Geranium Dresses

Holy Moly how has 2 months passed since I've posted?! Maybe it's the baby brain, or the lack of sleep. Either way, Gah!!!

Although I haven't been posting, I've still been working on projects here and there. If you follow me on Instagram, then you know I've still been sewing here and there.

We found out that we will be welcoming a GIRL this spring and that was the green light I needed to start working on some baby projects. I do love to sew for my five year old guy but, I'm so excited to get to sew some ruffles and pink! The first project was the Geranium Dress, which is a free pattern for the 0-3 month size by Made by Rae. It was a super quick sew and required less than a yard of fabric. In fact, I'm fairly confident that I could get the bodice out of one fat quarter.

It was such a quick sew, and oh so satisfying! The seams in the bodice are completely enclosed in the lining which makes me feel all fancy. I did do a some variation of a French Seam on the only seam inside the skirt so all the seams are neatly finished.

I sewed up the first one in a couple hours time (including cutting) and the second in about an hour. Little Miss might end up with a bunch of these by the time we welcome her home.

Run Jump Hop Skip Blog Tour

Hello There! For those of you stopping by from the Run Jump Hop Skip Tour from Stitch it Now, I'm Cyndi and I blog over at The Nosy Pepper. I have always had a passion for fine arts, but I found a love for textiles a few years ago and caught the sewing bug. I'm a self taught sewist and I spend a lot of time bag making, but dabble a little in everything. I have an amazing almost five year old boy who loves for me to make him clothing and "stuff". I know that this will change soon, so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can! I'm so glad you stopped by, and would love for you to have a look around my little corner of the crafty world. I'd love it if yo you would follow on your favorite social media :)

To those of you who are unfamiliar with Stitch it Now, it's a blog and shop by Debbie Cameron. She developed her concept of ready to sew kits and patterns for children's clothes after raising her two boys and realizing how hard it can be to squeeze in that sewing time when you have small children. In her shop you can order a kit and it arrives already to sew, no pattern printing, cutting, or pattern prep. You just order the size you wish to sew and when it arrives you are ready to sew straight away! If you loathe the prep work like me, this is such a fantastic time and sanity saver! 

The Run Jump Hop Skip shorts/pants is the first pattern Debbie is releasing as a stand alone PDF. The pattern is for sizes 1-10 (no size 9) drafted to Australian sizes (so be sure to check your child's measurements!). They are designed to fit comfortably right below the waist, so your child isn't constantly yanking them up or down. My guy is always yanking his pants lower, so this was a perfect pattern for him! They feature a faux fly and elastic waist, so there is no fuss getting them off or on, perfect for toddlers learning how to dress themselves or older kids who don't want to be bothered by a zip and fly. There are pockets on the front and back and it's a perfect pattern for any bottom weight fabrics. The pattern has cutting guides for shorts as well, this is truly a versatile pattern that would be a great addition to your pattern library, you won't want to make just one pair! 

For my pants, I made a size 5 out of a camel corduroy from JoAnn. I found the fabric on sale for 2.50 a yard in the clearance rack...score!  Although I purchased 1.5 yards as the pattern suggests, I still had at least a third of a yard left over, so I could have easily gotten two pairs of shorts from that fabric.  As pattern testers we gave that feedback to Deb so she could alter her fabric requirement chart accordingly.  My son has waist that is somewhere between a 4-5 and super long legs, so a five was perfect for him. I usually have to add length anyway when I make him pants. Had I not left the extra length in, these would have fit him perfectly.

I love Debbie's suggestions about adding detailing to the back pockets...I couldn't get my model to hold still for very long but I did use a decorative stitch across them. I think I want to do that on every pair of pants I make now!

                                                        

As you can see, I purposefully left these long. It's staying around the 90 degree mark here and the humidity is enough to make you long for a cold beverage and a pool. Considering that, I don't think he will be wearing these pants any time soon. My hope is that they will work for him when he starts school in the fall. If they are still long then, I'll hem them again. I'd rather them be too long than for him to end up in capris ;)

                                                 

These pants came together super quickly! I did all my cutting and sewing in a few hours one evening. It would have been less had I been more confident about the faux fly. I had attempted it a few times in the past but it had never really clicked with me and I usually gave up. Debbie's pattern just made it click for me, and after only a couple incidents of quadruple checking (and no seam ripper...woohoo) I had it done. For my next pair I think that the only changes I will make is to maybe bring the hips in a bit and top stitch the back pockets.

The pattern comes with oodles of helpful tips and for those of you who like checklists, there is a checklist that you can follow with corresponding page numbers as you work through the pattern. It's picture heavy for us visual learners, so a confident beginner could easily tackle this pattern. The results are fantastic and I couldn't be happier at how they turned out. I'm now off to make some shorts. 

Photobombed by the dog

To find out how to purchase your own pair of Run Jump Hop Skip Shorts/Pants be sure to visit Stitch it Now’s post of the pattern release . While you are there make sure you find out how to enter the giveaway, of course there’s a giveaway!  There’s a chance to win your own copy of the pattern, a fabric gift card or your choice of either boy or girl inspired Japanese Echino fabrics. Goodluck!

• Day 1 - June 24 - Katie, feature on Stitch it Now
• Day 2 - June 25 - Cyndi of TheNosyPepper
• Day 3 - June 26 - Amy of Friends Stitched Together
• Day 4 - June 27 - Davina, feature on Stitch it Now
• Day 5 - June 28 - Emily of My Crafty Little Self
• Day 6 - June 29 - Daria of Baby Steps to Couture
• Day 7 - June 30 - Jaime of Jaime Sews
• Day 8 - July 1 - Heather of Newbie Sewist
• Day 9 - July 2 - Jessi, feature on Stitch it Now
• Day 10 - July 3 - Sally, feature on Stitch it Now
• Day 11 - July 4 - Susan of Made by Momma
• Day 12 - July 5 - Theresa of Theresa's To-Dos

For the boys blog hop

I am so excited to be joining in on the for the boys blog hop sponsored by sew we quilt. I have a four year old who is 110% boy. As we mamas of boys know, there are fewer patterns and projects for our little guys. My husband assures me this theme will be repeated throughout his life (hello mens' vs womens' sections in stores). Thankfully though, there are still some pretty awesome patterns and projects out there for our boys.

With weather definitely cooling down around here, it was time to start on some autumn clothes for my little man. I picked a couple of my faves (which are actually pretty unisex) and set off to work.

 

 

 

First up, I put together these "skeleton pants", using an awesome pattern called Nowhere Man Pants by Shwin Designs. I picked up this pattern a while back on sale and it is absolutely one of my fave pant patterns. The fit is perfection and it's a very quick sew (I finished this pair from cutting to hemming in about 2 hours). I snuck some of my Halloween fabrics in on the pocket and belt loops and my little guy loves what he has dubbed the "skeleton pants". The main fabric is a lightweight denim chambray that was left over from a bag project I finished (yay for using all scraps!).

To go with the pants, I pulled out my Olivia and Oliver Pea Coat pattern by Peek a boo Patterns. I made one of these last year and it was my first 'real' garment I made. It's a very beginner friendly pattern and like the pants, goes together quickly. Even setting the sleeves in this one is a breeze. The scariest part (for me) was putting in the button holes.

Unfortunately the Universe was not cooperating with me getting these photographed, and it had to be done at night in my kitchen...oops! He still turned on the cheese for the camera :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!!! Please check out the other awesome bloggers sharing their projects today:

November 8^th

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Made By Me in Red

Freemotion by the River

Val's Quilting Studio

Tomorrow's Treasures Today

The Stitchin’ Post

The Nosy Pepper

The Reluctant Quilter

For the Boys Blog Hop Schedule

I'm stoked to be participating in the For The Boys Blog Hop sponsored by SewWeQuilt! The boys seem to always get the short end of the stick in the sewing world, so I'm so excited to see all the awesome projects that are shared.


Check out this awesome line up:

November 6^th

Vrooman's Quilts

Sew Many Yarns

Young Texan Mama

Baa’s Amazing Adventures!

Little Mushroomcap

Threading My Way

Sarah Scholz and Chasing Unicorns

Quilt Doodle Designs

November 7^th

Amy's Crafty Shenanigans

Ridge Top Quilts

Creatin' in the Sticks

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Meadowbrook

Malinis Quilts

Just Let Me Quilt

Kris Loves Fabric

November 8^th

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Made By Me in Red

Freemotion by the River

Val's Quilting Studio

Tomorrow's Treasures Today

The Stitchin’ Post

The Nosy Pepper

The Reluctant Quilter

Quilting, Losing & Tea

 November 11^th

Jane's Quilting

Pieces By Polly

how Art you

Selina Quilts  

Upcycled Fabric

BQuiltin Studio

In The Boon Docks

Gemini Stitches

Secretly Stitching

November 12^th

Pig Tales and Quilts

CeLynn's Sunflower Patch

rainbows.bunnies.cupcakes

Devoted Quilter

Desertsky Quilting

Sew Fresh Quilts

Red Letter Quilts

Craft Nurse Quilt

Miss Priss Quilts

November 13^th

Dachsies with Moxie

Patchouli Moon Studio

It Seams to Be Sew....

