When You End Up with Lemons....

... you're supposed to make lemonade, right? Well, this time I didn't have lemons but I did have a dud. Sometimes it's hard to admit it, especially when you have a vision of what you're trying to create and it's something that you're really excited about. Other times, it's easy to say, "This just doesn't work." *** Note: this was originally written last summer but I never got around to posting it***So when I discovered that many of my below-the-belly maternity shorts were not staying up well, I felt like I should make a few things to replace them for summer wear. Now, bear in mind that this was the last baby I was going to have and I didn't really want to invest much in the clothing, which means that I was sewing from my stash. And since my stash is full of fabrics that I love, I didn't want to "waste" them on maternity clothing that I won't wear again. I scoured my patterns and Ottobre Woman back issues to find something that could be transitional - maternity or nursing wear. Something that would look okay with a belly but just as okay without.

The first thing that I landed on was the 2/2008 issue of Ottobre Woman. In it there are a few maternity patterns, like the skirt pattern I made previously. But it also has this cute maxi-dress with a wrap-front top. Wrap or crossover bodices don't always work well for me and the (ahem) ladies, since there's almost always a gap issue that happens, or it's too low-cut. I'm working on perfecting an FBA for a wrap-front top/bodice, but I'm not quite there yet, which is why the Ottobre tankini I made went from being a wrap-front to having a center front seam. Still, I'm not one to give up on a style when it's something that I truly like. This dress calls for voile or lawn - something light and airy, especially for the skirt portion. However, the voile I had been hoarding in my stash was not a big enough piece for the entire dress - a bummer. But then I had the bright idea of doing the bodice in a cotton-lycra knit and only the skirt in the voile, as I had plenty for the large skirt.

I worked really hard on the FBA and finally ended up with something that I thought was reasonably well-fitting.The skirt came together quickly and only required a few adjustments. Separately, they looked pretty darn good. But once I sewed them together, my opinion changed.

The overall effect was pretty boxy and unattractive. I lost all shape in it, and as a short woman who is right on the line between regular and plus-sized and was pregnant to boot, that's just not a good thing. I'm not sure how it happened, since I took in the side seams of the bodice before I attached the skirt. I think that overall it's just too big, which is weird, since I feel like I went by my measurements and cut the bodice a size smaller than I normally would have. This has happened a couple of times that I've worked with Ottobre patterns and I wonder if I'm just choosing the wrong size? Although to be honest, I've measured myself and gone with the measurements, so maybe my body is just shaped differently than the one they have in mind. At any rate, I decided that this just wasn't the style for me - at least not while I was still pregnant. I wanted to use the voile, though, so I turned it into a maternity skirt.

Yep, it's the same pattern as the khaki and navy floral linen skirt I made previously. The difference here is that I had to line the skirt with something because the voile was too sheer on its own. I ended up using some cheap, lightweight bleached muslin because JoAnn's had no batiste or plain white voile. I know - bizarre, right? When I asked the lady for batiste, she said,"You mean batik". I told her no, I meant batiste, and I even spelled it for her and then went on to describe it and its uses. She had an extremely confused look on her face and then asked another employee if they had it. They didn't. Same thing with the word 'voile', although her confusion was due to the fact that she, like most Americans, mispronounces it to rhyme with foil. The correct way to say it, of course, is "vwahl". It's a French word. Anyway, I did a rolled hem for both the lining piece and the voile and then simply basted them together at the waist and treated them as one when I applied the waistband. This time I used a super soft red rayon-lycra knit, figuring that I was probably going to wear this with a red shirt, and even if the shirt crept up a bit, it wouldn't look so bad if the waistband is the same color. The only real changes I made to the skirt were to cut it slightly bigger than the linen one and I did that by simply placing the pieces a bit away from the fold when cutting. The difference is really negligible. I got several comments on it when I wore it, so that's good, and I like it enough that I'm going to wear it this summer, even though I'm no longer pregnant.

This skirt is so comfy I wore it a lot. This is me about  12 hours before I gave birth.

