Sewing

Vest Weather: Celebrating a Boy’s Vest!
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Vest Weather: Celebrating a Boy’s Vest!

Today is the kick-off day of Dana and Rae‘s Celebrate the BOY series 2013.  Hurrah! They’ve both posted some great projects today, including a tutorial and free pattern by Dana for a basic tee.

In the spirit of Celebrate the BOY, I’m showing off a new vest for my boy! It was sewn using Dana’s new FLIP Vest Pattern. Fleece on one side, printed cotton on the other — fully reversible and fun.

I actually started this vest a week ago but just finished last night.  No, no, this is not a week-long project. More like a solid afternoon project (or, in my case, late night after the kids are asleep). The pattern is actually quite user-friendly and the vest comes together easily. But, scheduling issues and buttons – dreaded buttons – led to the delay. The pattern provides instructions for making a reversible vest using velcro fasteners, or using buttons for a one-way vest (since the buttons would likely not feel very comfortable worn on the inside).

Many months ago I purchased a great “boy print” from Michael Miller’s Children at Play by Sarah Jane collection. Such a wonderful collection. While I love bright colors and stripes for boys and girls alike, and Eli’s wardrobe fully reflects this, I typically don’t use patterned or printed fabric for the clothes I make Eli unless it fits a particular theme (like his birthday shorts!). But I found the boy-themed prints in this collection so endearing that I had to buy some. I was envisioning using this Rocket Launch Club print for the lining of a jacket of some sort, and Dana’s vest pattern seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Since I planned on using the print fabric as a lining only, my intention was to add buttons to this vest and skip out on making the vest reversible. So let’s talk buttons, or rather buttonholes. Grrrrrr. I’ve made clothes with buttons before without any problem. And, per usual, I even did a few practice buttonholes on this fleece/cotton combination last night before trying it on the actual vest. Six practice buttonholes came out perfectly (perfectly being subjective here). Six!! Did you notice the final vest has velcro, no buttons??! I don’t know what it was, but I could not for the life of me sew a buttonhole (never mind the 5 buttonholes I desired) on this vest. I spent much, much too long attempting it, broke two needles in the process, shed a few tears of frustration (such an attractive quality), and then finally in the early morning hours came to my senses and decided there ain’t a darn thing wrong with velcro.

So velcro it is!  As you can see, he doesn’t seem to mind.

Thankfully the sting of being button-less was wiped away by two things: (1) Eli’s excitement upon seeing the vest in the morning, and (2) perfect vest weather for our photo shoot this morning! My husband generously allowed me to sleep in a bit this morning after my late night battle of the buttonholes, and I awoke to Eli standing bedside, adorned in the vest, gleefully saying “Mommy, Mommy, look at my vest!” And he’s taken to calling it his Rocket Ship Vest in homage to the lining fabric. Man, I love that boy.

We went frolicking on the grounds of a nearby museum/learning center for our photo shoot, and had the whole outside to ourselves.
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We were only about 50 yards from a busier street, but the rush of a waterfall and the absence of company made it feel like we’d been transplanted somewhere secluded and special. I dare say it felt enchanting. Playing in the sunshine but surrounded by snow. And after the rain and the thaw/freeze/thaw/freeze weather whiplash of last week, the snow piles had hardened enough that we could walk on top of the snow. Of course, all the leftover snow didn’t make for easy passage for the stroller, so poor Miss Daisy was parked in place watching her goofy mom and brother run around in the snow and take pictures until she’d squawk and we’d comply by repositioning her for a change of scenery.  There were two busloads of children inside the center on a field trip and I wonder whether they were envious of our sunny snow play or laughing hysterically at our antics.

And isn’t this a great bench? I might need one for my backyard.

I’m going to trust my prior, positive experiences with buttonholes, and erase from memory the battle of last night. Moving on…

 

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For Him a Bag, For Me a Happy Flight

I really enjoy making bags, as evidenced here, here and here. There is such satisfaction from making something that is not only cute to look at but also highly practical and useful.

Despite my professed bag-love, I’d only ever made bags for adults. I just never thought about making a bag for a child –  my own child! In retrospect it is so short-sighted of me not to realize how much Eli would appreciate having his very own bag. After all, he’s all about labeling items “mine”, and the closer his sister crawls to such items the louder and more fervently he declares his sole and exclusive rights to such property. Kind of like a mini-monarch; all that he sees before him is his. And a bag is essentially a place for safeguarding all of his special possessions, and allows for easy carting from place to place.

The intention behind making him a bag was actually not to bolster his belief that he can claim ownership to various toys and knick-knacks simply by saying so and tucking them out of sight of his sister. Rather, it was intended as a travel distraction device — and it worked beautifully!

