boy's summer

Slowly, I am working my way through this huge pile of fabrics which are set aside for my boys summer wardrobe. Luckily, it is mostly cold and rainy, so I can take my time. For starters, these shorts and sleeveless shirts plus some summer PJs got finished.

The grey and green combi is for J, who is more into subdued colors (and dinosaurs) when it comes to clothes. He was happy as pie and sang "I'm a monzta with rabbitz" the whole morning. Little M on the other hand needs strong colors. Orange and red were perfect for him and if he could, he would wear them every single day.

bits of sunlight

Tee made some time ago for my oldest which brings some sunshine into grey foggy or rainy days. Beloved. Just does not take good pictures.

Heavily inspired by this work
pattern based on ottobre 

crocos

 

For J, which misses all those handmade clothes that his brother now wears.

Pattern: ottobre

Size: 98

kids wardrobe planning

It's summertime - burning hot and all - so it's time to think about this years fall-/winter wardrobe for the boys. Especially for me slow, part time sewist. They sure did grow a lot and will need some new stuff. Last year, I've started the mission to sew at least a part of there wardrobe since I would like too plus pants weren't slim enough and there are way too many licensed characters on clothes of there sizes. Thus, we'll need:

• Longsleeves
• Hoodies / Sweater
• PJs
• few pants, there should be enough for the beginning

Just started looking for inspiration, though. Last year we had a lot of brown and charcoal with popping colors like some of the clothes below. Not sure where it will be heading this year but there are a few goals:

• comfortable and sturdy
• complementing the existing wardrobe
• some pops of colors for better mood
• experimenting further defining and refining our style
• using up my fabric stash
• and most important: still having fun, which is something easy to ignore when setting goals too high.

Cool boys might be a nice theme. Just found some nice biker jackets for them. Little M loves orange, so it will be incorporated somehow. Big J has not exactly a favorite but tends to green and subdued colors. Not that easy. So the next weeks will be used for pattern reviews, searching for inspiration and some planing. Meanwhile I should hurry to is to finish some summer projects.

new tees

The boys are growing like something. Maybe they have the wrong diet. Everything gets too short or to tight.  Anyway, this gives us the opportunity to play around with different jersey knits and testing print patterns (like screaming blue green dragons) and color combinations.



I used two ottobre patterns and altered the sleeves every here and there so it does not look all the same. Sizes are 86 and 98. Plus two long neglected UFOs in size 92 got finished before getting to small. Hooray.



Thus far, I like the more subdued colors the best whereas the little munchkin loves his share of orange (his favorite color as far as I can tell). What about you? What garnments do you so or would like to?

magician and dragon

I did it, I made nearly the whole costumes for the munchkins this year.

The pants (patterns: Ottobre) were a bit embellished to fit to the costumes: The ribbons on the pockets have little dragons/dinosaurs on it and of course the pants had to be green and blue like the rest. Which is pretty cool as I used up a cordury leftover, laying around for more than two years and I finally made the urgently needed new pants. Why do those munchkins always have to grow that fast. Memo to myself: Stop feeding them!

 

The dragon shirt (pattern: Ottobre) was actually already made last year. The dragon hat and tail was a nice little scrap buster project - not that it would make the slightest dent in my non patchworky pile of scraps. But, oh well. The cape is a blue jersey knit with some stars and moons and the hat was store bought long long loooooong time ago and only sewn a bit smaller.

Best thing: The munchkins love to dress up at home so we will need a little corner for all the costumes that might come some times.

how the hill gets a mole

 

Do you sometimes get ideas for little reasons? In this case it all started with a nicky scrap thrown on a tee I was sewing. I only wanted to test possible colors without a particular plan. It somehow looked like a molehill, which was just too cute. Thus, I backed the nicky with a jersey scraps by sewing it right sides together and turning it over. The nicky had already the right size and form and just had to be clipped at one corner.

 

Another jersey was used for the paws and the head. Luckily, it does not fray and could be just appliqued with straight stitches: the paws on the hill and the head on the tee. Otherwise I would have zigzagged around. Now sew the pocket to the tee. For a bit more whimsy, I added a little flower ribbon at the bottom of the hill.

