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 06/2011-34

I'm afraid that I am notorious for neglecting necessary (but boring) sewing. Poor Logan falls into that category all too often. It's particularly pronounced in the pajama department. He has exactly enough sets of PJs (that he likes) to get him from one wash day to the next, so when he tore a hole in one of his PJ tops, it was a bit of an emergency. Naturally, the hole was front and center in the middle of the fabric - not repairable. The top was really too short anyway, but the pants still fit great, so instead of attempting a sad looking repair, I used the remains of the old top to applique a new one.

He was more interesting in playing with it than getting a good picture.

The pattern is from the most recent issue of Ottobre, 06/2011. It is #34, which is a raglan sleeved PJ top with a fun bulldog applique. I went a little simpler and made a large number 5 on the front of the shirt and a little soccerball snipped out of the print on the right sleeve.

The fabric is a super soft cotton rib knit. I really wish I remembered where it came from. I want some more!! Before I got my serger, I really struggled sewing rib knits. It seemed like no matter what I did, the seams would ripple. Now, I just crank the differential feed up to 2 and stitch away! This tee really did whip up quickly. As is typical for Ottobre, it is beautifully drafted. The neckband seemed way to small when I was first attaching it, but it turned out just right. I did lengthen the shirt and sleeves to the next size up, as it looked short in the magazine. On Logan, the fit is nicely slim and the length is good. There is a little room to grow, but not so much that he's swimming in it.

This was supposed to be a PJ top, but when Logan saw it, he told me that it is to wear to preschool. So, you may be seeing some more boy PJs here soon... And a few more of these. It's a good basic, and he could use more long sleeve shirts. It gets cold out there!