KCW Day 6- Monster Tee

I was crossing my fingers the whole time I was sewing this shirt, hoping and hoping that it would fit over the noggin’!

And it did! Not even a struggle! Woo Hoo!

I also have a huge problem finding cool knit fabric for the boy. So I finally resorted to online. I found a few great ones at Banberry Place. Including this monster fabric by Lillestoff, a European import. Please explain to me why cool knits are so hard to find in this country??? I love Lillestoff! Love! It’s so nice and soft and the design is COOL!

My original plan was to use the Flashback Tee again. I used it once before and it was a bit tight, so I wanted to try it again the next size up. But then I was like… Well, maybe I reuse the Winter PJ top cause it fits so well. But the head thing… The winter PJ’s top goes on easy, but it’s kinda hard to get off.

So I went with the original plan to use the 4T Flashback tee pattern. And it’s perfect. Easy on. Easy off. Cute. Fast. Not too tight. Love.

I even remembered the tag! The kiddo was pretty excited about that!

And he wanted to be sure we showed the back of the t-shirt. Since it’s so different from the front….

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The Banyan Tee by Figgy’s

ok, So have you gotten the Sew Fab e-pattern bundle yet? Yes, there’s a lot of girl patterns, but there are boy patterns there too! Including the Banyan Tee by Figgy’s.

Can I say super easy?? Yes, I can!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know how excited I was yesterday when I got my double needle to work to do the knits! YEA!! It wasn’t much at all, but I’ve been scared of it for a while. All I did was add two spools to the spool and threaded them both through to the double needle and off we went! SO in that sense, and the fact that the shirt was so easy to make, it was a great day.

But here’s the flop… I hate the fabric I used. It’s so girly! I love the color. But the dots and the weight of the fabric are too girly. Hence the  reason the Kiddo is wearing it over a hoodie. The pattern calls for a pocket, but with this fabric, I didn’t like the pocket, so I left it off. I don’t know, would the pocket help it not be so girlie???

Ok, enough about the flop side of my sewing…. Back to the plus! I love the little sleeve detail! Love it! A little turned up sleeve!

The pattern actually has a version for boys and a version for girls. Check out how cute it is on Jessica’s (from Craftiness is Not Optional) little lady! (her little lady is absolutely adorable, but you have to go to her website to see the whole precious thing!!)

And on a slightly different subject, it seems like the 100th Day of School Celebration is taking over this year. I’ve never heard of it before this year, but now I’m seeing in on blogs and FB all over the place. We had to bring in 100 things in sets of 10. So we decided to make a garland of 100 squares in 10 different colors.

According to the teachers it was a hit! The kids pulled it out across the room. And 100 2 inch squares makes about a 17 foot garland. So it honestly did stretch across the whole room!

So even though I love the pattern, but am not in love with the fabric of the shirt, my son loved it and wouldn’t take it off. He wore it to school and even told his teachers that I made it for him! I’d call that a 10 percent flop, 90 percent WOOOHOOO!

Be sure to get your bundle of patterns before time runs out (super early Monday morning)! Click here to purchase yours today!

 

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Hot Dog Day Vest Tutorial!

This is a re-post from a post I did back in July for Narelle’s blog Cook, Clean, Craft when she hosted the series Boy’s Own Style! I thought now that people are thinking about Halloween this could be a fun little project to share!

Enjoy!

First off, I have to say Happy National Hot Dog Day! Maybe it’s a US thing, but everyone can play along right??? Thanks for stopping by to join me here on Narelle’s blog! I’m Louise from I’m Feelin’ Crafty!

Who doesn’t love hot dogs?? And who doesn’t love dressing this kids up like a hot dog??? When Narelle asked me join in on her series, of course the first thing I did was say yes. Then I looked at the calendar and knew I had to join in on National Hot Dog Day! My husband and I brainstormed for an idea and he actually came up with the idea for a hot dog bun vest. At first I was like, no way! Then the details started coming to me and I fell in love with the idea!

So here’s how I made my vest!

Step 1- Gather materials: Red and White fleece, khaki colored denim, yellow buttons (for the drops of mustard ya know!), thread and the pattern. My pattern is for somewhere between a 3T and 4T.

Or you can make your own by tracing a vest that already fits (which is basically how I made mine…)

Step 2- Cut out all your pieces. Denim for the outside, Red Fleece for the inside, pockets, buttonhole piece and collar and White fleece for the mayonnaise pockets.

Step 3- Sew in the Pockets. 1, position the pockets about 4.5″ inches from the corner of the armhole at side seam, right sides to right sides. 2, Sew the pockets on the seam side only. 3, If you want to topstitch, do so now! Here I folded over the pocket and did a little topstitching. 4, Iron open the pockets, but be sure to not iron the fleece directly (put a cover over it before ironing)! 5, Stack the front and back pieces, right sides together, and pin. 6, Sew a continuous seam from the armhole to the bottom hem edge going around the pocket. If you did add the topstitching, it adds a little funkiness to the laying out and stitching the front and back together, but you just have to move it around a bit and be careful to not stitch over the topstitching.

