Pocket pants

I kind of disappeared for awhile, although I'm sure you didn't notice.  Mr. Crafty Ave went to Germany and Denmark for 11 days leaving me to mother and father Beri and Loo which was more exhausting than I thought. Throw in Beri's trial gluten free, cow dairy free diet and I was consumed by everything but blogging. I did get some sewing done... just didn't have the time to post.

In my impatience waiting for my copies of Sewing for Boys and Happy Homemade to arrive, I caved and bought Growing up Sew Liberated. Ever since KCWC I have been obsessed with pants with pockets for Loo. Here's my first try.

It was hard to pick a fabric to go with this yellow corduroy. I could have used about 10 different cottons but decided on this blue I thrifted years ago. I didn't do the bias trim on the pockets because I'm lazy and.... oh my goodness. Remember my sewing machine woes just over a month ago? I replaced my irreparable Brother with a Husqvarna.... Then promptly screwed up the timing on it and now it's in being fixed.

I made these pants using my Grandma's old machine.

I got it working with a little tweaking. I'm a little worried the pants will just fall apart or turn to dust after I wash them.

To change the stitch you have to put in different discs. I haven't gotten that adventurous yet.

It also has an attachment for making pleats. I can't remember what it was called but I might give it a whirl later this week.

Happy Halloween!  I'm a bit of a Halloween grump but I have to admit it's getting more fun the past few years seeing it through a little one's eyes. Loo's dressing as Obi Wan and Beri's wearing Loo's old Yoda costume which will take adorable to a whole new ridiculous level.

Peanut cinnamon swirl

Remember my goals? One of them was to do a new recipe a week. And I've held to it. Here's some recent goodies.

Butternut squash (no cheese) cheese sauce. Yes I was skeptical, there's NO cheese in it. Turns out it made a delicious homemade mac n' cheese that everyone ate and enjoyed. Definitely a recipe I'll make again. Nutritional yeast makes the recipe and I found it at the bulk store without making a big investment. I didn't keep it vegan and used regular milk and butter.

Newfoundland field cookies. Delicious. Be warned, the recipe is for 60 cookies which really did make 60 cookies! I froze half the batter to make the following week. I also forgot to put the chocolate chips in and they were still delicious, I would omit them again. Sugary buttery heaven. Another quick trip to the bulk store for these, completely worth it.

Chocolate cake. I made this for Loo's birthday. It's not healthy but it was moist and delicious. I think adding the boiling water at the end of the recipe must have been responsible.

Steel cut oatmeal. This is a winner!!! I tried a crock pot oatmeal recipe and it was the worst. This stove top recipe includes bananas, flax, chia, cinnamon and vanilla. The tip about keeping it in the fridge and heating it throughout the week really made this work for our family. Perfect with a little added maple syrup in the morning.

And the peanut butter cinnamon swirl in the recipe........... although delicious.......sent Beri into an allergic reaction. She didn't even eat any but we think her or her oatmeal got in contact. That led us to the ER which earned our family two epipens. Crafty Ave is now a nut free environment. Kind of scary stuff.

On a possibly related note... Her poop digestive issues have been ongoing since the spring. In my defiance of treating the condition instead of the cause, I brought her to a Naturapathic Doctor a couple weeks ago. We had our follow up appointment yesterday and everyone was disappointed to find that a simple high quality probiotic had no effect on her system. The Dr. reviewed her two week diet diary, added some daily flax oil and encouraged the next step. Starting this weekend we're going on a two week trial diet.

No gluten.

No cow dairy.

No citrus*

My goal is to gather supplies/ideas and begin on Saturday. I'm spending a lot of time researching and trying to put together a plan.

Input welcome.


*  I had to laugh when she said no citrus. Seriously?  After the first two, keeping Beri out of the lemons, oranges and lime perriet will be a cake walk.

Cornfield

Still recovering from last week. I might have a real post up tomorrow.

KCWC day seven

I decided Beri didn't get enough this week so I made an outfit just for her.

