Sew Geeky Halloween: Darth Vader Returns

Posted on October 25, 2014 by oliver's fancy

So I was pretty excited to get the chance to sew along with Sew Geeky this month (started by Ari and Kat) and knew I was going to have to do something Star Wars related. Oliver has watched the Lego Star Wars spoof and is a little obsessed at the moment- we have epic light saber fights in our house every night! For some reason Darth Vader is his favorite character so when I asked him who he wanted to be for Halloween, he repeatedly affirmed he wanted to be Vader.

So Vader it was. Thankfully his costume is actually fairly easy and fun. Let me give you the low down…

T-Shirt: Flashback Skinny Tee, size 4. Kaufman Laguna Jersey in onyx from Fabric.com. I did a lot of research online. (Did you know there’s this whole website- wookieepedia– lolz- for accurate Star Wars trivia?) and decided to freezer paper stencil the shirt. I stenciled his armor onto a basic black t-shirt because I want his costume to be wearable the rest of the year, not just for one night. My stencil ended up bleeding a bit because I layered on the paint pretty thick so it would show up on the black shirt. Still, I think it ended up looking pretty good!

Pants: Parsley Pants, size 3. I cut off the flare from the knee down to make the pants more of a skinny fit. In reality, Lord Vader would be in leggings/tights but I knew Oliver would actually get more wear out of a cotton pant, so I used Kona cotton in Black for the pants fabric. I did a narrow hem because they were almost too short!

Cape: Totally winged this part of the outfit. Used the same black Kona as the pants. Oliver has a Batman jacket with a little cape attached that measures like 8×12″ so I used that as a base idea. I measured how much further I wanted it to reach across his shoulders and then how much longer I wanted it to be….I just kinda guesttimated at how wide it should be at the bottom and cut a gradual angle from the top to the bottom. 1/4″ double folded hem on all 4 sides. Made some bias tape straps and sewed them onto the top of the cape sides and done! And fits perfectly! Phew.

Helmet is from Amazon (affiliate link)…the one store-bought part of his outfit. Did not have the gumption to try to make that!

Eliot is going as Yoda, and I have to admit to cheating a bit on his outfit. Some good friends gave us this yoda robe and hat and I didn’t see a point to making something that we already had! Plus the robe is a nice fleece, not the polyester yuck that’s sold at the stores so Eliot loves to wear it! It’s so soft. His pants are handmade so he’s at least partially in mama-mades. Pants are some quick change trousers- from AMH’s book Handmade Beginnings (affiliate link) in brown kona. Hand me downs from his brother and getting a second life as yoda pants!

The boys had such fun in their photoshoot. They love to play lightsaber fights. FYI the lightsabers are made from pool noodles. Cheapest and most-loved toys ever. Also they don’t hurt so the boys can play rough and no one ends up crying! And I am well aware that Vader’s lightsaber is supposed to be red but Oliver has declared this blue one to be his and no one can argue differently. Ah well, little details, right? 🙂

I’ll leave you with a few more from our fight scene… Can we say photo overload? But my favorite one? The hug at the end. Like I told Oliver, Darth Vader does end as a good guy so it’s totally appropriate for him and Yoda to end things with a hug. 🙂

kcw fall 2014: sailboat top take 2

Posted on October 22, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Since the general consensus after Oliver’s sailboat top was that Eliot needed a coordinating one, I decided to use kcw as an excuse to make him one. First off, I needed a palate cleanser (thank you Kristin for inspiring me with that phrase!) after working on Halloween costumes (more on that Saturday) for 3 days straight and secondly, how could I not participate in the storybook theme?! The book lover in me just couldn’t resist.

Stripes and primary colors always remind me of Dr. Seuss- specifically Red Fish, Blue Fish (which is one of Eliot’s favorite books). This outfit may not scream Dr. Seuss to you, but it gives me that same fun vibe I get from his illustrations. I love anything Dr Seuss, and in fact have a small hoard of the Kaufman fabric line of his characters- you can see some of that way back here in Oliver’s toddler backpack. However I didn’t want to just make a shirt out of that fabric because it seemed a little too obvious. I kinda like the subtle nod to Seuss that I give in this top.

