The last outfit for KCW was half total success and half total failure. Let’s start with the success, shall we? Cheetah Hoodie! My youngest has a long standing obsession with cheetahs. I have read what seems like  700 [very dry] books on cheetahs, watched some rather compelling documentaries, and even made a cheetah pillow for him, but cheetah clothes for boys are hard to find.

Over a year ago now, he fell in love with some leopard print jeggings at h&m and wore them until they were threadbare. He got some funny looks, but he didn’t care–he was a cheetah! Since then I’ve been wanting to make him something cheetah, but not costume-y and not overly girly. I think this hoodie is right on the mark. I really don’t know why there aren’t more clothes like this in the boys section. Everything is navy or gray or red. And if there is some sort of graphic or print it’s so angry: the lions are baring their teeth, the super heroes are crushing bad guys, and there are just a lot of skulls in general. For girls it’s pink and purple princesses and for boys is primary color aggression. Sheesh people, can we ease up on the gender stereotypes. It’s just a shirt.

I made this shirt with the flashback tee pattern, then added a hood and a kangaroo pocket. The neck binding isn’t as wonky as it looks in this photo. It’s actually not half bad. Seeing as necklines are my new nemesis (I conquered hems a while back) I’m calling this a victory. And before you say anything, yes I know this is actually leopard print. Cheetahs have spots and leopards have rosettes. But plain old polka dots don’t really read cheetah, whereas this print it more big cat. He loves it and that all that matters.

These pants I don’t love. I used some thrifted pants and my beloved Happy Homemade vol.2 pants pattern, but the waistband is all kinds of wrong. I tried to salvage the original waistband like I did for his brother’s pants, but the fabric was way, way too thick. I’m going to have to cut off the waistband and try again.

Oh well. My goal for KCW was to make an outfit for each kid.  2 1/2 is not bad. 2 1/2 weeks late is not bad either :)

Recently my daughter has been into pink. Waaaay into it. Especially when it’s paired with purple. Oh, barf. Pink has never been a color I’ve been attracted to and though I’m sometimes strangely drawn to purple, it’s not my favorite either. Together? No way! Sewing something you hate is no fun, but sewing something that will end up being hated is even worse.

So I came up with a compromise: a salmony pink paired with burnt orange. Boom! We both love it. The pink is a thrifted sweatshirt fabric that is super soft on the inside–sweatshirt fleece maybe. Is there such a thing? And the orange is an old tee shirt. The pattern is completely made up and I’m not super happy with it, but I think it’ll do.

It’s a raglan sleeve with a high-low hem. I haven’t been able to get this shirt that Brienne made out of my head. There was going to be a lot more color blocking going on, but in the end it was too much. I love the idea of striped cuffs, but I liked this shirt more with 3/4 length sleeves. My daughter did not agree, so I made the sleeve hem big enough to roll up. It’s all about compromise these days.

The gold polka dot leggings were easy peasy. The only mishap came when I went to hem the bottoms. Instead of pressing a nice crease, my iron melted the damn fabric. Luckily they melted in just the right place, so they’re not too short. I serged the bottoms and called it a day.

Stylish, comfy, pink: this outfit ticks all the boxes.

If you’d like to know more about these items, you can see all the details on their KCW page: sweatshirt and leggings.

Yes, I know, KCW is over–very much over. But hey I went in cold and started too many things (as per always) so I needed another week to finish things. Plus, dear Lord! the cold! and the sickness! Will winter ever end?!

No, it won’t. At least not for 2 more long months, which is why I made these warm pants for my son. They look like wool, but are actually polyester, and they’re lined with flannel. I used the Jacob pattern by Zonen 09 and some lady’s very stylish slacks from the 70s to make these cozy dancing pants. She must have been a very tiny lady, because the waistband practically fit my 7 year old!

I had to reuse the waistband, because I barely had enough fabric to eek out the rest of the pants. It looks a little weird with the [fake] fly opening one way and the [fake] closure opening the other. But I’m 99% sure no one is going to notice.

I had a different top planned for this outfit, but then I found this striped sweater I had cut out already. I realize he looks a little crazy…

…but he loves it (the crazy and the shirt). The shirt is upcycled from a ladies sweater and made with the Flashback Tee pattern. Both the pants and the sweater came from this crazy thrift store called the Dig&Save. All the thrift store rejects go there. You have to dig around in giant bins to find anything and everything is priced by the pound.

It’s an odd place, but a treasure trove of fabric. You really have to dive in (almost literally) and trust your instincts. I was drawn to these polyester pants, but as I was sewing them I had a moment of fear: Is he going to be teased because his mom so obviously made his pants.

Do you worry about this? Cherie from You & Mie started a great conversation on instagram about kids dressing themselves–do you let them? do you edit the craziness? do you encourage it? do you feel pressure to dress them just right? I think the hashtag was #realkidsrealclothes if you want to join the conversation.

I obviously encourage the crazy, but maybe it’s time I pulled back. Grade school is tough. As a parent, it’s hard to know when to lead and when to let your kids figure it out on their own. They are little, but they’re big, but really they’re little. Agh! All of this from a pair of polyester pants.

I am plodding along this KCW. Some days sewing is simply a pleasure, but this week it seems more like a chore. Creative energy is an odd thing: it comes and goes, it can perk you up like coffee, or destroy you when it’s not there. I’m happy to say, I am putting in my hour every day. Even though I’m a little grumpy when I do it.

So what have I done? So far made some piles and traced a bunch of fabric. Then yesterday I cut out all my fabric. There was a bit of upcycling happening–old man pants => little man pants. And today I did some pre-sewing. I’m not sure that’s actually a thing, but let’s make it one. Pre-sewing: all the little sewing you need to do before you get to the big sewing. My pre-sewing today was pockets and piping, hoods and darts,  an elbow pad or two thrown in there somewhere. You get the picture.

How is your creative energy these days? Running on high? Non-existent? Hiding?

I completely missed day two of KCW. I was laid up in bed, sick. The awful bug that had been making all my children barf at 2 in the morning finally caught up to me. Ugh. Today I rallied, if only for a bit.

Enough to trace some patterns and even draft one of my own. Pattern drafting with two kitties on the prowl is difficult to say the least. If I hadn’t told you already: we got two kitties! They are adorable, but they are a lot more interested in what I’m doing (read: in the way) than our dog ever was.

Still a few patterns were traced and even some fabric was cut. I’m moving slow this KCW, but as long as I’m getting my hour in every day I’m doing okay.  Have you been checking in on the KCW blog? There have been some lovely garments featured for day one, two, and three. Go see!