I need your advice on a few projects I’ve got going on. First is this vintage quilt I picked up at the thrift store recently. It is super fantastic, there is no doubt. The colors are super saturated and somehow read neon and pastel at the same time. The prints are flat out amazing…

…but the thing is ginormous! Queen size? King size? I don’t know but it weighs a ton. I’m thinking of cutting it down to a twin size for my daughter’s bed. What do you think? I’m pretty sure I can just cut it to size and then hand bind it. I want to use a pattern binding (stripes or polka dots), but is that too much? If I just do a solid color, which color?

And then what to do with the rest? There might be enough for curtains for my daughter’s room, but is that too crazy? Is a pillow to boring and matchy matchy? Advice! Direction! I need you!

Second is this cheetah print. Leopard really, but my youngest son is obsessed with cheetahs and he is convinced this is a cheetah print. He has requested a jacket made out of it. I’m planning on using the Study Hall Jacket pattern. How do I do it so it’s not too costumey? I was thinking of pairing it with that dark green jersey. That’s one option. Another is dying the print:

Another idea is to do more of a color block thing with the print–like Shauna from Shwin and Shwin did. I don’t want the thing to look goofy. I mean he’s 4, so he can rock goofy, but still. Any ideas?! Any advice?

Normally I can’t stand sewing clothes for myself.  There are many reasons…

#1. I am not a rectangle. Unlike my children, I am not shaped like piece of spaghetti. All the curvy bits make for complicated patterns that involve darts and tucks and cutting just right and actually (for once) transferring markings from the pattern to the fabric.

#2. I am not a child. Which means I cannot make a top out of 1/2 yard of whatever random fabric I have lying around. I need to buy something I like (I’m horribly picky) and I need to buy rather a lot of it (I’m horribly cheap). So more often than not I leave the fabric store with a 1/2 yard of something cute for my kids.

#3. I do not have the world’s most perfect body. I know this, I don’t dwell on it. I just try to accept myself and move on. But when you make a pattern, every way your body differs from the norm becomes hugely amplified. It’s like the damn pattern is mocking you at every turn.

#4. I do not like looking at pictures of myself. And seriously, there were like a 100 to look through just to get a few decent ones. This one has some subcategories: #4a. I make ridiculous faces when my husband takes pictures of me and #4b. Hello?! did you not realize your jeans are dirty? 

But! But! in spite of all that I hate about sewing clothes for myself, I love this shirt! I found a lovely, super neutral, sweater knit fabric in the sale bin that worked out perfectly. The pattern–a free pattern by Kristin from skirt as top–was very simple and easy to follow.  I’m happy to report the pattern did not mock me as I made it. And! And! I’ve worn it multiple times since I’ve sewed it.

This is what victory looks like, wonky seams and all.

I’m super excited to announce the dates for this fall’s Kid’s Clothes Week! Hop on over to the KCW blog for more…

It’s hard to let summer go, but it really is over now. School’s in full swing and the weatherman assures me the heat wave is over. I wanted to do one last summer journal entry, because there were so many little bits of our summer I missed sharing with you.

We picked our fair share of berries (including this enormous blackberry from our backyard).

We went to the farmer’s market almost every week.

We built ferris wheels and rode on some too.

We built forts…that were much, much harder than they looked.

We did silly thing too like coloring our hair with chalk…

…and making cakes out of watermelon.

Mostly we played: inside and outside and wherever we could. How was your summer? Messy? Busy? Too hot? Too long? I want to hear about it!

If you are anything like me you have finally let out that breath you’ve been holding all summer. The first week of school get-togethers and half days and general first week freak-outs is behind you. Things are slowly settling down into a routine and you are breathing again. Actually starting–and possibly even finishing!–a project is in the realm of possibility.

If that project were, say, a pattern by Zonen 09. And if you sewed it up by next Sunday and added it to their flickr group (all totally possible). Well, you could win heaps of amazing prizes.

What, what? You haven’t heard of Zonen 09? They are a small Belgian pattern company that makes sewing patterns for boys (and only boys!) clothes. How amazing is that? And the patterns are so stinkin’ cute! I read a few Dutch blogs and I see the Jacob pants pop up again and again on them. The pants are always awesome. I mean just look:

1. yellow jacob pants by Griet 2.plaid jacob pants by Ik ben Vink 3. stamped jacob pants by huisje boompje boefjes 4. pink jacob pants by Enid Vandecan

I’m happy to say that the Jacob pants pattern is now available in English! The Charlie shirt is too. I have a few pairs of Jacob pants on my to do list this weekend, but sadly I cannot enter them in the contest because I am a judge. But you can!

Is this the first you’ve heard of Zonen 09? Have I convinced you of their awesomeness? Are you already eyeing your sewing machine?