Step 4: Add the mayo!  First turn over the top of the mayo and stitch. Sew on the mayo squirts on to the right sides of the front flaps of the inside pieces of red fleece.

Step 5: Sew lining. Sew front sides to back, right sides together. Leave a 4″ hole in one of the side seams to pull it all through later.

Step 6: Collar. Sew the two collar pieces together, right sides together. Only sew the two short sides and curved side of the collar. Trim the corners and turn right side out. Topstitch the three sides.

Step 7: Buttonhole strip. Just like the collar, sew the short sides and the curvy side together, right sides to right sides. Trim the corners, snip the curves (so that they fold over easier) and turn right side out.

Step 8: Add the buttonholes. Honestly, I am not a fan of buttonholes. On my machine, the buttonhole function doesn’t work. I need to get that fixed…. So please excuse my not so perfect buttonholes. Anyway, for this project, I added the buttonholes and I didn’t line them up on purpose. Have you ever seen a compete straight line of mustard drops on your bun? Me neither! So neither are my mustard buttons!

Step 9: Put it all together! First off, sew the shoulders together for the front and back, right sides to right sides. Pin the collar and the buttonhole strip to the front of the vest, right sides to right sides. Next, pin the inside of the vest to the outside, again, right sides to right sides.

Step 10: Sew it all together. Sew all the outside edges (but not the armholes! I got carried away and forgot to NOT sew the armholes and had to pull out the seams at the armholes!!!) Don’t forget to trim the corners!

Step 11: Pull it all through the hole you left in the lining and topstitch all around the edges, including under the collar.

Step 12: Sew on the buttons. I had an extra button, so I added a drop of mustard to the inside of the vest!

Step 13: Close the armholes. Fold over the outside and the inside towards the inside about .5″ and pin. Then pin the two together lining up the shoulder seam and the side seam. Topstitch!

And WAH-LA! You’ve got a little hot dog!

And we’re off to have a hot dog! Thanks again, Narelle, for having me!  While you’re eating yours, be sure to visit me at I’m Feelin’ Crafty!

 

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KCWC- Day 6 and I think I’m done

Back again! Another sweatshirt.

Not as excited about it as the other one I made, but I’m pretty content with it.

We picked out the colors from our stash. Probably about a year ago I was going to make the kiddo some sweatpants, so we went to the store to get some sweat shirt material and this orange was the color he picked out! Just a little bright, huh?? Then we used the rest of the Daddy’s sweatshirt, the arms and the pocket on front. And for the trim we used some more from those teal sweatpants that I had and never wore.

This one I made using the Pauley’s Pullover pattern from Sewing For Boys. The pattern was actually supposed to have a drawstring waist, but I didn’t really like it. So I took the ribbing from the sweatpants and finished the bottom. And honestly, it was just a bit too bulky, so I went back in and narrowed down the body a few inches.

When my husband saw the book laying open to the directions, he looked at the picture of the little boy and said, ‘That’s a cute kid, but I don’t like that sweatshirt!’ I then informed him that is what I was making… But then this morning when I showed him mine, he lit up and smiled and said, ‘That’s cute, really cute!’ And I know he was telling the truth!

So yesterday, the kiddo and I were chatting about the sweatshirt I was going to make and I asked if he wanted any image on it and he said yes, ‘A Harmonica!’ It was late last night when I finished it, so I gave up on the harmonica. Then this morning he saw it and his first comment was, ‘But where’s the harmonica?’ So back to the sewing machine for me… And I came up with this applique and stitching. I think it turned out kinda cute. Apppliqueing with fleece isn’t the easiest thing to do. It could have been a little longer, but… And it’s off-center. On purpose. But I wish I had centered it…. Oh, well, I’m pretty content! and the Kiddo likes it!

I had a couple more projects that I wanted to do, but most of them have been stuffed back on the shelf, except for one… It probably won’t get done for KCWC, but soon. Now it’s off to Halloween crafting!

KCWC- Day 5- Upcycled Sweatshirt

ok, I’m so excited again! So, you know the other day I made my own pattern for the comfy pants, right? Well, I’ve always been scared to make my own shirt pattern. But I did it anyway last night.

I traced a bigg-ish t-shirt. Then added the seam allowances… And I cut the fabric and pinned on the sleeves and it fit together perfectly!!! I was soooo excited!

