It's a Jolly Holiday

It's hard to shop for my little brother - his tastes have remained consistent through the years, so he's amassed quite the collection of things he likes - but handmade clothing using custom fabric does seem to do the trick. Our whole family is Disney fans in general, and he's a HUGE Mary Poppins fan in specific, so when I saw this fabric I could not resist.

Cole's Creations Jerry Raglan is my go-to Men's raglan pattern - not for any *particular* reason, other than that I've already printed and assembled it - but it's been a reliable and trusted part of my arsenal for years now.

For this shirt I paired the featured fabric with a red "oil paint" print from Kammie Lou Lou's Texture Collection. I was pleased with the result! and I was also pleased to learn he was wearing it when my parents went out to visit him for Christmas. A Jolly Holiday indeed!

Oh, Baby Princess

I have lost count of the number of times I've made the Simple Life Pattern Co Isla, but it's a favorite for a reason. This one was made to be given at my husband's coworker's baby shower.

I lucked out that they were putting together a Disney princess themed nursery. and that I had the perfect "ensemble" princess fabric to go with it. This is the elbow-length sleeves, natural-waisted, circle skirted Isla in 6m size, and I'm hoping it will make a little girl (and her parents) very happy early next year!

It Has Pockets

Lately my daughter has been very much a shirt-and jeans kind of girl, so even though I *want* to sew her the kind of tulle-heavy, puffed-sleeve masterpieces you see on Custom Collective and Club Pixieville (see here and here), as it turns out that if I want her to actually *wear* it, I am better off with simpler silhouettes and more practical designs.

Simple Life Pattern Co introduced the Zoe on August 25, and with its visually interesting/unique elements being  princess seams and useful pockets, it seemed like a good choice for my daughter.  Especially with those pockets. In my mind, I held off FOREVER on buying it. In actuality I held off until... 9/2, so *slightly* longer than a week (I checked), but in my mind I assure you it felt like forever. 

My first foray into the pattern was using a Sleep My Beauty print from the now-defunct Firefliez Fabrics. I added this amazing green flame from Kammie Lou Lou for the accents, and chose the peplum length with a regular back and circle skirt option. 

Even though I followed the size chart, double-checked my 1" square, and made it the same size as most of her favorite store-bought clothing, I found this shirt ended up just a *little* short on my daughter. It was still wearable, but I found her tugging it down quite a bit.

So of course, if you don't (fully) succeed, try, try again. For my second attempt, I realized I could add length to  the bodice by extending the lines on the princess seams and on the side seams, so I sized up one size, and added another 3/4" in height. This fabric came from Custom Knit Destash, and I ran it by my daughter before committing: she went crazy for it! 

She also asked me for a scooped back, which I was nervous to do since I was sizing up. But after some brainstorming, I realized I had the perfect excuse to purchase the Simple Life Shelby and steal a design element from it; namely, the straps on the back. In retrospect I had thought there would be a bigger trick to the strap design and there wasn't - I just had to muscle the fabric around to attach it between the outer layer and the lining - but sometimes it's just worth KNOWING, and I am sure the built-in capped-sleeve element will serve me well in the future too.

As for now, I'm just happy to have a top my daughter will wear, at least on the weekends. I miss when she was little and would don anything I made with gusto, but I guess I am grateful that her newfound taste is providing me with new challenges and opportunities to grow. I think at the very least, she is grateful for the pockets :-)

Care Bear Siblings

My brother and his wife were a happy (if tired) family of five, and then this summer they made an announcement: they were soon to be a family of six! After we congratulated them for this latest addition, my brother made a comment that "not everyone congratulates you on the fourth child" which just convinced me that *I* - Auntie of Great Handmade Swag - needed to not just congratulate but actually celebrate the announcement of my brother's newest soon-to-be-arrival, and PRONTO.

So how best to celebrate? With fabric, clearly. And not just ANY old clothing would do; what I really needed was a sibling set. For four children. Fortunately, I had the fabric...

Care Bears have been a constant theme for my SIL since before my nieces were born. First I made her a cat, then some dresses for the girls, and eventually a maternity shirt and a matching kimono footie set for kid #3. To be fair, this was interspersed with other non-care-bear creations, but still. It's a fun call-back to a childhood nickname, and I stocked up on this fabric a few years ago. Even their cousin (my daughter) has gotten in on the action with a Care Bear Solis. 

For the littlest cousin, who is still gestating at the time of this writing, I went with my go-to creation, the Simple Life Pattern Company Isla - it's cute, it's fast, and it's comfortable. 

For the older girls, I wanted a little more pizzaz. I've been dying to try the SLPCo Adelyn for a VERY long time now, and I thought its long, elegant lines would look cute on the baby's older sisters. I do so love the puffed sleeves of the Adelyn, but in this case, since little sis already had plain sleeves I decided to mash the sleeves of the Isla with the neckline of the Adelyn. I like that look, it reminds me of dancers in their low-backed leotards. 

For the eldest niece used the Adelyn scoop back and the wide bow; for the soon-to-be-middle niece, I used the modest back and some inspiration from the SLPCo Molly to adapt the largest Adelyn bow as a waist tie.

The only challenge left was my nephew - he needed something that worked with the set, but was maybe a little more masculine. He got a Max Raglan with my one remaining panel, and some coordinating rainbow sleeves. It might be a little big yet - he's growing at a much faster clip than his sisters - but hopefully it will fit when little sis is born!

Here all 4 creations are together:

And here my nieces are with theirs on! This photo stunned me with how big they've gotten, but those are definitely two smiling faces!

Now I can't wait until January when our littles niece comes, so brother will wear his (at least once) and all 4 will get some use! 

