Ottobre 06/2012-3 & 06/2008-2 baby outfit

One of my friends is having a little baby girl. After 3 boys, she's very excited (and a little nervous!) to be welcoming some pink into their family.

I thought this little set was nicely girly, but without making her big brothers want to run and hide! Both fabrics are from Chez Ami. The floral print is a cotton/lycra jersey and the aqua is a coordinating interlock. It's so soft I want to make my entire wardrobe out of it. Perfect for a wee princess.

The tunic is from the 06/2012 issue of Ottobre. It's very simple, but with some fun details.

The body of the tunic is gathered into a sweet round yoke, which is finished with a knit binding. The neckline is snug, but the binding has a lot of stretch, so it should be easy to get onto baby and comfortable to wear.

The full sleeve is gathered into a hemmed cuff. It's a pretty little detail. A full sleeve is lovely, but gets in the way sometimes. I think this is a nice functional compromise.

The pants are a basic legging pattern from the 06/2008 issue. I've made them quite a few times now. In fact, I think I've made a pair for every baby gift I've given for the last several years. Leggings are such an essential baby basic.

For this pair, I finished the leg opening with a binding, rather than a plain hem. I think this is a nice look and ties the two pieces together well.

I hope the sweet princess and her mom like her new clothes. I can't wait to meet her!

Grunge Revisited: Butterick 5924 and Ottobre 02/2007-3

When the Sewcialists started tweeting about the Grunge Sew Along last month, I knew there was no way I could miss that.

Grunge was my daily uniform all through high school and some of college. Of course, that means that I had to find a way to make the look work for me now. As a grown up.

I'm not sure I was fully successful, but I'm feeling pretty nostalgic, and I'm loving it!

Phase one (once I had my jeans) was a tee shirt. Back in the day, I wore a lot of oversized, man shaped concert and band tees, often layering several at a time.

As a nod to those layered tees, I decided to make a fitted tee with contrast sleeve and neckbands in a muted cornflower blue.

I added the iconic "Nevermind" from Nirvana's album. I thought it would be a recognizable, but not totally obvious logo.

The pattern I used is Ottobre 02/2007-3. I shortened the sleeve to cap length and added a hem band. I used a freezer paper stencil and fabric paint to make the logo. The fabric is a soft rayon jersey from FabricMart.

Of course, no proper grunge outfit was complete without a flannel shirt. Most of mine came from the thrift store back in the day. For my look, I wanted something with some shape, and maybe an interesting detail to set it apart from the lumberjack flannels I once wore.

I chose Butterick 5924 for the cool bias panels on the lower half of the shirt, and also for the bust dart, which adds a bit of shape. I love the chevron in back. The fabric is a cotton flannel from FabricMart.

I used brushed nickel snaps as the closure. I never buttoned up a flannel shirt, and I don't expect I will this one, so I like the flash of metal the snaps provide on both sides.

I think I managed recognizably grunge without the unfortunate two sizes two big look I sported as a teen. I am actually having a lot of fun wearing this today, and the flannel shirt is totally cozy as I watch more snow fall.

New Look 6793 & Ottobre 06/2009-3

Baby showers are such a great excuse to sew up something quick and fun. This was a nice palate cleanser after my dress.

These are two of my baby favorites, New Look 6793 and Ottobre 06/2009-3. All the fabrics are from my stash, and all but the polka dot cotton are left over from other projects. 

Isn't the big button fun!? After I finished it, I thought it needed something. I considered making a fabric flower out of the interlock, but then I found this great vintage button in the stash. It's nice and big (therefore not a choking hazard) and it's actually a perfect color match for the tee IRL. Love it.

As I was putting on the band, I thought the contrast between the polka dots and the stripes was a little too stark. I hit up my trim box, thinking I would try to match the top, but I found this black jumbo rick rack and I knew it had to be. I'm usually not very good at that sort of extemporaneous embellishment, but all the stars aligned this time. I hope the new Mommy likes it. I don't really know her well, but there wasn't a shred of pink on either of her registries, so I thought this color scheme would be better. And I'll be honest - I love babies in black.

Simplicity 2290 and Ottobre 03/2004-19 (and Otto 06/2009-3)

My sewing group at church just started working on PJ pants.  We're using Simplicity 2290, which is a part of their Learn To Sew line.  Thanks to Beth for recommending this pattern to me.  It is really great for learning the basics!  The instructions are very complete and clear, and the diagrams are bigger and easier to understand.  For this one pattern piece pants pattern there are 6 pages of instructions!  The pattern comes with all sizes from child size 4-5 up to adult XL in one envelope, which is nice.  I had this cute duckie flannel that was calling to be PJ pants for Logan.