I started with an old sweatshirt of my husband’s. The one on top there. It’s a little nubby and has a little paint stain, but I love the tree and birds so much that I couldn’t let it go! And these sweatpants. Ya know what else makes me super excited? Ok, this might be kinda silly to some people, but…. When I have a spur of the moment idea and I just happen to have everything on hand to make it work! Like this sweatshirt. I really love the image on it, but I didn’t want a full on black sweatshirt. So I looked at the hidden shelf under my ironing board where I have some of my ‘to-up-cycle’ stash and there they were! The sweatpants that I think match perfectly! YEAH!!!

I cut the the shirt and the hoodie out of the middle of the old sweatshirt. Luckily my son has a big head! Always has. His daycare teacher told us that in her country big heads are a sign of brilliance. So not only is he brilliant, but his head doesn’t look too out-of-place in an adult size hoodie! I cut the arms out of the legs of the sweatpants, so I didn’t need to hem the arms. Sewed those three pieces together. Then I trimmed out the ribbing at the bottom of the sweatshirt and sewed that onto the bottom of my new little sweatshirt.

And Wah-la! A cute little hoodie!! Once I got it all sewed together I was worried that the arms ended up too small, so I took a break and waited til morning to try it on the kiddo. IT FIT!! I’m so excited about it.

I think next time, I will make the arms a little bit roomier. But for this one, it fits perfectly! This was so easy, I’ll have to do a quick tutorial for you soon. SOOOO EASY!

And what about you? Have you made anything this week that you’re super excited about???

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KCWC- Day 4

Oops! Somehow I got behind schedule!! hmmmm….

So today. More pants!

I’m not feeling very creative lately…. I also have two shelves of clothing that I’ve pulled from the Go-To-Goodwill bags to reuse. So since I’m having this creative block, I’m going to use my stash of clothing to reuse…

This is only part of it….

And today I started with these jeans…

To make these….

Using the same comfy pants pattern that I’ve been using this week. Only this time I added a fake fly to the pattern. They fit and he likes them, but I’m not so sure I do. OK, I do like them, but feel like they look a little too homemade. And not in the cute adorable way. There are a few out of line stitches and the back pockets are crooked… My main regret is that I switched from the thick yellow thread, to a bright green thread and you can’t really see the stitching and I wanted to see the stitching.

Typically in past I’ve always used Dana’s pants pattern, which I love. But it’s four pieces instead of the two in my comfy pants tutorial. And since it’s the four pieces, I can’t use it when I reuse some of Momma or Daddy’s old pants. The pattern just doesn’t quite fit. And I wanted to try to use my pattern on the jeans I had to get that ‘real’ jeans side and hem look. It worked pretty well this way!

This project isn’t like the little jacket that I did, that I can’t stand. It doesn’t make my stomach turn. These are cute and will get worn. So all in all, a productive day. Just not a super exciting one! At least not in the sewing room. How can a day with this kid not be exciting. Today he was not wanting to model for me. But once he got there, he started putting it on. He even said, ‘Check out this pose!’

KCWC- More Comfy Pants

And don’t forget to comment on the Memory game giveaway! There’s still a few hours before I pick the winner!

I’m back on track with my Kids Clothes Week Challenge! I was frustrated yesterday, but I’m loving the pants I made today. Again,they’re not all that exciting. But they work! Like I mentioned the other day, we are in need of comfy pants! I’m getting those crossed off the list.

The other thing about comfy pants in our house is that we have a lot of what I call ‘inside comfy pants’, but they are comfy pants that the kiddo wants to wear everywhere! So we need some comfy pants that he could wear inside and out and not look like he’s just wearing pj’s everywhere. I think these hit the spot.

I made these the same way I made the ones on Day 1 and included a few extra details. For the waist I cut down the pattern to not have the hem and basically made a really large binding that hides the elastic.

And I added the pockets! How do you like my fake piping? I just added a little piece of trim, sewn right sides together and then turned it over, but not quite all the way and stitched it down!

I loved Meg’s black and white shirt from yesterday with the bright colored trim and was going to do the same thing. But… I wanted a stripe and I didn’t have any good stripes for what I wanted, so I stuck with my grey and white seersucker. A punch of color would have been fun though… But it looks like the kiddo is having fun enough without the color, huh???

Kids Clothes Week Challenge- Day 2

ergh… Ok, So I’m sensing a pattern here. Every KCWC I have one project that is just bad. Last year it was this raglan tee that I made. The kiddo wore it once. For the picture. Today, again, a project that is just yucky. It started off good but then turned bad.

Looks cute from the back, huh??? Yes, I think so, too. but unfortunately, for the coat, not me, I am usually looking at my son from the front and that’s what I see the most. And it’s not so cute from the front!

There was this project in this book I got from the library, The Fiesty Stitcher, that I thought looked cool. At first I thought it looked cool for me. Then I found this cute gnome fabric that I already had. The brain started buzzin’ and I decided to put them together and make this coat. The problem was that the pattern is not a child’s pattern. So I scaled everything down….

