Boxers or Briefs?

How about boxers and briefs?

I am happy to say that I finished my first Ottobre magazine project!  I really wanted to do the Pinafore dress I mentioned here, but I didn't even look at the sizing for the children's clothing.  I merely assumed it must be similar to the sizing here, only given in cm.  Well, I was wrong, of course!  It turns out that I will have to sew from the baby sizing for my 18 month old, and the smallest of the toddler sizing for my 4 year old!  Odd, but I'll go with it.

That brings me back to the topic at hand--my first Ottobre project.  I made the Pikkumies boxer and briefs from the Ottobre Winter issue.

FABRIC:  Lil' Zoo cotton interlock knit from Joanns

Now usually, my son is not a boxer and brief kind of boy.  He's very particular about having his clothing fit a certain way (a very analytical personality type) so I was shocked when he looked at the picture in Ottobre, pointed to the Pikkumies, and said he would like "that one."  

I was a little skeptical sewing them up too because the pattern pieces did not seem to fit together the way they should.  So, needless to say, I had to keep looking at the directions, and looking back at my pieces.  I even went back to the pattern map to double-check for mistakes, but everything was right.  It turns out, that as I serged these pieces together, they fit, but more like when you are sewing sleeves into sleeve caps, and not a perfect alignment.

The rest of this project went well, and I was surprised that I did not miss the step by step diagram directions.  Keep in mind that this project is rated one out of three circles for difficulty level, and I did not find it hard to sew at all.  In fact, when I finished, and the boxer briefs fit my son like a dream (yes, a dream) I found myself loving Ottobre!  These boxer briefs are a definite keeper, and I plan to make more of them in the future.

In the meantime, I took advantage of some online shopping deals and am waiting on an order from fabric.com, which I love!  I need some more fabric to finish the PJs for my son, and I am thinking of what I will be up to after that.

I'll continue to let you know about my experience sewing Ottobre patterns for those of you who are interested!  So far, I am really enjoying it. So much so, that I am heavily considering subscribing to Ottobre and forgetting about the BIG 4 pattern companies.  We shall see...

By the way, I want to send a big thank-you to Janimal for telling me about the Ottobre sewing group at Yahoo!  I decided to join the group, and it has been an excellent resource!  

Stay sew-filled!

A panel skirt for my sweetie!

OK, so I decided to re-sew the panel skirt for my little girl who is now 18 months old.  I just couldn't resist myself, really.  I just think the fabrics are SOOO adorable, and since I sewed it once, I knew I would do better the second time.

In case you didn't read my last post, I made this skirt, but it wouldn't go over my daughter's thighs in order for her to wear it:

So, I put this version aside, and created this version with a much longer (and better fitting) waistband:

Today was a grouchy day for picture-taking, by the way.  You really do have to be creative when it comes to getting my little one to smile for the camera!  Usually her daddy has a special way to get her to smile and pose, but she was not having it this morning!  I decided that I would jump in the picture with her to get her going...

It didn't work as well as I hoped, though.  

Why can't they just leave me alone?

Maybe the next photos will be better!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day!  Ours was nice and relaxing, and the food was delicious.  Kyle asked if I would be participating in the PJ sew-along this weekend, and I have decided not to.  I will be sewing PJs from my new Ottobre magazine for my son, but I don't have everything I need for the project and I didn't want to rush to get everything done.  If you are participating in this sew-along, have fun!  I'm sure the results will be great!

Stay sew-filled!

If at first you don't succeed, try again!

Has anyone ever sewn a garment, and been extremely pleased with the results when they finished?  Now, of those of you that were pleased, were you just as pleased when you went to try the garment on?

I only ask because of the results I had after sewing the paneled skirt for my daughter.  The skirt turned out beautifully!  I used my serger to finish most all of the seams, and it looked great inside and out:

However, when I went to put the finished skirt on my little one, it would NOT fit over her thighs!  LOL!  I mean, how many pear-shaped women such as myself can relate to this issue when putting on garments?  It's a shame to think the problem could start out so early!

Anyhow, I will be keeping this skirt cause it is just so darn cute, and I left out the elastic in the waistband, in case a situation comes about where a baby girl is in need of a cute little skirt.  Also, I will be making this skirt again, with a slightly larger waistband, but I am not sure when.

In the meantime,  I ordered this late last week and got it in the mail yesterday:

YAY! Ottobre design magazine!  This magazine is much like the Burda sewing magazine, but it has designs for children only.  I was super excited to get this issue in the mail, with the exception of one thing--it's not the issue I ordered!  I actually ordered the fall issue, and there was some sort of snafu.  Not that I didn't like the issue, it just wasn't what I ordered.  So...I called Wooly Thread (which is where I ordered it from) and the representative there was so nice.  She is sending out the correct issue,and said I could keep the winter issue!  Awesome!  Now that is customer service!

BTW, the Wooly Thread website has very reasonable prices for Ottobre, and you can even subscribe there, which I may consider doing after I test out some of the patterns in this book!

