Well, it's done.

A weeks worth of sewing kiddo clothes an hour a day and I've made a skirt, tunic, funky pants and these pajama pants. {Yes my younger girl is mentioning the unbalance of these creations and has put in a list of to be mades to her mama.}

What a fantastic creative week. I've had such a good time wandering through the flickr group checking out the other handmades and no doubt feeling quite inspired. I've also very much enjoyed meeting some new creative souls out there (hello!)…. that's why so many of us come to these spaces and share, you know?

I finished up the week with a simple pair of pajama bottoms for the boy. I also have a pair cut out waiting to be sewn for my girl, with owls…. there is a mild owl obsession going on these days. Anyone else in this boat?

The pattern is my own… and my boy was so cute showing them off this evening that I almost forgot I was photographing the pajamas and not his alligator and newly toothless grin…

See the little gap of a missing tooth on the bottom? Oh, he's growing up…. melts this mama's heart most certainly.

I suppose we'll get back to regular programming here. Which is, uhm…. random programming at best? What did we used to talk about anyway? Food, gardening, knitting? Something like that.

Thanks again for letting me show off my sewing and kids for a whole week…

and in the words of my five year old boy…

"later gator."

I should share a few things with you about my boy. You know, aside from that often mentioned untamed crazy nature of his.

He's got style.

Really.

He has fashion preferences that far surpass any of his siblings. The first time he ever wore a pair of black loafers (at the age of three) he looked and me and said in a serious tone, "mama, these are bad boy shoes…" I half expected him to add some white socks and hike up his pants and start singing 80's Michael Jackson tunes. You know I'm bad, I'm bad…. I'm a child of the era, what can I say?

But back to fashion. Luke has en edge that I never knew could exist in children. He wears a blazer and tie with rolled up pants and a black felt fedora. And he's totally serious about it folks, for real. He cracks me up and inspires me all at once. He's just so him.

And now that you know that….. when he has some say in his handmades, it's usually pretty reflective of that wild fashion sense. That's just how these pants ended up here. Kinda loud, kinda funky, and totally Luke.

Perfect October colors, right?

The pattern is an altered version of the pants I've sewn up in my shop. I followed the examples in this pattern making book to alter it & add the side panels with pockets. If you have any interest in making or altering patterns, it's an awesome read. It's written for women, but the how to will teach you the basics to alter any favorite pattern. These were sewn up with linen and I added a combination elastic drawstring waist. The stitching details on the pockets got an "ooohhh" from the boy. The first few photos I was told not to photograph his face, ahem…. until he asked if he could stick out his tongue. Silliness rules!

I've got one last thing to finish up & share here tomorrow. Thanks for checking in and seeing what I've been sewing!

ps ~ swing into the kcwc flickr group to see more handmade lovliness!

I finished the tunic!

We had a cool-ish day today and the little man of the house was {mostly} tolerant of his mama and her camera…. though numerous times he sighed and said, "I like my shirt, can I just play in it now?"

Oh my, is it ever difficult to try and snap photos of a wiggling boy…….

This is most definitely the, "Mama are you done yet?" look.

After Luke had worn the shirt for a few hours, I decided the neck line was a bit deeper than I preferred. I knew he wouldn't want to wear a tshirt under it either, so off it came {with bits of peanut butter cracker on it} and I added a small inset of brown knit fabric and some hand embroidery to jazz things up a bit. I really, really like the way it looks now and my little guy really, really wanted to wear it to bed. Which is better than those times when I've sewn or knitted things and he told me they were pretty but refused to wear them! (remember these?)

As of right now I've got two pairs of pajama pants in the works and some crazy looking linen pants that are reminiscent of butterscotch and chocolate pudding…. aka nineteen-seventies colors!

I hope to have them finished up to share here tomorrow…. and next I'll have to find a big kid tunic pattern for my girl who has now requested a tunic of her own.          

Any suggestions?

{ps ~ just wanted to add that this is Cloud 9's organic cotton in Free Bird print from the Cut out & Keep collection, it is awesome! And the tunic pattern can be found here.}

My sewing space (room) is starting to look like a storm passed through….

I spent the evening on Wednesday hanging out with my big girl cutting out patterns for several pairs of pants, a tunic for my boy, and drinking tea. I didn't get any actual sewing done, but it's good to have a stack of pieces ready to go. Cutting is my least favorite part of sewing…..

Last night I spent a few hours working on this tunic, in between dinner and bedtime reading and such. I bought the pattern forever ago and had yet to sew one up. The tutorial & pattern are well written and easy to follow. However, in my typical style, I have added elements {not in the pattern} to torture my brain with. For example, sewing knit stretchy fabric to cotton fabric (the blue is recycled tshirt material) and also lining the cuffs with the knit fabric…. which made for a slightly different sleeve construction….

At one point well after dark when I definitely had an operator issue and grumbled rudely at my machine. (as if it was the machine, right?) My husband says to me with a laugh, "you know, this is what you do." And he's so right…. but the sleeves and the split tail hem look so good! Well, perhaps there is an unintential pucker on the inside of the cuff, but Joe reminded me that Luke never stops moving long enough for anyone to see the cuff of his shirt. Ahem.

We've got homeschool co-op today but I'll be sewing in the wee hours this evening again. See you tomorrow… hopefully with a finished tunic!