Short orders

In celebration of National Recycling Week (or because my 'revamp/repair' box was overflowing), last week I whipped up a couple of T-shirts for the boys from three that the Cyclist had discarded plus a bit of my ever-present red cotton.  I say 'whipped up' as if it were no trouble at all, but truth be known that this time last year I wouldn't have even attempted it.  Its amazing what 12 months, a twin needle and an overlocker will do for you!

I used the Headphones/Globe Kids pattern from Ottobre 3/2012, but rounded the neck.  Based on my experience with this shirt, I checked the pattern pieces against some of our existing T-shirts, and ended up sewing a size 134 for both boys, even though they measure a size or two smaller.


The only complaint?  The Cyclist wished that I'd slimmed the shirts down for him instead.

To round it out I made this little 'Sweet Dress' for the youngest.  Using broderie anglaise made it even quicker to sew, and I'm proud that I managed to go from the fabric store to finished product in less than two days.  Considering that most of my stash takes a decade or so to see the light of day that has to be some sort of record!

Instead of wholly encasing the neck elastic I put two buttonholes through the dress front before sewing the casing, and threaded through elastic with some ribbon on each end.  Hopefully that way it'll grow from a dress this summer to a top next year.  I also left off the armhole elastic.


I've been blessed with an unexpected free hour or so, so I'm going to amble over here and here and link up and check out what others have been up to.  Thanks for stopping by!

In miniature

I'm still going on my 'clothing baby' projects (I have some more clothes nearly ready to show you), and I haven't forgotten my promise to make the Kinderboy a shirt, but in a side project I've made baby a little bear of her own.

This little bear measures just under 12cm in height, and I have to admit that I came across it accident.  Some time ago I knitted all the parts to it, but stopped at that.  It has been buried in my scrap wool pile ever since.  I'm not sure who the original recipient was intended to be (although I suspect that it was the Schoolboy), but as every baby needs a teddy I've finished him and handed him over to Cate for safe-keeping.

Clothing baby

My little one is into dolls.  She's not even one yet, but fell in love with this little Berenguer baby at the op shop a month or so ago.  I bought her with the intention of washing her up, dressing her, and then presenting her as a first birthday gift in December.  The only problem is, that she's been floating in and out of boxes and bags as I try and work on clothing, and each time the Newbie smothers her in kisses and I feel mean packing her away again.  Its very cute, but I'm determined to stick to my guns and clothe little 'Cate' before handing her over.

I'm working on some knitting as well as sewing projects, but this is the first one that I've finished:

It's from the 'Nakey Baby' project over at The Blueberry Moon.

Modifications:  

I used a woven fabric, and found that I needed some added width to make it go over my baby's arms.  I increased the width of the sleeves by 5.5cm, and if/when I do it again I'll also widen the body sections a little for ease of dressing.

I increased the length of the pattern slightly, to match the scrap that I was using.  It turned out to be equivalent to the depth of the top and bottom hems.

Lessons/Comments:  
The bodice sections would make the good basis for a 'pillowcase' type dress.

For reference, my baby is around 13" long.

I'm linking up over here, so I'll see you there once I've actually done some paid work for the morning!