The fabric is the same as Oliver’s version just inverse colors (both from Mill End in Portland). I made this sailboat top in the 18-24 month size. Eliot measured into the 12-18 month size but he grows so quickly these days that I made it a size up to give him plenty of room. It’s a wee big- you can see that I rolled up the sleeves but it’s not ridiculously huge. I think it’s the perfect size to carry him through the winter.

I mentioned this in Oliver’s version but I want to say it again. I do think this top runs a bit on the short side so if your child is tall or on the upper end of a size, you may want to add a bit of length to the hem. Other than that, I have no complaints with this top. I’m not normally a facings fan, but I love how they turn out in this version. Typical Oliver+S style- everything is so professional-looking.

Love that I could make this top from pattern tracing to final buttonhole in one nap time. Granted I was pushing it as I was sewing on the buttons as Oliver was coming out of his room, but I made it! And Eliot just looks adorable, if I do say so myself. He’s still got that great toddler chub and I just love to squeeze it!

I also love that so far, both my boys are huge book worms. They would be so happy for me to sit and read them book after book! I’ll leave you with these final two pictures taken after the sun started to go down and we caught just a bit of the “golden light” time. So ethereal looking!

kcw fall 2014: rowan tee

Posted on October 20, 2014 by oliver's fancy

I got the chance to test this (just-released!) new pattern from Laura over at Titchy Threads. If you’ve been around for a while, you know my love for her small fry skinnies (blogged here and here) and so I was excited to try out another pattern from Laura. She has hit another home run with this t-shirt pattern. The best part about this pattern is that it has 144 different possible combinations- from a hood, shoulder stripes, sleeve stripes, kangaroo pouch, and much much more!! How awesome is that? I love patterns that give me lots of options for customization. Also love that I’ve gotten to the point where I can make a basic tee in about 30 min from start to finish. Really takes away the temptation to buy one!

For my version I just chose the basic long sleeve tee because I knew I wouldn’t have time to do a fancier version, but I cannot wait to make one with a hood. Seriously, so cute! I see lots of these tees coming our way this fall and winter.

Eliot got chosen to be my model because Laura needed testers in his size range. Kinda fun to make something new for the kid who doesn’t get too many new clothes! I had this fun dog knit from girl charlee saved for a special occasion and I love how cute it is on him. On a side note: While I love this dog print and the fabric actually washed up pretty well without pilling, this knit does not have very much stretch at all. You would definitely want to size up if you used it in a slim-fitting pattern. Thankfully this tee is a forgiving fit so it didn’t end up being too small for Eliot. Whew!

I sewed a straight up size 12-18 months for this shirt. It looks a little long because I got lazy and decided I wouldn’t hem the bottom. It’s meant to be a casual play shirt so there was no need. Eliot had fun dragging his doggie around the yard for our photoshoot. Kid loves his dog so this shirt is so perfect for him. He points to his belly and makes dog noises while wearing it. 🙂 However, photoshoots of 16 month olds are exhausting for the photographer! Gotta get this kid in some more practice so he can become a pro at it like his brother.

I wanted to say a little word about this pattern versus my usual go-to one: the flashback skinny tee. I actually think that I love both equally and will continue to use both in my sewing. The flashback is a great basic tee especially if you want a vintage, slim-cut fit. The rowan is a looser fitting, more casual shirt. They each have their separate place depending on the kind of shirt you want to make. I think every children’s garment sew-er needs both of them in your pattern portfolio!

Striped Sailboat Top

Posted on October 11, 2014 by oliver's fancy

You know those days where you have to-do lists a mile long, but you just wanna blow them off and do something completely different? That was me earlier this week. I’ve had this Oliver+S sailboat pattern for oh, about 2 years and I have just never gotten around to making it. I just realized that my copy only goes up to a size 3T and Oliver is wearing 3T, occasionally 4, so he’s about to size out of this pattern.

