Boy Pant Sewing

I tend to mostly blog about sewing for myself and recently it has occurred to me the I do a ton of sewing for the kids too, why not talk about it.  I do enjoy my kid sewing.  So today I'm going talk about sewing up the Scientific Seamstress Field Research Pants.   I bought these in the boy pattern bundle, oh, two years ago?  Something like that.  Crazy.

I finally made the first pair last winter for my oldest to wear to Scouts.  They turned out fabulous!  I made him the zippered version.  He loved them.

 

I was a little surprised to be making him the 11/12- he was only 10 and had always measured smaller in patterns.  Still I trusted the size and they fit perfectly.  There was more than enough room to last through the Summer and into the Fall but not so much that they were oversized.  He is still wearing them these days but they are getting short, at least when he is forced to wear them with the bottom legs.

So a few weeks ago I pulled out the pattern again, this time for my youngest boy child.  I am planning on potty training him over the school break next week- wish me luck!  He is in need of easy pull on/off pants.  His current collection of thrift store pants require a little help.

I printed out the 3t and went to work.  I used the 3t with a 13 inch inseam.  Unlike the pair I made for my oldest these seem to have a lot of width.  When I mentioned it on the Facebook SS Lab page,  Jeanine explained that the smaller sizes have more room for diapers and growing/moving toddler bodies.  Awesome.  Trouble is my toddler is long and lean!  Turned out to be a blessing in disguise though as the outer fabric is thinner than I thought and I was concerned they wouldn't be good for the cooler weather.  I ended up lining these in flannel.  Super easy to do.  I did mine very similar to this tutorial.  They are perfect and these are the best pictures I could get at that time.

This pattern went together so quickly- especially without the zippers.  I love the nice big pocket on the hip and the back pockets fit little hands too!  I did omit the flaps on those pockets.  

As you may have read in the blog, I've been sewing along with the Sew the Show blog for the past two months.  Its been so much fun.  Well this month I was able to snag a spot in their 6 Degrees of Separation Tour!  If you haven't checked it out yet, go!  

I decided to use the Field Research pants as part of my look- you'll have to tune back in on Friday for that post.  Problem was I needed a slimmer fitting pant.  It turns out slimming the FR pant could not be easier!  I simply folded an inch out- so the fold was 1/2 an inch wide- straight down from the top to the hem.  Don't forget to fold the facings too, I forgot on the muslin and had recut them.  

Here are the two pairs from the slimmed down version.  They are great!  I love the roominess of the original pair too.  So I think he'll end up with a few of both.  I should also mention that the elastic on mine comes forward past the side seams.  My boys are on the thin side so they need a little extra tuck on their pants.  The ones I made for my oldest had elastic all around- which was actually a mistake but works really well for him.  On these I stopped the elastic just behind the pocket front.

Before I go I'll share one important rule for sewing for children- MEASURE them EACH time you sew.  No joke, from the time I made the muslin to the final, the boy grew an inch!  So the black pants have a 14 inch inseam.  Fun times.  Here's a quick action shot of the back.  

Do not forget to tune in on Friday for my 6 Degrees post.  You'll see the black pair, a couple of other SS patterns as well as a super cute kid.  

Its the most Wonderful Time of the Year...

PJ time!  Yep at my house, Christmas is pj time.  I've made matching pjs for my family for more years than I can count.  It started way back when I made these aprons for everyone out of the panel fabric you used to find all the time- its a little harder to find these days.  The one below is the one I finally finished for me in 2008.  I had made the originals easily 10 years before as I have a picture of my grandmother and younger brother (with the wild curly hair he had in high school) wearing theirs in front of my mother's tree.

That led to the epic years of pj pants for everyone!  Seriously for a few years there I was making pants every year for every member of my family.  I even added matching shirts for the kiddos.  Fun times.  

Well one baby led to two led to three- I'm not exactly sure how that happened!  Between all the moves- we've moved 6 times since my oldest was born- and the mulitplication of my family- not just mine, we've added 8 new babies to the family since my oldest was born plus 3 significant others (2 of which will be permanent additions in 2016), I stopped making pjs for everyone.  

Now I only subject my immediate family to the craziness!  This is 4 years ago.  My son is wearing the pants I had made 2 years before- I guess they were rather big.  Funny thing is he wore them the next year too!  

Here they are with a stripe and bottom added to them the next year. 

So technically I didn't sew this one, and we didn't get matching homemade that year and I really had a good excuse for that.  

