Kiddo summer PJs

So about a month or so ago, I realized that spring had finally come to the Midwest.  As in, summer PJs were going to be in constant use.  And then I realized that Thing 1 no longer had any summer PJs that fit - because I saw him put on a pair that showed an inch or two of midriff, and the shorts looked like Daisy Dukes.  Not a good look.  Not at all!

So I traced off the size L of KS 3042, and I pulled out three lengths of flannel from the stash.  For each, I purchased a coordinating color T-shirt (might as well make this easy, right?).  And then I cut and sewed, adding an applique to each T-shirt!

We have robots doing lab work:

Sharks!

And Transformers!  (And it's killing me that I didn't pay enough attention to see that the pattern repeat was going to get me in trouble at center front.  I had checked that as I was cutting the other two pair, and I just got lazy on this one.  My bad!)

Considering that Thing 1 is fond of not wearing jammies unless ordered to (babysitter here at night, sleepover, whatever), I think three new pairs are sufficient for awhile!  And I'm happy to have moved some stash out into useful garments....

Long time since my last post - and teacher gifts!

So I really have been sewing in the last month!  I've just apparently been terrible about blogging....It's the end of the school year, and this year I was determined to NOT be sewing tote bags the night before school ended.  I did really well at cutting out the pieces for the tote bags over a month in advance - the green is broadcloth found at a thrift store for $1/yd, and the pink is a thrifted sheet of about the same weight.  There's also one (not pictured) with green for the main color and black (thrifted sheet) for the lining/straps.  But life kept getting in the way, and I made very minimal progress.  And then I discovered that Thing 1's main teacher's favorite color was blue - so I had to get blue broadcloth on sale at JAF so that she could have her favorite color.  (Thing 2's teacher's favorite is pink, and we didn't know at all about Thing 1's other teacher.)

These are my usual go-to basic tote bag, double-layer with a pocket on the front.  I like this construction because it is sturdy and durable with the two layers, but lightweight and easy to wash.  Also, it looks a bit more fancy than it is because the lining comes up over the top and the straps are contrasting.

I ended up making 5 bags at once - the three pictured, a second blue/green, and the green/black I mentioned.  Once I started making real progress, they did come together quickly.  Each bag takes about 0.5 yards for the main part and 0.75 for the lining/straps.  I filled them with a beach towel, a pair of coordinating-colored flip-flops, 2 plastic tumblers, a jar of strawberry lemonade mix, a can of sunscreen, and a Barnes & Noble gift card.  Just like last year, I used the Summer Subway Art to make the thank you cards.  I think that the teachers really liked them!