare for the upcoming Girl Scout year (I am the Daisy co-leader for Erin's troop) Then it was pick Erin up from CCD, go home, have dinner, bathe kids, read stories, put them to bed, put Jack back to bed again - repeat this scenario 3x - then finally finish sewing. I was so tired by this time that I considered just sending her in with one of Kevin's old shirts! But I was determined to sew something from this book and have something special for Erin to have at school to wear during her favorite subject. So I finished it. And somehow by 9:30 - yay!

The smock was pretty easy to put together and probably would have gone a lot faster if I had just serged all the seams together but I followed the instructions given for French seams. That does take a bit longer but the results are really nice and I thought that it would help make the smock last all school year (hopefully longer so she can use it next year too!) In total it probably took me about 2 hours to sew the smock. I omitted the pockets on the front. The pockets are really cute but I didn't think she would need them and I just wanted to be finished so the less sewing the better (terrible of me I know!)

french seams inside
 
i sewed a rick rack name tag to the bottom

The pictures are not the best. I took them the next morning before Erin had to get on the bus. I was too tired to take them the night before and Erin was sleeping anyway. I could have gotten some cute ones if I did not suffer from severe procrastination. Oh well, here is a pic of Erin wearing it, she is pretending to make something in the picture ;) And she is also sporting the headband that I whipped up that morning to go with her outfit. Don't be too impressed - all I did was take a piece of sparkly tulle, tie it in a knot and wind some thread around it to secure it to a headband she already had - 7am crafting at its finest people!

jack's elbow photobombing the pic!
The Details:
Pattern: Little Things to Sew by Oliver + S Art Smock omitted pockets
Fabric: main: Riley Blake Happier Garden Birds sleeves: Happier Garden Orange Floral (sadly this line is no longer available - i've had it in my stash for over two years)
Notions/trim: Velcro tabs for back closure, white rick rack for name tag on bottom of smock both purchased at Joann

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan

6 comments:

  1. So cute!! I have that book too, and I've only sewn the doll carrier.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The doll carrier is next on my list! I just hope I actually get to it before Erin is too old to use it ha!

      Delete
  2. I swear I haven't sewn anything from that book and I can't believe it. The smock is so cute too. I love the idea of the ric rac tag :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! I know I really need to get to more of the things in this book before the kids get too big!

      Delete
  3. this is adorable. and useful! love her green tights...er leggings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Erin! I asked her today if she was using her smock in art and she said "Yeah Mom - all the time. Want me to bring it home and show you the paint splatters?" She's too much!

      Delete

Thanks so much for the awesome comments!