Anyway I'd show you all more but apparently I have been very bad about actually photographing these said jammas.  Uhm... Well last year I did- at least the kids.  The adults got matching pants and wore a solid shirt.  The kids were all about the footie pjs last year.  I made them all one-piece jammas to wear from Kwik Sew that I loved.  Still when this pattern from Peekaboo came out I was so excited as it would make nighttime bathroom trips so much easier.  Unfortunately it is a disappointing pattern.  The fit is awful.  My skinny oldest is in the largest size here- he measured for an 8 but I made the 12. The pants were hard to get on and he's skinny!  I did make them from flannel and the pattern said you could if you upsized.  I went up!  Same with my daughter.  Luckily I had made a muslin for her as I know she has booty and I think she was still wearing nighttime pull ups.  So for her I went up 2 sizes for width and shortened them back down.  They fit okay.  The tops were slightly better but I still went up a size for all three kids.  The baby's pants were fleece so I only went up 1 size.  They ended up being too short though.  I should have thrown the whole pattern away!  I actually made a pair for the baby this year- sized up for width and they fit awful.  

 This year I decided to make things a little easier on myself.  I'm making knit jammas instead!  I'll post about those separately.  So excited!

But really my point for this post was to get to the fact that every year my jammas are the last sewn.  I am usually slapping mine together at the last minute.  Well this year I decided to do mine first!  Now I should mention that the reason mine are always last is that I already own 4 or 5 pairs of Christmas jammas.  After all, I have not been pregnant at Christmas time, and I've made jammas every year for more years than I can count.  Obviously some did not work out as they are gone and there were the random years we were in warm climates for Christmas.  This year though I decided I really need to sew up the flannel I've been hoarding for new jammas for me.  Plus I made a pair of Easy Fits last year that just came out of my winter clothing box and I am wearing one day too many because I can't bear to put them in the laundry to wait for them to be clean again!  I  mean really, my laundry fairies are not working fast enough.

Since this post has been long enough, you'll have to check me out on The Scientific Seamstress Blog
tomorrow!

Another TV inspired Creation!

This is definitely the time of year where I sew a lot!  I love to sew for others and for myself.  I'm not that good though about focus.  Hence the ungodly number of UFOs (unfinished projects) hanging around in my craft room.  I do vow every year not to cut without sewing but I just get so excited and sometimes cutting out new projects is more relaxing than actually making them.

Well the Sew the Show Facebook page has really helped with the focus part.  I had fun last month thinking about the Walking Dead and those costumes.  This month the show was Firefly.  If you all haven't seen it, its a very short lived- as in 14 episodes- sci-fi series with a huge cult following.  It has a sort of Western meets space thing going on with some Asian influences in ambiance.  I tend to go for sci-fi and it surprised me I hadn't seen the show yet.  Lucky for me Netflix has it all there.  Yeah.  It was fun to watch- and I was very disappointed that there isn't more!  Oh well.

There are lots of fun things that I could have made from this series.  But the one thing that kept sticking out for me was Zoe's leather vest.  Dang, she's wearing a grungy shirt, tight pants but this vest, so awesome!

After thinking and thinking about it I decided to go for it.  I was pretty sure I had leather somewhere in my upcycle stash around somewhere... Plus I was pretty sure I had a princess seamed dress pattern already so I was half way there.

I decided to use the Sis Boom Rebecca as my base.  While the neckline is completely different it has the princess seams I wanted and it is very quick to put together.

I made a first muslin with this random poly suiting I've had floating around my craft room for ages.  Seemed to work well enough.  I needed to tighten it quite a bit and lower the neckline.  I was planning another muslin but ended up just going for the final product instead.

Well, despite the pictures above, I was really digging the look.  I decided that leather wasn't really going to work out for me.  Its just not the look that I really go for on a daily basis and I didn't want to make something for those random date nights that I keep hoping will be come more regular.  So I decided to do my final in comfy stretch fabrics.  

I used the same stretch burgundy corduroy from the Jalie jeans I made a few weeks back and this awesome quilted coated knit fabric I picked up at Joanns.  I love it- you'll see a few other projects in this as well.  The picture really does it no justice.  

The one thing I decided during construction was to omit the zipper.  One I didn't feel like putting it in and two, it suits my lifestyle for the vest to be a little looser than Zoe's.  Since I was using the stretchy fabrics it is super easy to just pull over my head.  