Skirting the Issue (aka: How to Get Through 1 Last Pregnancy without Buying More Maternity Clothes)

***NOTE: this was written last year - I just never got around to posting it because, well, babies keep you busy.***

This is the last pregnancy I'm going to have and I don't want to buy any more maternity clothing. At the same time, I don't really have a ton of summertime maternity clothing and this baby isn't due until the end of August and I can't spend summer in jeans and corduroy pants, of which I have quite a bit. I seem to have enough shirts to get me through summer without getting new ones, although I have replaced one or two of the older ones - most of my maternity clothing dates back to 2005, so it's roughly 8 years old and some items are a bit, well, worn out. I ended up buying 2 tank tops and a striped t-shirt at Old Navy, simply because I had some 'bonus bucks' I had to use before they expired, and because I could get 30% off my purchase, which made it more than reasonable. I'll sell them after this pregnancy, along with the rest of my maternity wardrobe that isn't too worn or old to be given away.

Anyway, it's the bottoms I'm in need of and I'm trying to get away from shorts. I ended up buying a pair of tan poplin cropped pants just because it suddenly got warmer than usual, but I'd rather have some skirts or something. It can get humid here and we don't have air conditioning - I want something easy and breezy for the last trimester of this pregnancy. Ottobre to the rescue! In the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Ottobre Woman, there were a couple of maternity items and one was a cute two-layer skirt with a knit waistband. I had some linen that I bought a while back which I'd decided against using for the project I'd had in mind but which was kind of perfect for this pattern - a sort of khaki ground with navy blue flowers in a very large print. I decided against making this a 2-layer skirt because I liked the print and I only cut the longer, bottom layer. Add a waistband in navy ribbing and it was a quick and easy skirt to make. It's very cute with a navy tank top but will also look cute with white or red on top, and it's not too dressy so I can wear it with flats or Birkenstocks but I can also dress it up a little with my espadrilles. I cut this in a size 46 but I think a 48 might have fit better, since the linen has no stretch. I plan to make this from a knit, too but I think I'll keep the size 46 for the knit.

The other skirt I made is the Megan Nielsen pencil skirt pattern, which is super fast and easy to put together. You could totally do this in an hour if no one was there to bother you. The shape is really simple and, honestly, I'm embarrassed to have spent $18 on a pattern with 2 pieces when it's something that I probably could have drafted for myself. I didn't want to waste the time doing it, though, so I can't complain and I'll probably sell it later on if I don't know anyone who wants it.


 I'm not really one for the super skin-tight maternity clothes; I do prefer a more fitted knit top when I'm pregnant, simply because I'm short and if I don't try to define my figure in some way I end up looking kind of dumpy and lord knows nobody wants to look dumpy when they're pregnant. Also, I'm not usually fond of fitted clothing that emphasizes my derrière. But I have these excellent shoes that I bought for my birthday and their shape and style deserved something a little bit sexier than the average maternity outfit in my wardrobe. I made this from a bamboo stretch French terry in black, which is thinner than cotton French terry but not so thin that I'd be afraid of having a panty line or any unsightly (ahem) lumps. The whole point of this skirt is to show off the bump, so the waistband sits directly under the bra band. This gives you a smoother look under your outfit, I think, but then it makes it harder to wear a thinner, lighter-colored shirt if it comes down over your belly if the skirt is a dark color. Anyway, I decided to wear a red button-down maternity shirt with it, but since it's an older shirt (from my first baby, 13 years ago!) it doesn't have a very modern shape and is more tent-like. Because of the high waist on the skirt, I was able to tie the shirttails in a knot above the bump, which was kind of cute. In all, it was a pretty successful garment and I had a nice date with the husband at a local Mexican restaurant.

Pirate of the Playground

A while back I posted about the "Pirate Girl" outfit I made for Miss G - she's all about being adventurous and brave and pirates pretty much fit the bill for that. And because Mr. T is so close in age to her, he usually wants to do whatever she does. So when I bought the pirate girl iron-on from Bunte Fabrics before it closed, I also bought a pirate boy and promised T that he could have a "Pirate Boy" outfit. I made the pants in August, not long before Aonghus was born. The shirt got finished in September and I figured I ought to blog them now before I forget to document them!