A Hot Shot Rescue Bot Hoodie

I guess in retrospect it hand't been *that* long since I made my son an article of clothing, but putting together a back-to-school Droids shirt for my daughter and nothing for my son put me in a hoodie-for-my-son state of mind. My son was definitely in a Rescue Bots phase at the time, and when offered, this was the fabric he picked:

For a fall hoodie I went with my usual standard, the Max & Meena Max Raglan. It's a fast sew with close-to-in-store sizing, and it looks nice when finished. My son loves everything I make with that pattern, and this creation was no exception.

The front features a red Hot Shot panel, and I used red for the lining and black for the back since it turned out that Hot Shot red was... kind of hard to match. But my son loved his new outfit and I loved that it was so adorable and so quick to make!

As my son would say. "Score!"

Have the Courage II

My husband has a big family, and technically I have not one, but TWO brothers-in-law that are crazy about Legend of Zelda. The first is the father of baby W, who received his "Have Courage" Magic Blanket and Polo Romper last year. The second is my Colorado-dwelling Brother-in-law C, who just announced he and his fiancé were pregnant this past spring. C is such a fan he even has a triforce tattoo, so after coming through as I did for W's Dad, I certainly could not let C down!

Scoring more Zelda fabric did prove a challenge; there are more choices out there now, but having such an amazing first find last time has left me pretty picky art-wise. Also, this time I was fixated on seeing if I could replicate the sleep-inducing cuddliness of W's "Magic Blanket", which meant "Fluff" aka Double-Sided Minky (DSM). Fluff/DSM is a rarer find than just regular Minky - but it's also a lot easier to work with. 

In the end, I lucked out: the hostess of the original fabric I bought for W had a few extra toddler topper sets available via retail. The original artwork, I could get in traditional Minky, which is 2-way stretch, thinner, and sheds a bit as you sew it. I think the artwork was a little bit "longer and leaner" on the traditional minky - and the fabric is lighter/the fur feels a little more directional. Traditional minky would not have been my first choice for a fabric base, but now having worked with it a bit it does seem like a reasonable summer-weight alternative to the (super-thick) Fluff.

And for "Magic Blanket Material," the hostess had this "Best Friends" topper that could be gotten in "Fluff." Call it what you will - Fluff, Double-Sided Minky, Luxe Minky - but I am definitely a 4-way stretch Minky Addict. It is heavier, thicker, and more expensive than regular Minky, but it's also IMO softer, and WAY easier to work with. And my inner 13-year old was pretty excited about the horse artwork, I gotta admit.

Now, as for getting the fabric here... Shipping from Japan to the US Mid-pandemic was its own adventure: in the end I paid half as much for the shipping as I did for the fabric, and waited almost 2 months before it got to me. But the sense of satisfaction I got from having it in hand was definitely worth the wait.  These blankets were both sewed up in a day, and I still had time to tackle a onesie from the stacked print I'd stashed from my now-a-year-old nephew.

On that score, The Lullabye Line Bodysuit by Peekaboo Patterns remains my go-to shower gift. It's easy, it's efficient for precious fabric, and it consistently turns out nicely. The snaps are from kamsnaps.com, and the evergreen solid bands are from Purpleseamstress.com. 

Here's the whole set together...

...and here's my BIL receiving his gift: Now that's a happy face!

Back To School Droids

One of the first and most ubiquitous custom knit shops I got into was Knitorious - years ago I bought some Floral Wars on a May the 4th sale, and it sat unused on my shelf, just too pretty (and expensive!) to cut into. 

Fast Forward to this summer, when pandemic-related stress (and amazing price reductions on custom clothing) turned me (temporarily?) from fabric-shopper to finished-object shopper. One of my favorite places to window-shop is Custom Collective on Facebook. Their designs are stunning, and for a few months when everyone was home and saving up, the price points were just too good to resist. While I was trawling and admiring one day, my daughter looked over my shoulder and saw this dress:

It was love at first sight for her. The Inky Bluebird is an amazing designer: I bought a hoodie for my son from her on Club Pixieville, and the craftsmanship and cuteness factor are both top notch. Unfortunately this particular piece sold at auction for a price point WAY higher than I was willing/able to pay. But with my daughter's excitement, I knew I had to do *something* with the fabric I had.

Already being in possession of the yardage, I needed only to find a way to procure the matching panel. As I have said before I *usually* try to avoid the fabric Buy/Sell/Trades, but again I made an exception for this one. A kind soul took pity on my (well, maybe not THAT much pity on me - I'm sure she made out handsomely in the transaction) and I scored not only a matching BB8 panel for my daughter, but also a matching R2D2 panel for my son. Did I mention I love sibling sets? Because I really do love them. 

Anyway, these panels made their way to me right before school started for the year, and so my daughter enthusiastically picked this fabric for a back to school outfit for herself. And, she definitely wanted it just like the Inky Bluebird dress: except she's more of a shirt-and-jeans person, so she wanted a peplum rather than a dress. And she's not really into spaghetti straps, so could it have puffed sleeves instead? And of course, mom's fabric was black and not purple, but other than that...

Thank goodness for the Sew By Pattern Pieces Girls' fun tee - this patter came to the rescue for what feels like the 100th time. I'm about to the point where I can do this pattern in my sleep (the gathers do still take a while though!), and this time I did skip the cute Delaney back for efficiency & better coverage against a cool fall breeze. I pulled this together at the very last minute, but in a late-night photo session she was all smiles after receiving it.

She wore my creation proudly to the first day of school, and came home with a "my first day" booklet where she'd carefully hand drawn her "BB8" shirt over & over again... 

...definitely a parenting win for me!