After some pretty obvious frustration yesterday, I finished some projects. Some I just put away for another time and some I started because I knew I could finish them without loosing my mind.  This shirt pattern is from the super fantastic japanese book Happy Homemade Vol. 2.

There is a little keyhole detail in the back, but except for that it’s just a few pieces of fabric cinched together with a tie.  The tie works as the straps too and ties in a pretty bow in the back.  If I didn’t have to hem the entire tie  (and next time I’ll just cut two, sew them together and turn them out) it would have taken an hour start to finish. I don’t know if it fits yet, because little miss is at school, but it turned out so well I won’t even mind if it doesn’t.

I know for sure these shorts don’t fit, but they might in a few years. My son doesn’t care though. He wore them yesterday and today and the front is covered in breakfast, which is why I am only showing you the back. To make these you take a pattern for shorts cut the front and back pieces down the middle (slash and spread) so when you cut out your fabric you should have eight pieces total. Then sew the middle seams with the seam exposed and sew the side seams normally.  It’s kind of a cool detail, but I’m not sure how they’ll look out of the wash. I made them from a knit, so they shouldn’t unravel. If they come out ok I’ll make some more in the right size. someday. The pattern is “i” from Everyday Bottoms.

You told me I had to, so I did: I made a matching tie. I used the pattern and tutorial for the little boy’s tie from the Purl Bee. It came together super quick and in one evening I was done. The tie is almost completely hand sewn. If you set up the ironing board in front of the boob tube, you too can make a tie in a night. “Little boy” is a little vague so I didn’t know if the tie would fit my son (he’s three), but it’s actually perfect.

And it was warm enough that they didn’t have to cover up their cute outfits with a winter coat. I remember there being many snowy easters when I was a kid. They even got to have an easter egg hunt outside. Yay for crazy midwestern weather!

This is the first year that I’ve made my daughter an easter dress. I think it was just too hectic the past few years for me to get one done, much less done on time. But this one was done with a week to spare! Can you believe it? Well the hem is pretty wonky, but I don’t really care because she loves it.

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The pattern is from the japanese book Girly Style Wardrobe. The dress is incredibly simple, but in japanese it’s a little harder. I could not for the life of me figure out how they wanted me to cut pattern pieces for the tie, so I just made it up as I went along and they are shorter than I would have liked, but whatever. I did actually make a muslin (because the floral fabric she chose for the dress is vintage and so, so lovely) and I should have learned about the tie with the muslin, but I screwed it up totally on that one and didn’t fix it, even though that ‘s what muslins are for silly (I’m sure it will show up on ye ol blog sometime).

I would like to make my son a tie to match, because how adorable would that be, but easter is two days away and there are eggs to dye!

This year I am determined to cut into the ridiculous amount of fabric I have amassed in my basement. It’s not there just to look at, right? It’s there so I can make the clothes and quilts and toys that my family needs instead of buying all that crap. So this is probably going to be the first of many matching family ensembles.

I don’t know how all those bloggers out there take beautiful pictures of their kids while showing off the beautiful clothes they have on at the same time. This is the best photo I got and it was the last of about a hundred, and really it’s not that great. But you get the drift: one long sleeve shirt, one short sleeve, and one pair of leggings.

all made out of this geek chic fabric I found at the thrift store a loooong while back. It is so perfectly seventies: the stripes are brown and this sort of rainbow confetti, meshy stuff (my daughter calls them her sprinkles pants). It’s a knit that has sat on the shelves waiting for me to learn how to use my serger. And guess what? I learned how to use my serger! A gracious friend taught me how while we made the 90 minute shirt together.

She made the long sleeve version and I made the short sleeve, but hers was so cute I ran home and made the long sleeve one. Of course I didn’t read the directions, screwed it up and the sleeves are too long, but that drooly baby really couldn’t care less.

Now my daughter wants to know where daddy and mama’s matching shirts are. Sound of music here we come!

This coat has been a long time coming. I started it right after I finished making my son’s coat–high off success I suppose–but it stalled soon after when she tried on the rough draft (umm, what do you call the outer shell of the coat, a mock up?) and said, “ewww, I don’t like it.” So it sat in a pile for a loooong while. Then I started looking around for something to line it with and couldn’t find anything big enough to line the whole coat which bummed me out, so it sat some more. I decided to hell with it I would just patch together different sweaters to line it even if it makes it look extra handmade.

Really I probably shouldn’t have lined it. I wanted to just use fabric from my stash (because seriously the stash has to get smaller) and everything is, but the coat doesn’t hang right at all. The pattern is from Carefree Clothes for Girls, which I was really excited about, but I’m not super happy with this pattern (I combined the short coat shape with the long coat length). It’s raglan sleeve, which I love, but it different from the other raglan sleeve things I’ve done in that it has a seem down the top of the arm. So there are four pieces for the sleeves and they are sewn separately to the front and to the back and then the front and back pieces are joined by sewing down the top of both arms. I think this takes away the ease of raglan sleeves and gives the coat extra bulk it just doesn’t need. Oh and I added in seam pockets, which doesn’t help with the bulk issue either, but they’re handy.

Because I didn’t really like it, but didn’t want to abandon it I slapped on some ruffles a la j.crew so I would like it more. And it worked. My daughter was anxious for me to finish it, but damn if those sew on snaps don’t take forever to sew on.  While I was sewing on all those snaps my daughter danced around excited for it to be done, then she tried it on and hated it. It is a little big and hangs weird, so I don’t really blame her. But still. Maybe next year she’ll like it more. Until then she’ll wear it to church because her mother will make her.