Happy birthday baby!

My wee boy turns two on Friday and I can't believe it! It really does feel like he was born a few months ago. I'm feeling it even more acutely with the impending arrival of his little brother or sister in a few weeks.... I think he is too. Last night after his bath I wrapped him up in his towel and gave him a big cuddle. He rested his head on my cheek and said 'I'm mama's baby'. Eek! I think we are in for a few interesting months ahead.

I really wanted to make my little guy something special for his birthday. I wasn't sure about his initial request for a 'cookie monster dress', but I let him choose some cute Kokka cars fabric from my stash which he just adores, and decided to turn them into some shorts for him. He hasn't seen these finished yet, but got very excited when he saw me sewing up the fabric. He should love them.

They're pretty much the same as the helicopter shorts I made recently. O+S Sketchbook pattern, without the pleat, with a flat front, and two rows of topstitching on both sides of the fly, up the rise, on the pockets and up the outer seam. A few minor alterations that gave me the casual look I was after.

I also wanted to make him a shirt, and as usual turned to my O+S Sketchbook shirt pattern. I've made this several times now and am always looking for ways to make it a bit different. In the past I have monogrammed and also embroidered the pocket. This time I decided to applique a little dinosaur peeking out from under the pocket, as my wee guy loves dinosaurs, and I was keen to avoid using a dinosaur print (I love novelty prints, but need to draw the line somewhere!).

I sketched the dinosaur freehand onto some vliesofix then blanket-stitched it by hand onto the shirt. The eye is satin-stitched. All in all it only took about 20 minutes and I really like the lift it gives the shirt.

I also used the spotty fabric I used for the dinosaur on the inside of both plackets and the underside of the collar. It's not immediately obvious but peeps out hen the shirt is being worn.

All in all I'm happy with this shirt. The fabric was a bit of a nightmare though. It's lovely to look at - a very fine striped aqua and white cotton, but it's very, very crisp and creases so easily.

I'm wrapping these up for the little guy to open on Friday. Happy birthday baby!


Dark and blurry sorry, but here's the finished shirt.


Dino detail! T should love this.


The inner plackets and under-collar both have the same spotty fabric I used for the dinosaur, to tie everything together.


T's brm-brm shorts.


I did two lines of top-stitching on both sides of the fly, pockets and outer seam (plus the rise, which you can't see here).

Otto shorts

One of the hardest things about sewing for boys is the lack of variety. There's just so more choice when it comes to patterns and fabrics for girls. Having said that though, there's a lot of brilliant stuff out there and I can usually find inspiration on other blogs or Flickr.

I'm still trying to get most of my Summer sewing done and that includes lots of shorts for my little guy, who wears little else over Summer. I have a few patterns, but am reluctant to buy more as they're all just variations on a theme. That's why I like Ottobre magazine so much, lots of boy patterns every issue that I probably wouldn't purchase individually, but really appreciate.

These shorts are from Ottobre 3/11. I like the way they're a bit shorter than most of the other patterns out there, and the little cuff detail is something a bit different (to be honest I wasn't sure about it, but was itching to do something 'new', and I really like the end result).

This is only my second Ottobre attempt. On one hand it's kind of refreshing to have minimal instructions - there's certainly no hand-holding! On the other hand the finish isn't quite as polished as you'd get with say an Oliver + S pattern. I learnt a few new tricks making these though - constructing the waistband without having to thread through elastic on a safety pin was a revelation... sooooo much easier than the way I usually do it!

I sewed them in navy and white seersucker with red topstitching. There's a lot of topstitching in this pattern - two rows on most seams. I love topstitching though, although using such an obvious colour made me a bit more cautious than usual. The seersucker was from my stash (leftover from this shirt) - if I had purchased fabric for these I would have gone with a broader stripe, but I'm trying to chew through my fabric stash at the moment.

I made these in a 92 and they fit beautifully on my big, little boy.


The finished shorts. They've got patch pockets with a little flap, faux fly and a little crossover cuff detail.


*sigh*. This is the best photo I could get of my little guy wearing them. You are growing up too fast mister.


The fly with bar-tacks.


Cuff detail. Didn't like this initially but do now.


Pocket detail. I like the diagonal buttonholes, and chose red and white contrast buttons.

