Vintage May

Posted on May 15, 2014 by oliver's fancy

I have followed along with Kristin and Jess’s Vintage May series since its inception so I was so pumped when Kristin emailed me and asked if I wanted to be a participant this year. Um, yeah! I had so many ideas floating around my head that I had a hard time pinning down just what I wanted. Then I stumbled across this pinterest picture and knew I had found my lightbulb moment- a 1950s inspired rockabilly outfit. The fact that it would involve several patterns I wanted to try- Bonus!

Without further ado, here is Oliver in his 1950’s outfit: cuffed straight-leg jeans, white tee, and a plaid button down. I de-saturated the pictures a bit to give them a vintage feel. Not sure I was totally successful but I’m kinda digging the effect. He totally owned this photoshoot too- might be because we actually let him drink the photo prop. (please no judging- good pics were a must!) For any fact sticklers, I’m well aware that hubby’s bike is actually a 1975 cafe racer but it’s still vintage so it counts in my mind even if it’s not the exact era we were going for. Vintage May Redo (8 of 10)

My imaginary back story is that Oliver has brought his new motorcycle down to the local hang-out spot and is waiting for his friends to arrive so they can admire his new ride and take it for a spin. Meantime, he’s enjoying a refreshing RC Cola and chilling (like a villian- 😉 )

Now for a little run-down of the patterns I used for O’s outfit:

Pants: Small Fry Skinny Jeans size 2T with 3T+ length. I knew that I wanted to copy Kristin’s idea of the big cuffs so I added several inches to the length. I bought some dark denim at Joann’s then had a moment’s freak-out when I got home because the pattern calls for stretch denim and mine did not have any stretch. I could have sized up to a 3T but I had already cut out the 2T pattern pieces and time was of the essence so I decided to just go for it. Glad I did because these fit great! Actually the waist is even a bit big now that O is potty trained because the 2T allows extra room for diaper bums. Vintage May Redo (10 of 10)

Like all the other reviews of these pants- they are definitely not a quick sew. But they’re not that hard either- her directions are excellent and walk you through each step so beautifully! The only really difficult section was the belt-loops. All those layers of denim almost didn’t fit under my machine foot. And soo much to sew thru! I was afraid I was going to break my machine. One broken needle later and we made it…whew! Note- I switched from a jeans needle to a top-stitching needle and that made a huge difference. When I finished these my husband commented that they looked like designer jeans and he wanted a pair- high five to me! (But I’m not planning on making him a pair anytime soon in case you were wondering 🙂 )

Button-down: Oliver+S Sketchbook Shirt. I have been wanting to make this for O before he grows out of the size range that I bought it in! I went on a search for just the right plaid and found this great madras fabric at Hancock. Apparently I have been missing out because Hancock has a great selection of apparel fabrics. I am definitely going to be making a trip back there soon! This shirt reminded my of my grandfathers- one of which passed away when I was a pre-teen so it was a happy nostalgic time making this for Oliver. I hadn’t really thought of the fact that I was making something from their (my grandfather’s) generation until I was in the middle of this shirt construction but I’m so glad it worked out that way. Feels like a bit of a nod to my grandpa to have my son wearing something that he would have worn in his day.

I used the 2T size because I had traced it back in the fall and never used it. Oliver really fits in the 3T size now but when I compared the sizes, it looked like I just needed to add some length to make it work. I added two inches to the length of the arms hem so that I could retro it up a bit and roll up the sleeves and also added an inch to the bottom hem. The neck is a bit small but I’m not planning on buttoning the collar so that’s no big deal. A very professional finish with this pattern- like all O+S patterns.

T-shirt- I knew O needed a white tee to complete his outfit but wanted to add a little bit of fun to it so I added this motorcycle transfer (image found via google). I had been given some iron-on transfer paper a while back but actually didn’t pay attention to it until I was cleaning out my sewing room a few weeks ago and found it. Why have I not been using this? It’s so easy! And Oliver loves the motorcycle tee! I think it will become a summer fave. Pattern is the flashback skinny tee made in a 3T size with extra length added to arm and shirt hems. I wanted to be able to roll the sleeves up to add to the vintage feel of the shirt.

Hope you enjoyed your trip back to the 1950s. I know I did! Make sure to check out all the other great Vintage May stuff happening on Jess and Kristin’s blogs over the next few weeks.

