New shoes....

Thing 2 needed new shoes, as he's worn holes in the heels of his current shoes....go figure - I hadn't added heel guards to those. I had cut this pair out several weeks back...maybe when I made the last ones, come to think of it....so I sewed them up this weekend. I also thought it was time to do an applique, and he (like his brother!) is really into trains and especially Thomas the Tank Engine. We'll see what he thinks in the morning!

These are from the Make Them Yourself pattern, and I think I used a size 7 again. This may come back to haunt me, since I added both toe and heel guards this time. I may decide that I should have gone up a size to account for the extra addition. I hope not, but I guess it won't be the end of the world.

I also need to get some more leather, I think. But first I'll make a pair from the black leather jacket DSIL thrifted for me. :) This pair is made with recycled jeans, once again; Toughtek soles; recycled white jeans for the lining; and scraps of leather for the guards.

A head start on winter....

Apparently I'm an optimist and am convinced that the hot summer will come to an end. :) Because I decided that now was the perfect time to make a new blanket for Thing 1. And not just any blanket - no, I had to make a warm blanket.



I bought the "car road" fleece for this blanket almost two years ago, during one of JAF's red tag clearance sales (everything on clearance goes to 50% off the clearance price). So I paid $2.50 per yard for it, and I bought two yards. (Thing 1 was 3 then, so I figured two yards would be astronomically long on him. Fast forward to 5, and it's not nearly as gigantic now, but still...) I then let the fleece sit for quite awhile before buying the hunter green fleece for the reverse side a few months ago. The blue fleece for the binding may have been purchased at JAF's Black Friday sale last year.

And here we are! I started putting this together Sunday, and I finished it Tuesday night. I used a basting spray to put the two layers of fleece together, then cut off the selvedges and evened up it all up, before binding the edges with blue fleece.

***Edited to add: I found this post lost in draft mode, when I was trying to finish up other posts! Poor post, lost for 3 years! This blanket is STILL in heavy rotation in our house.

Hooded towel explanation....

I'm calling this an explanation because "tutorial" is entirely too formal a word for what I'm doing. :) I made two new hooded towels, because Thing 2 has really outgrown the baby-sized hooded towels, but Thing 1 still likes to use the two which I made a few years ago, so it's always good to have more.

So I started with two bath towels and a matching hand towel. (And for the record, apparently I wasn't paying enough attention and bought bath sheets when they were on sale - because these new hooded towels are huge!)

1. I laid both bath towels (one at a time) on my rotary cutting mat, wrong side up, and cut the left edge off one and the right edge off the other (long edges, mind you). I also cut the top (short) edge off both of them. I then put the two towels right sides together and sewed the long cut edges together. Then I serged the seam allowances and stitched them down to one side.

2. I cut the hand towel so that it was about 12 inches wide, leaving the bound (long) edge on one side intact. Then I cut the top and bottom (short) edges off. Next, I folded the towel right sides together and sewed along the long cut edge, eyeballing a gentle curve up to the fold. (The picture below shows the finished hood right side out and attached to the towel. You can see that it's about 11 inches long after seam allowances.) Like with the main towel, I serged the seam allowances and stitched them down to one side - I did pay attention and stitch them to the opposite side as the towel.
3. Next I joined the two pieces together: I pinned the center seam of the hood to the center seam of the towel, wrong sides together. Then I pinned the hood in both directions. I stitched the hood down, then serged the entire edge of the towel, including the seam allowances at the join. I turned the serged edge down and stitched it in place.

4. Happy customer! You can see how much my tall Thing 1 (5 years old) swims in this new towel. Oh, well...it'll just last longer, right?
These don't take long to make up, and they are great baby shower gifts, too. I just bought a bunch of towels on clearance to make more (though I did buy smaller towels this time!).

Up next...white and orange queues....

So I thought I'd do a double-post today and show a bit of what's coming up next....Thing 1 starts kindergarten in the fall, and he will need an art smock at school. I could probably have come up with something suitable without a pattern, but....I bought the Art Smart Smock pattern from SewBaby instead. I've had my eye on this pattern for quite awhile but could never find it locally. However, with this motivation, I went ahead and ordered it. I cut the main piece out of some white PUL I had on hand, and I'm trimming it with red bias tape. I have to check my supply of ribbing - I'll either use red or black for the neckband and sleeve cuffs. Then I will applique a picture of Thomas the Tank Engine to it, as Thing 1 is a huge fan. We'll see whether I applique his name as well....But the pattern is simple, yet open for lots of personalization, and I think it'll make some great gifts, too. Also in the white queue are some slippers and a scrub shirt, though I may bump the scrub shirt for a later queue.

