Mr. Muscles up there is pretty psyched about his new outfit, and honestly so am I. One super soft hoodie and one pair of crazy town pants and kcw outfit #2 is done and dusted.

First let’s talk about the pants:

PATTERN: Jacob pants pattern by Zonen 09. Obviously I love me some crazy town super flares. This pattern is just fun to make. I made a faux fly again (like yesterday) with piped patch pockets. I omitted the back pockets, because I was starting to go blind staring at this fabric.

FABRIC: the fabric is home dec-y stuff from JoAnn’s. I think it’s made by HGTV.  It had some sort of coating on it, because it was meant for outdoor use, but that seemed to have come out in the wash. Unfortunately, it faded a ton in the washer too. But I think I can safely say this print still pops.

SEWING: The sewing went super smoothly. Patterns are just twice as fast the second time around.

now for the hoodie:

PATTERN: flashback skinny tee by Rae. I made one size up (a 7 for my 6 year old) and it’s perfect. I added a hood, using Rae’s tutorial. I finished the edging around the hood and neckline in a different way and it’s eh. Okay, but just eh. Do it the way Rae wants you too. It’s a little fiddly, but looks better. I left the end of the sleeves raw, then rolled them up and tacked them with a few stitches. It’s a little half assed, but I like how it looks. I’ve noticed a few of the shirts I’ve bought lately do this. Hey they’re lazy like me!

FABRIC: oh this fabric is a dream. It’s a thin, but still cozy, sweatshirt material. It’s a beautiful dark teal color and a little loopy on the wrong side, heathered on the right. Ack! I love it. I think I got it from lowpricefabric.com, but I can’t find anything similar there now. I wish I could because I’d like to make myself something out of it.

SEWING: the sewing went well. Attaching the hood was easier than I thought, but finishing it was a lot harder. I’m not happy with how the placket turned out. Next time I think I’ll make a bias tape tube (circle?) the length of the opening and sew continuously around the placket + the hood. Would that work? I’m not great with plackets. But! But! I did sew those buttons that are on the placket with my sewing machine. WooHoo!

Outfit #2 is done, I might just be able to eek out #3.

My daughter has never been much of a girly girl. There was a brief princess phase, but for the most part all the frilly and fussy girl things are of no interest to her.  Not that she is all for boy things, either. She just wants to like what she likes and not be told what that should be. A while back she said, totally exasperated, “Arg! why does my toothbrush have to be pink?!”

Exactly.  So what is the awesome dress that isn’t too girly, but still has a tiny bit of twirl? The Skater Dress pattern by Kitchy Coo.

Amanda has hit the nail on the head with this pattern. Even the name is perfect. The skater dress is comfy and stylish, just right for puddle jumping in the spring, throwing on over your suit in the summer, and of course going to the skate park.  She designed it to fit for a few years! And this dress will indeed fit my daughter through the fall–a lifetime in kid years.

The original pattern is a crew neck, but I couldn’t imagine it without a hood. Luckily for me, Rae recently posted a hoodie tutorial that was a perfect match for this dress. I made the placket a little shorter so I wouldn’t have to add buttons or snaps. She does have to wear something under it, but I expected that.

The fabric is from Joann’s if you can believe it. I couldn’t. It is a lovely knit: not to light, not to heavy, and so soft. The best bit is that one side is stripes, the other polka dots! The color could be less Primary! Blue! but I’ll take it.

The pattern is well written and Amanda guides you through the trickier parts of sewing with knits. She convinced me that I should use stretch needles when sewing with knits. And she introduced me to the stretch stitches on my machine, which I’m now in love with. Amanda also tried to get me to use a double needle for the hem. I did buy one, but then wimped out when it came time to using it. My hem is of course wavy and now I regret not listening to her.

The moral of this story is, listen to Amanda and buy her awesome pattern! Be sure to follow along with the Skater Dress blog tour to see everyone’s variation of this fantastic dress. See you at the skate park!