little guy is growing out of his pants again!  time to make him some.  we went to the zoo with gail on friday, and her little cutie, lila, was wearing a pair of chambray oliver + s sailboat pants (we know each other only through a longtime mutual sewing admiration on flickr, so it’s fun to dress our kids in handmades when we see each other).  gail told me these pants were a easy sew and they looked super cute.  sooooo i went ahead and started these at 9pm on saturday night for O to wear to his cousin’s baptism on sunday morning.  who needs sleep when you can sew!

the pattern came together really nicely, of course.  i made the 6-12 month size.  i had a little trouble figuring out a good boy fabric for them, but ended up raiding my husband’s closet and found this pair of gray j.crew chinos he never wore because they had spots on them.  i cut the pattern out of just one leg!  they’re a pretty heavy twill, but soft to the touch.

i hunted through my scraps for some stripey material to mimic these awesome sailboats but didn’t have enough, so i decided to cut into my recently-acquired sarah jane studios children at play pinwheel fabric for the facings. i’m so glad i did – i love it so much!  harvesting the buttons from my husband’s now-mangled pants completed the look.

this was a really fun sew, even though i was sewing late and definitely should have been in bed.  the details are just really nice, and i love them on him.

oh yeah, he can stand up holding onto things now.  he barely stays still for a moment!  the heavy material should be durable for crawling, too.  it’s gonna have to be, because he’s on the move.

we went to visit good out of town friends a couple weeks ago, and i noticed a few of their son M’s hats appeared to be getting a little small.  it had been a while since i sewed something for him, so i felt like he was due.  then they just so happened to have a wedding to attend in town this weekend, so i finished it up and presented it to him when they came over for a bit.

poor M was having a really rough time being away from home.   little mr. crankypants wasn’t too into a photoshoot, but i had to try anyway.

here’s how it went down.

M grabs O’s hat:

O grabs M’s hat:

M gets mad and throws his hat:

O gets two hats (and tries to eat one – not pictured):

i try for a photo of the polka dot side, M is not having it:

Em investigates the discarded polka dot hat (wearing her polka dot dress):

the end.  hopefully he’ll like it better when he’s wearing it at home.  🙂

deets:

fabric is the same daiwabo elephants as O’s hat and i had to get creative with cutting because i barely had any left.  O has gotten sooo much use out of his hat, wearing it almost every sunny day this summer, so elephants apparently go with everything!  for M’s, the reverse side is michael miller dumb dot gray – i had a fat quarter on hand.

the pattern is again the bucket hat from “little things to sew” by liesl gibson, size small 12-24 months (M is 13.5 months old).  it fit him well with some growing room.  it’s my third time sewing one of these bucket hats, and i really love it.  i think it does help to use a heavier fabric on one side – gives the hat some structure.

the end for reals.

my sisters and our families had professional photos taken this weekend as a gift to our parents.  we were supposed to do it back in may for mother’s day, but had to postpone due to illness.  the reason i mention that is to show how much of a procrastinator i am, yet again!  even though i had over a month to prepare, i decided em didn’t have a suitable outfit just the evening before photos, and sewed this little sundress after bedtime.

i tried to think of a pattern that would be a clean, face-framing dress that was quick to sew (due to it being the last minute), and complemented the rest of the family (wearing mostly blue and green).  i decided on a print instead of a solid, to pop against plain backgrounds of the photo studio.  i’d been saving this really pretty fabric that i’d picked up at bolt months ago because em loves animals and i knew she’d get a kick out of the giraffes wearing scarves and ribbons, and a sprinkling of flowers.

the fabric is kayo horaguchi’s “hide and seek” in green.  it’s a soft and light double-gauze.  isn’t it fun?  i figured such a loud print would juxtapose nicely with a very simple dress design, so i used the free popover sundress pattern by oliver + s, which i’ve sewn three times before, here and here and here.  i cut it as a 3T most places, but the length of a 4T and made the dress a bit more a-line to the hem (from 3T at the armpits to 4T at the hem).  it fits just right, which was a surprise since em is pretty short for a 3 year old.  the green is kona grass.  i made the ties extra long to make them sort of “vine-like.”

i have a completed sewing project that i can’t show yet because it’s a baby shower gift (and it’s KILLING me because it’s SO cute!), but those in the sewing-blog know may guess what it could be when i say i’ve recently learned how to sew piping.  wink!

the studio photos turned out well, and i’m sure this dress will get lots of wears over the summer since it’s so lightweight and fun.  and because em was in a silly mood, one more photo…this kid cracks me up!