First up, the pants. I found this super cute medium-weight striped twill at JoAnn's a couple of years ago. At the time I'd thought of doing some cropped summer overalls for T. but I didn't get around to it. Then this year when I was planning his summer SWAP, I decided to make these part of it - sort of. They didn't really go with the general color scheme but he always has a blue or red t-shirt of some kind, so they'd fit into his wardrobe without necessarily needing the pirate shirt. The pants are from Ottobre 2/2005 and they are #23. I chose this pattern because the magazine actually showed the pants made up in a stripe fabric and it immediately reminded me of the twill that I already had. I wasn't sure about adding the knee patches, but decided to do it and used some dark denim from my stash. I used it for the faux pocket-flaps on the back, too. The pocket lining is a navy cotton with white stars. I used red topstitching thread for these pants so that it would pop against the navy knee patches. And although the pattern calls for rivets at the knees like commercially-made jeans have, I don't know where to find those locally or online, so I just did bar tacks at the corners.

The length of the pants makes them a perfect transition garment, for those early fall days when it starts out cooler but warms up enough by afternoon for the kids to want shorts. The elastic waist and faux-fly make them easy to put on and take off, which is nice when you're in a hurry to get into your bathing suit! This pattern is easy to make up but has enough details to make it more than just basic shorts. I'm definitely using it again in the summer.

The pirate boy shirt is Imke from the SCKL book. This version uses the straight-cut sleeve and the rounded, sporty hood. Gwyneth's has the pointy hood with the tassel. I used a red and white stripe cotton-lycra knit for the hood and lower sleeves and a medium weight navy cotton solid. It may have some lycra in it but I got it as a remnant so I don't recall. I didn't have enough of the stripe to do 2-layer sleeves, so these are single-layer sleeves made to look like 2-layer ones.

 On the right sleeve we have the skull and crossbones iron-on and pirate kid ribbon from Banberry Place; the left sleeve features a double ribbon trim, with blue and red star ribbon from Farbenmix on top of a navy grosgrain ribbon with red pick-stitching. Embellished, but not too girly.

Sleeve detail - right.

Sleeve detail - left.

As I said before, I made this shirt because I had the iron-on pirate boy. It looked great the first time T. wore the shirt, but then it lost a foot! Apparently the glue wasn't fully activated. Anyway, here's the look of the shirt-front, minus a pirate foot:

I'm trying to figure out a way to add a new foot that doesn't look too weird, so I'll post an update if/when I get to that.

Pajama Time!

It seems like my kids always run out of things that fit in stages that go by types of garment. Around Christmastime I realized that Mr. T was in desperate need of new pajamas. His old ones were all too small and I was reluctant to go out and buy new ones, given the vast stash of fabric in my storage room. So I got out a pile of knits and had him choose 3 prints to work with, for 3 new pairs of pajamas. He ended up choosing a print with dogs (some of which are blue) on yellow, a jungle print in green, aqua and brown, and - his absolute favorite - a "breakfast" print of eggs, bacon and toast. Breakfast-themed prints seem to be his thing; his favorite RTW t-shirt is a face whose eyes are fried eggs and whose mouth is a strip of bacon. Go figure.

I used my go-to pj pattern, the "Stripey Legs" pants and "Night Owl" shirt  (nos. 34 and 35) from the Winter 2009 issue of Ottobre. This issue is one of my favorites and I've made quite a few things from it by now. Since I wasn't sure if I'd have enough of the prints to do both the shirt and pants for each set, I decided to throw in a complementary stripe for each one: two-tones of blue rib knit for the dogs, green with white stripe interlock for the jungle print, and yellow and orange rib knit for the breakfast print. I used brown ribbing for the cuffs of the jungle and breakfast prints, and a cobalt blue ribbing for the dog print.

Crazy before bedtime.

I've made this pattern a couple of times and used a few different techniques to sew it together. The directions call for you to lap the seams and then sew them with "a flat lock stitch", by which I assume they mean a coverstitch. I don't have a serger that does a coverstitch so I've used the honeycomb stitch on my regular machine in the past and that's one they recommend in lieu of the coverstitch. I've also constructed them using regular seams and topstitching them. This time I decided to try a flatlock stitch on my serger, which gives a smooth seam on the inside and has the seam allowances on the outside. It worked out okay but I don't think I'd do it again, simply because the exterior seam allowances are a little bulkier than I'd like.

Jungle Jammies!

The other issue I came across this time is that, because I used the blue striped rib knit for the body of the shirt, the neckline was slightly bigger than I would have liked. Darn that rib knit! I should have stabilized the necklines before I sewed the binding on. It's not a glaring fit issue and it makes it easier for Mr. T to get the shirt on over his big head, but still.