This was no where on my list, but I just decided to have some fun and go for it. After all, I couldn’t let him size out of a pattern before I’d even made him something from it, could I? I pulled out this great heavyweight striped knit that I got at Mill End in Portland (why, oh why did I not buy more knits while I was in fabric mecca?) and got to work.

This top was seriously so quick to whip up! The reason I’d been putting it off so long is that I was afraid it would be long and complicated, and I just didn’t have time to put into it. Yeah, it was so much faster than I’d anticipated and very straightforward. It really only took me a couple of hours from start to finish- including tracing the pattern and cutting out the fabric. I love that this knit is a heavier weight so it feel more like a sweater- which is what Oliver needs more of for this fall. I also love the swingy shape of the top and the contrast buttons. I started out using an orange contrast thread for the facings but didn’t like the look it gave the top so I ripped it out and used an off-white instead. This way the orange buttons really pop.

My only complaint is that it’s just a wee bit too short so it won’t be too long before he grows out of it. It shouldn’t be too big of a deal this winter though because he will probably be layering another shirt underneath this one. However, If I make him another one, I will add a few inches to the bottom hem to make the top last a little longer.

Every time I use an Oliver+S pattern, I fall in love with them a little bit more. The instructions are just so well written and you end up with such a professional finish. Bonus part is this was a paper pattern so a nice break from all the printing and taping I’ve been doing for pdf patterns recently!

I have another yard of this same knit in a coordinating color way- with blue being the main stripe and off-white the smaller one and am debating on making Eliot a sailboat top from that. Too match-matchy? Hmmm…Feel free to weigh in your opinion in the comments! I don’t dress them alike too often but they get a kick out of it right now so it’s fun to do it every now and then…

FYI his jeans are the small fry skinnies I made him for vintage may. I think they are one of the most-worn items of clothing I have made him and he gets compliments on them all the time. Definitely worth the time I put into them!

Perfect Pattern Parcel #4: Small Fry Skinny Jeans

Posted on August 31, 2014 by oliver's fancy

You know my passion is sewing for boys, right? So I was super excited to see that the newest Pattern Parcel is all about boy patterns! Jill has done a great job curating a selection of boy patterns for us to enjoy.

Pattern Parcel #4 includes:
Maxwell Top by Shwin Designs
Zippy Jacket by Blank Slate Patterns
Schoolboy Vest by Sew Much Ado
Small Fry Jeans by Titchy Threads
Jet Pack Bag by Betz White

I picked the small fry skinny jeans from this parcel to sew. Oliver is in dire need of pants for the fall and this is the perfect style for him. Mr Skinny Self looks great in a pair of skinny jeans! Unfortunately he was not digging this photoshoot but I bribed him into the outfit by pulling out the Captain America tank I bought him for next summer and telling him they were superhero pants 😉 Worked like a charm.

I sacrificed a pair of my husband’s pants for this. He bought them on clearance a while back but never wears them because the red was just a little too much for him. But red pants on my 3 year old- way awesome. I reused a lot of the pieces too: seam-ripped the waistband and belt loops and cut them down to size. I also added the leather piece from the original pants to the back waistband which I think is fun.

Pattern Notes: I made the 2T and added 2″ to the hem so that he won’t grow out of them so soon. I would normally cuff the hem up so they’re not so baggy in the legs but that looked funny with his tennis shoes so I just left them alone. Next time I’m going to size up to the 3 because the pants are a wee bit tight. The other pair I made him still fit great so it must be that the twill doesn’t have as much give as the denim does. I didn’t do the adjustable elastic because I didn’t have any and was ~~too lazy~~ ran out of time to make my own. Instead I sewed the elastic in place on one side, pulled it through the waistband, then tried the pants on for fit before sewing the elastic down on the other side.

As I mentioned last time I made these pants, they are labor intensive. But having a pair to reference makes the sewing go a lot quicker! I was able to finish these in one night- I might have had a bit of a sewing marathon and stayed up way too late but still, not too shabby. And I love how professional the finished result is.

