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. 🙂

Celebrate the Boy 2013: Update #1

Posted on February 27, 2013 by oliver's fancy

In the midst of all the crazy activity going on over here getting ready to move in to my shop booth on Saturday, I decided to take a little break yesterday to do some sewing for my boys. It is Celebrate the Boy week after all, and I needed a creative break.

First off, a super quick and easy project- some fabric belts. Oliver has been given quite a few pair of pants and most of them fall right off his skinny little waist- even wearing his cloth diapers! Looks like I have a tall and skinny kid…. just like his daddy. 🙂 I have been meaning to try this pattern for a while and just never got around to it. The belt pattern is the Hold ‘Em Up Belt from Sewing for Boys. I modified it a bit to make the belts 3/4″ wide instead of 1″ since 1″ is too big for his pant loops. I used some old D-rings I had saved from some discarded purses of mine. The blue one is my favorite. I just love the pop of color it gives. Fabric is from a Pink Castle order back when she had her moving sale: (FYI if you need a good online shop, I highly recommend Pink Castle Fabrics!) Metro Circles in Turquoise and Sketch in Coffee. Don’t know why I didn’t make these sooner- they came together so quickly and work really well on his pants. I used some Craft Fuse 808 as interfacing to make them a bit stiffer and they turned out a perfect weight.

Next up, we have my first handmades for little brother- some Quick Change Trousers. Pattern is from Anna Maria Horner’s book Handmade Beginnings. I made a few of these for Oliver and really enjoyed the pattern so I decided little bro needed his own pair. Size is 0-3 months. On Oliver, these tended to run big so not sure how soon the pants will fit the little man, but I can’t wait to try them out….Oh only about 14 more weeks till we get to meet this little fella! 🙂 I love the fabrics together on these pants. I used more of my Pink Castle order- the Metro Circles in Gray and some of the Summersville Alphabetty In Seafoam print I’ve been hoarding. Kona cotton blue is the coordinating reverse fabric. I love these metro circles and wish I had bought more! That’s all my extra fun I can have for now- back to shop sewing. Hopefully the move goes well this week and I can tackle some fun boy projects next week. Glad Celebrate the Boy is 2 weeks long!

Figure 8 Scarf

Posted on September 4, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Remember that scarf I have on my weekend plans? Well it was finished in plenty of time and turned out to be a very easy project! I knew you would want to see pictures so I have some for you tonight. 🙂

I used Anna Maria Horner’s tutorial as a basis for this scarf with a few changes. She calls for 18×72 inch cuts of fabric. I thought 18 inches would be a little wide for my purposes, so I cut the fabrics 10×72 and am so glad I did! Exactly the result I wanted! I used a Valorie Wells voile and backed it with some shot cotton. The original tutorial used voile backed with velveteen. Since we live in the South where it stays warm into the fall, I wanted to use a lightweight fabric- hence the shot cotton.

Other than those 2 changes, I followed the tutorial and found it very straightforward. I bought some voile yardage a few months back with the purpose of trying out this scarf and plan on whipping up a few more of these to have as my go-to gift. I think I have enough fabric for 3-4 more, so I hope my friends and family like blue. 🙂 If you need some handmade Christmas gift ideas, this is a great one to have in your inventory. Who doesn’t appreciate a new scarf?

My sister-in-law was very happy with the scarf and wore it the next day so I could get some blog pics! Check out the palm trees in the background. I am sad that we are just far enough north to not have palms growing around town…such a great tree!

This Weekend

Posted on August 31, 2012 by oliver's fancy

Hope everyone is looking forward to a long weekend! We are headed out of town tonight to spend the weekend with my husband’s sister and her family, and I know we are ready for some relaxing family time.

Here’s what on my agenda for the weekend:

Figure 8/Infinity Cowl- free pattern from AMH. This is a present for my sister-in-law’s 30^th birthday. Hopefully she doesn’t read my blog today! Of course it’s not done yet, and we leave tonight but I am thinking that it should be a quick project. Pictures to come when it’s complete. 🙂
Gender Reveal Party tonight for a friend who’s expecting twins!
Enjoying a cookout with an entire smoked pig- My SIL has a friend with a smokehouse, and we are excited about bringing home some smoked pork.
Hopefully getting some knitting/embroidery WIPs done during the short car drive there and back.

Note for all you local readers: the first official GMQG meeting was a HUGE success, and I am looking forward to many more fun meetings. We have the fall schedule planned out and posted on the blog for anyone who is interested.

And just in case you need some fabric inspiration for the weekend, Pink Castle Fabrics is having a Labor Day Sale- 20% off your total purchase with the coupon code LABOR20.

Do you have any fun plans for this weekend?