Ottobre "Bert" shorts: take 2

This guy. He's so awesome. But man, is it hard to make clothes for him!!

I think we have a winner this time, though. These are the "Bert" shorts from the 03/2009 issue of Ottobre. I made them for him last year, and he won't even try them on. Silly me, made them in a woven. Logan only wears knit shorts.

Since the pattern is drafted for wovens, and has plenty of ease, I went ahead and used last year's size. They're drafted quite long, so I left the length alone. I did omit the faux fly, since it seemed odd in a knit short, but I love the other details, so all the pockets and yokes got to stay. Logan loves pockets.

The main feature of these shorts is the deep back yoke, which I decided to highlight in a contrast fabric. Logan loves his Rocketboy tee, so I used some leftovers from it to make the back yoke and pockets. The main fabric is a 10oz. interlock from Chez Ami. Beefy, but still nice and soft.

The biggest challenge for these shorts were the back pockets. I wanted to coverstitch them on for a professional look, but all those points... I did manage to pivot a few of them - tricky with two needles - but some of them I had to tie off. I'm pleased with the end result though, and Logan does like them.

On the boy, the yoke hits just at the bottom of his bum, and right where the front pocket inserts the seam. I find it a quite pleasing juxtaposition, and the seam intersection right there is nice and smooth, without much bulk. Very easy to sew.

Yay! A win! These are going to see a lot of playtime. Just no more pictures, Mom!

Ottobre 03/2009-23

With the completion of the popular "Bert" shorts from the 03/2009 Ottobre, Logan's outfit for KCWC is done!
I can see why this pattern got so much use when it came out. It really is great, with fun details, but still easy to sew.

For Logan's shorts, I went with a more understated color for the topstitching. This is the "jeans" topstitching thread from Coats & Clark. I added a single Mater applique to the leg of the shorts just for fun.

Much like Duncan's shorts, these feature a nonfunctional fly, which is topstitched down. The pockets are patch style, which gives you more opportunities to show off your topstitching skills. My twin needle made short work of these. Since I couldn't cut the pocket opening on the straight grain for these, I interfaced the opening with a strip of interfacing.

In back are patch pockets and a deep yoke. The waistband assembly is a little fiddly, but resulted in a really professional look, so I think it was worth the extra effort.

Now I just have to convince the ornery boy to actually try them on. Next up is a purple butterfly/polka dot dress that will definitely get worn. That little princess of mine can't resist a new dress. Wonder where she gets that?

Boys!

I had to derail some sewing plans thanks to a very active boy who managed to wear a hole in the knee of his only nice pair of pants. You know, the really nice, lined ones I made him a month ago. Seriously!! They only lasted a month!

So, I pulled out his TNT pant pattern (Ottobre 01/2009-23) and whipped up another pair.

This time, they have knee patches. I made these from a flannel backed twill that I've used for pants for him before. Those wore well, kept him warm and were comfortable. Plus, the flannel side of the fabric is cozy, so I didn't feel like they needed a lining, which made them quicker to sew.

The only embellishing I did was to quilt the patches in straight lines and topstitch the side and crotch seams with dark grey thread. For the patches, I just used the worn out pair to determine size and placement. I put a piece of thin batting under the patch for increased sturdiness. Let's hope these last longer than a month...

Ottobre 06/2011-34 & 01/2009-23

Both of these patterns are reruns, but I ran into some trouble I thought I'd share.

I made this outfit for Logan as a Christmas gift. The top is Ottobre 06/2011-34, which I made here, and the pants are Ottobre 01/2009-23, which I have made 10 times in various sizes. Needless to say, we like this pattern. For this iteration, I used a poly velour from Fabric Mart for the shirt as well as to line the pants. He has a velour raglan top made for him by his Oma that he wears all the time, but which is showing it's age. I used sueded cotton twill from Fabric.com for the pants outer.

Oma's version has a cool zombie embroidered on it, but since I don't have an embroidery machine, I picked up two Cars patches from Joann and stitched them on. Cute, huh? This was not where I had trouble though. The trouble came when I attached the neckband. This velour has less stretch than the rib knit I used the last time I made this top, so I made the neckband a smidge longer to compensate. It would have been fine, except that this velour curled like no jersey I have ever seen, and when I tried to stretch it to stitch it to the neckline, it curled away from the serger and out of range of the needles. Add to that that my serger has been misbehaving lately and you have a recipe for disaster. Three different neckbands, four broken needles, some basting and a bit of swearing later, it actually looks pretty good. What I learned was that if you have a jersey that curls like a mad fiend, basting the edges together with a zigzag stitch before you serge will tame the curlies. Word to the wise. The cuffs look much better. I basted them.

