Summer baby sets for Eva and matching PJs for Andrei - Ottobre patterns

  The summer is getting hot ( or so it seamed when I start tracing this patterns ) and Eva is growing really fast. The previous bodies and footed pants are already to small and she needs new ones. I loved so much to see her in my creations that I decided to sew for her again. I traced 68 this time when she was only 6 weeks, but she was big 5.2kg and 57cm. I should have used 62 but she is growing faster then I sew it seams so I said it is OK to swim in this clothes for a little while.
   I used Ottobre patterns again. This are number 3 and 4 form the 3/2013 issue.

   They are nice designs and they turned out OK but I had to stress and test if the body will be large enough to pass the head. I think I like the wrap around ones better for dressing but this ones are more comfortable in hot weather and they probably look a little better. The pants are huge for now and it is a cool design but I think I like the rainy sky leggings better. The fit her so nicely. Maybe is just the sizing ( I have those in 62 ).

 

   The apple faces fabric is from a local shop and it seems to be very good quality and it was cheap. From the remaining fabric I did a matching PJ set for supper using the patterns from his wardrobe :
lime jersey pants & cacao bean T-shirt

  Aren't they cute together like this?

   This project was for me also a way to try some new binding techniques - the ones from my son's tee quite a big failure but the ridding from Eva's body was almost decent. Since I was pleased to see her dressed I did a new set on organic cotton from etsy:

Take a shot at men patterns - 1st easy T-shirts

I am promising my husband some day I will sew for him as well. The day I will be better at it and of course for years that day never come.  After doing some wardrobes for me and the kids it would have seemed like it was his turn now. I also done some PJ for my father last summer and even if is a self drafted pattern and is so wrong in so many ways he wears that a lot so I promised I will sew something decent for him as well. Then I seen Sue Parrott's blog post making tees for all the man in her life and I loved the idea. When I just received the Ottobre design magazine for kids last week number 3/2015 and it had 2 men patterns as well all the pieces of this puzzle seemed to click together. I decided to try this 2 Ottobre patterns for my husband and my father.


   It is an interesting design with normal sleeve in the front and raglan in the back and I think it has potential for creating some interesting color blocks and unique tees.

Even if I have gathered so many fabrics I don't have many that can go for men. I found this large uneven stripes one  and decided to use it for my testing. I would say that the 1st version of this tees is not that bad and I can't wait to find some good fabrics to make them some better ones as well. I had to improvise a little bit with the cutting on my father tee since there was not enough fabric to cut both tee on the grain line.

 They both wore it yesterday without me asking them to do it and my husband even took it to work so he must have like it. 

 

Andrei's wardrobe for the summer - Ottobre patterns

I am so happy I was able to follow up on my decision to try do another wardrobe attempt after the success I had with my maternity one and the new baby. This one was for my son who will be 3 at the end of this summer. There are 4 patterns as play - 2 tops and 2 bottoms, all Ottobre patterns:

Jersey pants  - 3/2010 #10 - that I already reviewed here:

Raglan tee - 3/2010 #12 #14 #18:

Basic shirt - 3/2010 #11 - the "muslin" here:

Boyish bermudas - Ottobre 3/2013 #25:

  The jersey pants and tees are no news to me by now and it went together easy but the shirt and the more constructed boy pants are and I really love this last two. Were not as scary to make as I first thought and They look really well on the kid.
  I also wanted to get the tee-pants-shirt combo into the contest from LucruDeMana so I really wanted to have a try at each of this patterns before cutting into the "good" fabric. I already showed you the shirt :

   The tee was really basic at 1st try a very lightweight knit with perfect stripes for a cool boys look:

   As always the Ottobre fit was spot on and I could move one to the next ones fast. He was very proud to wear it right away and take it with him to the swimming lesson. It is really funny to see him checking himself up in the mirror.

   The last one to try was the one that scared me the most : the pants. I never done so many pockets, or yoke or mock fly for pants before so there were a lot of firsts to test here. I used some old pair of jeans for this project. The result was not that bad. I really liked them. The only problem was that they were a bit to long but I got that covered for the next ones.

 Now that I got the patterns tested I was ready for the contest and the good stuff: a light stretch blue denim - just perfect for the summer pants I wanted, organic cotton with camels for the tee and quilting cotton for the shirt :

I wanted to up the level a little bit this time  so I went for quilted knee and yoke ( I just love biker jeans - so I wanted to go a little for that look ):

Another thing that I did for the 1st time was to use elastic band that can be adjusted with 2 buttons. I just discovered this trick recently trying to reverse engineer the attachment of the waistband in a RTW. I am happy I ended up with a clean finishing on the inside as well:

   The result was lovely and it took me a little by surprise since I sewed in a big hurry being on a tight deadline for the contest. I think is one of the 1st real appreciations received from my husband who is the only one that I think is truly honest with me about my results. 

   I am so happy to say that the outfit took the 1st prize and honored to stand next to other neat outfits that entered the contest.

   To close up I had planned another 3 piece combo but in the end I decided to drop the shirt thinking he has enough for now but who knows what the sewing winds will bring this days.

  Even is it is not as bright as the previous one this last outfit is my favorite:

The penguins tee make a great combo with jeans as well but we have a lot more combos that we didn't try yet: