An outfit for Baby B

Last week I made a little outfit for the baby boy of an old friend who lives in South Africa. I never sewed for my own babies - my youngest was a toddler before I had a go at sewing kids' clothes - so it felt rather novel to be making something for someone so young.

Not owning any patterns suitable for babies, I used two free online ones: the envelope-neck top from small dreamfactory and Made by Rae's newborn baby pants (which I enlarged a little, since Baby B is already 8 weeks old). Both were nice and easy to make, with no closures or complicated details. I used cotton jersey knit from Spotlight, added some coordinating cuffs to the pants, and loved the way I needed so little fabric for these tiny (hopefully not too tiny) garments!

I haven't sent this gift off yet, because I have one problem: the elastic in the waist of the pants. I have no idea how tight or loose to make it. I think I'm going to have to corner some mums of babies and see if I can measure a three-month-old. In the meantime if any readers know the average waist size of a baby this age, please let me know!

Kids Clothes Week: 'Dancing Men' singlet

In my post on how to sew with words on the Kids Clothes Week blog I wrote about using freezer paper stencils to paint a word in Dancing Men code, which features in a Sherlock Holmes story. The freezer paper worked brilliantly, but I decided to use a different (coded) phrase on a singlet for K and, having run out of time today to painstakingly cut out a freezer paper stencil, went for the quick option and printed an iron-on transfer. Somehow the transfer looks much more plasticky on this top than it did on the Pierre top, so I'm not 100% happy with it. Another weird thing is that this singlet, though drafted in an identical way to the previous one, does not fit as well around the chest. I guess I can put that down to fabrics behaving in different ways - unless, of course, K has shrunk overnight...?

By the way, if you're wondering what the coded phrase is, I'm afraid I can't tell you because I want K to read the story and work it out for himself!

K was more than happy to get outside and model today as we had basically chained him to his computer and forced him to complete a school project. Well, that's what you get for leaving things til the last minute.

And that brings my Kids Clothes Week sewing to an end, and while it's been fun, I'm more than ready for a break! Did you manage to finish everything you wanted to sew?

Kids Clothes Week: Pierre top

There once was a boy named Pierre
who only would say "I don't care!"
Read his story, my friend
For you'll find at the end
that a suitable moral lies there.

That, for those who don't know, is the prologue to Maurice Sendak's tiny book Pierre. Pierre is part of the Nutshell Library, a  collection of four miniature books (and the other three are pretty cool too). I had these books when I was growing up, and my sister bought a copy for my kids a few years ago.

Since Pierre is a favourite at our house, and since my son K shares some of Pierre's lack of respect for parental authority, I thought it would be appropriate to use Pierre's catchphrase on a top for him. Originally I was just going to use the words, but I thought they might seem a little less harsh if combined with Pierre's image - less 'ten-year-old ratbag' and more 'clever literary reference'. Those who find the phrase a little negative will be heartened to know that at the end of the story the moral is 'care' (but what would be the fun of putting that on a kids' top?).

While K is not short of attitude, I get plenty of smiles as well. And gosh he's a ham - most of the photos I got were of ridiculous faces and silly Michael Jackson-like crotch-grabbing dance moves.

Anyway, on to the details: the singlet is made from brushed cotton jersey and instead of ribbing I used a very stretchy cotton jersey in a different colour. I drafted the pattern based on one of K's tops and the sewing was very straightforward. I printed the image and text onto T-shirt transfer paper and ironed it onto the top. It seems to have adhered well but there are some slightly whitish bits that feel like they may be residue from the paper. Either they'll come off in the wash, or else I overcooked the whole thing and... well, I've never used these transfers before, so I'm a little scared to wash it and find out!

My next KCW project, which I will attempt to photograph tomorrow, is - coincidentally - also blue and green. Back very soon, I hope!

Cosy kids

You know winter's coming when the fabric stores haul out the flannelette. In between Spotlight's usual offerings of camouflage pattern for boys and fairy princess for girls I found a cute whale pattern, and while whales aren't an animal I associate with cosiness (the insulating properties of blubber aside) I decided they would be good for K's winter PJ pants. Since R's nighties are likely to fit her for years I splashed out on some Anna Maria Horner flannel, which is incredibly soft and lovely.

K's pants are drafted from a pair of his tracksuit pants, with the addition of a ribbed waistband for comfort and some cuffs for possible length-extension. Good thing I reinforced the crotch seams...