A pinafore with matching pants. I don't tend to buy designer fabric, but I was so in love with this Far Far Away II that I bought a tiny piece. Then I was reluctant to make anything with it. All week I've been looking for the perfect little dress to make her and I kept coming back to the pinafore pattern I already have. I would have had many more options had I bought more than 1/2 yard.

I love the simplicity of it. It really is perfect for showcasing such a beautiful fabric.

I've made a few pinafores before and always used cotton. This time I decided to line it with grey knit instead. I was a little worried how it would work but it is perfect. It made it so much more soft and comfortable and I think because of this I'll choose to dress her in it much more often than her others. Also I love that it has to be worn over a plain shirt so during messy meals I can just take it off.

I also made her a pair of pants and made the cuffs of the same fabric. I winged it with the cuffs but it looks like it's working.

I inadvertently made my 16 month old a pair of jeggings. This denim has a lot of stretch and when I tried them on her after nap time to how much elastic to put in the waist, I realized they were a perfect fit without any. Kind of weird, but totally cute.

She was ridiculously excited when I let her stand on a stool to get some pictures.

So I would call KCWC fall 2011 a success.  I made at least one piece of clothing a day, (if you count yesterdays robe),  I had a lot of fun, I was inspired by all the wonderful things everyone else made, I discovered some great blogs I didn't know about and I am pooped. I'm gonna try to give myself and my sewing machine a break for a couple days.

Thanks Meg!

KCWC day six

I got just over an hour of sewing in yesterday while Loo was napping and Mr. Crafty Ave was watching Beri a movie. I walked upstairs..

Hey, do you know what Beri has?

Yah, the cheerios,  said a voice from the living room.

No. A bag of four.

No biggie, I didn't have to sweep it up.

Back to the sewing.... I made this hoodie for a birthday party Loo and I are heading to later this morning.

Obviously the little boys name starts with an A. I combined the Tee for Two pattern with the LBB hoodie and this is what I got. Truthfully I did it that way because I didn't want to sweat over sewing another collar this week. Especially since I'm just about burnt out.

I may get in some sewing this afternoon. The kiddo's are pretty wiped out from yesterday. They basically are walking around banging into things and crying. Beri's already napping and I have a feeling it will be a pretty quiet afternoon here. I have two projects in mind. I really wanted to make Loo some more underwear and I have one more project in mind for Beri. We'll see how the day goes.

We're almost done everyone! It's almost time to relax and pat ourselves on our backs. I ordered Happy Homemade vol. 2 and Sewing for Boys last night as a reward for myself.

Update: So I just realized I have two KCWC day six's. How did that happen? I know today day seven but I haven't sewn yet, so that post comes later.... My brain's not working anymore.... Two day sixes it is!

KCWC day six

Last night my sewing was dedicated to part of Loo's birthday present. A Star Wars Obi Wan Kenobi robe. I haven't ever managed to watch an entire Star Wars movie without falling asleep but the two men in the house love anything related to Star Wars.

I was a little worried with my lack of pattern but then I found this and traced an old baby Yoda costume and it all came together nicely. It's easier to make a baggy shapeless robe than I thought.

Most importantly my three year old is happy. When he first tried it on he talked for about 20 minutes in the third person calling himself Obi Wan.

So much to do today. Mr. Crafty Ave made us some pancakes, we're going to hit up the pumpkin patch and them I'm making the requested chocolate cake with orange freezing. I might get my hour in tonight after all the festivities end. I might not.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOO!

KCWC day five

The love them or hate them pants. This fabric is loud. And I decided to add great big honkin' pockets to disguise the fact which resulted in big loud pockets.

I like them. Loo likes them. Mr. Crafty Ave said they looked funky. I suppose that could be either a good or bad thing. The fabric is a linen wannabe and I lined them with brown knit. They're heavy. I tried taping them to the wall and they kept falling down. I already get strange looks when I do that sort of thing so I resisted getting out thumbtacks and duct tape.

