Halloween 2013

Posted on November 4, 2013 by oliver's fancy

While I really wanted to make Oliver a handmade costume this year for Halloween, I also knew that practically I would not have much time to make said costume. I also didn’t want to spend hours on something that would be worn once and then discarded. I went through lots of ideas until I saw this post on KCW making a kid’s tee with a cape sewn into the shirt. What a brilliant idea! Oliver has some Batman pajamas given to him by a friend and he absolutely loves to wear them so what better costume for him?! Plus I had an old gray polo of Ian’s and a black knit dress of mine just waiting around in the upcycle bag so no shopping was required.

I used my trusty Flashback Skinny Tee pattern in a 3T and followed this tutorial for the cape. It’s sewn into the shoulder seam while the shirt is being constructed. I didn’t have quite enough of the polo for long sleeves so I added black cuffs. I considered attempted freezer paper stenciling for the batman logo but I didn’t have any paint at home so I went with applique instead. I traced out the bat logo from Oliver’s pajama shirt onto the same black knit I used for the cape.

The best thing about using the polo is that I was able to keep the existing shirt hem! Less work for me! 🙂

I really wanted to make him a mask and pants to go with the shirt, but there’s no way he’s keeping a mask on his head and he already has gray pants so we went the easy way this year. But I’m very happy that I ended up with a cute costume that can be worn over and over this fall and winter. Sorry we don’t have any really great pictures. Batman was just not in the photo taking mood this past week!

Kids Clothes Week Fall 2013

Posted on October 30, 2013 by oliver's fancy

This past week was Kid’s Clothes Week, and while I am late reporting in on my productivity, I did get a few things finished (or mostly finished) last week. When taking inventory of the boys’ clothes, I realized they could both use some more church clothes. Perfect time for me to try out the Oliver + S Sketchbook Shirt pattern that I picked up during their end of summer inventory sale.

I have been saving Ian’s old button down shirts for this very purpose and got one out to perform surgery on for this pattern. I started out with one for Eliot. Let me tell you, I have decided that from now on, all button down shirts I make for the boys will be short sleeved! Although the little tiny cuffs and button plackets are so adorable, they require way too much time and work! Much easier to make a simple short sleeve and then wear a long sleeve shirt underneath if need be! I actually ran out of time to put the buttons on the shirt so you will see Mr. E wearing safety pins to hold himself together!

The shirt turned out really well but a little big. He’s growing quickly though so I anticipate him getting quite a bit of use out of this shirt before winter is over.

Now as far as my other KCW project, it involved Oliver’s Halloween outfit and I haven’t been able to get good pics of him wearing it yet so expect that post to come up sometime on Friday, after our trick or treating experience. Let me just say that I think it’s pretty adorable even if it is very simple and practical. I’ll leave you with an IG picture as a hint. 😉

Coming this fall: more cute baby gear!

Posted on September 23, 2013 by oliver's fancy

I’ve been a busy little bee behind the scenes over here cooking up some new stuff for the shops- both the etsy store and my booth at UrbanDigs. So many ideas floating around in my head, so little naptime to get it all done!

So far I’ve managed to get a few new products out the door and am working on some more. First off- I’ve been wanting to produce some bibs for a while now and have never settled on the style I wanted. Enter baby mcdroolypants and I have my inspiration. 🙂 (I love how all of my inspiration comes out of things I make for my boys!) I like these terrycloth backed bibs because you have a super cute print on the front and a nice absorbant back that keeps the drool/spit-up from soaking through to their clothes. Here’s Eliot showing off one for the shop pictures.

I think he likes it! Next off, I have a project that I had planned on making for Oliver and never got around to so child #2 was motivation to finally get this done. I love how easy these pacy clips are! And so cute too! After I posted these pictures to Instagram, I sold out in just a few hours! Here’s hoping the etsy store is just as successful. I was really excited to find the colored clips because I feel they add a little something extra.

