Fancy Flappy Welt Pockets

You might remember this pattern from before. It's the Ottobre Relaxed Cotton Pants from the Spring 2013 issue. I made Liam some school pants, using some gabardine back in March.

This time, I decided to include the fancy welt pockets on the back with the flaps. Instead of making button holes and sewing on buttons, I've used my snap press to apply some jeans snaps. I love the way they turned out, don't you?

I also think I may have mastered the fly, although there is a mistake here, can you tell what it is? Clue: these pants are for a boy! Yes, I have the fly back to front, just like Lauren did in The Great British Sewing Bee. I am sure that I followed the directions properly for the fly shield and that dictates which way the fly goes, so I am not sure what went wrong there? Anyway, the fly still works, I doubt anyone witll notice, but next time I will be looking carefully at which way everything goes before I start to put it together.

Oh, and I used a completely different technique for putting the fly together this time too, and I think it really made the whole job way easier and quicker. I watched this video, by Sandra Bezzina on how to insert a fly, but I put the fly shield on first, and just flipped it out of the way as I sewed the rest of the zip (there is no zipper shield in this video) and then flipped it back when I did the bar tacks.

The fabric I used was the stretch drill that mum got for me recently. It is quite sturdy, and has a really good stretch to it. Perfect for climbing all over the play equipment at school as Noah demonstrates here. These are actually Liam's pants, but it was tricky finding time to photograph him in them when the light was right, so Noah is my model.

I also made Liam this windcheater. It's not exciting enough for a whole blog post, so I will pop it in here. I just used a pattern from the Kwik Sew, Sewing for Children book. Between the pants and the windcheater, I estimate I used about seven fat quarters.

YST13 Running totals: in = 172, out = 51, total = +121 

PS. If you would like to add more fabric to your stash, then I suggest you enter my giveaway. There's a rainbow felt pack and an Anne Kelle FQ pack up for grabs!

Kwik Sew Hoody for Liam

Excuse my blurry photo, but I think the smile is irresistable. That's my handsome Liam in his new hoody that I made for him last Friday. It's one of the items I promised to finish in this post. I did the embroidery a bit earlier, whilst I had a bit of a cleaning frenzy in my sewing room (not that you can tell anymore). We've used it before, but it's the one Liam chose for this top and it's from the Embroidery Library. I have a voucher they sent me for my birthday*, I must remember to go and spend it.



The pattern is from Kwik Sew's Sewing for Children. We've finally moved up from the Toddler book. Now that McCalls have taken over Kwik Sew, I'm wondering if these books will stay, or become a thing of the past? Apparently, the lovely paper patterns that Kwik Sew has are disappearing and being replaced by tissue. What sort of patterns do you prefer, paper or tissue? Do you have a favourite Kwik Sew pattern that you think should be snapped up before it gets switched to tissue paper?

*they do this for everyone, if you have an embroidery machine it is well worth signing up

My Creative Space - Robot Fever

I seem to be on a bit of a robot bender at the moment (robot BENDER - get it? hahaha!). I'm ready to get started sewing up some more pajamas for Liam. The lovely robot fabric is some flannelette that I picked up from Spotlight at the end of season, last year. I'm using my favourite pajama pattern - Kwiksew 3126. I have lost count of how many pajamas I have made from this pattern, it is one of the most used in my whole pattern stash.

Here are some pajamas I made last year:


I just found out this morning that a lovely local business, Crafty Mamas, is now stocking Kwik Sew patterns (just give them a  little time to get them up in the shop) including the Kwik Sew Books (Sewing for Baby, Sewing for Toddlers etc.) that I use all the time, and are the Australian distributor of the Ottobre sewing magazines. Between those, it covers just about everything I make for my kids.

Now go and check out some more Creative Spaces.

Robot Hooded Jacket, Revisited

Just over two years ago, I made this jacket. It has been a firm favourite of Liam's and he has only recently started allowing Noah to wear it occasionally. The only thing is, it doesn't really fit Noah any more, either.



I have been meaning to make him another one for quite a while. In fact, I intended to make one last winter. Anyway, I finally got around to it over the long weekend.



The only major difference (apart from the size) was I made larger cuffs, to make more of a feature from the robot fabric. You can see in these photos, that Liam has the cuffs folded back, but it looks the same when unfolded too.

The Red Baron

It was a long weekend here just been, and the weather was awesome. I got heaps of stuff done! Lots of sewing and I even managed to get out in the garden and plant my bulbs that I have been wanting to do for weeks. Maybe soon I can come back and show you the result of that... wish me luck!



