retro raglan sweatshirt

February 3, 2014February 2, 201415 Comments

well look at this, some legit KCW sewing happened after all. i sewed this just under the wire on day 7, after getting enough of my nesting out of the way that i was able to “indulge myself” in making another project that’s been brewing in my mind for months.

kind of funny what takes hold in my head sometimes – lately it has been a retro-style sweatshirt. i’ve noticed them in men’s fashion, both as basics and with interesting details (like color blocking, patches, piping, etc.) to them. and since O has now definitely grown out of the neon dinosweater i made during the Fall 2012 KCW, it was time to make another and finally scratch the retro sweatshirt itch.

i went pretty basic with the colors – army green and cream, with khaki topstitching. i added a star drawn onto some webbing for a little “Vintage Army” detailing, heavily influenced by Sabra’s fantastic boy looks for STYLO magazine (if you haven’t seen STYLO yet, please do yourself a huge favor and go check it out!).

i’m not usually into much of a military look for little kids, but in this case i thought O might appreciate a Sarge from “Cars” reference with the star and the color scheme.

he did appreciate it.

the fabric is a donate-pile cotton hoodie from my husband, a nice and heavy one that i knew would be great for layering in the springtime. the neckline and sleeves are rib knit from JoAnn, and the waistband is from the original sweatshirt. i did all the internal sewing on my serger but did honeycomb topstitching over the shoulders and on the v-patch at the neck with my machine. i might end up topstitching around the neckline too, we’ll see how much it flips up.

i looked up why sweatshirts have the little triangle at the collar and here’s the answer. mine is just appliquéd on. it seems to be a design element more than a practical one at this point, as a bunch of RTW shirts i examined in stores had either just the stitching or an appliqué; it wasn’t pieced in.

the pattern is the Oliver + S Field Trip Raglan Tee in a 3T (size up if you’re making this as outerwear so it can be layered!). i took just a little length off the sleeves and hem to compensate for the cuffs rather than hems like the pattern calls for, but i left them slightly long so he can grow into it over time.

i love how versatile this pattern is – i just sewed it as a pajama shirt, now it’s a sweatshirt, i’ve seen dress versions…all fun and cute! it’s totally fast to sew, the fit and shape are great, and it looks different each time depending on fabric choice. i especially love the look of raglans on little boys, so i plan to keep sewing these! so classic.

the Field Trip Raglan Tee, Playtime Leggings, and Seashore Bloomers are all now offered as individual PDFs from Oliver + S as i think i’ve mentioned before – a great way to try out their fantastic patterns at a lower price point. if you’ve never sewn one before, you should probably start your collection here and see why i’m always blathering on about how great they are. 😉

i’ve been sewing a lot more for this kid since i found out he’s getting a little brother that’ll be able to wear it all eventually. poor Em and her closetful of dresses she’s quickly growing out of. this spring i should probably work on that a bit!

striped knit baby pants

February 1, 2014February 1, 201425 Comments

DAY 3 – 4 of baby prep week: blog, run important errands like picking up my contacts prescription and making a Target run for things to put in the hospital bag, sleep, have lots of braxton hicks contractions and watch my belly drop even further, throw some stuff into hospital bag, go on 10th wedding anniversary dinner date with husband. 🙂

DAY 5 of baby prep week: sew some baby pants!!!!!

teehee! aren’t these kid of silly but also adorable? i think they are. i’ve actually had this idea to make some super simple and comfy skinny-legged knit newborn pants for a long time now based on my favorite ones that i used all the time with the first two kids. the annoying thing about shopping at actual stores is they’ll have something great one season, never to be seen again – so i had some favorite 0-3 month baby pants from when Em was born that i’ve been hanging onto but have seen better days.

i just went ahead and used them as a template to make these out of scraps from my maternity pencil skirt (it’s a ponte knit), eliminating the center seam to try a sort of drop crotch look (heavily influenced by Tara) and big cuffs. ain’t nobody got time for hemming teeny tiny baby pant legs.

they were super quick and fun to make, took very little fabric, and i have no idea if they’ll fit. if they do, i’ll probably make a bunch more and release this as a free pattern and tutorial for your baby sewing pleasure. they’re so fast and i THINK they’ll be so cute, but perhaps they’ll be ridiculous in a clownishly bad way, in which case i’ll do some tweaking. i’ll let you know.

it’s a bummer that i don’t have a little baby to try them on NOW because i kinda want to whip up about 5 pairs of these out of old t-shirts and knit scraps immediately. i’m gonna take them to the hospital…with a backup outfit in case they’re just wrong. haha.