All in all, a very successful week of sewing these. If only I could get in the sewing room more regularly! And if only I could remember to post about them in a more timely fashion! At least I was able to do them in a sort-of assembly line style. Using the brown for 2 pairs meant I didn't have to change thread for each set and that's always a time-saver.

Now he needs more pants. It never ends.

Third Time's a Charm

A while back I posted about needing to make a maternity bathing suit and what I thought I might need to do. I started off enthusiastically to make the "Rimini" tankini top from the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of Ottobre Woman. Knowing that I have a larger-than-average bust, I measured my full bust and it ended up being the largest size - a 52 - so I traced the pattern in that size, cut it out and sewed up the 'bra' portion of the top. It was waaaaaayy too big around my ribs and the gap in the front where the two pieces were intended to cross over was so big that I was falling out of it, but I still didn't have enough fabric in the cups to properly cover myself and get any support. I fiddled around with it, trying to figure out what went wrong and then gave it up for a while to focus on some other projects.

I went back to the tankini when we had an unusually warm week in early May. This time I decided to add fabric to the cup area by slashing the size 52 pattern to the bust apex and spreading it. This had the effect of  tightening/shortening up the curve at the front and lessening the gap there, as well as giving me slightly more coverage at the side. I cut this new version of the 'bra' portion and found that there still wasn't enough support at the front and that it still gapped. I took out the stitches and overlapped the center fronts about twice as much as the first time. Now I had more coverage but it still was dragging down at the center front and kind of twisting. I took in the back by increasing the overlap, thinking that this would counter-act the problem at the center front, and it seemed better so I decided to add the lower portion of the tankini.

Disaster. I'd added way too much fabric at the center front and as a result there was far too much fabric in both the front and the back. I got upset because I really wanted this pattern to work and because I don't want to spend a ton of money on a maternity suit off the rack. Cheap suits generally don't give me the support I need in a bathing suit so I end up with a suit that costs $75 or more. I'm unwilling to pay that much for a maternity suit for my last pregnancy. So I decided to take a break and do some laundry and think about the problem.

The solution presented itself while talking the situation over with Scott. He was looking at the instructions and pointed out that while I needed the cup size of the 52, my underbust measurement was more like a size 46 or 48 (I fall kind of in the middle of the two). He also pointed out that I lost weight at the beginning of this pregnancy and haven't gained very much, so I'm clearly not a 52 all over. We decided that I should cut the 48 to allow for a little room for my belly to expand. That remedied the problem of the lower portion, but what about the bra portion? I played around with the 2nd version and decided the way to go was to sew the two pieces together so that there was a center front seam, then do the same thing at the back, after shortening the length of the back pieces so that they were more equivalent to a size 46. This gave me the coverage and support that I needed but in the size appropriate to my body frame.

Center back seam.

So here is the final product:

Don't make fun of the bathing cap - it keeps my new teal hair protected!

I ended up doing the center front and back seams, though I think I should have deepened the center front seam just a bit more. As it is, I hand-stitched it a bit to close up the neckline a little more so I didn't feel as though I would fall out of it. Also, if I make this again, I will reduce the amount of fabric under the arms at the sides, since the suit cuts into me slightly there. I decreased the amount of elastic that I used at the under bust portion significantly - I used about 24". I'd probably use even less next time, in order to have more support under the bust. And I'd probably find an underwire bra that I could sew into the lining, since I feel like I really don't have enough support with this, plus I'd probably retain the alterations I made but cut one size smaller in order to get more support out of the fabric itself. Right now it feels comfortable but I still wonder if there's too much give due to it being a 46. Cutting a 44 and still doing an FBA would probably be better overall, and I think I'd get a better lift for "the girls". I have more fabric (black with hot pink dots!) so I plan on perfecting the fit on this suit after the baby arrives.

Side view - 32 weeks pregnant.

It's better than a lot of suits I've worn, and I'd say it's not bad for a first attempt, but I'm not totally thrilled with the result. It gets the job done, though, and that's what's important. I probably added a bit too much to the bottom portion in order to accommodate the growing bump because the overlay pulls down a bit at the center front and the shirring doesn't lie evenly. Again, not a huge problem, since the suit is still quite functional.  What I love most is that it pretty much stays down over my belly and sort of looks like a retro one-piece suit, a style I really like.