Scrappy n Happy

Loves to Quilt 

Michelle's Romantic Tangle

Factotum of Arts 

Jackie's Art Quilts

Living with purpose

November 14^th

I like to QuiltBlog

Marjorie's Busy Corner

My Fabric Relish

Feathered Nest Studios

Moose Stash Quilting

QuiltnQueen

Grandmama's Stories

Our Busy Little Bunch

Words and Stitches

November 15^th 

Everyone Deserves a Quilt

From This to That 

Monkey Makes Three

Just Quilt It  

Life, Quilts and a Cat too

Thimblemouse and Spouse 

More Stars in Comanche

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Sew We Quilt

Baby shorts

A friend called me yesterday while she was out trying to find some shorts for her one year old daughter. She was frustrated that all of the shorts were around ten dollars. Have you seen how little fabric those things are made of?! Ridiculous. It takes less than a half yard of fabric to make.

So of course I offered to make some shorts! 

I had made my 3 year old a few pairs this year, but the patterns used seemed very masculine. I didn't want to buy a new pattern considering I was aiming to be way below 10 dollars for the project. Then I remembered I had just bought a pattern from peek a boo pattern shop that seemed to fit the bill perfectly. 

I purchased two half yards at JoAnn's of some gray quilting cotton and some girly buttons. Total for the buttons and fabric? 8 Dollars. 

I chose to go with the quilting cotton as opposed to a bottom weight or linen because I wanted something lightweight and didn't want to deal with the wrinkling of the linen. Also, all the linens felt very masculine to me for some reason...weird I know.

I cut all the pieces out and then read the directions...terrible I know. It was then I discovered that the 18 month size ran small. Really?! Ugh. So I decided to go with a 1/4 inch seam allowance as opposed to the 1/2 inch called for in the pattern.

They came out exactly as I had hoped and took a couple of hours start to finish for the first pair. This was the pair that I followed the pattern exactly as written.

For the second pair, I wanted something more basic so I traced the front and back pieces but took a lot off of the leg length. They are just plain Jane shorts but I think it works with the polka dots. I was able to get the pair from the remainder of the contrast from the first pair.

For the last pair I just used some bottom weight khaki fabric I had left over. The fabric itself felt boyish, so I added some pink piping on the side seams. 

Total cost for the 3 pairs? Less than ten dollars. Time invested? Less than 5 hours.

This is exactly why I need a little girl :)

The unfortunately NOT BLUE, blue jeans

Seeing all these awesome posts about boy clothes popping up lately made me want to start whipping up some clothes for my little guy. I'm not going to whine about there being fewer choices for boys' clothing...but there ARE fewer choices.

The good news is, that there are some really awesome patterns though and a lot of them allow for modifications. I mean, honestly, how many styles of jeans do boys need? I haven't made a whole lot in the way of garments. I made a few shirts for me (with varying degrees of success) and earlier this year I made a pea coat from peek a boo pattern shop, and it made me look at garment sewing a bit differently.

So, I finally went for it and bought a few PDF patterns for my 3 year old. I went with PDF patterns for several reasons:

1) They weren't ugly (Sorry McCall's, your boy options suck).
2) I liked being able to save the PDF file and print out the pieces in different sizes..versus having to trace and all that nonsense from a traditional pattern.
3) Even though I've used many commercial patterns, I still often find them confusing as they tend to make things more complicated than neccessary.

So, the first one I bought was The Nowhere Man Pants from Shwin and Shwin. I liked the overall look and it looked easy to modify the features of the pants. I wasn't disappointed.

The pattern was great, super easy to follow and relatively simple. I finished the pants in 3 hours from cutting the fabric to sewing on the buttons. They did seem to run a bit on the smaller side, my three year old wears a 4T and these seemed to be on the slim side. There was not a seam allowance given in the pattern, (a google search later indicated it was 3/8) so I just used a 1/4, preferring to err on the side of being too large. Had I not used a smaller seam allowance and my guy not been so slim, I'm not sure the 4T would have worked.

I thought they came out well, but my quite fickle little man did not agree. He was incredibly displeased that they were NOT BLUE, and I was quickly informed that jeans were supposed to be blue. The pictures are not good, mostly because I only had about a 2 minute window in which he agreed to wear them. Only then, it was because I promised to make a blue pair.

I thought girls were the particular ones.

A new coat for a new year

First project of the new year, COMPLETE! I bought the olivia and oliver pattern by peek a boo pattern shop a couple of weeks ago after seeing this post here. I HAD to attempt this for my three year old.

I'm so, so happy with how it turned out! This pattern is fantastic! I've only completed a couple of garments, maybe one of which was actually wearable. This pattern was so straightforward and her pictures and tutorials made this a breeze! I can't wait to make another. The best part? This PDF pattern goes up to a size 8, do I can make a new one each year!

Love, love, love this pattern!