Here are some of the styles I liked:

I am especially interested in this Pinafore dress!  I saw it and knew it would be a perfect first project.  Also, it is not rated as difficult as some of the other things in the magazine. (They are rated between 1-3 circles.  This one is rated 1 circle.)

The instructions read well for the designs, my only hesitation is the fact that there are no step-by-step pictures.  That may not be a good thing for me, but we shall see = ).  There are a few pages that have more detailed pictures to address techniques that may need for explanation, but most of the instructions have one or no illustration to accompany it.  Like I said, this is a trial, so I will see how it goes...

These PJs are also cute.  My son was saying he wanted me to make him some more PJs, so this may be a good option.

This last one is the cutesie flower pants shown on the little girl in the top middle picture.  They are slim-fitting pants that I know will look cute once I get the fit right.

I will let you know how things are coming along once I get started on these patterns.  I do eventually plan to sew something for myself, in case you were wondering, though right now I am still into kiddie things.  

Stay sew-filled!

For anyone who has any experience/tips in sewing Ottobre patterns, your thoughts and ideas are welcome!

Now you know!

I am FINALLY feeling better!

Whatever I had, it lasted most of last week, so I didn't even try to attempt any sewing, let alone look at any future projects.  I did happily see what is going on in blogland, and that made me feel a little bit better about the sickness slump I was in.

OK, so the rest of the truth is...I've been on vacation with my family!  We went out of town to see my family in Savannah, and celebrate my son's 4th birthday!  It was a blast!  My son wanted to have a party at Chuck E. Cheese, so we obliged...

Now, if you have children, you know how many times you end up at Chuck E. Cheese, so I was not particularly thrilled to be going there again, but the day proved to be wonderful!  It was a Friday morning, not too busy at all, and a great day to enjoy another beautiful year with my blessing of a son.

As a matter of fact, I told him "Honey, today we are celebrating you!" He replied "No Mommy, I'm going to celebrate you."  Awww, his words made me tear up a little, because, in a way, he is right.  His birthday is about him, but without me to go through all I went through, he would not be here!

That also makes me think of my dad, who gives my mom roses on each one of us "kids" birthday.  It is sweet that he celebrates my mom in that way!

Anyhow, after we left Chuck E. Cheese, we went back to the house for cake, ice cream, and presents.  And what a cake it was!

That's right!  My son's favorite character: Spongebob Squarepants!  It was a yummy cake too!  My mom ordered it from a co-worker of hers, and the cake consisted of three layers: two chocolate, and one vanilla.  My son is a chocolate-loving little boy, so he really liked it.  He was mostly surprised that a cake could look like Spongebob, as he kept saying "Oh my gosh, it's Spongebob!"

Here's a photo of my niece (on the left) with my daughter (as a mom with two kids, you learn to be "fair"):

We really had such a great time with my parents in Savannah, that we didn't want to leave, but we had to be in Orlando last Saturday for my husband's job.  So we left Savannah, and made it to Orlando, but didn't really expect to do much but stay in a hotel and leave the next day...

Well, God certainly had other plans...

It has been a desire of ours to go to Disney World, and we really thought we would go this year, but we had a minor economic setback (if you will).  Well, it turns out that one of my husband's co-worker's wife (what a mouthful) works for Disney, and he was able to get the three of us in FOR FREE!  So our first visit to Disney is one I will never forget!  We went to Magic Kingdom and the kids had a ball!  I think we couldn't have planned our son's 4th birthday any better than the way God did!

That was our amazing weekend, and now I am back, feeling refreshed, and ready to SEW!

I plan on working on my daughter's skirt this evening, and I have something I am awaiting in the mail.

I hope everyone is doing well!  Even if you are not, this post just goes to show that there is sunshine around the corner!

Stay sew-filled!

In search of better days...

Today is a rainy, yucky day where I live.  Besides that, I am not feeling the best.  Actually, I feel terrible.  The kids have been dealing with colds for the past couple of weeks (yes, weeks), and I seemed to be holding up pretty well.  I am one of those people that takes all her vitamins, herbs, supplements, etc., so I naturally thought if I did get sick, it wouldn't be that bad.  Well, it is.

So, needless to say, this puts a small dent in my sewing plans.  But, I will show you what I have been working on for the time being:

Many of you may know by now that before I became a stay-at-home mom to two little ones, I was a nurse.  Because of that fact, I acquired many "cutesie" scrub uniforms that I no longer wear.  This one in particular is a nice monochromatic scrub top that is now too big for me.

Well, what's too big for me is perfect fabric for my next project!  I am using this to make another skirt for my daughter.  This time I will be using one of the Kwik Sew patterns from Sewing for Toddlers again, but I will be making some modifications.

Here is the fabric close up, as well as a dotted cotton fabric I plan to coordinate with the scrub top print:

I plan to also make a shirt for my sweetie, but I haven't decided on the fabric yet.  I will have to search my closet a little harder (smile).  I think I will re-visit the pajama pants pattern for the top I will make.  Remember that one?

It's Simplicity 2734...

I really like the design of the top, and with a little embellishment I think it will not look at all like pajamas.

Now you know all my plans once I am feeling better...which I hope is soon!

Stay sew-filled!