At the beginning of fall I made a list of the things I wanted to make for my family, but I didn’t want to post it because I was afraid I wouldn’t get any of it done, then I would feel guilty and get crabby and nothing would get done.  But shockingly, I am slowly crossing things off. The purple pants and skirt, a little red riding hood cape (for her birthday), and now this coat. I was very nervous when I wrote “a coat for each” on my list, but this came together relatively simply.  I bought the pattern ages ago at a thrift store for ten cents and it was super easy.  Raglan sleeves, baby. They make everything easier. The only thing that tripped me up was the collar, which I had to rip out three times before I got it right and I’m glad I did. Normally I would just say screw it and push on, but I was feeling extra patient for some reason. Plus it has to stand up to be handed down now that he has a little brother.

The very best part of the coat, though, is the lining. It’s made from a felted cashmere sweater and holy crap does it feel nice. I was lucky enough to find an XL cashmere sweater (for 5 bucks!) right when I was looking for a lining and it was just, just enough. Lining a coat is super simple: right sides facing, sew all around, turn inside out and sew up the opening. The sleeves are a little different, but that shouldn’t deter you. You too can make a coat for your kid! I feel like clothes are getting more and more expensive as they get more and more cheaply made.

Okay one more thing about the coat and then I’ll be done. The buttons. They are beautiful. I was going to use up whatever matched from my button jar, but a friend told me to go to Gayfeather, which if you are local know is a beautiful fabric store, but I bet you never noticed their button cabinet. It’s awesome. I love the burnished look of them and that everyone is different.

After all the swearing and unpicking of seams, it’s just feels ridiculously good to see him always choose this coat to wear. Now I have to figure out how to make the one his sister has been asking for.

I wanted to make some corduroy pants for my kids this fall and my son picked out this crazy purple called blackberry.  That was weeks ago. And it’s not like the fabric has been sitting around waiting for me to get to it. I have been working on these pants and his sister’s skirt for a good long while now. First it turns out that a yard and a half will no longer get me two pairs of pants like it used to, so the shorter one got the pants and the taller one had to settle for a skirt (luckily the tall one’s a girl). And then when I really looked at the fabric, though it is corduroy, it’s barely thicker than quilting cotton (damn you Joann’s and your cheap ass fabric) so I thought I’d try to line it. Which I’ve never done. And while we’re at it let’s try flat felled seams because hell I’ve never done those before either. Oh and pockets, they need pockets. All of this added up to my sewing machine permanently living on the dining room table, because I only have 10 minutes here and there to work, and now my hand wheel is covered in peanut butter.  Neither piece turned out great, but I was doing lots of things I didn’t really know how to do and made up the patterns as I went along, so really I shouldn’t be surprised.  Lining is hard. We live in Wisconsin and our winters are super cold, so I would love to line all the clothes I make, but I don’t know how. You would think it would be easy. In the vastness of the craft blog world there must be some “how to line clothes” tutorial . Isn’t there? I know I did the lining for the skirt wrong because it can stand up with no one in it and the ruffles aren’t very ruffly. And the pants lining was a little easier, but the hems were a pain in the butt because they were so thick. So they got warm, if a little half ass, purple clothes. All they care about is the purple, so whatever.

The heart pocket was my friend’s brilliant idea and my daughter loves it. And I love the bright blue stitching that I used on both garments and the buttons she chose. So they weren’t complete failures. Luckily I just bought the book “Carefree Clothes for Girl,” which is beautiful–and has patterns, because I learned I can’t just wing it. And to help with that problem I got “Design It Yourself Clothes: Patermaking simplified” from the library, which I just started to read and it’s awesome. My list of things to make get longer with every new craft book that comes out.

boy!

He was 5 days late, 5 excruciating days, but now he’s here and part of the family. This second son of mine is modeling his “if I make it the baby will come” outfit that I made in that last week of pregnancy. I stole pants and hat idea from Made by Rae, because I literally could have no other thoughts that week besides, “it’s it time yet? now? now is going to happen?”The hat reverses to a pink stripe because we didn’t know if it was a little man or a little lady. The pants are from an old tank top that is  super lightweight because it’s August and should be hot, right? The Midwest has decided what the hell let’s have fall early this year.

The booties I actually started when I was in labor and finished up this past week. They’re from the same pattern I made for a friend’s baby and they are just so stinking cute. And now I have a whole Von Trapp matching family!

I whipped up these stripey baby shoes before we left on vacation for a coworker of my husband’s.  I bought the pattern on etsy (here). The directions tried to be incredibly clear, but got a little complicated because they just went on and on. Mostly I just looked at the pictures and copied what I saw. They might be a little small–hopefully she’s a slender ankled baby girl. The plaid shoes in the pattern photo are so flippin cute I think I’ll make some just like it for the little bun in my oven.

After my small success with the japanese bag pattern, I thought I’d tackle a more difficult japanese pattern. This pattern is from the summer 2008 edition of Cotton Friend (I got it on etsy here). There was a picture for every step, which made it feel a little like cheating (even though I had to read the steps top to bottom and right to left which was totally disorienting). Why can’t all patterns be made for visual learners like me? The armscyes were a little tricky and I have about 5 messed up necklines cut out, but I figured it out and it fits! There is a matching pattern for mama in the magazine, but this mama is pretty pregnant so I think matching my kid would look extra silly now, but maybe next summer…

A friend of mine started a blog a while back called darts and tarts, documenting her (and her friend’s) mad clothes making skills–like this awesomeness–so go check them out.