Side note: I was provided with these patterns in exchange for sewing from them for the blog hop but I actually previously bought the jeans pattern so I already owned this one. All opinions are, as always, my own. You can see my original pair of jeans here.

Click on the button below to take you to the info page where you can purchase this bundle for yourself! It’s only available through this Friday so don’t wait too long!

About Pattern Parcel:

Here at Perfect Pattern Parcel, we believe in supporting independent pattern designers. It’s our opinion that indie patterns are just, well, better than big box patterns, and we’re pretty sure our customers think so too. So, we allow customers to show their support in naming their own price for each Parcel. We also encourage customers to allocate part of their Parcel price to the charity Donorschoose.org in order to help classrooms in need. Pattern Parcel donates all profits after expenses from Parcel sales to the charity as well. Together we’ve raised $9,800 towards eliminating educational inequality.

Bonus pattern option:

Choose a price of $26 or greater for Parcel #4 and you will automatically also be sent the Bonus Pattern! The Bonus Pattern for this Parcel is Knight Hoodie by Charming Doodle. This pattern is a unique and fun spin on the traditional hoodie. Thorough instructions and pictures help you create an amazing and memorable hoodie that will inspire creativity in your little one.

Here’s the schedule for all the other talented bloggers following along with this blog hop. Make sure to go check them out to see how they interpreted these patterns and for some inspiration in boy sewing!

Friday, August 22 casa crafty || Lulu & Celeste || Keep Calm and Carrion

Saturday, August 23 Max California || Amanda Rose

Sunday, August 24 little betty sews

Monday, August 25 Kadiddlehopper || Radiant Home Studio

Tuesday, August 26 La Pantigana || Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts || Friends Stitched Together

Wednesday, August 27 Make It Perfect || Modern Handmade || GYCT Designs

Thursday, August 28 Needle and Ted || Mae & K || Mimi’s Mom

Friday, August 29 Pienkel || Once Upon a Sewing Machine || Friends Stitched Together

Saturday, August 30 FABulous Home Sewn || Gray Skies || The Crazy Tailor

Sunday, August 31 Nine Stitches || Max California || Oliver’s Fancy || Friends Stitched Together

Monday, September 1 a happy stitch || lady and the gents || Our Family Four || Swoodson Says

Tuesday, September 2 verypurpleperson || Things for Boys || The Crazy Tailor

Wednesday, September 3 Our Family Four || Rebekah Sews || a happy stitch

Thursday, September 4 Sew a Straight Line || la inglesita || Made by Sara || Knot Sew Normal

Friday, September 5 Knot Sew Normal || Gracious Threads || Sofilantjes || Max California

Cow Appreciation Day 2014

Posted on July 25, 2014 by oliver's fancy

I’m back to share with you the other project that I sewed in advance for Kids Clothes Week. It feels kinda like cheating to share something I made 2 weeks ago but an hour a day is the same even if it’s completed before the actual sew along week, right? I knew I wouldn’t be able to get much done this week and I couldn’t not have something to share! I think this one goes well with the kid art theme too since the tank graphics look like kid writing. flashbank tanks v2 (2 of 7)

Every year in July Chickfila hosts what’s known as Cow Appreciation Day where if you dress like a cow, you get free food. We are a bit of Chickfila addicts around here so this is one of our favorite days of the year! Continue reading →

Striped Star Wars Tanks

Posted on July 24, 2014 by oliver's fancy

It’s Kids Clothes Week this week and since I knew that I was going to be out of town the beginning of the week, I made up a few outfits in advance. Actually these tanks were supposed to be the boys’ 4th of July outfits but I ran out of time to finish them so they ended up wearing them without the graphics. Which now that I’ve finished, I think I liked them better without the graphics. Win some, lose some.