Now I had planned to do a more dressed up photo shoot- pencil skirt or skinny jeans and boots- but life and the weather got a little in the way.   I've had the vest hanging on my bathroom door for a week to take the pictures and just decided this morning to wear it and get them over with.  So this is what I wore to church this morning.  The pants are my modified Judy pants, so comfy but not the most stylish pair I could be wearing.  The rain did give me a chance to pull out my fun umbrella.  You cannot see in the pictures but when it gets wet, little cherry blossoms appear on the reddish part.  

Its really hard to see the details of the back, I'll take more pictures when I have a chance.  The back actually has SIX darts!  I wanted to shaped it as well as I could while still being able to slip it on over my head.  I think I did a good job.

And with that I need to get back to my sewing room!  I have so much going on, I am so excited.  The next few weeks are going to be so busy both in my sewing room and out.  

In my sewing room I'll be focusing on jammas- its that season again.  We'll get our traditional Christmas jammas and I've been living in these pjs the last few weeks, so I need another pair before hubby throws me permanently out of bed (this is the baby's bed).  

AND the super exciting news!  I'll be part of the Sew the Show 6 Degrees of Separation Tour! You can just make out my little head at the bottom there next to Katie.  I've already started working on these pieces.  Hopefully they will turn out as fun as they are in my head!

Lastly- I told you its a crazy season.  I am participating the GYPO Winter Style Challenge.  While I have most of the items on the new list there are a few things I'll be adding from my sewing room.  I have the red wool just waiting to become a great coat.  So fun!  

I Should be Sewing...

After two nights of insomnia and a sleepover with 4 10/11 year old boys, I'm wiped out!  I'll put up a new post while I drink enough coffee to face my sewing room (have to make a shirt for pictures tomorrow!).

I have been on a Jalie 3461 marathon!  Well for me its a marathon, I sewed 4 in the last month and have one 3/4 done downstairs right now.  I am loving this pattern both for myself and my daughter.  I'll be making a few more pairs for her for sure.

I'm going to show you hers as I have better pictures of those.  My daughter has recently decided she likes wearing pants.  She refused to wear them until about a month ago.  Last year I hunted down this thick sweater fleece to make her "leggings" to wear under her dresses in the winter.  Oy!  I have to say I'm happy about this turn around as it will make winter dressing easier.  On the other hand, my daughter doesn't fit into RTW pants.  She is on the short side of six and on the top fairly average to slim.  She wears RTW size 6 tops and dresses with no issues.  What she does have is a booty.  In order for pants to fit over her booty I have to size up- I bought a great pair of brand name jeans at Goodwill the other day.  I like to buy at Goodwill for a number of reasons, including that I find older styles from before this crazy skinny jeans trend for kids.  Anyway I bought her a size 8 knowing they would be too long.  Unfortunately they were hard for her to pull up and the snap was impossible for her to do by herself.  Frustrating.

So to the sewing machine I went.  I actually dislike making jeans- pants in general.  I find them boring.  Which is silly because I always feel so inspired when I make them.

I looked in my Ottobre magazines but didn't find anything I wanted to make.  I had just purchased the Jalie pattern to make myself some pants and realized I could make them for her first!  I got to check out the construction and fit issues (she and I are similarly shaped) in a smaller size.  Bonus.

I measured my pipsqueak and she measured almost perfectly into the J (which they approximate for age 6).  The only thing was that her inseam, which for some reason I didn't measure, is about 4 inches shorter.  LOL

I went ahead and made a pair up cycled from a pair of stretch cords I had.  While the size fit her well around, the back was way too low and the waist was too big.  I'm going to tighten the elastic on that pair and send them off to my also six year old niece who is not as shapely.  

So for the next pair I used this stretch twill that my daughter had picked out from the red tag section at JoAnns.  I had kind of hidden in it since I wasn't sure I wanted my daughter decked out in animal print.  Well the pants turned out so cute that she got so many compliments from her friends' parents and her teacher the day she wore them to school.

For this pair- and the final- I added 1 1/2" inches to the back crotch length.  I added 1" under the yoke and 1/2" to the yoke.  I also chose not to do the elastic on the waistband the way the instructions have you do it.  Cutting the elastic to size on the back waistband resulted in a waist that was too big.  I used my daughter's waist measurement minus one inch.  I then laid the elastic on the front waist band and cut it as per the instructions.  The leftover piece I stretched to fit the back waistband.  It does gather more in the back than the pattern is meant to and I could go back and adjust the back waistband into a smaller size for a cleaner look.  I decided that it really wasn't worth the extra adjustment for me.