Here’s Eliot looking adorable with his Dr. Seuss clip. (side benefit of selling these clips…I get to pick the best for myself and indulge my Dr. Seuss fetish by making two different ones for Mr. E 😉 )

Not pictured are the burp/wash cloths I have been making to coordinate with the pacy clips and bibs. I am trying to plan ahead for what I hope will be busy fall/Christmas season and make up some gift sets for people to buy. Hopefully nap times will be long over the next week or so and I can get lots done! Must remember these little munchkins of mine are only little for a short time so I need to enjoy the precious time I get to spend with them… remind me this at 5:30 am feedings please! 🙂

Dr. Seuss Toddler Backpack

Posted on May 30, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Checking back in here again to let you know I am still alive and baby is still happily swimming around his little cocoon. 🙂 39 weeks tomorrow and trying to relax and not anticipate his arrival any second…soo hard to do!

Well I hadn’t sewed in over a week because I am just so tired at nap-times that I take naps myself. My poor Bernina was looking so sad and neglected I just had to give her some attention yesterday! A few weeks back I had started a toddler backpack for Oliver using Rae’s pattern and some Dr. Seuss fabric I have been saving for just the right project. I got the outer backpack all finished and there it has been sitting waiting for a lining. Really happy I got to finish it yesterday because Oliver’s old backpack (also Dr. Suess 🙂 ) was a cheap nylon bag, and it is all but in shreds so he really needed a new one.

Thoughts on the pattern and construction:

I used Craft Fuse 808 to interface all the exterior pieces because they are quilting cotton weight. The lining is a medium weight twill fabric. I was worried it wouldn’t be sturdy enough but am happy to report that the interfacing and heavier weight lining combined to make a great sturdy bag! Now about the bag construction itself- This bag pattern is not for the faint of heart! It has quite the involved instructions and takes a bit of time to construct. However, like all of Rae’s patterns, the instructions are well-written and easy to follow- just be prepared to take your time. I am especially impressed with how professional-looking the strap turned out!

I got to use some of my new feet for the bag construction and really liked how easy the piping foot made that section come together. I also looked through the flickr group before making my bag in order to get some ideas and decided to add pockets to each side panel. They were pretty straight-forward and easy to add except that I think the gathered one needs to be just a bit bigger in order to hold his water bottle. Oliver loves his new bag and likes to carry it around one-handed to show people…kinda cool that he’s old enough to appreciate what I make for him now!

Kid’s Clothes Week Wrap-Up

Posted on April 30, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Day 4

At least one part of his body always seems to be in motion!

As I was debating what tee to make Thursday, I realized that Oliver “needed” a birthday shirt for his 2nd birthday on Friday. I had a super soft brown thrifted women’s XL shirt that I was saving for an appliqued tee and decided to use that for my shirt base. Once again, I used the trusty flashback skinny tee pattern. Since this was my 4th flashback tee, it came together super fast. I am really interested to notice how the different knit fabrics look different with the same size pattern- because this was really stretchy and soft material, it fits quite a bit bigger than his other shirts.

I spent forever trying to decide what kind of birthday applique I wanted to use. In the end, I spelled out TWO on his shirt because now it’s a shirt he can wear the entire year, not just on his birthday. It would have been easier if I had found a font I liked and traced the letters, but I can never do things the easy way so I free-handed the letters and took quite a while getting them just right. I used heat n bond lite to applique the letters to the tee and sewed around them for added security. I really like how this turned out! Of course Oliver did not cooperate super well for our mini-photoshoot but I have a few useable shots for you.

enjoying his yummy birthday cake 🙂

Day 5: Oliver’s birthday. I had planned to do a little sewing during his nap but after making his cake and playing with him all morning, I was too wiped out to sew and ended up napping myself. Oh well. We had a really fun day together and doesn’t that cake look good!? My car loving little man thought it was great.

Day 6-7: Had a reaction to something I ate on Friday night and had horrific indigestion/heartburn for 2 straight days….meaning no sewing or anything else for that matter. 😦 Getting ready to get this little brother out into the world so my body can go back to normal- only 5.5 more weeks!