The pants have some decorative twill tape at the back pocket openings. Mom brought this home from Expo a couple of years ago and I have been awaiting the "perfect" project. I'm not sure this is perfect, but it was about to become To Good To Use, and we can't have that. I think it's a cute touch and it coordinates nicely with the top.

Ottobre 01/2009-23

Hey look! Logan really does wear stuff I make him!

It seems like my Logan clothes posts are always unmodeled, but I caught him this time at the park , after thoroughly bribing him with Sonic. And this was still the best picture I got of the pants...

This is yet another version of the elastic waist pants from the 01/2009 issue of Ottobre. I have actually lost count of the number of times I've made these for Logan, but I've traced three different sizes. This pair replaces his last pair of nice-enough-for-chuch pants that he *sigh* blew a hole in the knee of earlier this week. I skipped all of the patches and pockets on the front, since I wanted them to be church-y.

On the back, I used the pocket from pant #23, the "Tarhuri" pant. Logan loves the double pocket and I have yet to meet a boy who doesn't like to play with velcro. Double win, there. I stuck a little bias tape tab into the edgestitching of the pocket, just for fun.

The coolest part of these pants is on the inside. I decided to line them with some soft cotton jersey. The outer fabric is a thinnish twill, and it is getting pretty cold. This monkey fabric is fun, but a little too juvenile for Logan. This way only he knows it's there, but it will help keep him cozy on the playground.

Ottobre 06/2009-7 & 03/2010-23

After the sewing of the Rapunzel dress, I was really looking forward to putting together this little man shirt made from easy to tame cotton.

This is Logan's Woody costume. He'll wear this with RTW jeans and a purchased cowboy hat. The  vest is from the 06/2009 issue of Ottobre. It's actually a baby pattern and not graded up to Logan's size, but I just added a couple of inches to the length and an inch to the width at center back, and it is perfect. I actually traced, altered, cut and sewed the entire vest at Sewing Summit in the BabyLock sewing room. It was so fun!

The outer fabric is quilting cotton and I lined the vest with flannel for warmth, and bound the front edges with bias strips. In the cartoon, it looks like Woody's vest has a rope-like trim, but I thought this striped fabric on the bias would approximate that look well and give me a nice clean and easy finish.
The shirt is from the 03/2010 issue of Ottobre. I've made it before here.This time I chose a flannel back homespun purchased at Cottonwood Fabrics in Sandy. (Thanks to Sewing Geek for recommending them!) The reason I chose this particular shirt pattern was two fold. I really like the slim fit that it has, particularly for wear under a vest. I also appreciate that it is a seriously simplified version of a man shirt.

The collar does not have a separate stand, rather is shaped to approximate one, and the button bands are cut on and folded over.  Even though this is a costume, I used Pam's shirt crisp interfacing for the collar and cuffs. It is so wonderful to work with, and particularly with this one piece collar, I needed the flexible stability it gives.

The cuffs are one piece fold-over, and the placket is a continuous lap. I did cut the lap binding on the bias, which the pattern didn't call for. I always like a little give in my continuous lap binding. I think it make for easier sewing.
So, true confessions time. When I cut out this shirt, I THOUGHT I had carefully aligned the dominant stripe in the plaid so that I could match it.

But I didn't. And it threw the whole shirt off grain. See how it looks like the back is sloping upwards? Yeah, off grain. So, one side seam is perfectly matched and the other is totally off. I'm so glad this is a subtle plaid, or I would be remaking this shirt. As it is, I'm just going to be unhappy with it. And naturally, he'll decide this is his favorite shirt and wear it every day. Sigh. Just a costume, right? At least the vest covers the back.

Refashion: Men's cords to boy's (Ottobre 01/2009-23)

Logan has shredded two pairs of pants in as many weeks, so I needed a quick way to replace them.  Enter an old pair of Mitch's cords and the pattern I made for him last week (already traced!).

The pattern is a quick and dirty elastic waist pant.  Of course, Ottobre gives you tons of fun pocket and detail options, but for these, I didn't use any of them.