The Urban Hoodie

I first bought the pattern for the Urban Unisex Hoodie (from Heidi and Finn) about a year ago now I guess. I loved it as soon as I saw it but have put off sewing it as I've never sewn with knit before.

A couple of weeks ago I bit the bullet and started two new knit projects, one of which is the hoodie, and the other I will blog about soon. And what do you know, sewing with knit isn't hard at all... unless we're talking attaching rib binding, which I'm not... in this post.

This is a great little pattern. It's a fairly simple shape and it unisex, which is a bonus in our house. I sewed this version using a couple of cheap remnants - a blue interlock and a black and grey striped rib knit.

I have read a few reviews saying that the sizing runs small in this pattern, especially around and under the arms. With that in mind I halved the seam allowance and it makes for a really nice fit on my little boy.

The only thing I didn't like about this pattern was that fact that the lining and main fabric at the bottom of the hoodie is stitched together before the band is attached. It makes it kind of clunky to sew. Apart from that, I really recommend this pattern and will be making more for my kids.


The finished hoodie. I wish I had stretched the bottom band on as I'd sewn it. I will next time.


This is the best modelling shot I could get, but you can get a pretty good idea of the fit and general look of the top here.


View from behind. I love the blue poking out from the hood. I also love that my wee boy is hugging his teddy and sucking his thumb here. At nearly two my baby thinks he is a big boy now and getting so independent. It's nice to see him slip back to baby mode once in a while!

The tea party playsuit

Nothing inspires me to sew like a friend having a baby. Baby E was born eleven days ago and is just delicious - super chubby cheeks and loads of thick, dark hair. Cluck cluck!

I decided to make him a tea party playsuit, by Oliver + S. My motives were largely selfish - I wanted to try it out as I've never sewn one before, and I already had most of the pattern pieces traced and cut from making the tea party sundress last year. I am nothing if not lazy!

This is a size 6-12 months, so intended for baby E to wear this coming (Australian) Summer. I used some of my stash of Kokka robots for the bodice, and a really lovely, super light, striped linen for the shorts. The bodice is also lined in the linen. The linen had a beautiful drape, but was so hard to work with. I swear it was alive... it just moved - my seams were all a bit uneven because of it. In the end I overlocked each piece before sewing, which gave it some stability and meant I didn't have to finish the seams post-production (again, lazy!). The piping is one of the many green Kona solids, and while I was initially worried it was too bright, I like the pop of colour it gives the playsuit.

Construction was straightforward. I used snaptape for the crotch and am pretty happy with the way it turned out. It seems kind of bulky against the light linen but I'm sure with a cute little nappied baby bum in there it will be fine. In any case the snaptape was so much easier than worrying about whether regular snaps are aligned properly.


The finished product. The left left looks wonky here but it was just the breeze - I promise :)


The bodice is lined in the same linen as the shorts, which gives a very clean finish to the inside.


Bodice detail.


The buttons, hand stitched with green floss. My initial linen covered buttons were a disaster (you could see the aluminium button through the linen on my first attempt, then when I interfaced it it wouldn't snap in on the second attempt). I didn't remember I had these buttons until I was fishing through my button box. I bought them on a trip to Hong Kong last month for the lovely Nicole, who was searching for them. If you ever are in Hong Kong, go and visit Sham Shui Po. It's home to the craft district and is absolute heaven - so many treasures at very cheap prices.

Schools Days coat take 2

I finished my last post talking about the O+S school days coat I was making for my son. Well it's finished, has already been worn to death and is dirty already!

My little boy's coat is super soft pale blue cashmere, lined with a tangerine elongated dot from the Freebird by Momo collection (the actual print is called 'eggs' and the colour is melon). I really wanted a contrast lining, and this looks so lovely on my little guy, who has strawberry blond hair. I had initially wanted to use one of those cute Japanese prints for the lining, but decided not to in the end as a) I wanted a contrast and most of the boyish ones were blue/green, and b) most of my favourite prints were canvas weight, and I thought that would make the jacket too bulky, especially as it's only a sz 18-24 months.

If you're making this coat, I really recommend checking out one of those bead shops to find the leather cord. I looked everywhere and was about to use a leather shoelace, before mum told me where to look. The shop I went to had leather and a man-made leatherette cord in a heap of colours, including many brights. The leatherette would be a good choice if you plan to dry-clean your coat, and the dry-cleaning process can often make leather stiff and crackly. The man-made option is also very soft and super strong.