Um, not so much. From a distance, it’s cute. My husband thinks it’s cute. But he hasn’t seen it on the kid!

Here’s the deal. The hoodie screws it all up. It comes too far own the front, so when it’s on, it pulls the front ends up. It really, really bugs me. I’m sure it’s something I did and not the pattern, but I’m not exactly sure what I did wrong.

The other thing that doesn’t work is that it’s not big enough to add the snaps that I wanted to add. And that’s totally my fault. The pattern isn’t meant to close, but I wanted it to. In scaling, I also scaled down the width of the front panels. So if I didn’t have the hoodie on there, it would fit exactly how its supposed to. But not how I wanted it to. I needed to widen the front panels and forgot.

So I could take off the hoodie and it would be better. But it kinda makes my stomach turn at this point, so I’m done with it. I’m thinking that it might fit a kid half Max’s size. We’ll see. I have an idea of who might get to try it on…. As I was writing this my husbnad kept coming up with ideas of why it wasn’t working and how I could fix it. We’ll see if I try to salvage it or not….

Any ideas?

 

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Kids Clothes Week Challenge and a Comfy Pants Tutorial!

It’s here again!!! Kids Clothes Week Challenge! Yea! I love a good challenge! The idea is to sew on your kids clothes for at least an hour each day this week. But if you’ve followed along before, I like to get a whole project done each day…

Today’s project. Comfy Pants!

We need some new ‘comfy pants’ as they are called around here. As you can see, my son seems to be growing up, but not around. He 4, but these 2T pants still fit in the waist. Just not in the length! Poor kid looks like he’s getting ready for a flood!

According to my son’s measurements, we now have pants that fit! yes, he found the tape measure and started measuring everything during our little photoshoot!

Needless to say, a pair of comfy pants was my first project this week! And they are soooo easy! I’ll do a little tutorial so you can see how I did them. Seriously, an hour.

The materials don’t get a picture this time. It’s a really long list… Just kidding! Fleece, elastic and thread. That’s it!

Step 1: I made my own pattern. Just layout a pair of pants that fit the kiddo. I added length, of course… And don’t forget to add length at the top for the hem and elastic pocket, an extra inch and a half. And you’ll notice that my pattern is bigger than the actual pants. That’s because you also don’t want to forget the seam allowance.

Step 2: Cut the fabric. The straight edge of the pattern needs to be cut on the fold of the fabric. You’re only cutting 2 pieces.

Step 3: Flatten out the two pattern pieces and lay them out, right sides together. Sew the crotch (follow the arrows!).

Step 4: Hem the waist. Since its fleece and not really a very iron-able fabric, I sewed a little hem. About a half-inch. You could just pin this part, but I don’t really like to pin either! So I did the hem.

Step 5: Fold the hem over again. An inch. And stitch. Be sure to leave a hole to pull the elastic through.

Step 6: Pull the elastic through and sew together the elastic. Then sew the hole closed.

Step 7: This is an optional step. I topstitched a second stitch. No real reason except for looks!

Step 8: Sew the legs together. Fold the pant legs, right sides together, and stitch the inseam. Start with the crotch and sew to the bottom of the leg. Repeat for each leg.

Step 9: Sew the leg hem. I did mine about an inch.

Step 10: Again, this an optional step. I went back and added a topstitch for that double stitch look.

And wah-la! Comfy Pants!

I know… It’s not a very exciting project, but we NEED new comfy pants!

Are you sewing along with KCWC? What was your first project?? Now it’s back to sewing for me!

 

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Kids Clothes Week Favorites

For some reason this week seems like it’s going slow! Maybe it was the cavities I had filled that kinda stopped me in my tracks. Or maybe I’m just exhausted from KCWC! Whatever it is, I’m doing my Weekend Whims weekly post mid week instead of this weekend… (Maybe it will bring the weekend sooner???)

During KCWC I never looked at the Elsie Marley flickr group, but since it’s over, I’ve gone through and found some amazing pieces! Here are some of my favorites!

1. How beautiful is this dress by spiegelstiksels???

2. Sophie from Cirque du bebe is awesome! I love her creativity! I’m in love with both this call me blazer and lost boys hoodie!

3. I love these cargo shorts by Jane at Buzzmills. I’ve been wanting to try this as well.

4. Love this whole little outfit by Meg at Elsie Marley (yes, the wonderful hostess of this great KCWC), but how cute is the hoodie???

5. The stitching along the bottom edge of this adorable little jean skirt by hootnz is just precious!

6. A few people made these sailboat pants, but my favorites are these white ones by This is Marzipan! I’m going to have to try the pattern myself!

7. There is just something simple, yet fun about these precious shorts by Blue Susan Makes.

8. Have you seen a trend in my favorites??? Hoodies… Yes, I’m a sucker for cute hoodies. This hoodie from Craftstorming, with the ducks, is another favorite