The front pockets came from the original pants and I didn't add any back pockets.  That made these crazy quick to make.  Good thing, since corduroy isn't all that sturdy and these are on their second life already.

I neglected to take a before picture, but here is how I laid them out for cutting.  First I slashed the inseam and the front crotch, then laid them flat right sides together.  I lined up the side seams as best I could, then placed the pattern pieces to incorporate the front pockets on the front pant piece and an unembellished section of the back leg became the new back pants.  As you can see, I'm not going to get away with this for too much longer - Logan is getting too big!

Ottobre 01/2009-23 "Tarhuri" pants

Logan put a hole in his only pair of dress pants a couple of days ago, so he needed some new ones for church.

This style is from the 01/2009 issue of Ottobre, and is a basic elastic waist pant with three different pocket and detail options.  I made the other two styles last year - here and here, so I knew that Logan liked them.

The front pockets are lined, and are intended to extend up as belt loops, but I omitted the belt loop extension, as I wasn't planning to make the coordinating belt.  Mostly this was to save time (I sewed these Saturday night to wear to church Sunday), but also because Logan doesn't wear belts.  I also skipped the velcro side tabs that hold up the pants when rolled up, since these are church pants and that seemed a bit casual.

Here is the back.  The back pockets are super fun!  They are sewn as a unit, with the flap as a part of the pocket back.  Ottobre intends you to sew them on along the flap fold line so that they hang down and can flap up.  I thought that would annoy Logan, so I sewed them down along the bottom and sides like a traditional patch pocket, so I ended up with a double pocket.

 Tuck something in behind the flap,

or under it!  Logan played around with his pockets a ton!  One thing that I didn't like about these pants was the fabric I chose.  It is a flannel backed twill from FFC, which I chose because it is nice and warm, but it is also too thick for these layered pockets, so they are a bit bulky.  Logan likes them though, so overall they are a win!

Most importantly, they are good for running!

Parting shot:

The Wee Professor sports his gear.

Ottobre 03/2010-23 "Beethoven" shirt

Since Logan has been busily outgrowing his dress shirts, it was time for a new one.  I let him choose the fabric, so naturally it features soccer balls.

Not exactly traditional dress shirt material, but at least he'll wear it.  I love the way that it fits.  I know you can't really tell from this picture, but it has a very slim, modern fit, both in the body and sleeves.

The pattern is from the 03/2010 issue of Ottobre.  Ottobre calls it the "Beethoven" shirt and it comes in a short and long sleeved version.  This is the second long sleeved shirt I have made with an Ottobre pattern, and they have both had features that I like.  Here is last year's, from the 04/2004 issue.  It had a two piece collar and traditional menswear sleeve placket, as well as a cool yoke with curved shoulder seams.

Here you can see some of the features that I like about this design.  The yoke is lined (obviously that is an easy fix, but still...).  I like the shape of the pocket on this one as well.  One thing I didn't like (that I thought I would!) was the collar.  It is a one piece collar, but shaped like a collar with stand.  I thought it would be easier than a traditional collar with stand, but it wasn't really, and it doesn't have the structure that the separate stand gives it.

The sleeve placket is bound, which is generally a detail I associate with women's blouses.  While I prefer a traditional topstitched menswear sleeve placket generally, it would get totally lost in this busy print, so I think this was fine for this shirt.  I also like the double buttoned cuff.

Overall, the two different styles each had elements that I really liked, so for Logan's next shirt, I'm just going to pick and choose the features I want and frankenpattern.

Mom, quit takin' pictures of me.  I'm playing with my trains!

Ottobre 02/2005-23

I know it's been a slow sewing week for me, but I finally got something finished!! I put the finishing touches on these adorable pants yesterday.Here is the front. As you can see, there were a lot of finishing touches! I love it!!
I know I don't usually find the back of boys shorts to be picture worthy, but these are cute. Complete with back yoke, pocket flaps (with rivets!) and belt loops.
Here is the front detailing. As you can see, there are rivets at the stress points as well as placed decoratively around the knee patch. The fly front is faux.
And here is the back, up close and personal. I love the yoke. Such wonderful details in these pants!

They went together easily, of course. This is Ottobre, after all. Even with all of the detail work, they really weren't all that complex. I hope Logan likes them.