Oliver is three

Posted on April 28, 2014 by oliver's fancy

We had a birthday party for Oliver this weekend. Can you believe my little boy is three already? Wow that’s crazy! Anywho, we didn’t have a party for him last year, but now that he’s old enough to enjoy parties and such, we thought it would be fun to something with his friends. We invited a few of his little buddies (and parents, of course) to the park for a morning of play. It was a gorgeous day and they all had lots of fun.

Eliot could be found roaming underneath the picnic table trying to steal everyone’s snacks! lol Of course a birthday wouldn’t be complete without a handmade number shirt from mom, which I conveniently matched to his number shorts. He looked so stinking cute in his outfit. Shirt pattern is Raglan Tee from Sewing for Boys. I cut out the letters and appliqued them to the shirt after constructing it. I bought the orange Robert Kaufman laguna jersey from fabric.com after reading several bloggers’ comments on how nice it was. And it really is nice! I’m definitely going to be buying more of it in several colors. It just has such a nice feel and drape! And I’m very close to Fabric.com’s new warehouse so it is so tempting to buy from them right now- I get my order within two days of placing it! Shorts were previously blogged here.

Another fun part of the birthday party were the lightsaber favors. I am such a Star Wars nerd, and it’s too fun to pass that nerdiness on to your children! Oliver is at that impressionable age and loves anything we push as cool right now. 😉 He thought these were great. Ian made them the night before the party with pool noodles, electrical tape and duct tape. Easy, quick, and cheap! The kids had fun playing with them at the party and then got to take them home when the party was over.

So, this kid. He’s got a lot of his mommy in him and it both frustrates me at times and yet completely endears him to me. 🙂 It’s so fun to watch him grow out of the toddler stage and full on into little boyhood. Can’t wait to see what three has in store for you, buddy!

Perfect Pattern Parcel #2: Hosh Pants

Posted on April 18, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Have you heard of the Perfect Pattern Parcel? It’s a really unique way to bundle and sell independent patterns. They collect a group of sewing patterns and offer them as a bundle for a two week period of time. When you check out, you choose how much to pay and based on that, a portion of your payment not only goes to the designers, but also goes to support children’s education though Donor’s Choose. Parcel #1 was a collection of women’s sewing patterns and Parcel #2 is a collection of clothing patterns specifically designed for little girls. And boy am I bummed to not have any little girls to sew some of these patterns for!

How cute are those patterns? amiright? So you’re thinking, what do I have to do with this sale because I only sew for boys? Well just so happens a few of these patterns work for boys as well so I got the opportunity to sew up the Hosh Pants by Lou Bee Clothing as a part of the blog hop.

I used some stretch gray twill for the pants. I like how they look like dress pants but are comfy like yoga pants. And Oliver likes that he can take them on and off by himself. The pattern was a cinch to sew up, and I really like unique way she constructed the waistband pieces to make it very easy to use buttonhole elastic and also have a flat front.

My only complaint is that the backside is way to big for Oliver. I had to cinch the elastic super tight to get the pants to stay up so now he’s got some funny-looking gathers back there (which thankfully you don’t really notice under a button down shirt). This is my fault because I made him a 3T when based on his measurements he could have fit into a 2T. I would not recommend sizing up on this pattern! Next time I will make the 2T with the 3T length and maybe still take a bit of the rise out of the bum. I think this is only a problem with super skinny little kids (poor O has no bum!) as most people have not had this problem with the pattern.

I was going to make him some chambray shorts for his Easter outfit but now I’m thinking he will wear these pants because it will probably be a bit chilly at our outside sunrise service (hopefully we can get ourselves and both boys out the door that early! lol). The orange button down and shoes are from baby gap as the other part of O’s Easter outfit.

So you see, you can get double use out of this Parcel for your girls and your boys! It’s only available through tonight and then the bundle will be gone forever so go check it out!

spring kcw wrap-up

Posted on April 15, 2014 by oliver's fancy

I’m back for my final wrap-up for spring 2014 Kids Clothes Week. I made a little collage to show off my total clothing counts. Click on the collage to go to a list of all my kcw blog posts.