 I'm not sure why I didn't adjust the length before this since the first pair was also super long.  I did end up taking off 4 inches.

After the adjustments I broke out the stretch denim that I found in the remnant section at JoAnns- it was just under a yard.  Yes, I made each pair with slightly less than a yard for the size J(6).  

I added a butterfly stitch (built in on my machine) to the pockets and topstitched with pink thread.  Don't look to closely at the topstitching- I need more practice!  

I just love how these turned out!  She says they are super comfy as well.  

The only Con I found with this pattern was that the front pockets are faux.  Its not a big deal to my little one as she is used to wearing leggings with no pockets.  For me I find myself constantly wanting to put something in the front pocket.  I'll likely draft some pockets next time I make them.  

Here's a look at my second pair made from burgundy stretch cord.  I'll take better pictures and post again after I figure out the pockets!

Christmas? Am I ready?

Turns out we have less than 8 weeks until Christmas.  While that seems like a lot of time- I mean its 2 months!  My calendar for the next month is crazy and it hasn't even started yet.  Oy!  I can only imagine what December will look like!  Oh and my mother is coming for the holidays which means I loose my sewing room in 5 weeks!

I really need a game plan now!  My husband and I have been lowering our spending for the holidays the last few years and its a trend we're planning on continuing.  Still I love presents and want to give nice things to my family and a few others in our lives.  So while I've always sewn for the holidays- clothing and random decor.  I've been focusing on sewing (or knitting) gifts the last few years.

When I first started hubby wouldn't let me give my sewn gifts to others- he didn't think it was enough of a gift.  I ignored him and he's come around.  Home made gifts are always well received by the folks I've chosen to gift to.  I am selective though.  I know some folks just will not see the value.  They get a nice card.

Anyway I really need to plan it out.  Last year I waited until the last minute so gifts were shorted. I sewed up a fire with logs for our Camping themed Christmas (most of the gifts were camping related), my daughter got a fluffy robe, my husband got some pj pants (not pictured) and the oldest got a knitted minecraft hat (which he didn't like so I undid it and remade it before school started up).

I will be making Christmas jammas as I do every year (the kid in the minecraft hat is wearing last years).  My dd's dress from last year will still fit so I may just make something for the boys that coordinates.  Or I may make a new one.  See what I mean- I haven't even started and am already adding!

Okay.  I do know that I will be making a sleepsack type thing for my husband.  He requested this for the winter.  I just have to figure out the logistics of it.  He wants something like this one from Skymall.  I'm thinking I can hack Jalie 3244 to make it happen.

I'm thinking about making my mom some shirts.  She is having her breast reconstruction surgery next month so I suspect she'll be needing to change up some of her shirts.  I won't know until she gets here though so that might not work.  She has been traveling a lot so maybe a travel wallet?  Knitting bag? Uhm.... 

Then there are the children.  What to make for them that they would find fun?  My oldest son would probably love a sleep sack of his own.  That might be an option for him.  I have this old car stuffy panel I could use for the baby.  I picked it up at Goodwill when my oldest was little enough to enjoy it.  Girl child?  I have a ton of doll clothes patterns and she doesn't play with dolls.  

I need ideas!!!

The Walking What?

So because I spend way too much time on Facebook I became friends (well more like stalker) of Becca Duval.  I've checked out her blog before and was extremely intimidated by her creativity and skill.  Not to mention she's super cute.   Check out her blog- you'll become a stalker too.

Anyway through the group she started on FB for Capsule Sewing- which I swear I'll actually do one day- I've become more of a stalker than I was before.  And I was introduced to another super talented lady, Katie Lee.  She may be what I want to be when I grow up.  Check her blog out too!

What that little love fest brings me to is the invitation I got from Becca to join their Sew the Show FB page.  I cannot imagine a more perfect pairing for me- TV/Movies and Sewing!!  Love it.  Now I don't have to bug my husband with analysis of TV shows he couldn't care less about or my sewing which he grins and nods about.  Yeah!!!  Of course there is a blog with all the great stuff you can check out too- Sew the Show.

The way things work is that every month there is a new theme and everyone is encouraged to sew something inspired by or from the movie/show.  The October theme has been- appropriately enough- The Walking Dead.  For those who are still in the dark about this show its about the zombie apocalypse and airs on AMC.  Yeah thats about all I knew about the show at the beginning of the month.  My sister in law is obsessed but it never seemed like my kind of show.

