New boy shirts

I think it's been fairly clear from previous posts that I really like the Fishsticks Designs Patrick Curved Raglan shirt pattern.  So when I thought that Thing 1 could use some new shirts, I pulled it out again.  The camo shirt was made from an interlock that an online sewing friend sent me - I thought that he would love it, because his greenish camo shirt (which is falling apart) is still worn frequently.  I used black ribbing from the stash for the neckband, and I sacrificed one of my shirts (don't worry, it had a few holes in it and was headed for the rag bag) for the sleeves.  This was a size 8, if I recall correctly.  I had originally added 2-3 inches in length to the body, but then I decided that it looked wrong in the proportions, so I cut it back down.

The lizard print is one I purchased from a coop a long time ago.  Then I used brown ribbing and interlock from my stash to finish it.  This is size 10, and I think it'll fit him for a good long time.  I even thought about making it long-sleeved, but I figured he'd really enjoy wearing it now.  The next ones will probably be long-sleeved, though - he doesn't have too many of those for winter.

I'm just glad to have these done!  My serger broke just after starting the lizard/brown shirt, and I had to wait until it was fixed, then realize that the stitch fingers were still off, try to order a new needle plate, wait for it to come and realize that the needle plate came WITHOUT stitch fingers (grrrr), realize again just how hard it is to get Necchi serger parts in the US, and finally get frustrated enough to order a new serger which should be MUCH easier to get replacement parts for.....and eventually unearth this project and decide to finish it.  Worth the wait, though!

Back to school!

Despite my best-made plans, the new school outfits were not finished in time for the all-important first day of school. They were okay with that, however, and they wore other Mama-made clothing. I also didn't have them done in time for the second day of school - for shame! - but they were ready to celebrate the THIRD day of school (which really doesn't get enough love, so it was all good).

Thing 2 got a new button-front shirt identical to the one I made for Project First Day (B3475, size 5) and a pair of chocolate brown twill shorts (B3475, size 4). You can't see them in this picture, but the pocket flaps on the shorts are lined with remnants from the shirt. He was very excited to get his new outfit! The shirt has only been worn once so far, but the shorts have been worn several times. Thing 1 got a new Ooga Booga shirt (Fishsticks Designs Patrick Curved Raglan Seam shirt, size 7/8), this one in the Rainbow colorway. He loves the hooded shirt I made him earlier this summer in the red/black/grey colorway, so when he saw this fabric, he jumped on it! The shorts (B3475, size 6) are a blue denim, and the pocket flaps are lined with a green broadcloth. The shorts are a little long, so I'll probably shorten the next pair, but he says that he also likes this length. And while he has reworn the shorts several time, the shirt seems to be his first choice as soon as it comes out of the wash! Good thing I have more of this print as well as some of the other colorways! I foresee eventually making a long-sleeved shirt in this print, maybe with a green or blue solid instead of red.

And in other back to school news, my older son came home on the first day and told me that two students in his class had asked if I would make them backpacks, too! ;) I'll take that as a compliment.

Back-to-School charity sewing

Project First Day was started by Susan Stewart to help give the children of Joplin, MO, a sense of normalcy in the midst of the continued devastation from the tornadoes last Easter. She remembered that as a child, she always got a brand-new outfit for her first day of school, and she wanted that for these children, despite all the struggles their families may have just to survive. So she put out a request for sewers to make and donate brand-new outfits for school children, with a note attached to tell each child that someone was thinking especially of them while making this special outfit.

I thought about it and decided to contribute two outfits - similar in style/fabrics to what my own boys will be wearing for their first day of school. I even enlisted my boys to help pick fabrics. For the first, I used B3475, my go-to pattern for boys' button-front shirts. The shirt is a size 5, and the shorts are a shortened size 4. Both are perfect for my DS#2 while still giving a bit of growth room. I used all stash fabrics for this, only purchasing notions as needed.

Because I used stash, my boys will not have identical items, but theirs will be very similar. The shirt fabric is one that I purchased several years ago - it may have been from WM or JAF clearance aisle. I'm not sure anymore. But it has a nice feel to it, so even if it was inexpensive, it wasn't a cheap fabric. I had just enough to squeeeze out two shirts, much to my DS's delight! And I enlisted my DH's help on choosing button colors. For this one to donate, I sewed an extra button on the inside of the button facing, at the bottom of the shirt - a RTW touch! ;)

The olive green shorts are a cotton twill, I believe. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough for two pairs, so my DS#2 will have dark brown shorts. The pocket flap is lined with the leftovers of the shirt fabric to tie the outfit together.