I really enjoyed the push to make as much of Oliver’s spring wardrobe as possible within a week. I was actually sad to not get more sewing time because I kept getting more tee and short variation ideas.
My main takeaway from this week was how much easier and quicker my serger made things. Don’t know why I waited so long to learn to use it. I even re-threaded it twice! (pats self on back). I also think it took my sewing to the next level and made my clothes look more store-bought. And lest you think I’m a sewing machine (see what I did there? 😉 ) by Monday afternoon, my kcw adrenaline rush had worn off and I collapsed on the couch during the boys’ naptime! I have got quite a busy sewing/blogging schedule the next month though so I am glad to have gotten my energy back today and gotten back into things! I’ll be back on Friday with something fun to share.

spring kcw: red geometric raglan and khaki shorts

Posted on April 13, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Whew, I just barely got in my hour today. With us having church on Sunday, it tends to be a crazy day, and in the past I don’t think I’ve ever gotten my KCW hour in. But I was determined to do it this spring because I had one more outfit I wanted to get done! In taking the photo shoots this past week, I realized that Oliver needed a pair of plain khaki shorts that would match with all his colorful tees. I got this finished right as the sun was going down, and we ran outside to snap a few pics before we lost all our light.

For the shorts, I (yet again) used Dana’s kid shorts pattern with the flat front and patch pockets. I really wanted to do something fun with the pockets and add some piping or bias tape like I did with the numbers one, but then I realized that would defeat my purpose of making shorts to match with every outfit. So they’re kinda a bit boring but practical. At least they have some pockets for treasure-keeping. I may go back and add some patch pockets to the back to give some more interest. The material is from an old pair of Ian’s pants that were in the upcycle bin. We really got some use out of that upcycle bin this week! Glad that I can now justify keeping all those old clothes around “just in case!”

The shirt is one of my faves from this week. (do I say that about every one? lol) I got the abstract geo print from the Fabric Fairy using a gift card (incidentally at the same time I got the stripes for this tee). The fabric is a cotton lycra blend and I really like the weight and feel of it. I have been collecting different types of knits over the last few months and getting a feel for the type I like and the type I am not as fond of (basically not a fan of poly blends even if they are cute).

I used the raw-edged raglan pattern from Sewing for Boys for the tee but made it without the raw edges. I added the white raglan sleeves to break up the abstract print a bit and then freezer paper stenciled the camera. I knew I needed to add the stencil so that my husband would be ok with the tee since he wasn’t a huge fan of the red print. I just knew it would look good though if I used it the right way! Glad my intuition was right this time. And he agreed that it looked cool once it was all finished.

And that’s a wrap for kcw y’all. It was a fun week and I made a lot of cute clothes. I think O’s wardrobe is looking pretty good for this spring/summer. I am surprisingly not burned out from sewing like a mad women, but I am looking forward to not having the photo-shoots/picture editing/blog writing every evening! I’ll be back in a few days with my final thoughts on this kcw and a roundup of all my clothes! Hope you had an enjoyable week, and even if you didn’t get done all you wanted that you learned some things and enjoyed the kids clothes sewing community! Make sure you check out the community website and browse all the fun clothes made this week!

spring kcw: triangle tee and number shorts

Posted on April 12, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Y’all I am in love with these shorts. I know they are just a wee bit crazy, but seriously, soooo cute! Right? Please just answer if you agree with me, ok? 😉 Shorts are made from this fun Citrus Numbers quilting cotton print I got from Tactile Fabrics after winning a giveaway from Sew, Mama, Sew. I wanted to make a few pairs of easy, lightweight play shorts for O, and this fabric just jumped out at me begging me to be shorts. 🙂

I used Dana’s kid shorts pattern again (3T) but this time just did a full elastic waist since they are meant to be play shorts and not dressy. I also happened to have this orange bias tape in my stash, and I think it adds the perfect touch to the shorts. Easy, fun, done. (Boba Fett shirt blogged here)

Shirt is the flashback skinny tee but tweaked just a bit to be color-blocked. Guess I’m kinda into that now, huh? I also added the aqua pocket for just a pop of color. Thanks to all those who weighed in on my IG post asking for advice on this one! Really happy with how it turned out. Triangles are the infamous Girl Charlee triangles- made quite popular after winter kcw and the Bimaa hoodie. Black fabric is from an old dress of mine in the upcycle bin. (Hey, I’m really using this mini me theme, aren’t I?!)

When making the shorts this afternoon, I was really hoping they would match with the tee because I wanted to take pictures of them together, but even O couldn’t pull off this duo! So separate photo-shoots it was. Thankfully he was a good sport about it. And I tried to majorly cull the number of pics I put here so you don’t have complete photo overload of the two outfits. You know, I am actually kinda sad that kcw is over after tomorrow because I keep getting more shorts and tee ideas to make. However, my husband and my house will be very happy when Monday rolls around to be sure!

spring kcw: the mini accountants

Posted on April 11, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Well today I had my first sewing casualty- cut off the end of my finger with the rotary cutter. Not cool. 😦 Thankfully I already had these shirts finished before that happened so I did manage to get my hour in today. Sure hope it heals quickly because it seriously cuts into my sewing mojo. It is also surprisingly hard to type with a bandaged index finger.