 

Prepare for some serious testing before you even have a chance to embroider the last details and finish the tee. But all went well and permission for finishing was granted. LOL

The sewing for boys continues with another T-shirt for little M. This time inspired by fall colors:

• grey for all the short, grey, rainy and foggy days
• still bits of blue sky here and there
• purple berries
• lots of orange, brown and red leaves

All there plus a lion for some fun since, heh, it's for a toddler. The lion is raw edge appliqued and will not fray as jersey does not. The grey jersey is a thicker quality that keeps nicely warm and the sleeves are actually repurposed including the hem and all from one of my older tees.

And looked what I've found just some days later in our kitchen (no stagging, I swear). Just the same colors. Fall is here.

sewing for boys

The last days I got a bit carried away with sewing for the kids between some stressful days. So far my boys have got some t-shirts and some pants. As I am a bit lazy typing today, I just leave you some pictures to enjoy.

 

This T-shirt for little M is hubbies favorite: Appliqued digger and stenciled "BRUMMMMM..." can't go wrong with boys.

fall collection for the boys

 

Grey and color, it is! Inspired by the grey cloudy days that will eventually coming soon, I am planning to use those greys as starting point to make some t-shirts and  trousers that still feel cheery and colorful. Only condition is that there has to be a bit of grey somewhere in it. There will be some fabrics added or swapped out along the way. As both are "too small" there will be some pattern tweaking necessary and some practise on my serger. Oh, well.

Already started cutting and sewing to maintain the momentum.

things, nobody did ask

• I am slightly addicted to coffee and think it works marvelous for sleeping.
• I prefer to sleep long and go to bed early (as in early in the morning). Though that never works with a job and little kids around. But a girl can dream.
• Love this time of the fall with all those colors and its freshness and occassionally fog.
• The fabric of the trouser above marks the moment where I discovered that there are indeed some pretty fabrics around and brought me back to sewing. Mainly started with stuff for the kids (as the clothes above and the trousers below) and the house.
• To compensate for my rather slow crafting some stuff as the orange shirt just gets pimped, which isn't really fast but eliminates some steps.
• There are to many projects in various stages lingering around despite any of my efforts.
• There are days I care.

What about you?

Finally using my serger

For quite a long time I refused to get a serger since I was thinking it is quite some money for more or less one stitch that you can not even use for every project. Never have been sure if there is actual the need for it. On the other hand, it was rather time consuming, tedious and often frustrating to finish all seam allowances especially for jersey. I enjoyed making my kids some t-shirts but it definitely was an issue I've got more and more upset about. Thus, a serger it was. Until recently only used for some straight seams and easy fabric, I finally got myself to sew some of the t-shirts that where cutted month ago. Figured there was no need to fear them as they were supposed to get pj's or dumped depending on how bad things go.

The pattern is raglan t-shirt by ottobre using some blue owl jersey and some blue jersey for the sleeves. Every seam was basted as I was horrified by the possibility a needle could get between the knifes and I didn't dare to serge without needles nor basting. As everything came together pretty well it was worth the bit extra time. Neck and sleeves were finished with a  purple knit (a bit thicker than jersey similar to that part of sweaters around the wrist - no clue how you call this type of fabric in English. Darn!) which makes for a nice interesting, more sophisticating look. Of course J was only concentrating on the owl sticker LOL

• Most important: As usual there is nothing to fear about. I am only cursing myself when I have to dump a project. Next time it will be done better.
• Basting helped a lot to focus on serging and keeping my seam allowance fairly regular.
• Tension was good, though it can be slightly improved and the seam looked good as well (no strange loops hanging everywhere)
• Crossings with several layers of fabric are the main problem for accurate sewing as it tends to slow down the fabric transport and to shift the fabric.
• Testing some different materials and techniques for neckline etc. (my sons are my best guinea pigs) to get a feeling what works and looks best in combination with a serger.
• The seam allowance does look better and it was way more fun and relaxing then before.
• Still not sure if my twin needle ever will be loved as there are some tension issues to resolve.
• Already love my serger: no fuddling, silent and nice seams.
• Why the heck didn't I had a server for making my sons bed linen?

Unfortunately, we still need some new pj's as this one has to be worn regularly.