I wasn’t going to make my kids anything for christmas (what a horrible mother!) but then dammit, all my friends were making these beautiful robes for their kids. Basically I am 33 and was peer pressured into this sewing project.

Of course I’m glad I did sew them, because my kids look pretty adorable in their cozy flannel robes. The robe pattern came from Sewing For Boys, which I reviewed here.  The pattern comes together very quickly. Leave off the pockets and you could have one finished in a few hours. Make your own fiddly pocket pattern with contrast piping and it will take you a lot longer.

There is one mistake in the book. You must connect the two front pattern pieces before you cut your fabric, but that important step is missing from the directions .  I only realized this after I cut out all my pieces from the PLAID FABRIC! Oh, what’s that, you can’t tell? That is because I’m the master-plaid-matcher!

The fit of the robe is straight up old man robe. So sizes don’t matter all that much. I made the size 6/7 both for my 6 year old daughter and almost 5 year old son.  The fit is great on both. For their 2 1/2 year old brother I made the 2/3 size, but I should have gone a size up. His robe did get a little shorter because of the plaid matching I had to do, but a bigger robe would have fit him better and for longer too.

A few other things I would do to the pattern if I make it again:

• shorten the sleeves a bit.  They are meant to roll up, which is why they are so long, but they roll up a little too much for my taste.
• make the ties a least a foot longer. Makes it easier for little hands to tie (around those big bellies).
• lengthen the pattern a bit–especially for the smaller sizes.

A couple things I did right the first time:

• I made a hang-y up-y loop that I sewed inside each robe. It makes clean up time a tiny bit better.
• I skipped the belt loops and just sewed the tie to the back of the robe in one spot. That way the belt cannot be used as a leash or a jump rope or weapon.
• I read the fabric requirements. Each robe, each one, takes about 4 yards of fabric!

I made a curtain for my kids’ closet this weekend. Not a big deal, but I hate making curtains, no, haaaaaate making them, so it’s a big deal for me. It’s just so much hemming and I kind of suck at hemming, but the curtain isn’t as bad as it looks–though it is a little straighter on one side.  There are more curtains that need to be made and I’m trying to psych myself up for it. I finally after three years of living here have picked out fabric, but haven’t ordered it yet. I want to try this roller shade hack, which looks easy enough, and roman blinds, which look hard. Has anyone had any luck with them?

I also cranked out some fitted sheets for the kids’ beds. I simplified the process a bunch from last time I made sheets. The edges are serged not hemmed and the elastic is only around the corners.  I was able to get two fitted sheets (for my kids’ weird size beds) out of one full size flat sheet. That means the pattern is sideways, but they couldn’t care less. The flannel sheet has deer and bunnies and someone about to get pelted by a snowball right in the butt.

Oh and I have some of that ikea bunting fabric left, do you think it would be ridiculous to make my son pants out of it? Would dying it gray help? or should I just make pillows and call it a day?

…a few warm things I made for the kids so far this winter. The scarves are made from the sleeves of an old felted cashmere sweater and the kids love them because they are so soft.  The flannel pillowcases were supposed to be their St. Nicholas day presents, but I completely forgot about St. Nicholas day.  So they were whipped up in 10 minutes on St Nicholas night right before bedtime. A couple french seams and a big hem and voila! a custom pillowcase. I might make some linen ones for myself after Christmas. And the hat is from an old Martha Stewart pattern.  I’ve used the pattern a bunch of times before, but the sizing is always tricky. I set out to make one hat and suddenly the whole family has them. Usually I just make them from felted sweaters, but for this one I made two hats (one from a sweater and one from an old stripey knit shirt) then fit them together right sides facing, sewed around the edge, turned it out, topstitched and ta da.