The bottoms themselves were much easier - I cut a size 52 to see if that would cover my bum and still give me plenty of room for the belly. I was expecting to have to make some significant alterations but I was pleasantly surprised that they fit perfectly the first time. I used the bikini bottom pattern, rather than the boy-short bottom, and I found that the height of the leg opening was just right for me and it has a nice full-coverage back. I don't find myself having to adjust the fabric on my bum to keep it covered, so that's a definite plus.

Stars and Stripes

Ideally, this post should have been written back in September, except I forgot about it. I mean, I do a lot of sewing but don't always end up documenting it as I go along or even right after I finish it. I'm working on changing that, but it's a process.

This outfit for Miss Gwyn (who else?) was actually her first day of school outfit, and I stayed up all night to finish it - literally. The birds were singing when I went to bed. Anyway, she had asked me for "an adventure skirt" and had chosen a star-print twill from JoAnn's. After perusing my Ottobre magazines I found the perfect pattern - #14 in the 1/2005 issue. It's a pretty quick and easy pattern but with a lot of topstitching. I used a yellow thread, since yellow is her favorite color.

She needed a top to go with it, so we went with the ever-popular Farbenmix Imke (or was it Antonia? I don't remember now!), with hood and short, puffed sleeves. The green and white striped knit I had in my stash, grabbed from the bargain table at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, MD back when we lived on the east coast. It was a huge piece, but at $2.97/yard you really can't go wrong, can you?

Shirt front detail.

Anyway, the green matches the green stars in the skirt perfectly but it's a bit plain, so we added some iron-on stars in red holographic foil and some Farbenmix ribbon. I'm not sure what the middle ribbon is called, but it's still available at the Farbenmix online shop. The other two both have stars - light blue with red and orange with red, also available at Farbenmix and at Banberry place, respectively. Because, you know, you can't have too many stars. The hood on this shirt is the pointy version, naturally, and it has a tassel of the 3 ribbons that I used on the front of the shirt. I like that these two pieces are easily worn separately - I think she's worn the skirt with a solid red shirt and the striped shirt goes with any jeans, so she doesn't always feel like she needs to keep them together as an outfit. I think that they'll fit well through the summer, but Miss G. has had a slight growth spurt lately, so it may not last into the next school year.

Summer SWAP for the boy - Part 1

I'm trying to get a jump on the summer garment sewing for Mr. T, since it usually sneaks up on me. He's pretty much growing out of the size 4T things from the past year, so everything is needing replacement pretty soon. Back in February and March I started going through my Ottobre magazines and sketching out things I wanted to make for him, just so that I'd have an idea of what fabrics I wanted to use and what I'd have to buy. I really tried to focus on using fabrics already in my stash so that I'd have to buy very little. This meant that I could also try to make everything fairly mix-and-match so that there wouldn't be any mismatched clothing if someone other than me picked out his clothes. I've got all the patterns traced and am cutting things out in bunches, keeping the knits together in groups so I can sew several garments at one sitting without having to change needles or rethread the serger. It makes the process go really quickly.

As of right now I have 4 t-shirts completed and 1 short-sleeved hoodie. The hoodie is from a burnt-orange and cream 100% cotton French terry. It has some stretch because of the lofty, almost loose knit but no lycra, so the stretch is fairly minimal. For this I used the # 25 "Eleven and One" pattern from the 1/2011 issue of Ottobre. This pattern actually calls for a lining in the hood and the sleeves, but I felt that it would be too warm for summer if we used a lining, even if it wasn't in the body. Additionally I thought that a lining would drag down the loftiness of the hood and make it droopy. Instead of using the lining, I simply turned the edges of the hood under twice and stitched it down. I did the same thing with the sleeves. I contemplated making a front pocket but then the summer 2013 issue arrived with a short-sleeved hoodie pattern for babies and I thought I could use the leftovers to make a matching hoodie for the baby. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough fabric for that if I added a pocket to the larger one, so I left it plain. I did add a piece of contrasting ribbon with dragons on it at the bottom, just for a cool detail.

The first 2 t-shirts are made from the 3/2007 issue of Ottobre -# 20 Slim Fit T-shirt. The first is made from a striped interlock knit in aqua and chartreuse, with dark brown ribbing. I can't remember where the interlock came from but I think I got it on eBay and it may have been a Chez Ami knit. Don't quote me on that, though. All I know is that it's super soft.