These tanks are a hack of the Flashback Skinny Tee. Fabric is a cotton/spandex knit from Girl Charlee. Eliot’s is an 18M with 1.5″ length added and Oliver’s is a 3T with 1″ length added. I used Tara’s tutorial as a basis for how to make the tank out of the tee pattern but ended up changing it up even more. Continue reading →

All About Boys: My Favorite Patterns

Posted on July 17, 2014 by oliver's fancy

I hope you enjoyed seeing how the three of us interpreted the 2 free patterns in different ways. I know I really enjoyed seeing what April and Heidi came up with! It’s so fun how the same pattern can look completely different with just a few adaptations. Make sure you check out Heidi’s second look she has featured today! (She outdid us all and made 2 separate outfits!) April has a pattern round-up for you as well today so I’m excited to see what she has to say.

To round out this week of boy sewing, I want to share some patterns with you. Today I’m sharing a list of my favorite boy patterns (though all of these patterns are in reality unisex so these could be used for girl sewing as well) that I’ve actually sewn and the corresponding outfits that I’ve made from them. I have them listed in order from easiest to hardest (in my opinion). The links on the pattern names will take you to the blog/online store where you can purchase them. If you click on the picture, you will be directed to the blog post where I wrote in detail about them. Tomorrow I’ll be back to share with you some new sewing patterns that I would like to try out this fall. Note: none of these are affiliate links in any way- just giving you my honest opinions. 🙂

KCW Spring 2014 Flashback Skinny Tee– seriously y’all. My go-to t-shirt pattern. The end.

Continue reading →

Bicycle shorts for the birthday boy

Posted on June 7, 2014 by oliver's fancy

A Saturday post this week because blog things got moved around a bit, and I have more to share next week. Yesterday was Eliot’s first birthday. Cannot believe my little baby is already one year old! Time really does fly. This little boy has such a sweet laid-back personality and is a loving, happy little boy. I just wanna hold him all day and slow him down! He’s walking along everything right now and even taking 3-4 steps at a time. Going to be walking all by himself before we know it!

With Eliot being the second child, he really doesn’t need any new clothes/toys and sometimes I get mom guilt that all he wears/plays with are hand-me-downs. I know, it’s silly but I like him to have a few new things all to his own, so I decided to make him a birthday outfit to celebrate his happy day. I think these birthday outfits are becoming a tradition of mine. (Oliver’s second and third birthday outfits blogged here and here.)

Shorts are Dana’s Kid Shorts pattern. They are the basic elastic waist version, size 18 month with front bias-trimmed pockets. I love the little extra pop the bias tape gives the pockets. FYI if you cloth diaper, you may wanna size up on these shorts. Eliot can wear 12 or 18 month in shorts but the 18 month just fits over his fluffy bum. Fabric is a Michael Miller bicycles print that I picked up several years ago at fabric.com and it looks like they still have it in stock here.

Tee is a basic store-bought shirt, and I added the ONE appliqué onto it. Note: I find that this age is the hardest stage to take pictures of- constant crawling about, walking along everything, getting into everything. You just have to snap as they move and hope for some good shots. I am up for any ideas on how to get good photoshoots with a young toddler! Forgot how easy it’s gotten now that Oliver is older and like photoshoots, errr- bribes. 🙂

We just had a simple little family party last night with my siblings, parents, and some homemade chocolate cupcakes. Just enough partying to make mom feel like it was a real birthday but nothing overwhelming. A fun night for my sweet little baby boy.

Why I sew

Posted on May 19, 2014 by oliver's fancy

I”m over on the Kid’s Clothes Week blog today talking about why I sew and sharing some details on my sewing journey. Here’s a sneak peek of what I say…click on over for the full post…

“Why would I make that when I can go to Target and buy it for$10?” “That’s nice for you, but I don’t have time to sew.”
“How do you find time to make all those things?” “That’s a lot of work. Not really worth it in my opinion.”

Have you heard any of these? I get these questions from people quite regularly as a matter of fact. I have a few sewing friends in town, but not many. Many of my friends and acquaintances appreciate the sewing I do, but from afar. They just don’t quite “get” me. Ya know what I mean? That’s what I love about this online community. There are so many like-minded people who totally understand my fabric hoarding tendencies, crazy urge to sew last-minute gifts and messy house because I’ve spent all week sewing kid’s clothes.

Go here to read the rest of it…