It's been so rainy and gloomy here. Hard to take good pictures. I got Loo to stand semi-still tonight by challenging him to shove things in the massive pockets and getting him to try to make the peace sign. Quite difficult with those little fingers.

These are quite possibly the last pictures of Loo as a two year old, although I may sneak in one or two when he's sleeping tonight. Tomorrow is his third birthday. He's so cute he doesn't know yet all the pomp and circumstance of birthday parties. All he wants is grilled cheese and chocolate cake. This morning he added orange freezing to the list. An orange freezie? I asked. No orange freezing on my cake. Oh icing! Close buddy, I can see how you'd confuse freeze and ice.

Tonight I've got my work cut out for me sewing him a present. Oh wait, it's not cut out for me I don't even have a pattern. It's wearable, but it's not clothing.

No pattern + birthday deadline + 5th night in row of sewing = probably a disaster...

I think I'll add a glass of wine into the equation though I'm not certain which side it belongs on?

KCWC day four

Is it really day four already? The past couple nights I worked on this.

I used Figgys Tee for Two pattern. I added a cowl neck to it the first time. Do boys wear cowl necks? It didn't look right and I removed it and so the collar woes began. I then had to unpick the collar once more and it still isn't perfect. I think being sewn a couple times was really stretching the knit and squirting it with water and ironing wasn't really helping.

Another reason to love a two year old. Their ideas. I had a picture in my head of this shirt, elbow pads and a deer head silhouette. When I shared my idea with Loo he corrected me " an elephant" , I countered with a fox and we wound up with an elephant. Don't argue with a two year old. I like that it's what he wanted, not what I did.

I also really like the old man elbow pads.  Not to leave Beri out I made her a Tee for Two dress.

This was an old shirt of mine. Have you ever had a shirt you thought looked good then saw another person wearing it and been thought, hey that's ugly? That's me and this shirt. It happened at a demolition derby and I haven't worn it since. I kept the original hem for both body pieces and I cut out the sleeves with the cuff still attached. Made for a quick and easy sew. It's waffle knit so it will keep her warm and cozy.

KCWC day three

Beri's autumn coat. To put in perspective... she's 16 months old. Which means she's wiggly enough that trying to take her picture in a coat, inside, on a rainy day just wasn't worth it.

I used Heidi & Finn's urban hoodie pattern, altered the neckline and put buttons down the whole thing to make it more coat like.

The pattern is supposed to be made of stretchy fabric so to accommodate for this synthetic wool-like grey material I upped the pattern to a size 3T which was almost perfect. She usually wears 12 month clothing.

I bought the material a few weeks ago with some pink and grey flannel to be the lining. I changed my mind mid cutting and went with this orange cotton print. It screams fall to me.

I want to learn how to do facings.....

That's all for today, until 9pm when I can sew a bit more. Now it's time to head to town for a better late than never Thanksgiving* dinner and some epipens. More on the epipens another day.


*Hmmm, just noticed it may not mention anywhere on this blog that we're Canadian... Now you know.

The most horrible how to ever

I decided I will make a tutorial on how to do the fake fly, but it won't happen until at least next week. For any one eager to try it this week... if you already know how to make pants, you might be able to figure it out from these horribly lit and still unedited pictures.

If it makes no sense, I apologize. This week is kind of like running a marathon, worth it but exhausting at some points. It's 6:36 am, I'm showered, dressed and waiting to wake up Loo and Beri to get ready for daycare. I did sew Beri a little something something last night and I'll take a couple pictures and post after my 9 to 5. Happy sewing!

KCWC day two

Fall is for comfy corduroy. This is one of many pieces of my brothers clothing that has been sacrificed to Loo. That's what happens when you leave things on my parents sun porch for a couple years. In all fairness he was warned. Each time he gets that look on his face when he sees what I've cut up next I extend an offer for him to come down to my sewing room and rescue things but he always declines.

Happy for me. His rust corduroy button up men's shirt is now a pair of flat front fake fly pants (similar to what I made yesterday).

I added two pockets to the front for his outdoor finds. Five minutes outside these pants were covered in dirt with pockets full of rocks. Apparently fall is also for socks and sandals.