This outfit uses B3475 for the shorts (size 6) and Fishsticks Designs Patrick Curved Raglan shirt (size M). I didn't think in time about shortening the shorts, so they will be long. More growth room, I suppose! The shorts are a black stretch denim that I purchased with the intent of maternity jeans - five years ago....I used the rest of it recently for long pants for my boys - which should still fit next year - and I think there's enough left for KS SFC shorts for DS#1, but not for these cargo shorts. I lined the pocket flaps with a red tonal cotton print. DS#1 will have blue denim for his cargo shorts.

The shirt front uses leftovers from a shirt DS#1 wears at least weekly. I only had enough length to cut out the front, so I decided to use a solid black for the back and neckband and a solid red for the sleeves. I was afraid that if I used black for the sleeves as well, it might look like I just ran out of fabric, instead of a design feature. ;) It seems to have worked - DH thought it was great, and DS#1 was drooling over it, despite already having a very similar shirt with that print! (He's now picked out an ooga interlock in a different colorway for his back-to-school shirt!)
Thanks to health issues and then sewing room makeover, I didn't get started on these nearly as early as I'd intended - oops! Oh, well - I stayed up late Friday night and got up early Saturday a week ago to get these done and to the post office in time to make the August 1st deadline. Whew! Still working on the versions for my boys now.....

New boy shirts!

I have been trying to remain on a fabric diet lately, only buying fabric to make specific gifts when I didn't have anything appropriate in the stash, and I've been....mostly good. But then I took advantage of a nearby doctor's appointment and a child-free morning to visit Jackman's Fabrics, thinking that I would look at the upcoming class projects, drool over eye candy, and leave empty-handed. But then I saw a cotton-lycra shark print.....Oops! My boys love sharks, and I really liked the look of this print. So I got a yard and a half, intending to find a coordinating solid and make them both new shirts for Easter. The dark blue cotton lycra came from JAF the next day, and I did get to work on these quickly. However, I was still polishing my thesis at that point, so they didn't get finished until the day after Easter. :( Oh, well - the boys love them, and they did get done fairly quickly.

These are both Patrick Curved Raglan Seam Shirts, from Fishsticks Designs. The previous PCR shirts I made for my boys were sizes 3T and 5T, but they're starting to get a bit small (short, mostly), so I sized up this time. I used a size M from the "Big Kid" size range for Thing 1 and a 5T for Thing 2 (mainly because I already had it traced, and it would give him a lot of room to grow). Thing 2's shirt is long on him, but definitely wearable, and Thing 1's shirt has some growth room but looks pretty good, I think.

Then for stash! I had bought a yard of red/grey ooga booga interlock a year or so ago, intending it for shirts for my boys. I finally cut a hooded PCR shirt (also size M) for Thing 1. I have some left over, but not sure if I have enough for a second shirt. The grey interlock was leftover from a previous project. Thing 1 approved this prior to cutting and decided that he wanted a hood. (I'm learning to ask first unless I'm really really sure, because I've made some things that he's refused to wear.)

Thing 2 doesn't need clothes as much as Thing 1 does, partly due to hand-me-downs, but he loves to get new stuff that Mama makes. And I earmarked this ninja fabric for him since I bought it at the same time as the red/grey oogas. Another PCR sized 5T, this uses a red cotton/poly interlock that I bought at JAF specifically for this project. I prefer 100% cotton interlocks, but JAF is not always stocking them anymore. :(

I did manage to screw up and cut all the hood pieces with the stretch going up and down rather than side-to-side. Oops! The only problem I ran into with that during construction was that it made it harder to ease the hoods into the necklines. I will have to watch to see if there are any further problems due to the stretch going the wrong way....

More bits and pieces....

Can you believe that until yesterday, I had exactly one pair of cut-offs? Shocking! And I love wearing them, despite the fact that I need to darn the holes in them, and despite the fact that they're looking ratty. They've been well-loved. This weekend, I found an old pair of jeans that were still in great shape, and that actually fit reasonably well. (I'll have to wear a belt with them, I'm sure, but I can live with that.) Time for a new pair of cut-offs!

However, I really didn't want them to get ratty too fast. I thought about using bias tape or hem facings, but I didn't think of it before I cut them, and I didn't want to lose any more length. Instead, I decided to try binding the edges with swimsuit fabric. I had an understated black/white rose print that I thought would be perfect. And it was! I can't wait to wear them.

I also finally finished the other Patrick Curved Raglan Seam shirts for Things 1&2. I've had these cut out for months and decided to leave off the long sleeves. We'll see how well the boys like these, but they love dinosaurs, so I think they'll be a big hit. The dino fabric is a jersey I bought from a coop years ago, the browns are interlock and ribbing from JAF.

