Toffy pants in denim

I thought it would be a good idea to make DD, DS and my jeans altogether. I finished the boy's pair an age ago, so it was about time to finish the girl's before I finished mine.

The pattern is Ottobre's Toffy pants (#15 from 4/2009) but with the pockets from #12. The Tulip pants (#12) are the girly version of the Toffy pants, but with the gathered wide legs, it was probably too baggy for my skinny minny. I liked the gathering on the front pockets and the pintucks on the back pockets though. The binding looked good too.

I find it hard to believe that I traced a size 116 for the girl. Of course, she is still 98 in the width (and I had to take it in more at the waist since there is no elastic).

Jalisa is thrilled with them. I am glad to get them finished and into her wardrobe where they are needed to the chilly weather we are having.

Pink Wool Burda jacket

I have spent the better part of today finishing the jacket and dress pictured here. I quickly snapped some photos because it is nearly time to do the pick up and I want to enter them into the local show this afternoon.

Both patterns are from Burda. The fuchsia jacket is #116 from 9/2005. I followed Sherry of the Scissors, Paper, Cloth blog's RTW Tailored Jacket Sewalong. If you haven't checked the sewalong out, you simply must. Sherry has generously demonstrated so many wonderful tricks of the trade and shared a lot of information.

The jacket I chose has curved panels on the front, curved lapels and collar, two piece set in sleeves (no vent though), and a back peplum with two back vents. I did leave these vents out, since I wasn't sure I would be able to bag out the lining with them plus the extra ease from the curvy hems at the back. I added bound buttonholes, since the wool crepe had become quite thick in the wash (yep, I just chucked it right in the washing machine, and the drier too!).

Here is the back view.

Side view

I tried to zoom in here to get the buttonholes. I take suc

Here is the jacket unbuttoned. It still looks pretty good. This is how I will wear it most probably.



I hate being lazy. I tried to take more photos, but I am really no good, so I gave up. I need to get the entry organised - one last press etc before it gets bagged up.

This boy cracks me up

This was Scott's favourite spot last week. He has to crawl through the dishwasher to get in.

I snapped some more photos of the boy's new clothes. The hoodie is from the newer version of Kwik Sew for Toddler. I made a size 4. Nothing special, just something to keep him warm in the cooler months. I had Wayne draw a picture of a hotrod to stitch on to the front. The fabric is polar fleece.

The pants are the Eskimo pattern from Ottobre 5/2006, #11. These were my trial pair in an 80 width and they were too wide. They are size 86 in the height, which is perfect for him, even though he is a lot taller than that. I had to use his inseam/outseam measurements to get it right. The thing is, I think there is a nappy allowance in the smaller sizes so I can't go too small without getting too baggy in the crotch. I used a beige coloured cotton fabric.

The back panels almost make a circle with their big , wide curves. The front panels only have a slight curve. It is an easy pattern, although the back panels look tricky to put together, they go in fast.

Here is a close up of the hot rod. I don't like how it picked up where I stopped and started, but I wasn't about to bin it when the mistakes are only noticed when you are very close.

I have been lazy

I have been lazy and not kept the blog updated. I have been a little bit stressed at work but I have been sewing as normal. Hopefully I should get a couple of posts up soon, since I have a few things to photograph.

I took these photos at night, as we were wearing the new clothes to church (so the photos are blurry - I am making them do)

First up is a off-white jumper for me. The pattern is Kwik Sew 742, size 10 (it is a vintage pattern, thus the different sizing). I added flared sleeves just to make it a little different from the last time I made it.
Pants from Ottobre 2/2005 (my favourite Otto). These are design #23 but lengthened as they are only short length. For my skinny minny child I use size 80 for the width and size 86 for the length (I used a different pattern for reference). Size 80 ended up being too wide still, so I removed some of the seam allowance, reducing each leg by about 2cm. They are still baggy but look more in proportion.

It was a lot harder to get the perfect length pants. Normally for shorts, it does not matter where they end, but I had to go through several trials to get the perfect length, and actually measure his inseam and outseam. I tried using his height measurement alone, and that just ended with super long, extremely baggy pants.

Jalisa's outfit: The tiered skirt doesn't have a pattern as such, just a formula. You start with the waist measurement and multiple anywhere from 1.5 - 2.5, depending on the fabric used. I went with 1.6, as I thought that is what I had used previously. When I later checked my notes, I found that 1.4 was adequate for baby cord fabric. You need to add hem, waist casing and seam allowances to the panels too. I made each teir the same length visually, so tier 1 and 3 end up being bigger since they have the hem and waist casing added.
The jumper is from Ottobre 5/2006 #22. Ottobre have it made in a drapey knit, but I thought it would make a good jumper. The fabric is the same off-white as my jumper. It is 100% acrylic but it is lovely to sew and very soft on the skin. I love the little sections that are shirred - at the front, top of sleeve and are the wrist.

I had originally bought this denim fabric for me, but I already had some other denim for my jeans and I thought my kids could do with some of their own jeans. The pattern is the same as Scott's pants above. I liked the patterns because it had a couple of cute features that wouldn't take me too much time to get through. I am really impatient when sewing kids clothes. Simple works for me and the kids. The pants have a faux fly, front pockets and back flaps. I used a green thread to topstitch.

It is supposed to have belt loops, but they annoy me when sewing and that part isn't shown under his shirts, so I did not bother.

At the moment I am working on a few things: a jacket for Sherry's RTW Tailored Jacket Sewalong, a dress for me and jeans for Jalisa. The jacket and dress will be entered in to the local show sometime this week. I have only to bag the hem and sew on the buttons on the jacket, and dress needs hemming and the lining sewn down.. I should be able to reveal the jacket very soon.