Pants for the boys.

Jack has torn holes in two pairs of pants at the knees, he refuses to wear them now so he has been 'surviving' on 3 pairs.  The kid needed some pants to give me a break, I couldn't keep up with keeping them clean as he plays pretty hard.  

I made him a pair of size 6 Sandbox pants.  He is still wearing his size 5 red convertible pair, but they were getting too short so I figured why not size up the waist too.

The last time I made them with buttons he wore them to death, popped off and lost the buttons, I expect these to be the same.  I did stitch the crap out of them, so maybe they will stay a little longer this time.  

I also made Sam a pair, because assembly line sewing is apparently my thing.  His are a size 12 month and I was so excited I was able to barely squeeeeeze these out of barely 20" of material.  I had this scrap left over from my Everyday Skirt that I held on to not quite sure if I would find something to use it for.

Baby toes.

Oh, and he is wearing his School Bus Tee too.

I added some orange buttons just because, I kind of love them.


Next up I have a stack of Puppet Show Shorts cut and ready for the sew-along.  Are you following the Size 5 project?  I am over on the Oliver + S blog talking about the shorts pattern and doing a sew-along, come sew with us!

Convertible Sandbox Pants.

I realized Jack has suddenly grown out of most of his shorts, time for new ones!  

I had an epic fail with the Blank Slate Coastal Cargos, I made a size he measured in to and they wouldn't even pull up over his bum.  I was sad, he was sad.  Okay, I was more than sad, I was angry. I feel like my sewing time is precious lately as I am not always feeling well enough.  I needed a quick fix that I knew was going to work for me, and since I still wanted the look of the failed pants, I modified one of my trusty Oliver + S patterns. 

I decided to use the Sandbox pants pattern as I had made it before and Jack loved them.  Also, not only has he nearly outgrown his beloved red After School pants he tripped at kindy one day and tore a small hole in the knee, he was devastated, though he kept wearing them.  Funny being he didn't even want the dang things in the first place, ha!  

I flat felled the seams on the outside of the pant leg and the inseam so I could roll them up and not have any yucky serger seams showing.  The inseam nearly killed me, but I did it!

Then I made a tab and sewed velcro to it and the pant leg (the soft side of the velcro on the pant leg in case he wears them as pants so they don't catch on anything).

I rolled up the pant leg and kind of just winged it as to where to place the tab and velcro, but matched them on both sides obviously.

The color looks really weird in this picture, hm.  Anyway, I used a fun print on the pocket linings, just like he likes.

The pants are a size 5 and still have plenty of growing room, maybe he will get some use out of them in the fall too.

Unlike some things I make him, he was totally excited about these and couldn't wait for them to be done.  Score!

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!

The new, the old, and the finally fits.

 

Nothing makes me happier than when my kids LOVE what I sew for them.  Sweet little Jack is always so appreciative and excited about his mommy mades, the sandbox pants from a little bit ago were no exception.  

He wore them 5 days in a row!! ( and I only managed to wash them twice... but he didn't get them too dirty the other times.)  So I knew he needed another pair.  I brought out two choices, a stretch deep blue denim and some dreamy Lisette chambray.  He chose the chambray.

Oh my goodness! They are so soft.  I left the buttons off the back pockets, per his request "So I can put my hands in them ... not that he has yet to do that... But I am happy to make him happy.

Then I decided since they were pretty darn unisex to put in a Sesame Street ribbon instead of the Tonka trucks like the last pair, this way the twins can wear them someday.  Not that they couldn't with trucks in them, but I figure I will hopefully avoid a possible future tantrum.  Plus, he still likes Sesame Street.

Girlies outgrew their birthday dresses finally.  I didn't honestly know how long they would last since I made them to fit just right as they were for pictures.  The length is still perfect, but their big noggins just wont squeeze in anymore.  I *ahem* forced them on for church this day since they were their only clean dresses...  It always makes me so sad to fold away their handmades for the last time, especially ones with good memories, knowing there may not be another little munchkin to pass them on to.

But then, there is this.  Big twin now fits the knit sailboat I made 4 months ago!  Wow, I was off, turns out long sleeves would have been nice since it is cold now they can finally wear it.  Meh.  Remodel is coming along nicely, behind that new door is my new sewing closet.  YAY! A space dedicated to my hobby! It isn't very big, but it will do! 

In the sandbox.

Mr. Jack desperately needs pants, he has only one pair.  Luckily (?) we haven't been out much this last week so he has been able to get away with just wearing his shorts.  Though honestly, he lives in his underwear 90% of the time while at home, no matter the weather or temp in the house.  So that bought me some time.  I got it in my head yesterday evening I wanted to make him a pair of Oliver + s sandbox pants.  I may have  measured him after he went to sleep and got his waist measurement just fine, but I couldn't get a length measurement for him, and his one pair of pants that fit were wet in the washer.  Also, I didn't realize I only had the smaller range and since it is an older pattern it only goes up to 3t while I usually make him a 4 in O+S.  But I remember reading it was a looser fitting pant, so I asked some lovely friends and felt confident I could get away with a 3t.  I did add 3 inches to the length, though turns out I didn't need to add that much.  That's what I get for winging it:) 

 

 



It is usually so hard to get him to look at the camera, but he was loving it this time! Also wearing his monster flashback tee. 

I used a bottomweight, all one material, just in case it was too small, I could have easily given them away.  Plus, a pair of khaki pants are a great wardrobe staple.

I am running low on my custom labels, so I thought this was a fun alternative, he loves it!

Since it was heavier material, I chose to skip the drawstring and instead used button hole elastic. 

I could easily go up to the next size (when I locate a paper pattern- fingers crossed!) as it is a little tight when he puts his hands in the pockets, but he doesn't use pockets often. 

I LOVE O+S for so many reasons, one being the details.  There are two rows of topstitching all over, if I ever get confident enough I will do a contrasting thread.  It would look great in denim with all the topstitching!  And those back pockets, I love them!  I never realized there were buttons on the pockets until I recently saw Justine's and they took a giant leap up my to-make list.

I don't know if I marked the pocket placement incorrectly, with the shirt down they look right to me, but when he raises his arms or without a shirt they look low.  Meh.

Aren't his eyes amazing? No editing at all on them!!

He is such a sweet boy, I asked if he wanted me to make him another pair since he liked these so much.  He said "Well, maybe later.  But first you should make Abby a pair just the same, only purple!"  Always thinking of others, this one.

They wanted to come out and play... :) (in their classic picnic tops).