My husband recently starting working for a really cool group called The Iron Yard as their bookkeeper/accountant guru. This is a casual/somewhat hipster environment so everyone wears tshirts and jeans. Ian was able to get some extra-large shirts, and he thought it would be fun if I made shirts for the boys from them. I immediately thought how perfect would this be for our mini-me kcw theme- especially if I could get some photos taken of the boys “working” in daddy’s new space. kcw spring 2014= fb tees

I used the trusty Flashback Skinny Tee for the tees. Oliver’s is a 4T and Eliot’s is 18 months. I lengthened E’s by an inch but otherwise they are as-is. Btw did you forget I had another son? I know he’s gotten sadly neglected this week but as the curse of the younger brother, he has so many clothes while O had none. Enter one shirt made for the little brother= mother guilt assuaged for now. Also please ignore E’s blotchy face. My sensitive skinned child is having a reaction to the pollen flying around outside.

Whew, I’m exhausted now. Photoshoots with two kids- not so easy as those with just one! Still two more days of kcw left to go and I’ve got two shirts for sure to show you and I’m hoping for another pair of shorts! We will see. Don’t give up over the weekend- find that hour somewhere!

spring kcw: boba fett and green shorts

Posted on April 10, 2014 by oliver's fancy

the dinosaurs came along for our photo shoot today. I think they had fun. 😉

You tired of seeing shorts and tees yet? Well I hope not because that’s what I’ve got for you again today. Far from being bored myself, I actually keep coming up with more and more tee ideas! Which is good because what I get done this week composes a good deal of Oliver’s spring/summer wardrobe.

For the tee, I used the raw-edged raglan in a size 4/5 from Sewing for Boys again. I like the pattern pieces of this tee, but, as a side note, I follow a lot of the instructions of the Flashback tee in the construction of this shirt. After this week I think I will be able to sew tees in my sleep! Oliver has two long-sleeve Star Wars shirts and would be happy to wear one or the other every day, so in planning his summer shirts, I knew that I would need at least one Star Wars one. Boba Fett happens to be my little brother’s favorite character so he was an easy choice (Oliver loves to be like Uncle Alex). My second time freezer paper stenciling was even easier than the first! This could get addicting. LOL. The white fabric is a jersey knit from Hobby Lobby of all places. They actually sell 100% cotton jersey, and I was really happy with it in my maternity tee last year, so I got some more to try out with Oliver. The sleeve fabric is from an upcycled tee- yay for using existing hems!

The shorts are my third pair of Dana’s Kid Shorts this week. This time I used some green denim I found in the remnant bin at Joann. There was a 1/2 yard bundle, and it was exactly what I needed to make these shorts. Flat front/elastic back again. I wanted to make some cargo pockets so I took the box pleat pocket piece from Rae’s Parsley pants pattern and sewed it to the bottom of the shorts. The denim was thicker than I had anticipated, so it was a bit tricky sewing all those layers of pleats in the pockets, but I’m really happy with how they turned out. Oliver is at the age where he loves pockets, and it’s fun to give him some to put his treasures in.

So that’s it for day 4. I have a fun photoshoot planned for tomorrow afternoon for my mini-me entry. If all goes well, you’ll get to see both boys and their daddy in some pictures. Fingers crossed for good naps and happy pictures!

What about you? How is your list going this week? Are you burnt out yet from sewing like crazy? I’m trying to pace myself so I’m not an exhausted, cranky mess by Sunday night! Oh and by the way, yesterday’s outfit is featured on the KCW blog today so go check it out and see all the other cool boy outfits she rounded up!

spring kcw: raglan tee and color-blocked shorts

Posted on April 9, 2014 by oliver's fancy

RaglanTee and Shorts8 After a recent trip to the mall, I have been itching to re-create some color-blocked shorts that I saw for O. Also this week is Project Run and Play’s design your own fabric challenge so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make a PRP look during KCW. (enough acronyms anyone? 😉 ) I really loved these khaki and green ones, but since I already made green shorts (blog post yet to come), I needed another color. The lower short fabric started out as hot pink capris from my sister’s goodwill pile. I rescued them and dyed them with some brown RIT dye. They ended up this nice maroon color. I could have dyed them again to get them more brown but ended up liking this color and decided to keep it. The khaki fabric is from an old pair of hubby’s pants in the upcycle bin.