Anyway, this was the first thing I sewed this weekend, a hoody for Liam, using a $1 design from Embroidery Library. The fabric was left-overs from Paige's school uniforms from about umm... I dunno... 10-12 years ago? It's not a colour I would rush out and buy, but it looks nice on Liam. I wanted an embroidery on it so it didnt look too "school-uniformy". I had to borrow some threads from Mum as I just didn't have enough of the right reds.



I used the Kwik Sew Sewing for Children book, and I included the kangaroo pocket on the front for Liam to keep his hands warm and store treasures in.

Tracksuit Pants

Well you don't get much more exciting than tracksuit pants, hahaha! I made these using Kwik Sews Sewing for Toddlers book BUT I did a few modifications. I changed the shape of the leg. The Kwik sew pattern is quite tapered, so I widened it out a bit. I added some pin-stripes to the sides. I also made my own pocket pattern for these pants.



The best part of these tracksuit pants is that apart from elastic and thread (and a few hours of my time), they were FREE! The fabric is left-overs from other clothing. The sad part is that Liam is not a fan of tracksuit pants...

Another T-shirt for Liam

After finishing the other t-shirt yesterday, I got stuck into this one. When it was finished Liam asked me "Shirt off?" so that he could try it on, and as you can see, was happy to pose for more photos. I've used this Ottobre free stencil design before, for a long sleeved t-shirt that is also one of his favourites.

New T-shirt for Liam

As you can see, Liam is pretty pleased with his new T-shirt. He doesn't seem to have enough of them at the moment, so I've got a few to make. This one was made from some fabric from my stash. I'm pretty sure that it's left-overs from mum's.



The stencil is a free design from Ottobre, and I used freezer paper and some orange fabric paint from the old stash (yes, it's still good). The pattern is my stand-by t-shirt pattern from Kwik-Sew Sewing for Toddlers. I did a size three with an extra inch or so added to the bottom. I used twin needles to do the hem and to apply the neck and sleeve bands.

Stripey T-shirts

Here are my beautiful boys wearing their new t-shirts that I made before we went away. They are fresh from their Saturday morning swimming lessons here, so please forgive the hair-dos.

I used the Kwik-Sew Sewing for Toddlers t-shirt pattern and just extended the sleeve a little since I wasn't putting band on the ends. I also made the t-shirts a bit longer, as the kids are a little bit long and skinny in the body. I used some of the fabric from the stripes to make the neckband so the colours would match.

Yet Another Hoodie!

I won't bore you with all the details, but I have heaps of pictures...

Again, made using the Kwik Sew Sewing For Toddlers book, using some fabric that mum found for me.

Monkey Hoody

I quite liked how quickly the last hoody sewed up, so I made another.

This time I added an embroidery from Embroidery Library. The banana surfing monkey is one of this month's freebies, so if you want one for yourself, you should get one before the month is over.

Robot Hoody

I made this top for Liam on Wednesday. Entirely. I traced the pattern from the Kwik Sew - Sewing For Toddlers book. I cut it out. I embroidered the robot on the front piece and I put it together mostly with my overlocker. All in one day. With two toddlers running around, that is a mean feat!

The robot is from the set called Radical Robots, that I purchased from Embroidery Library last year. I used it for Noah's Hat as well. I should mention that I actually purchased the set using a voucher that they sent me for my birthday - isn't that lovely and generous of them? 

I have just received another voucher (my birthday is next week), still trying to decide what to buy with it...

Robot Jacket

I made this jacket for Liam out of some beautiful red polar fleece that I got from Spotlight.

I have lined it with the robot print interlock that I also got from Spotlight. I got some of this before Christmas, and loved it so much I went back and got some more.

I used the Kwik Sew - Sewing For Toddlers book to make this jacket up, although I did a lot of alterations.

I made up two hoods, and joined them along the face edge, facing each other, flipped them out to the right side and top stitched along the edge. I then left the bottom edge open.

Instead of making a facing for the jacket, I cut out entire front panels to face the inside. When I sewed the raglan edge to the sleeve, I left the lining part loose. I attached the hood as per the instructions in the book, but with the front facing folded back over the hood - sort of like when you put the collar on the pajamas. After the hood was attached I stitched the raglan edge of the facing to the already joined raglan edge between the front and the sleeve.

I also added a facing to the bottom edge of the sleeve after I chopped some off (to avoid exxxxtra loooong sleeves, lol!) The sleeve was fiddly, I sort of sewed up the inside of the sleeve, as well as the facing, folded the facing back and then top-stitched the facing down. It was trickier than usual, being so far up the inside of the sleeve.

Anyway, I am really happy with the way this jacket turned out.

