The Grandpa Inspired Look – sewing along with PR&P’s boy week

Well I’m sewing along with another week of Project Run and Play! Really, how could I not sew along with boy week?

I decided to sew for my three-year-old, because honestly, I don’t do that often. Poor middle child. Plus, he’s my most reluctant model.

As I lay awake the other night [seriously, pregnancy insomnia? I'd like to sleep while I can, thankyouverymuch], I knew exactly what I needed to make for my middle man. Inspired, once again, by this photo:

My grandpa seriously knew how to rock the plaid pants. Instead of going plaid this time, though, I went argyle. Argyle! I seriously love this fabric.

The pants are made from this yummy Kaufman 21 Wale Cool Cords Argyle Brown that I got from fabric.com. It’s a self-drafted pattern based on another pair of his pants, and they fit him exactly the way I wanted.

The shirt is upcycled from a men’s tee and self-drafted as well, though I wish I had made the neckline a little bit higher. This dude of mine has a large head and since I don’t sew for him terribly often, I always overcompensate.

Then to take the grandpa inspiration to the next level, I sized down a thrifted sweater. I used the existing neckline, which meant I had to move a button up. It ended up a little bit big, but he should be able to wear it for awhile.

The pants also have a little flare at the bottom [which I could not capture for the life of me, since he was being oh-so-cooperative].

Flat front, elastic back. Best style for a three-year-old.

He really was a fan of the clothes. Maybe just not a fan of me….

And then he realized just how crazy his mom is for making him stand in front of the open door in twenty degree weather.

 

Linking up with Make it Wear it on The Train to Crazy.

Stripes and Polka Dots – sewing along with PR&P

Have you been following along with Project Run and Play? If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s an online sewing/design competition for kids’ clothing. It’s super fun and introduces you to lots of fabulous kids’ clothing designers/bloggers.

Along with the competitors, they have a weekly Sew Along where those of us not part of the competition can enter our own outfits. The outfits should go along with the theme for the week. This week the theme is Stripes and Polka Dots.

If you’ve read my blog… well, ever… you probably know my love for stripes. For myself, for my boys. Especially for my boys. I have a ridiculous amount of striped fabric in my stash right now – especially knits. [seriously, someone may need to come over for an intervention soon]

The pants have both stripes and polka dots – the teeny polka dots are tucked away in the pockets and waistband. I love the two together.

The pants are loosely taken off Shwin & Shwin’s Nowhere Man Pants [which I've made before and love]. I say loosely, because I just traced this pair and made it a slimmer fit and didn’t pull out my pattern pieces at all. I also lowered the pocket pieces down a bit, to show off the polka dots a bit more.

The shirt is a self-drafted pattern, and the polka dots were painted on using a jelly jar. I kind of want to paint everything this way now, that’s how much I love how it turned out.

I’m also in love with the mustard knit I used for the neckline and cuffs.

I don’t think I would have paired stripes and polka dots together without the Project Run and Play inspiration, and I’m so happy with how it turned out.

Have you been sewing along? I think next week is Boy Week, so I’m hoping to have time to sew an outfit to join in on the fun again!

 

*Linking up to Make it Wear it at The Train to Crazy*

Handmade from Head to Toe [a new outfit]

Even though we’re in the midst of the Boys Will Be Boys… gift series [which I'm totally loving, by the way - I hope you are too!], I decided to break from the tutorial posts.

If you are a sewing mama, you might be with me when I say that sometimes, you just have to sew for your littles.

Even if that means letting your toddler rip apart your scrap bin so that you can do it.

But when you come out on the other side, and you have an outfit that is pretty much exactly what you had in mind, it’s worth every second of clean up.

With some tweaking of my overall pattern, I made these pants with soft, comfortable grey corduroy [that I've used before on these pants].

The pants are fully lined with this fabulous fabric.

He’s wearing the shoes I made from the pattern I shared this morning. Once again, he thought they were not worthy of photographing. I disagreed, but you know how it is arguing with a 16 month old.

At least the shoes are nice to look at, even when they’re not on baby feet.

The shirt is upcycled from a men’s XXL T-shirt snagged on clearance at Target. I modified the Lil’ Long Johns pattern to make the tee, since I really liked the fit. [ironically, the shirt I upcycled for those PJs was also found at Target on clearance... I scored the mother load of XXL T-shirts that day]

Hooray for new outfits!

Comfy Overalls – the Naptime Pants!

Little boys wearing overalls. Seriously, can it get any cuter?

Well, he is my kid, so I’m probably biased.

But the one problem I have with overalls is that most of them are denim with all these buckles and whatnot – which aren’t always super comfortable for baby taking a nap. [and a no-napping baby makes for a no-happy mama]

So I made a super comfy pair of jersey knit overalls for my little guy.

I added some simple embroidered stars in yellow and orange – not blue, on the off chance [fat chance?] baby number four is a girl.

The T-shirt underneath is upcycled from a shirt that I loved in college and couldn’t bear to part with. And now I don’t have to. It ended up a little big [which is what you get for sewing and not measuring during naptime!], but this way it will last through the long, LONG winter.

I’m going to tweak my overall pattern a bit, because it didn’t turn out exactly how I pictured in my head. But hey – I did my first snap-crotch! [and seriously, can someone please tell me something else I could call that?]

Here’s to stripes and overalls that make babies nap! Or something like that…

Owls and Stars

Are we sick of owls yet? Is that trend over?