R's nightie is based on pattern J from Girly Style Wardrobe, with the placket moved round to the front and a ruffle added to the bottom of the skirt (I had to be creative when it came to making the nightie long enough, as I was a little short of fabric). I love this style on her - so much so that I've already started making a dress from the same pattern. And as it is now customary for one of R's toys to receive a garment whenever she does, 'Daisy' has a new Lazy Days skirt. 

I had this great idea to photograph K and R in their sleepwear together, but in almost every one of the 100+ photos I took, someone is making a silly face or doing something bizarre. Still, they enjoyed it. And at least it was ten minutes of the day when they weren't fighting.

Now my wild ones will be warm at night, although K might need to put a top on...

KCW Project 4 - bleached trackies

As usual, the token Kids Clothes Week effort for my son. I am constantly frustrated by the limited fabric options on offer when it comes to making tracksuit pants - it's either thin cotton jersey, or thick cotton polyester. Why can't we buy nice pure cotton fleecy material in Melbourne? Is there some secret fabric warehouse I don't know about, or is this stuff just not available? But enough complaining. I bought some unsatisfactorily thin black cotton jersey and thought I'd have a go at splattering it with bleach. I was really surprised when, instead of the white spots I was expecting, I got a lovely burnt orange colour - cool! I used one of the kids' old toothbrushes to do the splattering and it was fun seeing the little spots and splatters emerging. I used the last pair of trackies I made as the pattern, but I think I rushed things a bit and the fit is not quite as good. As with last time, I used ribbing for the waistband and put elastic inside it.

K's not completely sold on the splatter pattern, and when he tried on the pants he said they looked too much like leggings. So I added bands of ribbing to the leg hems, which looks weird and wonky when they're not being worn, but does make them look less legging-ish on.

My stubborn boy would only model with his skateboard - like last time - which is strange as he hardly uses it otherwise! I love the splatters and even though the pants aren't the best fit I think they look OK, but it remains to be seen whether they'll be worn or not. Hey, I tried!

Kids Clothes Week Project 3 - Trackie dacks

For my son K, to show him that I love him enough to (occasionally) sew something for him too. No pattern - just drafted from another pair of pants, with pockets added in the front. I used a pocket pattern piece and instructions from some shorts in Happy Homemade vol. 2, because pockets do my head in so I didn't think I could draft them myself.

Fabric is cotton jersey from Spotlight and a bit of ribbing from the op shop, with some fluoro green synthetic stuff for piping and the tie at the front. Used some cool fluoro thread for overstitching, and put an iron-on sports number on the back: 9, for K's age. Naturally, I didn't notice the flaw in the jersey - a kind of raised bit with a tiny hole - until I had finished the pants, and naturally that flaw is positioned right at the front. I ironed a bit of interfacing on the back and am hoping the pants will last at least a few weeks before I have to mend them. And if you're wondering what the hell 'dacks' are, it's Aussie slang for pants (and 'dacking' someone is when you sneak up and pull their pants down, but don't tell my kids that because it'll give them ideas).

K saw the pants as I was putting the finishing touches on and said 'these are awesome!'. So, success.

Boy PJs

While Dana and Rae have their 'celebrate the boy' thing going on, I happen to have just finished a boy project. Sadly, this is a relatively rare achievement for me. While there are lots of examples of cool handmade boys' clothes around (just check out the celebrate the boy flickr group), most of them are for younger boys, not gigantic 8-going-on-9-year-olds like mine. The things that look good on K are clothes made of heavy-duty fabrics, with industrial strength double stitching and little details like rivets and eyelets - not the kind of things I feel confident with sewing (and, to be honest, not the kind of things I feel inspired to make). So when I make things for K, I tend to avoid clothes and come up with alternatives: camera cases, cushion, heat pack, wallet. But there is one exception: pyjamas. I have made a pair of these every season for a while now, but I cheat a bit by sewing pants or shorts, then buying a t-shirt and appliqueing something on it to match. Cotton for summer, flannelette for winter. Predictable but useful. Something comfy that makes him feel loved, and that looks a bit smarter than the greying old 'I heart Bali' t-shirt and undies that he's been wearing at night. Presenting this year's PJs (which may well represent this year's boy sewing, too):

I really loved this lion fabric when I saw it in Spotlight last year. And I don't know how useful a pocket on a PJ t-shirt really is, but it performs an important function in preventing it from looking exactly like the t-shirts K wears to school each day.

Lastly, I have learned from my (many) mistakes and put a label at the back of the shorts so he can put them on the right way around.