Solitary Giraffe

I completed this long sleeved t-shirt yesterday. I used the same pattern pieces as I did for the "Number Two" t-shirt, and used the fabric from the giraffe t-shirt to applique and trim the shirt.





I cut out one giraffe and appliqued with a straight stitch around the edges.



The rest of the trim is the same as the Number Two t-shirt, but I have also added a band to the bottom. I saw this finish on a purchased t-shirt of Noah's and wanted to try it out.

I used twin needle top stitching to finish all the edges in matching thread as I thought contrast would be a bit much given the colours.

Giraffes

I thought I would squeeze in one last one for April.

I bought this fabric from a local shop about a year ago I think. Hmm... maybe a bit more than a year ago. Anyway, I like giraffes and I thought it was cute. Don't you think their antlers look a bit funny - a bit like antennae? The Giraffes are rather spread out though, and I wasn't quite sure how to work with that. So it got added to the stash to be used later.

I have top stitched around the neckband, sleeves and hem with twin needles in orange.

Now that Liam is a bit bigger, the giraffes don't seem to be that spread out, so I got to and made this today. I have a couple of other tops cut out, ready to go, so they should be up on here in a couple of days.

Excuse my photos, they were taken indoors at night without the flash. That's my shadow in the corner.

Rockets and Pockets

The other day I went looking for a jumper for Liam. He had to settle for something that was a little short. The jacket he ended up wearing was fine only a few weeks ago. He is growing very fast.

I went to Spotlight to find some windcheating or polar fleece to make Liam some jackets. While I was there, I found this polar fleece with rockets and spaceships all over it.

The pattern is once again trusty old Kwik Sew - Sewing For Toddlers. With a few modifications. They have instructions to add a zip. They also have instructions to add a hood. They don't have instructions for both. I figured it out though. The big chunky zipper was a bit fiddly with my machine. Even with a zipper foot, the part where it attaches gets in the way.

When I was cutting out, I noticed that I had cut out the front panels upside down. I had heaps of extra fabric, so I cut some new ones. It wasn't until I was taking photos that I noticed that the back panel is also upside down. Oh well.

The jacket also has a kangaroo pocket. Well, actually, there are two pockets. They are currently being put to good use as a storage facility for matchbox cars and Thomas Tank Engines.

Brought to you by the number 2

I completed this long-sleeved t-shirt yesterday, just before dinner. It was too late to take pictures then, so Maxx took some pictures for me this morning.

I used the same long-sleeved t-shirt pattern from the Kwik Sew Sewing for Toddlers pattern book, with the same modifications as before, as well as a few new ones.

For the sleeves, I traced a short-sleeve, and added the same extra to it that I added to the long-sleeve last time, as it is also designed for a ribbing cuff. I placed the long sleeve pattern over top of the short sleeve pattern, allowed enough for the hem and overlap, and drew a line across the long-sleeve pattern. I folded the pattern across this line so I was really only cutting out three quarters of a sleeve.

I finished the bottom edge of the short sleeve, and the top edge of the long sleeve, using my overlocker. I then folded the hem up for the sleeve and pressed it. I placed the short sleeve over the top of the long sleeve, and then joined the two using a twin needle.

For the neckband, the normal amount of ribbing to use for this pattern is about 29cms long, by 7 cm wide. I cut two 29cm strips in grey and navy, joined them length wise, and then trimmed the navy to 4cms from the seam, and the grey 3cms from the seam. I thne treated this as one piece of ribbing and attached the neckband as normal with the grey showing on the outside.

Before I added the sleeves to the shirt, I realised that it would be a bit boring, so I cut a big number two from some robot fabric I got from Spotlight. I made some of my nephews t-shirts out of this at Christmas and forgot to take pictures for my blog. The fabric was so good, I went back and got more, so I have a couple of metres of it in my stash.

Overall, I am pretty happy with how this turned out. It is a good fit, and my pattern is right to make more of these the same.

I bet you can't do that again!

Check out this picture that Maxx took of Liam in his new shirt! See the ball that Liam threw at him? Liam is quite good at throwing, he seems to have pretty good aim.

I whipped this up this afternoon. I traced the pattern and everything. The pattern is the set-in sleeve t-shirt pattern from the Kwik Sew Sewing for Toddlers book. The only adjustment I made to this one is I made the sleeves longer and tapered them more. The reason for this is that the pattern is designed for cuffs.

Recognise the fabric? Its the same as the stripey bodysuit at the start of my blog. It has some nice colours and has a bit of a retro feel about it. I still have more left (isn't it great how much you get out of fabric when sewing for little people!) so I will definitely be sewing more with it.