After that comes the orange queue. The next test PJs for Thing 1 (shirt from KS 3042 and pants from KS SFC) are a green and orange aligator camo-type print. There are two pairs of slippers, and then the test Hawaiian-type shirt for DH has orange in the print. (I'm really hoping to get that shirt done soon so he stops pestering me about it! And it'll take up 3.5 yards from the stash.) There's also a fall print scrub shirt. And I think that's it!

More finished items....red and green queues....

First up, the red queue!
I used red serger thread on these shorts so that I could get cracking on the other red stuff, and I think it looks fine. The shorts for Thing 2 are size T2, which I think fits him better and doesn't seem to pull across the front of the thighs. Both shorts have added slash pockets, using an old sheet for the pocket bags. I used KS SFT for Thing 2 and KS SFC for Thing 1, and the fabric is leftovers from boxers for DH (stash - yay!).

Knit pants and shorts for Thing 2. The shorts are size T1 from KS SFT again, but the pants are size XL from KS SFB. When I have a chance, I'll try these on him and also try on the blue pants (T1 from KS SFT) to see how the two patterns/sizes compare. The red interlock for the pants was purchased on sale at JAF, but the mystery knit for the shorts has been in my stash for awhile.

I had already cut out these pants for Thing 1 from the KS 3042 pattern prior to getting KS SFC. After sewing them up and seeing them on, I think this PJ pattern is just too wide-legged for normal use. I'm going to try the size S in KS SFC in another pair of PJs to see if it needs alterations before I start cranking out pants for Thing 1's fall kindergarten wardrobe. :) The shorts for Thing 2 are my now TNT pattern from KS SFT, and that fabric has been in the stash for almost two years now, I think. He's wearing those shorts today and they look great!

I added slash pockets to the pants. Instead of my usual plain white sheet for pocket bags for print pants, I decided to go with the seersucker fish leftovers. I think it looks pretty cute! Thing 1 likes it, so that's that. :)

More pictures....

Another pair of the seersucker pants - these are for Thing 1, using the XS size of KS 3042 again. I had already cut these out before getting the KS SFC book.

A colorful fish seersucker print I bought last year. I had intended to use it for a romper for Thing 2 but decided that shorts were more important right now. Thing 1's shorts are from KS SFC, and Thing 2's are from KS SFT. I may try the next size up for Thing 2 next time, as the T1 seems to pull a bit across the front of his thighs.

PJs for Thing 1, using stash fabric! I bought this sometime in 2006, I believe. It's not what I would have chosen for his PJs, but I had it on hand, so why not use it up? The shirt is from KS 3042, and I think that the size XS fits great right now with a little room. The pants are from KS SFC, and I'm either going to go up a size or add some length and a little bit of width at the bottom when I make the next pair. They're definitely short and maybe too tapered. But they'll be fine as these PJs. Now to decide what fabric to use for the next pair - might as well do another set of summer PJs for another wearable muslin!

I need to finish the next set of denim shoes for Thing 2 - I got them about half-done last night - and then I need to start some of the next pants/shorts in the various color queues. I am not on ER duty tomorrow night, but I will be over the weekend. Here's hoping I get plenty of time to sew and hang out with the kids and the DH! Oh, yeah - and watch the fireworks! :)

A few pictures....

New knit pants/shorts for Thing 2. This is the knit pants pattern from KS Sewing for Toddlers, size T1. I have not made shorts from this pattern before, and I was pretty happy with how they turned out. I used a twin needle to do the hems, and I'm happy with how it turned out. (It helped that it is a beefy interlock.)

New seersucker pants for Thing 2, and shorts for a friend's little boy (his upcoming birthday). These are the woven pants pattern from the KS SFT book, a definite TNT for my boys.

My first attempt at the KS Sewing for Children book. This is the size XS. It is about perfect for the shorts, but the pants (not yet pictured) are too short and maybe too tapered. So I need to decide whether to add some length and a bit of width to that or go up a size. My next attempt at the shorts will probably have added pockets.

The new leather shoes that were too small. :( However, I have discovered that they are wearable - Thing 2 had sores on his feet from hand, foot, and mouth disease, which is why he wouldn't wear them. Now that the sores are cleared up, he has willingly worn the shoes two days in a row. I will make some changes next time - I added toe guards to these, as Thing 2 gets holes in the toes, and I added Toughtek and a layer of batting to the soles. So next time I think I'll keep those changes but also add probably 1/2 inch of width to each of the pattern pieces when cutting the next ones. There is enough length that I think he'll run out of width before length right now, so another 1/2 inch should make these usable long enough to get full use out of the length. (I would not add so much width if I was not going to keep the layer of batting in the sole.)