but yeah, a baby pants design that’s been floating around in my head is finally an actual real-life garment, so that’s another item off my random pregnancy brain “to do” list (current remaining items include having a new kitchen sink installed and sewing a changing pad cover out of this fabric to go in the boy’s room).

hey look i match the button!

cars pajamas by request

January 21, 2014January 20, 201431 Comments

this guy, sometimes he just wraps me right around his finger.

he’s a really good errands-runner for a 3 year old. recently i took him along to my midwife appointment, where he was very patient and quiet. when we were back in the car, i asked if he wanted to go home or go to the fabric store with me. HE SAID “I WANNA GO TO THE FABRIC STORE.” i mean seriously!

while we were there (at Bolt of course), he sat and read books at the little table they have set up for kids, then joined me to browse, went straight to this fabric, and was so excited about it, he immediately asked me if i could make him some pajamas out of it.

how am i supposed to resist, i ask you? it was impossible.

he asked for pajama bottoms and a matching shirt, and this is what i came up with. the pants are Rae’s Parsley Pants in a 3T. i knew they’d be big but i wanted them that way – i’m sick and tired of these kids growing out of stuff all the time! fabric is masquerade party by fresh designs for henry glass & co. it’s lightweight for a quilting cotton and really nice as pajamas.

the shirt is the Oliver + S Field Trip Raglan Tee, in a 2T with length added to the arms and body (NEWSFLASH: it’s now available as an individual PDF pattern, plus 25% off through Friday in their January Sale, which makes it less than $7!). i already had the 2T traced from sewing it before and time was of the essence – i sewed this set during his naptime AFTER pre-washing the fabric right when we got home. it was a 4 hour turnaround from deciding on/buying the fabric to finished product and he wore it to bed that night (plus whenever it’s been clean since then)

the raglan is two shirts from my upcycle pile, with appliqué fussy cut car patch so the tops and bottoms “match” (per his request).

this all still wasn’t quick enough for him, though. as soon as we had gotten home from Bolt, he stripped down to his undies and said he was ready to put on his pajamas! had to break it to him that i still had to actually SEW it all first. ha! sewing is magic to 3 year olds. they go to sleep, wake up, and POOF – new clothes.

once i fiiiiinally finished them, though, he was an immediate fan. O loves transportation, the color black, and comfy wear, and i love patterns that are so fast they basically sew themselves. win-win. 😉

guest posting at oliver + s

January 15, 2014January 15, 20149 Comments

i’ve been a contributor to the oliver + s blog for a couple months now, but mostly that has meant reaching out to other bloggers to do guest posts and writing inspiration round ups around the holidays, so i don’t tend to talk too much about it here.

but hey, it’s still going, and today my post might be something that interests you – it’s my FAVORITE Oliver + S pattern of all time. it’s a unisex pattern but i’ve only made it for boys, and apparently i’ve made quite a few times! i kept remembering more and more versions and views that i’d made as i wrote the post.

are you curious, or as an eagle-eyed pattern spotter did you guess it as soon as you saw that yellow topstitching and those mint buttons (Gail I know you’d guess it right off the bat!).

but for the rest of you…

>> > click over to Oliver + S to see what it is < <<

: :

spider mittens

December 10, 2013December 10, 201318 Comments

this little guy is now three years old, and no he hasn’t taken that hoodie off since halloween!

but now he has some mittens to go with it.

he grew out of one pair of mittens and another vanished from our house, as those things often do. the weather here lately has been pretty frosty by northwest standards – we’re used to 40 degrees and rainy all winter, but it’s been in the teens and twenties and either really dry or even a bit snowy! anyway, mittens and gloves are usually optional around here, but not lately. lately they are mandatory.

i whipped these up for him as part of his birthday gifts. the pattern is from Little Things to Sew (affiliate link), and i’d almost forgotten the book included a mitten pattern even though i just did a gift idea inspiration post from the book for Oliver + S! silly me. i’d actually sewn these once before but it was a couple years ago – they come together so quickly! the part that took the longest was adding the webs to the palms – my husband’s idea when i asked what i could do to make them special and fun. boy mittens/gloves at the store are super boring, have you noticed? i tried to just buy some but they come in such boring solids and O was not thrilled about any of them. and the girl ones were all so fancy and fun! ugh. typical.

so anyway, i drew the design with water soluble marker and just stitched them on with black thread, so now he can shoot webs like Spider Man! he loves them!

the mittens are made of charcoal and white fleece in a size small, and i was going to make them double layered, but i was sewing late at night and sewed two right handed linings, so i gave up on that idea and just put the elastic casing at the wrist instead of the bias finish since i’d already committed to that. they seem to stay on him just fine!