New Pants for Bridget

Bridget has outgrown most of her 'newborn baby gift' clothes and others have been put away because they were for summer.  She still has enough clothes but now she doesn't have so many that it would feel silly to sew for her.  So she got some new mommy-made pants today.  Just super simple knit pants made using this old method.  I even kept the hem of the T-shirt they were made from so they were super quick to make.  

I'm getting her to practice her sitting too (looking forward to being able to just plop her on the floor).  At 4 1/2 months she can sit on her own for a couple seconds at a time and for much longer with just a few cushions for support.  

Sun Hat for Henry

This is another project that I was working on in my last few weeks of pregnancy.  I made a sun hat for Henry since he has outgrown the hats I made him last year.  I used the same pattern from Oliver + S Little Things to Sew but in a bigger size.  

I chose to make it simple to go with everything and light to keep him cool.  And he likes it.  Luckily he is into wearing hats so far this year and he likes this one.  He has already gotten lots of use out of it, here are some pictures. 

 

More Pants

I actually made Henry 3 pairs of pants last week, all just from tracing patterns from existing pants.  See other pair here.

I was inspired to make pants because so many of his store bought pants are too "wide" for him.  But these brown ones turned out even a little too narrow which is a shame because with those big cuffs, he could keep wearing them for years if not for that.

I think these stripey ones might actually be my favourite of the 3.  They are just made from sleeves from an old shirt so barely any sewing.  I need to keep using this technique before his legs get too long!  And note how well I matched up the stripes!

Dino Coat

I finished this jacket just in time for Christmas and wrapped it up with Henry's presents. It's not as fun as a toy of course but he likes it.

I started making it back when it was hard to get him to put on jackets and I thought the appliqueed dinos might help with that but that phase is over. And I also seem to have acquired several more jackets for Henry since then so it is definitely an unnecessary jacket. But I enjoyed sewing it. It is just a bit more complex then my average project and I think I also took just a bit more care with it than with an average project. And I really like the result.

It is the second pattern I've tried from the book Sewing for Boys that I bought myself at the end of the summer. Another great pattern. Simple but nice. And it's reversible! I used some orange and brown plaid acrylic for one side and appliqueed some dinosaurs from some bed sheet scraps. And the other side is a little less in your face with plain brown corduroy with the plaid just poking out on the collar and cuffs. Inside it is lined with a fleece blanket. The lining turned out to be a bit too thick because it made the sleeves a bit tight - the same thing that happened with the last jacket I made him. I swear I've learned my lesson this time.

Here it is on the orange and brown plaid with dinosaurs side.

Pointing out the dinos:

Playing with the trains at Chapters:

On our Lakeside walk on New Year's eve; also sporting his bear hood:

And here's the brown corduroy side that he wore on our rainy lakeside walk on New Year's Day.

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

I decided to go for Elsie Marley's Kids' Clothes Week Challenge this time. The goal is to sew kids' clothes for an hour each day for a week and it started on Monday. I won't quite be managing that. Monday was Thanksgiving and we are going for a mini break away this weekend so this might be it for KCWC. But I got several hours in from Tuesday to Thursday and got quite a bit done I think, not that everything turned out great. Henry's not in a super mood this morning and it's raining out so these are the best pictures I could get.

These pictures show some simples felted wool pants I made from the sleeves of a wool sweater. Super simple to make and they turned out really well I think. I even remembered to put a little tag in the inside so you can tell which is the back.

They also show a wool sweater that I made him from a felted wool sweater. I used the raglan T-shirt pattern from Sewing for Boys. At the last minute I decided not to put the seams on the outside which was fine, it was still easy to use the pattern. And I went up to size 2/3 (partly because there is a mistake in the book and size 18 months is not included) and it is perfect for a fitted sweater. I love this sweater which means I am super disappointed that the neck came out all huge. And I knew it was happening at the time but I kept going, using more neck binding than it called for because I just couldn't manage it with the correct amount. I guess that's something I need a lot of practice on.

And another pair of pants. These also didn't turn out so well :( I used the pants pattern from Handmade Beginnings and went up to size 18-24 months even for this skinny guy because I was using thick material. But it was a knit so I really shouldn't have. So they are much too big, maybe they'll look better next winter. I also think they're just not as cute as I imagined. Oh well.

I also got a bit of a start on a jacket for Henry, also from Sewing for Boys and I think that will turn out well.

Henry's Car Shirt

Henry loves pointing at cars and pictures of cars and yelling 'caw caw' so I had the idea to make him a shirt with cars on it. On Tuesday Henry and I went to the fabric store and picked out some fabric. That part was a little less perfect than I had imagined because of course Henry was more interested in running around the store than looking at the fabric I was showing him and this was a hot day and the store had no air conditioning! But I found some cool fabric and the next day finished up a little shirt for him. I used the shirt pattern that came his party outfit and it fits perfectly.

At first he didn't seem too impressed with the shirt, he had liked pointing at the fabric and saying 'caw' but was ignoring it now that it was on. But then suddenly he liked it.


And then he looked down at the shirt and pointed at the cars and said 'caw'. Just like I had dreamed about.And he even did it several times throughout the day with no prompting.
It was a really wonderful day yesterday. It's fun to take Henry out nowadays because he's always so happy and everyone just loves him. We also had our first fire in the backyard and went on a lovely evening stroll.

A Party Outfit for a Prince

Last week I made Henry this beautiful party outfit that he got to wear this Sunday for his great grandparents' anniversary party. Everyone agreed that he looked like a little prince in his outfit.


I used this 1978 pattern that I picked up at a thrift shop recently and some old thrift store fabric that I had. Kevin helped me draw the shape for the elephant appliqué.

And here are some highlights from the rest of the weekend, spent mostly in the backyard.

playing with a big stick
getting sprayed in his wading poolplaying with his new play structure that our lovely neighbours gave us for the backyard
saying "more more more" because he wanted me to help him walk up the slide again
so I helped him up the slideenjoying his swing with mommy

Another Sun Hat

Finally we have some sun so Henry can get out and wear his new sun hat that I made him. It is the same pattern I used here from Little Things to Sew. I always planned on making 2 because I know sometimes the other one will be lost or dirty or left at Nana's. So now we have a backup. And this time I used a light coloured cotton from some khaki pants and some navy blue with a cool fish pattern for the lining. Nice and light to keep him cool this summer, of course it is already dirty with soil and curry from our lunch outside.


We spent all morning outdoors today enjoying the lack of rain. We were in the backyard, then did some shopping, played at 2 different playgrounds, and wandered through dandelions. With all this rain the dandelions have been growing like crazy and the city hasn't had a chance to mow them down yet. We are hoping to get out and pick some for making dandelion wine before they get mowed.