For my nephew.

I made my nephew a birthday and Christmas gift this year, he just turned one, so he doesn't know that I didn't give him a toy, ha! 

I made him a few pairs of the Lil' Papoose Moccasins, my first pair was as the pattern was written, the second pair was with mods to make them look more like the crazy expensive and super trendy kind.

These are both the 12 month size and fit perfectly.

I actually made them way back when I made Sam a pair.  Sam got a little use out of them, but I see Cooper wearing his all the time.  But C is a walker, so that makes sense, ha!

C's dad is a huge motorcycle fan, so when I saw this print I knew I had Christmas figured out.  In fact, most of his baby shower gifts I made were motorcycle themed.

I used the Oliver + S Bedtime Story pajamas in a size 18 month, just extending the pants a little to omit the contrasting cuff.  I also kind of guessed on the size, he is still wearing his 12m After School pants so I figure even if they don't fit now, they will soon.

Again with a 12 month set of Lil' papoose moccs, though I ordered this on fabric.com and didn't realize it would have a fuzzy backing.  I don't know if it will wear off or not, I guess he will be my guinea pig, but it was an experiment anyways as I threw this on an order I was already making from there.   P.S. the pajamas and shoes aren't meant to be worn at the same time, though they do coordinate:)

Ketchup.

I was going through my pictures from 2012 last night and realized I had a bunch of projects from the last two months I hadn't posted about, and since this is meant to be my "sewing journal" to take notes and remember details, I figure I should post about them.

 

So, in no particular order here they are:

 

 

 

A Classic Picnic turned dress.  This one was for our family pictures in November. 

I LOVED Nicole's picnic with buttons. Loved.  So I tried my hand at it... I promise the buttons don't look this wonky on her. 

I made it nice and long since she has a skinny chest I thought she would get lots of wear from this.  It is size 12m, and still quite big.  She wore this with some white tights and cute brown boots for pictures. Adorable.

This was Jack's outfit for pictures.  (Hat not included). Flashback tee and his very favorite Sandbox pants.  Also, Abby wore her mustard + ivory dress shown here and Izzy wore her Pierrot.  My family didn't get individuals (as I think I mentioned before, sorry if it's a repeat) but if I manage to ever get everyone ready again,  I will make sure to post all the outfits together.  I thought they all coordinated quite well with the group.

Then a pair of Sandbox for George.  I rounded the pockets to make it more "girly".  Aaand she got only a few wears out of them as she had a growth spurt right after they were made. Awesome.

They are made from a gray linen and supposed to go with her After school shirt (details here). 

Pockets lined with left overs from the shirt.

Then I went on a pj pant spree... sort of... I had 10 cut out, 6 were completed, 2 only need elastic and 2 need leg binding and elastic.  I am not good at that much repitition and set them aside for a bit.  There are 2 of these lady bug print pants, both in 12m.  I had just enough to make 2 in this size, so I figured why not.  P.S. the pattern is the Bedtime Story. 

The first ones were tiny twin, and these are on big twin.  There is a 5!! pound difference between them which affects their shirts, but not their pants oddly enough.  Also 12m.

Matching for Christmas + Jack's have double decker busses with "London" printed on them, a shoutout to his 1/4 British self:)  Abby was so excited they all matched and were triplets, ha!  I had flashback shirts all cut out too, but things got crazy and they weren't completed.

And this is how our pictures always look if I try to get everyone in.

Last but not least, 2 Field trip raglans.  I love this pattern.  I had 4 that I was making at the time and wasn't paying enough attention and put the neckband seam in the front middle instead of the back.  Oops.  12m, 18m length.  Made in a thermal I picked up from girlcharlee.

Fabrics also from girlcharlee.  This is her "chis" (cheese) face.  She can be such a ham. 

I don't normally keep a WIP pile, but I have the 4 above mentioned pj pants to complete, a jumprope view B cut, and I am about 3/4 of the way through a puppet show dress.  My serger is off to the doctor and it just makes me not want to sew! Though I think I will attempt french seams on the jumprope and wait for the machine to finish the puppet show since most of it has been serged already, keep up the same look on it.  Who knows though, I have also been meaning to size up the geranium for Abby, I guess I'll just see what happens!

Pattern stash busting.

I have been wanting to make a pair of Oliver and S picnic shorts for a long time, and finally got around to it! I got frustrated with the shirt pattern because I am pretty sure I traced of the wrong sleeve size and ruined a yard of fabric. (It was something I bought on clearance so I couldn't just run out and get some more to correct my mistake) Gr.  So I set the pattern aside and promised to get back to it eventually. 

The Joann's in town is moving locations and having a super liquidation sale on fabrics, I mean GIANT.  I purchased a ton of Lisette fabric that is usually marked $12.99-14.99 for just over $3 a yard.  My fabric stash probably tripled from all the lisette and knit I bought!  And  I saved a TON, so I was very happy:)

Those two points lead to my next!  I pulled out some of the Lisette twill and my picnic shorts pattern and got to work.  One nap time later and Abby had some fun new shorts!

I put the pattern pieces where I thought the rows would line up, but no, they don't. Sigh.  Oh well, she loves them anyway.

I just love the retro look!  Next she needs a shirt to go with them:)

The older two kids are going out of town this weekend with Grandpa & Grandma & cousins to the balloon festival.  It is so cool, a few hours north of here there is a really small town that every year holds a hot air balloon festival.  They float them bright and early every morning and one night (can't remember if it is Friday or Saturday) they shut down main street and line them all up while people walk around, then at dusk they light them all up.  Such a cool sight!  We went two years ago, but last year the twins were only a few days old so we missed it.  This year we Ben and I are staying home with the twins, too hard to get two naptimes in while you are camping with a rowdy bunch. Anyway, Jack typically sleeps in his underwear or occasionally with a shirt, so he needed some pj's.  I recently got the Oliver and S bedtime story pajamas from ebay (but it is now available as a pdf) so I made him a pair of the pants and a flashback skinny tee.   I like to race myself and see how fast I can make those shirts.  20 minutes from cutting to the last stitch. Not too bad!

Ben has a very similar pair, Jack thought that was pretty cool.

This sweet little face just makes me smile. It will be nice to have a quiet-ish weekend. He and Abby fight All.The.Time. ... When is school going back?? ;)