cottington's so crafty: A Blur of Sketchbook Shirts and Treasure Pocket Pants

A cheerful soul!

I'd forgotten about the days of yore....the days when I had to try and photograph a crazy person.

WHEW.

Photographing Tiberius is a LOT of work, if I actually want something I can use - when it comes to blog posts and getting non-blurry details on things I've made.

So, I tried and tried again, but there's only SO MUCH I can do, folks.

I have several one-yard cuts of fabric meant for the Sketchbook shirt by Oliver and S. I've clearly taken QUITE a while to get around to sewing Tiberius a fun outfit, other than THIS version of the same combo and then his pajamas (which, along with Camden's, I apparently never blogged about).

I managed, then, to sew up TWO shirts and one pair of pants in ONE day!!! Well, that's a semi-lie: I did sew part of the black shirt during a two-hour hang-out session with my mother-in-law. We sewed at Modern Domestic for a bit on a lovely afternoon, and it was AWESOME. Y'all know I love MD with all my heart! THEN???? How'd I manage to do the rest of that sewing?? I had a sewing VACATION! YES, I did! Tiberius stayed with his grandparents for a few nights, and Camden was at at a sleepover, and I was able to sew from 11:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night. Granted, I should have quit the day much earlier than I did, but I knew it'd be a while before I made myself sit back down and complete the job, and I wanted a whole outfit for my little guy. Plus, it broke my back a bit to sew those buttons on that late at night, as I have a habit of sewing shirt buttons while sitting on the floor, all hunched up, aha.

Anyway.

No, f'real. Best sewing day EVER. I ate Vegan Snickers Pie and salad all day. And by THAT, I mean that I ate ONE salad and had a few helpings of the pie ;) Go make it! It is awesome!

The shirts went together pretty fast, as it is a simple enough pattern. I was a fool and cut the black math shirt fabric out upside down. Fool. Ah, well. And I knew he'd get excited about a pirate shirt, as he is kind of into pirates right now. I lengthened the black shirt a wee bit, and I think I went even longer on the pirate shirt, just because sewing a small hem in areas like the button placket is tricky, so, I wanted to make it more of a 5/8 inch hem.

As for the lovely Treasure Pocket Pants, from the book Sewing for Boys, I used a lovely turquoise corduroy. It was tricky to pair the corduroy with a panel that also matched shirts/wasn't too bright/busy. I managed to grab two small cuts of some Cotton and Steel Basics while I was at Fabric Depot, and I ended up using both of them, as the gray wasn't enough to cover all areas (I was cutting against the grain). That worked out well, and sewing the pants WAS a last-minute decision, as I honestly hadn't thought I'd get around to starting them. I probably started after 6 that night. I also had a hard time finding pattern pieces and went with a size that I hoped would fit him well, if I just lengthened them a bit. It all worked out, and they match both pants okay enough - works for me, anyway!

As usual, the pattern was easy enough. It is always important to remember that one of the side panel pieces has to be printed off the internet, as the original piece isn't sized correctly. And I do cut my own hem facing, as I believe the one from the book isn't sized correctly, either....or something like that. No biggie.

Now...getting him to wear what I've made isn't as easy as it was with Camden. First, he has some Hannah Andersson pajamas that he loves to wear all the live-long day, and he is just more particular. I had let him pick out the fabric for the black shirt, and I knew he'd like the pirates, but he still goes nuts and doesn't necessarily want to wear those things, so, it can be a bit of a battle. But he sure is super cute in his new clothes!

And fall days in the life of....