There's not much else to say that I didn't say in my last post. Except my son loves his coat too, and both kids like wearing their matching jackets together. They recently stood the test of a cold Melbourne escape and got a lot of positive comments.

I feel like my sewing is stuck in cement lately, so much inspiration but so little sewing time. I am itching to get sewing for the new baby, and to make a few more Winter garments for the kids.


The finished coat. The colour is a bit off here - the photo below is much more accurate.


I love the lining :)

My monkey's new monkeys

Winter is fast approaching, and my little boy is not so little anymore, so it's time for a new sleeping bag to keep him toasty at night.

I have made sleeping bags before, using my own pattern. This time around I was a bit too confident, especially after such a long break from sewing, and made a bunch of stupid mistakes, like forgetting to add seam allowances, stuffing up the zipper etc. But, we got there in the end!

I really love the fabric I used. It is from David Walker's Boys Will be Boys collection. I loved it as soon as I saw it (online) and when my local fabric shop had it at 20% off I jumped at the chance. However I couldn't bring myself to use it for clothing - as much as I love novelty fabric it's a bit much, even for me. I eventually decided to use it to make pyjamas, but prefer my kids to wear something with a bit of stretch to bed, so canned that idea. I finally had a lightbulb moment when cleaning out my son's cupboard - he needed a new sleeping bag and this would be the perfect fabric! It will get regular use, so we'll both get to enjoy it often.

The fill is a double layer of cotton and bamboo, which should be very warm and has the added bonus of being low-allergy (my little guy has asthma and eczema and is constantly breaking out in hives after being irritated by something). The lining is a soft white and blue polkadot flannel, for extra warmth.

If it looks stupidly long, that's because it is stupidly long. I married a giant (6'8") and my kids are taking after their daddy. I made this to fit for at least another year. He is currently 18 months and still in a cot, and I'm in no hurry to move him to a big bed. Luckily we have my daughter's old cot for the new baby.

My little boy has given it his seal of approval and will wear his new 'monkey sweeping baggy' for the first time tonight. Even though the colours are traditionally boyish, I think it has pretty broad 'toddler' appeal and baby #3 can wear it too, regardless of its gender.

You know those gorgeous blog pics with handmade clothes hanging on a funky clothesline surrounded by lush green gardens? This is not one of them.


The arms and neck are bias bound with a coordinating print from the same collection.


Super soft flannel lining.


Monkeys! I love these little guys and am glad I finally found a good use for this fabric.

More apples for Christmas

I blogged about a week ago about a dress I made my almost three year old for Christmas.

My little boy now has a matching shirt in the green colourway of the same fabric! It's my usual shirt pattern (sketchbook by O+S) with pearly snaps instead of buttons. I made the collar and placket cream so it's extra matchy (and naff!) on Christmas day.

When I went to cut out the shirt I found I had nowhere near as much of the green fabric as I thought. The very lovely Emma came to my rescue with some yardage from her stash - you can check out her amazing blog here. Thanks Emma!

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all have a happy and safe holiday.


Shirt for my 15 month old. He'll wear it with some store bought shorts as I ran out of time to make some. They're beige with apple green trim.


To match this dress for my nearly three year old.

Robots for Christmas

Just finished another night's Christmas sewing. This time it's an O+S sketchbook shirt and a MIP lazy day hat for my nephew.

If you read this blog often you'll know that I've made both of these patterns before and love them both. They're simple and look great.

The fabric I used is by Kokka - I have used it before in a different colourway to make shorts for my son. I really love it. I think it might be a bit busy for this shirt, but if anyone can get away with a busy shirt it's an 18 month old.

The only thing I did differently when constructing the shirt was to cut the collar interfacing along the collar fold line (a tip I got from the Oliver + S forums). This makes the collar much easier to fold, especially as I used quite a thick fabric.

Excuse the dodgy photos, they were taken at night, using a flash, as I need to wrap and post this present first thing.


The finished shirt. Quite busy, but I like it!


Inside. Constructing the yoke is fiddly but the results are so neat.


The hat. This pattern is really well suited to cotton canvas.


Fabric detail - because I love it!


A few of the robots got a head transplant where I attached the pocket.