As the departure date for our vacation neared, I was dreading how the flight would go. I envisioned my son, with ants in his pants in the face of this new adventure, refusing to sit still for a moment (more likely bouncing in his seat), and irritating other passengers with his endless curiosity (roughly translated as asking 50 questions per minute, 75% of which are duplicate questions).

Spurred on by seasoned parent travelers, I decided to go the route of bribery, which is beginning to feel like a well-worn path lately. I had stocked up with a few small toys (a la Target dollar bins) and treats and was intending to dole them out during the course of the flight as a means of thwarting any out of control behavior (i.e., no whining/yelling/kicking/harming flight attendants/getting us kicked off the plane = a reward earned). But instead, a short while after take-off, I pulled this little bag out of my carry-on bag and waited for his reaction. It took all of about .0346 seconds before he spied the dinosaur emblazoned object in my lap. When I explained it was something I made for him, and that the bag and its contents were just for him, he was ecstatic. And grateful — he must have told me “thank you” ten times during the flight. This kid really knows how to keep me sewing for him; he gets so darn excited each time I present him with something new.
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He was a content flyer digging for treasures in his bag, zipping and unzipping it to re-check the contents. It was all quite cute. He was happy, and since tantrums were averted and we weren’t the subject of a travel advisory, I was happy, too.

I made the bag using the open wide zippered pouch tutorial from Noodlehead. It has great details like the topstitching around the zipper opening and adding the zipper tab. The fabrics I chose are from Michael Miller (exterior, interior and zipper tab).

I liked working with the pattern so much I made the same bag for my son to bring as a gift for a special girl’s birthday party. Here it is decked out in pink (Michael Miller fabrics, again):


This bag-making got me thinking I need a new bag of my own. Noodlehead has a bunch of great bag patterns in her shop. I purchased the Go Anywhere Bag Pattern. I have a number of projects on the list before that one, but I already have fabric choices swirling in my head…

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Let’s Hear It for the Boys!

Exciting news! Okay, for those of you rolling your eyes, I’ll admit “exciting news in sewing circles” may be a more appropriate description. Dana and Rae are bringing back their Celebrate the Boy sewing series. And it starts next Monday, February 25th. Two weeks of boy-centric sewing projects and tips. I can’t wait.

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Oooh Baby, Baby
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Oooh Baby, Baby

It is just so much fun to make and gift a creation for someone’s new, human creation — a baby! Yes, another new baby in the extended family. A baby girl with a big sister to watch over her and teach her the ropes. And most likely there will be some occasional hair pulling, toy stealing and other less-than-model behavior, but that’s what helps make younger siblings so resilient (or at least that’s what I keep telling myself about the situation in my house).

With my daughter a short but healthy 13 month old, wearing mostly size 24-month clothing (pants rolled up!), I am forced to acknowledge I am no longer the mother to an infant.  Although she is obviously far from independence, she is becoming more and more of an individual each day. Words are forming; new skills attempted and then honed. Her personality is blooming.

So now I have to get my infant fix from child-bearing friends and family.

Obviously I had many months notice that this baby was coming; and I even knew it was a baby girl. But while I spent time mulling over what would be fun to make for her, I did not actually put needle and thread to fabric. She was born in November, and I’m just now mailing this out. So I’m a little behind in welcoming her to the family. But not for lack of excitement or joy for her arrival! Having my own November baby, I know how easily the impending holidays and end of the year stuff can overtake new baby celebrations. I swear that last year it felt like Daisy was born and then suddenly it was mid-January, and somewhere in between I think had been Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, New Years, etc., although it’s all kind of fuzzy.

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Both the pants and the skirt are made from corduroy fabric paired with a ribbed knit waistband. To create a pattern for the pants, I traced a pair of my daughter’s outgrown pants, and then added a tall knit waistband as opposed to making a casing for a more traditional elastic waistband. The corduroy fabric is so soft (I want pants this soft!) and I loved the big bright dots. A bundle of visual and tactile stimulation for baby.

And since all the ooh-ing and aah-ing over a new baby can take its toll on an older sibling, something special for big sister was a must! I wasn’t sure if my cousin is a fan of matching outfits for siblings, so I decided to go with a complementary fabric for big sister, as opposed to the same fabric I used for the pants. The print on the skirt fabric seemed sweetly suited for its recipient.  For big sister’s skirt, I made a yoga-style knit waistband that can be folded over. These projects were actually my first time making knit waistbands. They provide both a casual and a bit more contemporary look than traditional waistbands, and they are pretty forgiving in sizing. A mommy-sized knit skirt may be in my future…

So, welcome little one, and congratulations, big sister! You make a beautiful pair! Now I should probably start planning a baby boy project, because it’s only a few months until the next addition to our extended family!