Day 8:

I really wanted to complete a pair of shoes for the baby during KCW so I decided it could last one more day in order for me to meet my goal. I was going to use the shoe pattern from Handmade Beginnings, but found this adorable tutorial for TOMS and decided I must try it out using my leftover red denim from the boys’ pants. These took forever! I enlarged the pattern to where it should have been a size 6-9 months, but they ended up so tiny I don’t know if they’ll even fit a newborn. Fingers crossed this baby doesn’t have the gargantuan feet his older brother has! I know I’m a bit slow now with my pregnancy brain, but I really did not like this tutorial. I found it hard to follow, and she left out some details that would have been helpful. I also don’t like how it ends up with exposed seams in the inside of the shoe. Seems uncomfortable for a baby. I had to do lots of seam ripping with these shoes because I made so many mistakes, and in the end, I still ended up with 2 left feet. Oh well. Hopefully they’ll fit the little man for a few days at least so I can get some cute pictures. And maybe, I’m just super slow these days and the rest of y’all will have no problems following this tutorial! Let me know if you do try it!

And that wraps up another KCW… Total of 4 tees, 1 dress shirt, 1 pair of quick change trousers, and 1 pair of baby toms. Not too bad of a list in my opinion.

Kid’s Clothes Week Day 3: Another Flashback Tee

Posted on April 24, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Day 3:

Finished Dress Shirt from Day 2: hemmed sleeves and finished off all side seams
Blue Stripe Flashback Tee completed

Sure hope you are not tired of seeing these flashback skinny tees because I am most definitely not tired of making them. 🙂 We have been so blessed to have quite a few clothes passed down to us from various people, but as I was going through Oliver’s summer wardrobe, he really does need some dressier tees and dress shirts so that’s what I am focusing on this KCW.

This blue stripe tee is one of my faves so far. It’s from an old tank top that I picked up at a thrift store a while back in order to have practice knits. It’s a nice thick jersey material but super stretchy, so it definitely was the hardest knit I’ve worked with yet. I had barely enough fabric to make this tee…had to do some creative layout and cutting to get my shirt.

Thankfully I was able to use the existing hem for the bottom of the shirt and only had to hem the sleeves. Also because this is super stretchy, I could use the fabric itself for the neck binding, and it fits over Oliver’s head! I was debating on adding a pocket to the tee but as I was cutting the pocket out, nap time ended so I decided that was my sign to be done with the tee. 🙂 Tomorrow my goal is to attempt a polo refashion. Wish me luck!

Kid’s Clothes Week: Days 1&2- Flashback Skinny Tees and Quick Change Trousers

Posted on April 23, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Day 1:

I got so much done today and am quite proud of myself! I could not believe how quickly the flashback skinny tee whipped up! It helped that in my last sewing machine mastery class (for my amazing Bernina! 🙂 ) they taught us how to sew with knits- which stitches to use and how to adjust the presser foot tension. That made the tee an easy project. Based on Oliver’s measurements, I made him the 24 month size (adding 1 inch in length) to begin with, but I didn’t want to make any more until he tried it on for fit. I used the existing hem for the sleeve which made it an even quicker sew!

Since that project went super fast, I still had time before nap time was over, and I sewed up a pair of quick change trousers for baby bro. The red side matches with Oliver’s tuxedo parsley pants, and I hope that I get a chance to have the boys wear the pants together because I think that would be super cute. 🙂 The other side is just a fun multi-colored stripe that I have been eyeing as pants for Oliver but thought they might be a bit too crazy.Thankfully you can get away with a bit more on a little baby! I made the size 0-3 months, but I didn’t have quite enough red denim left so they are a bit short. I just won’t roll up the cuff and I think they’ll be fine.

The 24 month tee ended up *just* fitting Oliver (really too small for his head but we made it work) so I knew I would need to make the 2T size if I want the shirts to last more than just a few weeks. He got to bed pretty early last night, and I couldn’t stop thinking about finishing the shirts, so I went ahead and made the 2T size last night… this pattern is addicting! I figured out how to salvage and reuse the existing neck ribbing because I only have gray ribbing, and I have discovered that if I don’t use ribbing, the neck openings are too small to fit over Oliver’s head. Happy to report that the 2T fits great! And I can’t believe how professional this shirt looks! Yay me 🙂 . Oh I must explain one thing, these are my hubby’s old shirts, and he loves them dearly. I find the green shirt to be a bit disturbing (especially on my 2 year old), but I needed something that I didn’t care about that much to check fit with and it makes hubby happy to give new life to his old shirts, so I guess everyone wins… just no one in blogosphere freak out that I’m encouraging my son to go after animals…he’s quite in love with animals actually. 🙂

