girlie retro racer shorts

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i believe i may have let out an audible sewing nerd squeal when i saw dana’s tutorial for retro racer shorts show up in my blog feed last week.  this is actually the SECOND pair that i’ve sewn since her post.  the first, i accidentally printed out in portrait rather than landscape mode.  i am so trusting of dana’s patternmaking skillz, i sewed up what appeared to be a 12-18 month size (not her fault, mine)!  those have been gifted to my niece, who should fit them perfectly next summer.  and then i printed the pattern out properly and promptly made another pair in the exact same fabric for em.

the reason i was SO excited about this particular pattern is because of a blog called katie did, probably the blog that has been the most inspirational in how i sew for and dress em.  katie no longer blogs due to a creepazoid that pretended her children were theirs.  really freaky, and the main reason i decided not to say my kids’ names or show their faces on my blog.  anyway, katie made these really cute split side shorts in a tiny floral print, and when i saw them i had an immediate flashback to my childhood summers in the ’80s.  i HAD to make them.  but at the time i saw her post, i could barely sew, let alone figure out a pattern on my own.  now, i probably could, but dana did it for me!  yaaaaaay, dana!

the fabric is a liberty of london for target scarf, and the binding is vintage from my grandma’s stash (she left a bunch of her trims and notions, plus her vintage singer to me when she died, since i am the only grandchild that sews).  how great is this packaging, and on sale!  way to go, grandma!

i shortened the shorts more than a few inches (i didn’t even attach the bottom page of the kid pants pattern, then shortened them further by 5.5″ or so) to make them girlier and more retro.  em is so skinny they ended up a little baggy on her.  that’s okay, i’m calling it “growing room.”  i used dana’s flat front pants pattern, as recommended.

oh, i love them so much.  funny thing, too, is that em doesn’t wear shorts very often; she is either in a skirt or pants 99% of the time.  showing off her knobby little knees just cracks me up, and these were fabulous for climbing on the playground and racing with her cousins at the park this morning.  of course, it wouldn’t be a complete “portland” outfit without a fleece jacket.  it’s so often used, the zipper toggle came off this morning!

anyway, thanks again to dana!  have you seen her brand new beach robe pattern?  i’m buying it!

her friend totoro

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em’s screen time comes mostly in the form of movies these days.  my husband and i are pretty big movie fans in general, and it’s been kind of important to us that we actually can tolerate (or even like?) most of the shows that she’s watching.  so far, we’ve been introducing mostly pre-1995 disney movies (and their soundtracks.  have you heard a 3 year old sing “circle of life” from the lion king?  hilarious!).   however, my husband also wanted to check out the hayao miyazaki films, which we hadn’t seen, but had heard great things about.  em took an immediate liking to ponyo and watched it twice back-to-back on a car trip, but her lasting favorite is my neighbor totoro.

the movie chronicles two sisters who move out to the country with their father to be close to their sick mother, who is in the hospital.  younger sister, mei, comes across a forest spirit she calls “totoro,” who she loves.

the movie is mesmerizing, as is ponyo.  they’re beautiful, with real emotion (not just fluff – they’re a little sad, a little scary, a little sweet, and a lot whimsical).  when i sit down to watch them with her, i am totally riveted, as is she.  they’re really great.  em remembers every detail about totoro (you can quiz her about the name of totoro’s tree).  i saw some totoro plushies at a shop in town that were something like $40 for a little tiny felt one, and got “i can make that”-itis.  but i thought it’d be fun to make a giant, pillow-pet sized, supersoft totoro that she could snuggle like mei does in the scene above.  i brainstormed for a while on how to put it together, then went for it.

it’s made of a crazy soft fabric that i found in the minky section, which shedded EVERYWHERE and made me sneeze.  she picked it over my suggestion of a classic lower-nap minky because it was more “totoro-like,” and the key to successful sewing for toddlers is letting them make some choices, i think.  so the crazy, difficult-to-sew fabric it was.  the breast part and boomerang-shapes are appliqued microfleece.  there is a felt nose in there somewhere, too.  the minky shifts like nobody’s business, but the long “fur” hides some sewing ills.

needless to say, em is in love.  she picked out an outfit to model her totoro – i asked her what color dress she wanted to wear, and she chose her red polka dot dress, and said “i need to wear my hat like mei!”  i didn’t know that mei even wore a hat in the movie, but indeed, she does!