The second of the Slim Fit T-shirts is made from a surfboard-print stable jersey that also came from either an etsy seller or eBay. My only problem with this shirt is that the fabric was a beast to work with due to the fact that it was twisted and the print was off-grain, making the rows of surfboards slant. I tried to avoid this at all costs but it would have created a shirt that twisted miserably if I had tried to make the surfboards line up straight. I almost gave up on this print but T. wanted a surfboard shirt so much that I decided to try to make it work and the end result isn't that bad. The ribbing is orange ribbing from my stash.

The last 2 t-shirts are from the 3/2008 issue of Ottobre - the # 10 "Bat" t-shirt. This shirt has a looser fit than the first 2 and a chest pocket. The first is made from 2 different interlock knits - one solid orange and one a cars print in cream with brown, orange, aqua blue and sprout green. I like the contrast of the bright solid sleeves with the print body and I really like the way the turquoise ribbing looks with the orange.

The second "Bat" t-shirt is made from a beautiful tie-dye 100% cotton rib knit that I got in a remnant bin somewhere. It was already dyed when I bought it, though it does look like I could have dyed it myself. The binding on the neck and sleeves is made from an olive green interlock remnant from my stash and I decided on the interlock based on how thin the rib knit is. I felt that a chunkier knit or ribbing would have distorted the neckline due to the difference in weights. These 2 are really close in weight and look great together, as evidenced by the really smooth seam. I love the way this looks. I added the dragon ribbon to this one, as well.

Next up, a couple of pairs of shorts, including some 'summer' sweatpants and probably 1 or 2 more t-shirts.

Mustache Man

My T-bird is currently very into the whole mustache thing. I don't know why, except that he thinks they're hilarious. So when I noticed that he was in need of another long-sleeved shirt or two, I decided that he ought to have one with a mustache, and I reasoned that it would be an excellent first project for test-driving my embroidery machine. So I checked out Urban Threads, a cooler-than-average website with lots of trendy embroidery downloads for sale. The search term 'mustache' brought up quite a few embroidery designs and I chose a rather large mustache that was fairly simple in design.

Mustache detail.

I'd already sketched out a plan for this shirt -2 layer sleeves (short over long) with a slightly scooped neck from the Fall 2008 issue of Ottobre. This is the "Pekka" shirt, design #25 and made up in a size 110. It's slightly large right now but it won't be in the fall. The main body of the shirt and the short sleeves are made from a cafe au lait-colored interlock that I got from The Fabric Fairy. The longer sleeves are a two-toned brown striped rib knit from my stash and the brown ribbing is from my stash, as well. The ribbon trim on the sleeves is a green frog print that is reversible and came from Banberry Place. I was a little nervous about the embroidery, since it was the first time I'd used the machine; however, it was really easy to do and now I want to embroider all kinds of garments! Next project, a shirt with a triceratops embroidery.

Frog ribbon - I used both sides.

The pants shown with the shirt are also mommymade and they're also from Ottobre, this time from the Fall 2003 issue, design #13. These are made from olive green ripstop cotton that I had left over from making shorts a year or two back. They have pleated pockets, golden brown-colored topstitching and a striped ribbon detail on the pocket flap. The bottoms of the legs have drawstrings of black shock cord with black stoppers. My one problem with these pants is that the snaps on the pockets aren't really functional, due to me accidentally getting carried away with the hammer when I put them on. It's not my fault - I wanted them to be on securely! Anyway, this pattern is fairly easy to put together and I've got another pair cut out already - this time in brown and tan, using some leftover denim and recycling part of a pair of daddy's pants. I hope to get those finished soon and then it's back to the maternity bathing suit, which got put on hold due to lack of good elastic and the need to finish this shirt so it could be a birthday present. And then there's the dress I made for a friend's daughter, but that's another post.

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

Okay maybe not a pumpkin eater. But definitely a pumpkin wearer. Mr. T looks good in orange (at least I think so) and in homage to my dad and The Netherlands, I've become fond of dressing him in orange. Plus, there's always the benefit of being able to spot him in a crowd if/when he runs away from me. Which happens more frequently than I care to think about.

This orange isn't as bright as some other things he has, but as soon as I saw this French terry on etsy, I knew I had to have it. It's really a burnt orange color mixed with a dark brown, in a medium weight, which makes it an ideal layering piece. This pattern is from the 4/2007 issue of Ottobre, and it's known among those who use Ottobre due to its round pocket openings, which are such a cool design feature.