Well, either way, I still like them. And since I have a tendency to scoop up plain T-shirts when they’re on clearance, I had a white tee that was in need of a little … something.

So, a little felt owl appliqué, a few freezer paper stenciled stars, and boring T-shirt no longer.

These freezer paper stencils were made using a star hole punch, which is quite possibly the easiest way to make a stencil for fabric paint.

And points if you can spot the avocado on his shirt. Because everyone lets their babies eat avocado right before photographing them, right?

KCWC: Geometric Tees

After sewing pants and a shirt for my oldest, my two-year-old said to me, “Where’s my shirt, Mommy?” And when a child asks for handmade clothing, who am I to deny him?

Using a men’s thrifted T-shirt [made out of the SOFTEST material ever in life], I managed to make two shirts – one for my two-year-old and one for my one-year-old.

The shirts themselves are simple. Made using self-drafted patterns, I used the existing hems and snagged some ribbing from a couple other T-shirts in my stash for the contrasting necklines. I also added a band at the bottom of my one-year-old’s shirt, because I just couldn’t squeak out enough to make the shirt long enough.

After sewing them up, I wanted to add a little something to the front. Keeping it simple, I just cut some geometric shapes out of iron-on vinyl. No fancy cutting tools needed for that.

Then I looked at the shirts. And I laughed. Because please tell me I am not the only nerd who sees what I see here.

Apparently when you [nerd alert! nerd alert!] watch Star Trek while sewing, you subconsciously want to make your children dress like Star Fleet officers.

Good thing these boys look super cute, no matter what they’re wearing.

KCWC: Color Block Striped Tee

I decided I needed a little quicker project, after the pants I worked on the past couple of days. One that wasn’t quite as detail oriented.

So obviously a striped T-shirt is the way to go!

This shirt is made with a combination of striped, knit fabric I scored from a rummage sale and an upcycled T-shirt. The tee is made from my own pattern [also known as "winging it"]

Here’s a shot of the back: a little color blocking to kick the stripes up a notch.

Despite the look on his face, he loves it. Put it on and wouldn’t take it off. And he wore it with yesterday’s pants… even though they didn’t match at all. He called the outfit his “sewing clothes.” Never grow up, little boy.

Linking up with Make it Wear it.

The Slim Fit Tank

The weather around here is not quite summer… or even spring, really. But eventually summer will come, and a certain four and a half year old doesn’t have any tanks.

Well, thank you Kids Clothes Week Challenge, we now have the first tank of the season.

This is a self-drafted pattern [that I'm hoping to make available to you soon!] that I’m dubbing the Slim Fit Tank. It reminds me of the tanks from the late 70s/early 80s. The hubs even said, “I wore shirts like that when I was little” when he saw it.

*Edited: I originally called it the Throwback Tank, but then I remembered Rae’s Flashback Tee, and suddenly my name sounded like a cheap knockoff. And no one likes a copycat. ;)

The shirt is made of a striped jersey knit that I’m kind of in love with (purchased from fabric.com but no longer available), with the ribbing up cycled from two different tees.

It’s perfect for my super skinny dude.

Yes, yes, there will be more Slim Fit Tanks in my future. And goofy four-year-old photo shoots.

Linking up to:

Short to Long Sleeves – a Quick and Easy Tutorial

Truth be told, long-sleeved shirts get much more wear around here than short-sleeved. While our summer season isn’t very long [insert sad face here], we do have a great spring and fall.

So when I found a grey polo for my two-year-old on clearance, I snatched it up, knowing that I wanted to change it from short to long sleeves. Partly for weather reasons, partly because seriously, a plain grey polo… well, it’s plain.

So, grab your plain old short sleeved tee, and get started!

I cut off and used the sleeves of a different shirt to make this quick fix… super quick. If you don’t have a shirt to use [but I know you do - check the back of your closet - you'll find one!] you’ll have to make some tubes for sleeves. But by using existing sleeves, you don’t have to worry about hemming or much cutting.

Next, I used the sleeves of a shirt my little guy already wears as a guide for how long to make the sleeves. You want to cut your sleeve to be just above where you are going to sew it.

The shirt sleeve was a little larger than I needed it, so I just trimmed it down a bit. How much you trim will depend on how wide your kiddo’s shirt sleeve is and how wide the one is that you’re going to attach.

Now zig-zag stitch across the open side of the sleeve.

Then simply pin the shirt sleeves inside your short sleeves. Stitch with a straight stitch along the existing stitching. [say that three times fast...]

Bye bye, plain short-sleeved polo.

Linking up here

You Are My Sunshine

Awhile back, I was totally and completely shocked to wake up to an email telling me I had won a Silhouette SD from the Tatertots and Jello blog!

These machines are amazing.  They are cutting machines that cut… well, everything.  I finally had the chance to give it a try.  And I just might be in love.

My little sunshine, in his new upcycled tee. [This is my favorite face that he makes, trying to hold back his smile. He could get anything from me with this face.]

I made the T-Shirt from my own pattern, upcycled from an old tee of mine.

Cutting out the words with the Silhouette was amazingly easy and fast. It looks so awesome – I am totally and completely hooked. The sun was just a simple machine-stitched applique (not cut with the Silhouette – and upcycled from another old T-shirt, of course!)

And he lets out the full smile, to completely melt my heart.

I’m linking up with these parties!