I took Dana’s flat front short pattern, marked where I wanted the color block to be, and cut out both fabrics using 3/8″ overlap where they would join for seam allowance. Then I sewed them together, serged the seam, topstitched, and used the resulting piece as the regular pattern piece.

Oliver’s showing off his belly button so you can get a close-up of the top-stitching.

I wanted these shorts to look store-bought so I broke out my topstitching thread and used it for all the seams. I even created a faux fly and some faux pocket stitching. Fancy, huh? I thought so. These shorts were definitely a labor of love. I had to break out the jeans needle and stitch very slowly to get all the thick seams sewn up. In the end, totally worth it to have a pair of quality-made shorts. These babies won’t be falling apart anytime soon!

The tee is the (not-so) Raw Edged Raglan from Sewing for Boys. I used my serger for all the seams and my stretch thread for all the topstitching- So loving that! I also love my current table set-up because I have my serger and sewing machine set up next to each other, and I can easily go back and forth as I am sewing. The gray and white stripe is a jersey knit I picked up at the Fabric Fairy using a gift card, and the sleeves are part of an old tee (the rest of which you will see tomorrow in another shirt!)

The shirt is my first attempt at freezer paper stenciling- so fun! The hardest part was agonizing over what stencil I wanted to do- something cool but not too cheesy. In the end I remembered a free stencil pdf I found on Pinterest and used that. It was so fun to peel off the freezer paper and see the words underneath! Definitely going to be doing more of that in the future.

I am pretty jealous of this shirt and my nod to the mini-me theme is that I actually wish I had one of these in my size! Maybe after all this is finished, I’ll try to make one for myself, and we can really be matching. 😉 Not in the exact same colors of course but the same general idea. I know it’s cheesy but gotta do some matchy-matchy while he thinks it’s cool, right?

Because sometimes the outtakes are too funny not to share.

KCW Spring 2014 Day 1: A Mini-Me- The husband version

Posted on April 7, 2014 by oliver's fancy

Ok y’all I am getting really pumped about this Spring’s KCW because I am having so much fun coming up with ideas for O’s summer wardrobe. Today I tried out Dana’s shorts pattern and give it two thumbs up. Seriously, it makes short-making a breeze. I love a good basic pattern with multiple variations where you can make quite a few pairs and they will all look different. Also I am using my serger on clothing for the first time this week, and it has changed my life! Why did I wait so long to learn how to use it? The first thing I did when husband came home was show him the inside of O’s shorts because they look so stinking profesh! I must say he was suitably impressed- or pretended to be at least to make me happy. 😉For the shorts, I used an orange seersucker from Joann. I made Oliver a 3T (without measuring him- living dangerously, I know) and ended up cutting off about 1/2″ off the bottom. Other than that, they fit perfectly. This pair is made with a flat front and lined patch pockets cut on the bias. They really are the cutest shorts. My husband wasn’t so hot on the fabric when I brought it home, but he gave the completed shorts two thumbs up. I’m just pumped you can’t tell they are handmade. These were so easy to make that I may never buy another pair of kid shorts again! It’s gonna be #makealltheshorts. KCW Spring 2014

KCW Spring 2014 In keeping with our mini-me theme, the shirt is an old t-shirt of Ian’s that had gotten too small for him after many washings. Mini-me in my case will most likely equal mini-husband (that’s ok, right?). I sized up my trusty Flashback Tee pattern into a 4T because this fabric does not have much stretch in it. It definitely gives him some room to grow, but that’s good since I want this to fit all summer. However if I use some stretchier knit for his next shirt, I think I will go back down to the 3T. In addition to using my serger to finish off the seams, I also took Rae’s advice and bought some stretch thread for the hems. It was very easy to use, and I love the look of the straight stitch on the neckline instead of the stretch stitch that I’ve used before. KCW Spring 2014

I really wanted to get some pics of Ian and Oliver together with their coordinating converse tennies and graphic tees to cement the mini-me theme, but, alas, tax season is finishing strong over here, and I doubt he’ll have time to get in on any photo shoots. 😦 I’ve got a few more mini-me items up my sleeve though so I’m hoping for at least one group shot of all my boys before the week is out! KCW Spring 2014 How about you? How has your week begun? Any completed projects to show or still tracing patterns and cutting out fabric? Can’t wait to finish up this post and go peruse the KCW site and IG pool!