Monogramed shirt for Baby Z

A little while ago I posted about this set I made for a baby shower. Well, on Thursday morning my friend delivered a beautiful baby boy. Eeeee!!! I'm off to meet him in an hour and cannot wait.

He arrived a little early and I was completely unprepared with a present (especially as I didn't know his gender before he was born). But I knew I really wanted to bring something to the hospital, so I pulled out my well-used Sketchbook Shirt pattern from Oliver + S. I have made this four times now and it gets easier every time.

I didn't have time to go fabric shopping, so I used some blue and white seersucker from my stash. I was very tempted to use one of the many cutesy boyish prints I own, but I think the stripes work better for this shirt, especially as it is sized 12-18 months (for next Summer). In any case this little man is going to get a zillion gifts from me over the coming months so I can use some of the cuter fabric for those.

I have never sewed with a narrow stripe before and it was challenging. It shows up every little mistake. You have to be so precise with your cutting and that is hard with seersucker!

I knew I wanted to personalise the shirt, but didn't know how. I thought about an embroidered pocket like I did here but that wouldn't really work on the seersucker. I eventually decided to play around with the stripes and applique a 'Z' monogram (first letter of his name) using horizontal stripes on the vertical pocket. I'm really happy with it. It's kind of subtle, but funky. My husband thinks I should have stitched it on using navy thread... I'm undecided. It would have made it stand out more, but I kind of like it the way it is.

I used navy snaps instead of buttons - I didn't have anything appropriate in my button box.

Time to grab some lunch and then get to the hospital. Can't wait to meet you Baby Z!


Finished shirt. Size 12-18 months.


Monogramed pocket detail.


Close up. I picked a font I liked on the computer, enlarged it and flipped it. Then I traced in directly from the screen onto some vliesofix. After ironing it onto the fabric I cut around the Z.


The back. The yoke is cut across the grain. I thought about chevroning it but I only had a few hours to make this shirt, so decided not to.

Sketchbook hippos

I have two new newborns in my life to cluck over! Babies Max and Curtis were born to two very good friends just two weeks apart in July & August.

Shamefully, I have only just finished their presents. I rather uncreatively made them the same little outfit - an Oliver + S sketchbook shirt and shorts, in size 6-12 months for this Summer.

I've made the sketchbook shirt before and really love this pattern. I've not made the shorts before as I was a little turned off by the pleat in them, but the finished garment is really lovely. I especially love the fake fly.

I used a print from Daiwabo's Tip Top canvas collection - hippos in grey. The shirt is a Kona solid in a coordinating blue.

I wanted to 'tie' the two pieces together, so I made the shirt's inside yoke using the hippo fabric, and embroidered a hippo on the shirt pocket (I sketched it on then stitched it a few times using a very short stitch). I'm really happy with the way the pockets turned out.

A few things I learned during this process:
1) I get bored very quickly making the exact same outfit twice
2) My sewing has improved since July when I started these outfits. On one hand that's great, but it irks me to give a gift that I think could be 'better' than it is.
3) I really should have tried harder to match the thread to the Kona.

Some pictures:


I thought the pleat was too preppy but I am really happy with these.


Fabric close-up. I matched the blue puddles to the Kona I used for the shirt.


Full outfit (you can just see the other one peeping out in the top left corner)


I used the hippo fabric from the shorts on the inside yoke, to tie the two separates together.


Detail of the embroidered hippo - my favourite part of the whole outfit.

Robot shorts

I have promised myself that I will sew as much for my son as I do for my daughter. So far I think I am doing a good job of this, but it is hard, as there are so few patterns for boys. Really, how many shorts patterns do you need?

It seems that when it comes to sewing for my son I am limited to shirts, shorts and pants (apart from t-shirts, but my knit phobia keeps me from trying these yet) whereas I have enough patterns to keep my daughter in a new dress every week all Summer long.

Because there are so few truly different boys' patterns, I am always looking out for cute boyish fabric. Again, the girly fabric market is so much bigger, but there are a few real gems out there for boys.

I recently saw some gorgeous robot fabric by Kokka, at Kelani (link to the right) and just had to have it. I knew it would transform my boring shorts pattern into a cute and different little pair of shorts.

The pattern I used is Burda 9639, which is a basic, elasticised waist shorts pattern, but with cute patch pockets and flaps on the outside of each leg.

It's a simple pattern, although I used some of the Oliver + S construction techniques to make the finished product a bit more professional.