The front pocket of the shirt turned into a back pocket for these pants. I copied the shape for the front pockets.

It took Loo one day to figure out if I place him on a stool to take pictures all he has to do is climb down.

I'm not sure if you'd believe it (or care) but Loo really was wearing his 'my mom makes my clothes' shirt yesterday and he really did wear this shirt and sweatshirt to daycare today. The kids wears lots of handmade clothes. He's not wearing his pair of handmade underwear but by the end of the week he should have more to choose from.

Maybe tonight something for Beri?

KCWC day one

I'm pretty excited about KCWC this week. I had a lot of fun in the spring so I was excited to join again. I'm trying to stick to my goal for the previous KCWC which was to make one piece of clothing a day. Well actually I made two things today because I realized now that I'm back to work fulltime I needed to get a day ahead so that I'd be able to take picture of Loo or Beri in their clothes before posting. There's a good chance I'll burn out half way through...

Anyways--here's today's item. Pants.

Not just pants. Okay to all you non-sewers out there they're just pants. To the sewing crowd:  they have a fake fly. I've been wanting to try this for a few months and two practice pairs later I figured it out. I used Dana'a kid pant pattern and tutorial and then added in the fly. (Maybe I'll show you sometime how I did it?)

I also had my first serger casualty.

This must be why people are afraid of sergers. Two pairs of practise pants and an hour and a half into these bad boys I was serging the waist/wait band and my fabric was crumpled. I cut right into the upper left hand side of the back. There was big raggedy hole (not low enough to cover with a pocket).

Any ideas how to fix it? I thought about making the rise lower and redoing the waist band. For now I stitched up the hole which I guess gets kind of covered by the gathering from the elastic.... so disappointing. It makes all the seams I've ever stitch ripped feel like nothing. Good thing I'm not a perfectionist cause I still really like them.

I suppose if he wears them with this shirt it will answer questions about the wonky bum.

I'm so excited for the rest of the week. I've got another pair of pants to post tomorrow and more ideas than I can possibly tackle. I read today that 300 people signed up! I can't wait to see the Flickr pool filling up. I only personally know a handful of people who sew, none of whom make their kids clothing, which makes this week all the more fun and inspiring.

Mittens

This past Saturday we had to break the mitts out for the first time. Loo keeps asking when the rain will turn into snow. I feel like I'm gonna blink and it will be Christmas.

Loo's new sweat shirt

with buttons and more importantly..... buttonholes!

The sweat shirt's a little wonky in spots but to be honest I was a little sloppy knowing I might butcher it at the end with the buttonholes. That red thread on the one sleeve is driving me nutso. So lets talk about the things I do like about it.

The zig zag stitching I think looks really cute.  The buttons work (as in they have actual button holes and can be unbuttoned).

Maybe I need to google a tutorial on button sewing cause I don't think running the thread from one hole to any other hole all willy nilly like is right, but it does make me laugh. So the buttons are staying on my "thing's I like" list.

I used Heidi & Finn's pattern. I'm pretty sure I cut it out 3T but the arms are snug on Loo. Beri wore it Sunday like as a sweater dress and it was uber duber cute. Awesomesause for homemade clothing that I can dress both my kids in.

I decided since this was a test project to only half line it. I lined the front panels, the hood and a part of the back. It kinda works. Maybe I'll post a picture of it inside out. Maybe. I'm excited to make another one and pay more attention to details. I gotta say the fact that I've sewn a zipper and button holes in the past week is really opening my eyes up to what I could make.

I haven't been sewing this week. I'm trying to save my energy for KCWC and plan what to make. And Loo's birthday is coming up. I might start a dress-up wardrobe for him. Oh and this whole Halloween thing which I'm not very interested in but will still sew for. I ask Loo multiple times a day what he wants to dress as. Today he said a dark blue bird, a black bird, and a monster like Cameron at daycare. A yellow monster. I think I'm gonna try to push the dark blue bird idea.