I also finished a pair of khaki scrub pants - no pics yet, as they went straight into the wash to get the spray adhesive out of the cargo pocket. Next up: a pair of chocolate brown scrub pants for me and a pair of dark brown cargo shorts for Thing 1. After that, more scrubs, I think....

Some boy stuff

First up, new PJs. Yeah, I know - it's warm weather and these are not. Tough. They may still fit in the fall, but also, sometimes the boys like wearing warm jammies in the cool AC. I bought the fabric at JAF during a sale on both Snuggle flannel and Sew Classics Knits. I just needed a little retail therapy that day, and Thing 2 especially needs new PJs. I have a decent flannel PJ shirt pattern for Thing 1, but not for Thing 2, so I decided that a solid knit with a fabric applique would do nicely and make it obvious that the items went together.

The pants are KS 3042, size S, and the shirt is KS 2894, size S. I added cuffs because it is PJ shirt. Thing 1 chose the applique for the shirt.

This is KS SFT, size 3T for both. I added two inches in length to the body and sleeves for the shirt, so it should last a long time. Thing 2 also chose his appliques. I used self-fabric for ribbing on both shirts. I simply cut a quarter yard piece off the length before prewashing and put it away for use as ribbing.

This is Fishsticks Designs Patrick Curved Raglan Shirt, sizes 3T and 5T. I cut these out long enough ago that they were supposed to be long-sleeved, but when actually stitching them, I decided to leave off the undersleeves, as I don't necessarily expect these to last into fall. The knits are both thin, so they should be good summer/early fall shirts. I used the tutorial to add a hood to each (since they were supposed to be made much earlier - oops!), and I really like how they turned out.

Also, because these knits were not necessarily behaving nicely, I decided to heavily starch them after I had cut the pieces out. So I made starch in a five gallon bucket and starched each piece by hand, soaking them, wringing them out, and then spreading them on towels to dry. Once they were dry, I pinned and pressed the hems up. I have to say that it made twin-needling the hems almost painless. I will definitely do this again! I didn't starch the hood pieces, because those were being serged together, not hemmed.

I like the hood size on Thing 2 - not huge and floppy, but not tight. I'll have to see how the larger size is when Thing 1 tries his on.

Up next: working on the next sizes of the button-front shirts and maybe pulling out the other Patrick shirts I cut out at the same time as the train ones. These are not hooded and will also be turned into short sleeves.

Christmas gifts

Sad but true - my Christmas gifts came down to the wire, and I confess that they're still not quite done. Oh, well.....I had everything done that was necessary for in person, and Christmas gifts that come late in the mail are always fun, right?

Things have been slow lately, because I was dealing with the class from *$#&!!! Also, my serger was on the blink for awhile. My output slowed down dramatically while I was waiting for my baby to come back from the shop. But come back it did, and then I was able to get back into the swing of things!

First up, the shark shirts from the Patrick Curved Raglan Seam pattern. My boys have been waiting on these for a long time, but I couldn't finish them without the serger. Now they're done, and each shirt has been worn at least twice in the last week! :) These are the same sizes as before (3T and 5T), but this time, I used 1/4" seam allowances. I am planning to compare the size 5T to the "big kid" sizes and maybe move up to the next size for the next shirt. I'd also like to try the hoodie instructions.

This is my go-to PJ pants pattern, and I liked the addition of the contrast cuffs so much on my wolf PJ pants that I did it again for these. And I used black bias tape for the drawstring. I think my friend will like these!

I finally finished the stack of cloth napkins for my friend. Those got sent out to her early so that she could use them. Hopefully she likes them! These were cut out of some flannel sheets I got from freecycle. I also have a bunch of fabric to use to make her some more. The basic pattern is from a book called Simply Napkins.

The nephews both got some toys that were not going to be terribly easy to wrap. So instead, I used pillowcases. The younger nephew got one of the trains and toys pillowcases (I made these awhile ago but apparently didn't mention them), and the older one, who is in Little League, got the Peanuts baseball print. They were a hit! And much easier for wrapping....

There's more to mention, and more that's still being finished, so that'll be for next time!

Patrick Curved Raglan Shirt

The Patrick Curved Raglan Shirt from Fishsticks Designs! I'm totally in love, and I would wear this myself if it came in my size. (In fact, I'm thinking of trying to modify a pattern in my size to look like this....)

The curved raglan seams were the only slightly tricky part, but as long as you pin them well and then take the seams slowly, it wasn't a problem at all. I made a 3T for Thing 2 and a 5T for Thing 1. After they try them on, I've got plenty more fabric combinations to make these in!

The red and black interlocks were stash leftovers, as was the orange interlock. The green ants print was a coop buy several years ago. This is the first use. It's a jersey knit, so not terribly thick. We'll see how it holds up. But it's very cute!