As it turns out I was wrong.  I started with the seasons on Netflix and went on a crazy zombie binge!  It was more than a little funny to my oldest when I told him how the youngest had freaked me out one night walking around in the hall moaning.  I'd woken up ready to fight him off!  So of course that has led to the oldest two children zombie walking around the house at night.  Heaven help me when these kids hit their teenage years.

Even after binge watching I wasn't really on board to sew anything.  Most of the wardrobe consists of drab colored skinny people clothes.  At least thats what I call it.  Lots of half tucked loose but slim fitting shirts, olive green pants, dirty denim.  Don't get me wrong they all look great and I'd guess bright colors would be a little hard to wear when you're trying not get noticed by zombies and washing your clothes infrequently.

Yep, dirty slim fitting clothing.  Great for their world, not so much my style.  So no, no plans to sew for this show.  Of course as things go, one thing leads to another and here I am.  At least I'll be getting there in a moment.

A review for Jalie's Eleonore Pull-On Jeans popped up on my news feed and I fell in love!  I needed them.  So pattern in hand I bought some stretch denim fabric to make a muslin.  Funny enough the fabric was olive green.  I was half way to my Walking Dead outfit!  I already had an olive green cardigan I had made last year.  Even better, 2 drab colored layers down.

First I'll talk about the Jalie Jeans.  Love them!  These are my tester pair so I do have some adjustments to make.  I also made a tester pair for my daughter- another great reason to buy Jalie, sizes from 2 kids to 22 womens.  These pictures were taken after I'd spent most of the day chaperoning a first grade field trip to a Fall theme park on a lovely warm, very warm fall day.  Oy!

I definitely need to size down the legs and am going to bring the front waist down as it keeps folding over with wear.  The fabric doesn't have as much recovery as I'd like so it tends to bag and wrinkle.  Still I'm loving them, these will become a wardrobe staple.

The last piece in my TWD outfit is actually the coral colored shirt I'm wearing above.  I know, coral not a dirty, drab color.  Well I have been wanting to copy this shirt for a few years.  Its starting to show wear, not too bad but enough that I'm not sure it has too many more seasons left.  I love it though.  Its a shirt I can pull out in cool or warm weather as the fabric is really light.  It has long sleeves with a roll up tab for the weather changes.  I've worn it when I was up a few pounds (like now) and down a few.  Plus it has this faux henley look- bonus that it has no buttons!    (Becca had pointed out that they wore a lot of henley style shirts in her post on sewing the perfect placket.)

The basics of copying the shirt were simple enough.  The core of the shirt is a simple t-shirt.  The collar, placket and gathering are what take it up a notch.  I had this light weight navy heathered knit from Girl Charlee's Knit Fix, it was the perfect weight for my top.  Maybe not as drab a color as TWD but enough for me.  I did actually have to pull out my seam ripper and redo the gathering and cover as they were initially too high.  I think I might be growing as a sewist.  I would have just let it go before but I really wanted this shirt to be perfect.  

I do love how it turned out.  The fit is exactly like the original.  I love it in the blue.  I didn't bother with the sleeve tabs as I'm not sure how this fabric will hold up.  Plus I did poke a teeny, tiny hole when I ripped up the gather cover.  Its not noticeable but I suspect this shirt won't last too long.  Luckily I have a pattern and can make myself a whole wardrobe of them!

When I started this post this morning I was going to say that I would likely not wear this outfit as is but the pieces were great in my wardrobe.  Well, either from laziness or comfort, I've worn this outfit all day!  I can't wait to make more of both patterns. 

Now for the Walking Dead portion of this post- so I don't disappoint Becca.  With my cardigan I'm ready to fight off the hoards!  

Yes, I am sewing

I keep meaning to pop over here and blog something to keep up the momentum.  I know I said I would talk about the Katie dress next time.  Needless to say its not done.  Maybe this week.  I just cannot figure out how to fix my biggest peeve with a wonderful pattern.  More another time on that.

I did spend today doing buttonholes- my plaid shirt finally has buttonholes!  I'll hopefully wear that this week and put a picture up.

I've also been working on random things for the kids.  I pledged to work only from Ottobre this month- barring the unfinished projects cut from other patterns.  So far so good.  I'll post those soon too.

In the meantime I'll leave you with this top I made in August from Ottobre Women's issue 5/2013, design 16.  I love the shape of this top.  I've been wearing quite a bit of my home made wardrobe this week and just loving it!