Naturally, I couldn't stop at just pants.  Those duckies are too cute!  So I traced off Ottobre 03/2004-19, which is a basic sweatshirt pattern with bands at neckline and wrists and a stitched hem.

Ottobre appliqued their version with a fish motif, but I went with an octogon.  Logan has a bit of an obsession with polygons right now.  I used self fabric for the neck and wrist bands, partly because matching this particular shade of red was impossible, but also because the fleece is so soft and snuggly.

The fabric is more of the Black Friday fleece from Hancock.  Logan chose this dark red and told me he wanted me to make a shirt.  My turnaround time with this fleece purchase has been really fast!!  I haven't even had a chance to put it in the closet yet and already have made 3 garments from it!

Because of course, the Wee Professor needed a mini version to match his big brother!  For the wee one I reused Ottobre 06/2009-3.  Instead of binding the neckline, I just added an allowance and did a turned and stitched hem.  The fleece is already so bulky, I didn't want to add more layers of ribbing.  I'll be working on the mini PJ pants at sewing group on Tuesday!

Ottobre 06/2009-3 and McCalls 6223

I know, more baby sets, but I had to show you this tee!  The pants aren't very exciting.

But first, a brief rant...  I made the pants on a whim. I had totally forgotten about this fabric, and when I saw it, had to make it into pants instantly.  You know how it is...  Anyway, while the background looks white, it is actually a very pale cream, so a white top looks strange with it.  I went looking for a black baby onesie/tee.  It's Halloween!  Surely someone has black baby clothes!!  Nope.  Seriously, are parents who don't sew just doomed to have babies wearing pastels until the age of 2???  So, I needed to make a black tee.
The pattern is Ottobre 06/2009-3, which is actually for a full jumpsuit, but I cut it off to make a tee.  A BLACK tee!!

I added a paw print applique.  I'm so pleased with the neckline binding on this top.  Instead of stitching it to the right side and then flipping it over and stitching it down, I stitched it to the wrong side, folded it to the right side and tucked under the raw edge.  Then I top stitched with a twin needle.  I know black is hard to see, so you'll just have to take my word that it looks amazing!

Oh, and the pants are McCall's 6223, which is a good basic baby layette pattern.  As with all Big 4 baby patterns, it's gigantic, but otherwise fine.  Apparently it has been recently reissued with a new number.  My copy is labelled number 3665.

I hope all who are celebrating have a Happy Halloween!!!

Ottobre 04/2004-3

Now that the temperature has dropped for real around here, it is time for some serious winter sewing.  I love fleece.  It is fun and easy to sew and just so cuddly!

Here is the tunic to match Myra's red pants.  Overall this is a simple pattern.  The pockets were a bit tricky, but only because they are round and I was silly and decided to line them with silky fabric.  They're nice inside.  The worst part was that dang binding.  I think this was mostly my fault, too.  Sort of.  The pattern calls for ribbing, but I couldn't find any red ribbing anywhere!  I couldn't even find cotton interlock in the right shade of red.  So I ended up using a poly interlock that was slick and wouldn't stay put.  It made for a difficult binding to press and sew.  Despite hand basting, it slipped all over the place.  It took 4 attempts and it still isn't on right.  I just gave up on it!

I still think it is pretty darn adorable on Myra.  I love those little gathered sleeves!  The collar is really great.  Since it is two layers of fleece it is nice and puffy so it keeps her wee neck warm.

Here's a view where you can see the pants with the applique.  When she stands up, it just peeks out under the hemline.

Holy freaking cute!

Seriously, the cutest thing I have ever made... They aren't wonky - I took the picture at an angle.I was going to wait until I had finished the matching tee to show these to you, but they are so unbelievably cute, I couldn't wait.
Aaah! Adorable standing.
And crawling? Ridiculous.

The pattern was fun and easy to put together, the instructions were easy to understand and hello - CUTE! It does take some getting used to, since there are no seam allowances on the pattern pieces and we Americans are used to our 5/8 SAs, but I put in 3/8 and saved some serious yardage. You wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference, but on this particular layout it did.

If you are interested in these particular shorts, they are from the 3/2008 issue of Ottobre. You can get it (in the US) here.