(she also has pigtails, not shown)

totoro now goes with her to daycare, she carries him around the house though he’s half her size, and she sleeps with him like a pillow at naps and nighttime.  pretty funny to get such a strong reaction of from her, but that was definitely my goal!  i wanted him to be as snuggly and lovable as humanely possible.

he’s also fun to just put around the house in random places, keeping watch.  he may end up in the background of future blog posts…you never know! sometimes totoro appears in real life.

welcome and monkeys

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hello to anyone that has found me through dana or rae’s roundup of celebrate the summer boy!  i was so excited to see my little fox bib show up on both of their sites on friday, and i’m happy to have so many new visitors!  i have a few sewing projects in the works that just need to be photographed, so check back soon.

meanwhile, in the “i’m so proud of my daughter’s new feat and i’ve gotta tell everyone” department, she started making non-scribble drawings in the last month or so!  first it was just “happy faces,” but now she adds bodies, too.  she drew these at dinner the other night after i started her off with the two blue circles.  she told me they are monkeys.  they have ears and hair and hands and feet!  one even has a nose!  i am just blown away by how kids can suddenly do things that seemed way beyond them just a few weeks prior.  she went from just drawing eyes and a mouth to fully-appendaged people/monkeys!  note: her people don’t have big ears.  i guess big ears are the differentiating factor between humans and monkeys, in her three-year-old mind.

she drew her first “arms coming out of the head” person last week, too, and it’s a good thing i snapped a quick photo, because she immediately “colored it in” (read: scribbled all over it), rendering it no longer frameworthy.  she did the same to this monkey drawing.  i would feel like a mean mom snatching away her drawings as soon as she finishes them to my satisfaction, so i’ll have to be patient and wait for her to  complete her project with the drawing still recognizable before i can frame an original.  meanwhile, i’ll stay quick with my camera!

90 minute shirt (that took me 2 hours)

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what took me so long to try dana’s 90 minute shirt?  i’m not afraid of sewing with knits!  i guess i am a little scared of making my own pattern, though.  maybe that’s why.  anyway, i was silly.  don’t be silly like i was!  this is a fantastic tutorial.  and look, it makes a “real” shirt!  even the husband said “wow, you made that from scratch?”  yes hon, yes i did.

the gray is from an old t-shirt of my husband’s (definitely took the tip to use the existing bottom hem), and the green rib knit is from joann.  need to get more of that in more colors!  i sewed it all on my regular sewing machine with a ballpoint needle, which worked great.  i have a serger, but i’ve never threaded it.  i really need to learn how.

the front neck opening is a little high, but that’s easy to alter on my pattern for next time.  i took dana’s instructions a bit too literally when she said to add a seam allowance.  not necessary to add one on the neck opening area or ends of the sleeves, since they’re bound by ribbing.  should have figured that out.  i like the tight little arms on it – kind of a retro look.

and here’s my son chewing on his foot.  he was being a little squirrely and not cooperating for a good “look at the entire shirt” photo.  oh well, you get the idea.

you may be seeing a few more of these types of shirts in the future, and i was also thinking about lengthening one into a summer nightgown for my daughter.  both of my kids have big heads and sometimes grow out of the head opening of a garment before they grow out of the garment itself.  DIY lap-neck shirts are dana’s gift to large-noggined children with parents on a budget everywhere!

“worth a try” houndstooth baby shoes

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this is a tough one.  i found a free online pattern for baby kimono booties a while back (not even sure how i found it, it’s not one of my usual blogs and i think the gal that posted it isn’t blogging anymore), and decided to try them out last night (it is “impromptu celebrate the summer boy week” with dana and rae after all!).  the pattern and tutorial are no good!  i don’t even want to link to it.  the pattern pieces were really off, the instructions were both incorrect AND incomplete…it was a mess.

that being said, i think i “made it work” well enough to make a decent-looking pair of houndstooth baby shoes with grippy soles for when my little guy needs traction.  i had to buy the houndstooth fabric to make some shoes after i saw these adorb ones.  they were a quick sew once i figured out and corrected the pattern errors, and they barely used any fabric.  i made the 6-12 month size, but they’re way too big on him now and i’m not sure if they’ll ever properly fit.  i just hope they’ll stay on well enough for around the house once he is ready to crawl/stand!

maybe i can work on the pattern a little more so they fit better, or maybe i need to buy a “real” pattern on etsy and try again.  we’ll see.

now i’m posting a button, because buttons are fun!