I went with a cotton interlock in a car print for the hood and pocket lining, since the cars have the brown, orange and linden green colors I was using in my SWAP (yes, this is part of that). There are some turquoise ones, too. Plus it matches the striped Hilco ribbing that I got from the Ottobre etsy shop. I didn't have a lot of that so I used a plain dark brown ribbing at the waist, since that piece had to be wider.

As you can see, I had a little bit of trouble lining up the stripes on one of the pocket openings, and the stitching that holds the lining to the body of the sweatshirt is a little bit too close to that opening. I was in a hurry and didn't bother to draw a chalk line before I stitched it. Live and learn. The stitching itself is a new decorative stitch from my machine which is even more like a coverstitch in its appearance than the triple-honeycomb, which used to be my go-to for the RTW look.

Bath Time!

Mr. T's birthday was last month and he wanted a bath robe. I'd been thinking of making him one since the winter 2011 issue of Ottobre had robes in it but hadn't gotten around to it. A birthday present is always a good excuse for making something, and it was a change from the other things I'd been working on.

This pattern calls for the robe to be made up in 2 different fabrics, with the outer layer being a poplin or other similar woven fabric and the inner layer being made of flannel. Flannel is okay if you're looking for a warm robe but doesn't work so well for absorbing water when you get out of the bath. I decided to make the inner layer out of terry cloth so it would be more useful as an after-bath garment. The good thing about this pattern is that the lining isn't made to be sewn right sides together and then turned - the robes are constructed as 2 separate pieces, with the hood also being separate, then putting them together so that the hood is sandwiched between the 2 layers but the wrong sides of the 2 layers are together. Which means that you need to finish the edges with a bias binding or else you're left with raw edges. Of course, this enables you to use a fun contrasting fabric.

I used a cotton woven from JoAnn's in a rocket ship print that Mr. T chose himself. Actually, he carried that darn bolt of fabric all over the store and didn't want to let go of it, until Scott handed me the bolt and took the boy out to the car. The blue cotton terry also came from JoAnn's. The bias binding is red with a white star print, left over from the girls' Delft dresses from 2 years ago. I also used it for the pocket, one side of the belt and as belt loops - the pattern doesn't call for belt loops but without them you'd have to sew the belt on at the back, and I wasn't willing to sew through the terry layer to do that.
Here's a shot of one of the belt loops:

This was remarkably easy to do, although the bias binding is slightly time consuming. This pattern seems to either run small or my son is extremely large for his age (I've been told this on more than one occasion) because this is a size 104 and it fits perfectly. Normally he wears a 98 but I know from experience that European robes always seem to be shorter than the ones you find in the U.S., and I wanted to be sure it would fit, especially since the terry was thicker than the suggested flannel. Also, the hood is shallower than one might expect.

As you can see from the first photo, he's incredibly happy with it and he wears it prior to and immediately after every bath or shower, which is a bit unexpected.

Mr. Green + Jeans

It never fails to amaze me how many pairs of pants Mr. T actually needs. It took me forever to work my way through the SWAP I was doing for him, and I'm still working my way through it. These pants are both made from the same pattern, just in different fabrics.

This pattern is from the Fall 2005 issue of Ottobre, the #15 jeans/velveteen pants, in size 98. Let me say that this style is an extremely wide leg, so if you don't like that style of pant, this is probably not one you'll like. I like the knee patches and unique pockets on it, as well as the fact that it has an elastic waist, which makes them easy for the boy, since he doesn't have to struggle with a zipper when he has to use the potty. Funnily enough, the wide leg comes in handy for that, too, since he does better without pants around his ankles and I find that with these pants I can slip one leg out without having to remove a shoe. So much better in a public bathroom, right?

"Treasure pocket" made from contrasting color.

Anyway, these are made up in a kiwi-green brush denim that is an unusual color but it works really well with a lot of the things I've made in the SWAP. There is dark brown topstitching on the pockets and seams, including the knee patches. On this pair I chose to use a different fabric for the little "treasure pocket" on the left knee patch; I used tan-grey denim left over from the knight jeans that he outgrew. The cool thing with the pockets is that you only need to finish one side and the bottom, as the outer side is inserted into the side seam of the pants.