Day 2:

Oliver is in major need of some dressier shirts so I thought I would see about remixing the flashback tee into a button down shirt. I really had no idea what I was doing, but since I was using one of Ian’s old shirts, I figured I had nothing to lose. I also used Oliver’s short sleeve dress shirt as a general guide to how this shirt needed to come together. I added about 1.5″ to the shirt width on the 2T size FST. It was so cool to use the existing hem and button placket and see the shirt come together. I even seam-ripped the old pocket and cut it down to size.

The only tricky part of this shirt was the collar, and up until I did it, I really had no idea what I was going to do. I cut off the entire collar section from the old shirt, sewed it onto the new shirt, and then folded and sewed the actual collar down to make it a bit smaller. It works, but I kinda forgot that you can see the seams on the shirt inside when the collar isn’t buttoned and they are a bit messy there. I’ll have to figure out something else when I try this again. On a side note, all my other seams look great because I finished them off nicely! Oh and I thought the collar would be too big, but for some reason the toddler neck size was the same as the adult neck size…hmmm.

I waited to finish off the sleeve hem until he tried it on after naptime so you’re seeing the shirt without a sleeve hem but with everything else finished. We are doing really low-key photo shoots this week since most of my time will be spent sewing and I (hopefully) will have lots of finished projects to report to you. I was also pretty happy that this shirt only took me about 90 min from start to finish. I’m pretty sure I will be even faster the next time. Let me tell you, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Oliver tried the shirt on and it fit! The shoulders are a teensy bit tight but everything else is perfect with a bit of room to grow! Now I’m on to scour through Ian’s clothes and see what else I can re-purpose. This gets addicting, I tell you. 🙂

Parsley Pants Take 3: The Tuxedo Stripe

Posted on April 22, 2013 by oliver's fancy

To kick off Kid’s Clothes Week, I am presenting the third (and my personal favorite) version I made of the parsley pants (Update: Pattern is now available!). This pair was made with some red bottomweight fabric (I think it’s denim) that I picked up a while back in mind for pants for Oliver. The third pair of parsley pants has one main modification from the other two- I took them in an inch on the tuxedo stripe line to make them more slim cut. I believe the final pattern version of this pant will be taken in 3/4 of an inch over the tester version- making them a little less straight cut than this version but not quite as baggy as the pj or linen pinstripe pants.

I also added a chevron tuxedo stripe down the side and some patch pockets on the back. This look was inspired by Rae’s version here. The tuxedo stripe is an option given in the pattern itself, but I improvised the patch pockets. I just think these are the cutest things ever! And the fit is superb!! I have to tell you how excited I am that this pattern has a snug enough waist to stay up, but enough room in the seat to make it fit well with both cloth and disposable diapers! I did the flat front finish with elastic backing again, and I have decided that this is my favorite finish for a more professional-looking pair of pants. The full elastic waist is great for pajamas, but the flat front looks a bit more polished for everyday wear.

um, seriously, what is this model pose, here?

Our photoshoot got rained out so I don’t have a ton of good pictures to share with you, but I did manage to get a few. However I have to pull up a phone picture to really show off the back of these pants…

FYI, we took these pics at the same time we took pics of my maternity shirt and Oliver was copying my pose in this picture…too funny how much they notice at this age!

Now to get started on my KCW list! I bought the flashback skinny tee pattern this weekend and have a bunch of Ian’s old shirts set aside to make some tees for Oliver- hopefully some of them coordinate with his new pants! Here’s a somewhat loosely organized list of what I hope to accomplish this week… aiming high like always:)

Flashback Skinny Tees- going to make regular tees and also attempt some dressier shirts using this pattern as a base
Quick Change Trousers for baby from Handmade Beginnings
Shoes for baby from Handmade Beginnings
Oliver + S Sailboat shirt and pants (if time)

Parsley Pants Take 2: The Summer Church Pant

Posted on April 16, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Back again today to share with you my second version of the parsley pants (UPDATE: Pattern is now available here). For this version, I used some linen pinstripe fabric that I bought quite a while back and have been saving for the perfect pants for Oliver. So glad to finally put it to good use!

