I can't tell you how excited I am about today's post! I am thrilled to be participating in the Sew in Tune series, a series hosted by Stacey and Melissa where you sew something inspired by a song or music! When asked back in the fall if I wanted to sew something for Sew in Tune, I didn't hesitate! Music plays such an important part in our family and consistently plays a central role in our family, from day to day life, to road trips, to falling in love, to having babies and birthdays and vacations and more!
Initially it took me a while to decide (of course) who to sew for and what song to use until one day we were putting on a Josh Ritter album and I got it!
It's not a song per say, but an entire album and it's cover art!
Josh Ritter has been one of our favorite singer/song writers for years and years now. Many summer's ago my husband played him for me in the car at first, and I didn't pay him much attention... a few months later, I found my pregnant self listening to him all alone while I was painting Violet's nursery and I totally got it! A few months later, my more pregnant self, was rocking out in heels in a New York City club hearing him perform for the first time. Since then I am a forever fan! His lyrics are so smart and touching and fun all at the same time. Plus, he seems like an actual nice guy, which is pretty cool too!
I love all of his albums and each has it's place in my music heart, but the artwork on the "Bringing in the Darlings" album seemed like the perfect choice.
The skirt, is the lotta skirt from Compagnie M. It was perfect for the full skirt look that I was going for, although I sewed it up at least two sizes too big, I think. I had to bring it in on the sides considerably. Part of that might be due to the fact that I used a material (black stretch sateen from Imagine Gnats, affiliate link) that has a slight stretch...but also, it might be due to the way you are instructed to find your size by using a skirt that fits you well and measure it's circumference... and since I don't quite have any skirts that fit well, that was challenging...
Despite the sizing issues, I love this skirt! I made a freezer paper stencil to mimic the beautifully simple cover art (by amazing artist Matthew Fleming) and painted the steer walking across the bottom of my skirt...
This part, after all of the time spent making the skirt, was quite nerve racking...But it turned out exactly as I had hoped it would!
The foldover pockets of the lotta skirt were perfect for a little pop of white in an otherwise black skirt.
They were also perfect for a bit of hand stitching details...
To accompany the skirt I made a simple white Plantain tee from Deer and Doe. The white is Laguna cotton (from Imagine Gnats, affiliate link) which is so soft and so perfect for tees! And, instead of plain old elbow patches, stars...
And, to top it all off, a hand painted polymer clay necklace...
The whole ensemble turned out so nicely! I was a little out of my "comfort zone" as I am not typically a black and white sewer...but this, I love!
But, after I sewed up my Sew in Tune inspired outfit, I couldn't get a few ideas that I had for the kids out of my head.
We listen to "Bringing in the Darlings" quite a lot, it's pretty perfect dinner time music and it's our "go to" album for when we are in the car on a trip and it's time for the kids to take a nap, but god forbid you suggest such a thing. So, yeah, it only seemed appropriate that they have some Josh Ritter inspired threads too...
I had just enough black stretch sateen left to squeeze out a pair of Mini Hudson pants for Henry. The sateen fabric kept reminding me of tuxedo pants so I thought it would be fun to make a sporty pair of "tuxedo" pants...
The stripe was simply hand painted directly onto the pants ( I did it after I sewed the outsides of the legs together, but before I sewed the inseams).
Henry's shirt is a Flaskback Skinny Tee made of more Laguna cotton. His freezer paper stencil was based again on the cover art of Matthew Fleming but this time, the back cover...
Oh man, this poor kid was so sick when I took these pictures, but he still totally rocks it! And, despite feeling terrible he totally loved it all. Seriously though, how and why is he so cool?!
And lastly...I simply had to make something for Violet. For a long time now Violet has been paying close attention to song lyrics, which is a good thing and sometimes, ahem, a bad thing... She often asks questions about songs questioning what they mean by this or that and she really holds onto certain songs because of their lyrics.
One night Violet told us that she never falls asleep until she hears "Can't go to sleep without you" on her night time cd that my husband put together for her...So sweet! There really was no way I could not make her something!
So she got "lounge wear"... a Flaskback Skinny Tee made of more Laguna cotton with her favorite lyric freezer paper stenciled on the front. She was over the moon excited about seeing this shirt! She had no idea I was making it and when she came home from school one day to see it she beamed with excitement! I, too, was excited with the way it all turned out! All of the freezer paper stencils turned out really nicely, but this one took so long to cut out with all of the words so it made it all the more exciting when it actually looked nice too!
(In case you are interested...here is a downloadable "Can't go to sleep without you" template, please use only for personal use.)
Violet also got a pair of black and white Mini Hudsons, hers are made out of some black knit I had in my stash...
Since her last pair were a bit too big I went down a size, but really I think she's somewhere right in between...Anyway, she loves her new "lounge wear" and always loves when she has a reason to jump on our bed...
So as it seems I might have gone a little bit overboard with Sew in Tune...
But really it was so much fun and I couldn't help but get carried away! The outfits are all so simple and classic, but fun and sentimental at the same time.
If you haven't heard of Josh Ritter go check him out each and every one of his albums is worth a close listen to. And, if you want some visuals to go along with his songs this video and this video are amazing! And don't forget to check out the talented artist, Matthew Fleming, whose work was also my inspiration!
Thank you so much Stacey and Melissa! for asking me to be a part of this series! It was tons of fun! Head on over to Melly Sews to see what others sewed up, so good!