Back view

The second pair from this pattern was made from blue denim with brown pin-stripes. The magazine shows a denim version of these pants which uses the wrong side of the denim for the knee patches as a contrast. I didn't really like the wrong side of the denim, but I decided to jazz things up by alternating the direction of the stripes  on the knee patches, as well as on the back pocket and hip areas. I like things colorful, too, so I decided to use a red thread for the topstitching. I love the way this turned out.

This is an easy pattern to put together, although the stitching on the pockets and the knee patches is time consuming. You could just as easily eliminate the knee patches and the decorative stitching on the pockets though, and just have a basic wide-legged pant. I did have one problem with the instructions and that was with the waistband. I just didn't get it. I made the green version first and tried to follow the instructions but it just didn't work for me. I thought maybe I was tired and I looked at them again in the morning and no, still not working out. I decided to just serge the edge with the seam allowance, then attach the waistband, so that the served edge would be on the inside. This way you end up seeing the edge but it's not unfinished. The instructions call for the inside edge to be turned under but I seemed to not have enough fabric left. Perhaps my elastic was too wide, owing to the fact that it doesn't come in metric here in the U.S. That would explain it. In any event, I love the way these turned out and they look adorable on him.

T-Shirts for Mr. T

I mentioned before that I'd traced some Ottobre patterns and by the time I got around to cutting them out, he'd grown enough that they wouldn't fit for long. I figured this out by cutting out the shirt you see above. This is the #12 shirt from the 4/2010 issue. I'd traced and cut it out in a 92 and sewed it up, only to discover that T. had grown enough for it to be rather snug on him. The shirt is supposed to look like two in one, with the hood in a contrasting fabric, so I dug up some brown and red Campan knit from a previous shirt I'd made him and used that for the hood. I'd already used olive green ribbing because it goes so well with the Ooga print but it didn't look good with the brown and red, so I went with the maroon ribbing on the hood. It definitely gives the impression of two different shirts, although it's obvious from the fit that it's just one.

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Here you can see the front pocket a bit better, although it still blends into the body of the shirt. I used the triple-honeycomb stitch on my machine to imitate a RTW coverstitch. Anyway, it works well and I used the same stitch when I made the drawstrings for the sweatpants in the previous post.
Having realized that the boy needed a 98, I cut out new sizes for him in 2 other shirts. The first is the Hippotamus Hoppulainen shirt from the 6/2010 issue. I like this shirt because I think it lends itself to a mix of fabrics while still looking sporty and boyish. For this I used the Michael Miller dinosaur interlock and a piece of orange and red Campan knit. That Michael Miller stuff shrinks like nobody's business and it's super soft! Maybe that's why it shrinks so? Anyway, the ribbing is a beautiful turquoise from JoAnn's. I wish it were slightly more green in color but I like the contrast of the turquoise with the orange.


This piece of Campan was really small - not even a half meter, so I had to really work to fit all the pieces when I laid it out. As you can see, I used the stripe for the front, back and the stripes on the sleeves. This shirt goes really well with the brown sweatpants in the previous post.


Last shirt in the list is the Pistachio-Chocolate reversible hoodie from the 4/2009 issue. I wanted something to match the blue sweatpants and dug out a printed stripe knit that I'd used for outfits for the girls about 4 years ago. I'd used it for an accent to a print, but it seemed like a good boy fabric. Then I dug around in my stash and found the world's softest navy cotton knit this side of paradise - totally serious about this. I want to curl up in it. Anyway, add to that some olive green interlock and some maroon ribbing and you get this:


I decided that I wanted the pocket and hood on the stripe side to match - hence the decision to do both in green. I used that tripe-honeycomb stitch again for the pocket hems and as topstitching on the sleeve hems. The navy side would have been too plain with a navy hood, hence the stripe. T. loves this shirt and wears it a lot with either pair of the navy "soft pants". It's his "cozy" outfit. I haven't gotten him to wear it with the navy side out - I suspect he likes the way it feels against his skin too much. But it would look fantastic on the navy side with the sleeves rolled to expose the stripe on the other side. This shirt is pretty heavy and he gets hot pretty easily, so I don't have him wear a shirt under it, though you could if you used thinner knits, as it's cut quite roomy. My only problem with this shirt is that I forgot how much the stripe fades, since it's not yarn-dyed but printed. Ugh. But he doesn't seem to mind and it gives it a sort of worn-in look that is generally achieved in RTW with acid washes and the like.