I promise the piping is the same length on both pockets. For some reason, they look lopsided in the picture, but I double checked them after taking this picture and they are even!

I wanted to try out the pintucks and pouch pocket variation of the pants this time. BUT I also thought it might be fun to add a little something extra this time around. During Celebrate the Boy, Rae showcased a lot of clothing with piping and I fell in love with that look. I have never made piping for clothing before, but thankfully she has an easy tutorial. I am pretty sure that the piping cord I used is a little thick for clothing, but it’s what I had on hand and I didn’t want to have to run to the store so I made it work (ala Tim Gunn 🙂 ).

The pintucks ended up being super subtle on the pinstriped fabric but I still love them! I also made this version flat front to dress it up a bit. The pouch pockets took me quite a while to construct because I had to make the piping, baste it to the outer pocket fabric, sew the outer fabric to the lining, and then sew the completed pockets to the pants. Whew! It was worth it though because, in my opinion, the little details are what make these pants stand out. I used a Lotta Jansdotter print for the pocket lining and while you only see a peek of it around the pockets, it makes me happy that it’s there. 🙂

I think these make the perfect summer church pants because they are super lightweight yet dressy. In fact he wore them this past Sunday and got quite a few compliments on them. 🙂

Parsley Pants Take 1: the Pajama Version

Posted on April 15, 2013 by oliver's fancy

UPDATE: Pattern is now available here!

Well after that sneak peek on Friday, I am back with more information on these great pants. I thought it would be fun to share them with you one at a time over the next few days. Wait, that means I made more than one pair of pants last week? Oh yes, peeps, I made a total of THREE pairs of pants for the little man! Is he spoiled or what? 🙂 Not only did I want to do a good job as a pattern tester by trying out all the different variations of this pattern, but I must say that once I got started, I just couldn’t stop because I was having too much fun making cool pants!

Pre-hemming picture… we are really into driving cars all over the furniture right now.

As I mentioned last week, I got the opportunity to be a pattern tester for Rae’s new pants pattern: The Parsley Pants. I have been eying all the cool pants Rae has made recently (specifically during her Celebrate the Boy series), and anxiously awaiting the promised release of a basic pants pattern. So when she contacted me to see if I would be interested in testing the pattern for her, of course I jumped at the chance.

This first pair that I made is just the basic, elastic waist pant version of the pant. I figured I would make Oliver some jammie pants, and that way, if the measurements were way off, I wouldn’t have wasted some of my nice fabric on the pants. Let me tell you, this version is FAST! I was taking more care than usual to be exact since I’m testing the pattern measurements and even with that, these just flew together. This pants pattern only has one piece for each leg, unlike many patterns that have two pieces for each leg. That makes the construction really quick and easy. Also let me throw in a word of praise for Rae’s instructions. She offers hints throughout the pattern to help you get through possible trouble spots. I found that so helpful!

Oliver has just grown into size 2 (where this pattern begins in sizing), and he has a skinny backside so I wasn’t sure about the pants staying up. Happy to report that the waist measurements ended up being just fine- both with his cloth and disposable diapers. I did have to cut about 2 inches off the hem but considering that the size 2 runs from 33-36,” and he is only 33,” I kind of expected that. They still look a bit long in some of these pictures but that’s just because the photography model wouldn’t stop jumping and bouncing during the photo shoot. 🙂

Discussion is under way about taking an inch off the bottom of this size anyway because it is ending up a little long on several other tester versions. Another item under discussion is taking a bit of width off the pants because they are a bit baggy. I believe that the finished decision was to take .5″ off at the center of each pant leg to made them a bit slimmer, yet not have them be too slim for all of the options given. Whatever ends up happening, let me tell you that you will want to get this pattern as soon as it becomes available- which I believe will happen either this week or next week. I will be sure to let you know when it is available, and I will be back later to show you my other two versions…each one gets better so you won’t want to miss them. 🙂

Couldn’t resist this picture! He is in love with the doggies on his pants and wants to wear them all day! Makes this mama quite happy when her clothes are appreciated so much 🙂