The robot fabric is on a black base-cloth, so i used electric blue thread for my top-stitching to make the pockets stand out a bit, as they're such a cute feature (and I don't own any black thread).

I'm really happy with the end result. I still have enough fabric left to make my little boy a cute robot hat, or maybe a matching appliqued top.


The finished shorts


There are patch pockets on each outer leg. See how the lines of robots match on my side seam? Let's pretend that was intentional and is the same on the other side.


Detail of the blue top-stitching.


I adore this fabric. These little guys are less than 2cm tall, so the amount of detail they included is amazing.

One year on, and a new backpack for my baby

It's my birthday today, which means it's exactly one year since I got my sewing machine and was bitten by the sewing bug. I'm really loving being able to create beautiful things for my family and friends, especially my kids, and can't ever see myself getting tired of sewing.

This week also marks my last week of maternity leave, as I return to work next Monday. I have mixed feelings about this, as it means putting my youngest in childcare for two days a week. He's only 10 months old and we've never been apart, so it's going to be a huge change for us.

I decided to make him a backpack to take to daycare so he's got something special 'just for him' that was made by his mummy. I know he won't have any clue about that, but it will at least make me feel better!

I used the toddler backpack pattern by Made by Rae with a few amendments: I added a zippered pocket to the front, increased the height by 2 inches and fully lined it. I also added a nameplate to the back. The backpack came together without any fuss and I had fun picking the fabric (cute Kokka aeroplanes) and trims.

This was my first time using a zipper and I was pleasantly surprised to see how easy it was. It was also my first time working with piping (ready-made) - I liked the effect and am looking forward to using it again.


View from the front. I drafted my own patten for the front pocket and am pleased with the result.


Side view. Even though I used cotton canvas and interfaced it, it's not quite as firm as I would like.


Back view. The straps are padded at the top. The bottom section is webbing and adjustable.


The nameplate. I machine-embroidered Tom's name and trimmed it with piping.


I added lining to give the bag a neater finish. All seams are bound with contrast bias binding. You can see the quilted bottom here - it's the same on the bag's exterior too.


And the top view - my two very first attempts at a zipper!

The Sketchbook shirt

My favourite pattern company, Oliver + S, put out three new patterns recently, the ice-cream dress (I have made and blogged the blouse version), the music class blouse and skirt, and the sketchbook shirt and shorts. I was most excited about the ice-cream dress and thought the Sketchbook pattern was 'nice', but on the whole I find boys' patterns a little dull.

However I've just made up the sketchbook shirt and I am in love! In fact I think it may be my new favourite pattern. The resulting shirt is certainly the garment I am most proud of. It just looks so professional and I am still a little bit amazed that I sewed it. I never would have imagined I was capable of it when I started sewing last year.

A great thing about this pattern is that you can mix and match options. I chose a short-sleeve, pocket and regular collar (there is also a variation with a Chinese collar). I think it's the most casual combination.

The construction was straightforward but I did get to spend some quality time with my unpicker, making sure the collar attachment and set-in sleeves were perfect - well as perfect as possible for me.

The finish is great. It's so neat that it could be worn inside out. I've never made a shirt before so don't know if all shirts are like that, but I suspect it has something to do with the Oliver + S clever construction techniques. I added the optional top-stitching to the yoke and collar. I love top-stitch :-)

I finished the shirt with varnished wood buttons. I like them but worry they are a little big. I may change them tomorrow... The fabric is quite heavy so the interfaced placket is pretty thick and looks a bit clunky with the buttons.

Speaking of the fabric, it's 85% cotton and 15% linen by Trefle from Kokka. If you read this blog regularly you'll know I'm a big fan of novelty prints, but I have never before made a whole garment out of one. I think (hope!) this is successful because the colours are quite muted and the basecloth is natural.

The shirt is sz 12-18 months and is currently a little big for my son. I really hope he grows into it soon as I intend for him to wear it to his first birthday party in September, and then over Summer.

I am already eyeing off other fabrics to make a few more of these shirts for him.


The front. Photo taken in artificial light, making it a bit yellow.


The back. Love the little pleat.


Varnished wood buttons. Love the buttons but wondering if they are too clunky on the shirt.


I love the inside as much as the outside. As with all O+S patterns the construction leaves a beautifully clean finish.