This is my third review for a pattern from the Sewing for Boys book, which comes with 24 patterns with actual pattern pages, so I figure this qualifies as a pattern.  Many of the reviews I saw on Amazon were for people just excited that there was a boys sewing book (totally get that) but it seemed like they hadn't actually tried the patterns.  So I figured reviewing the ones I tried would help other moms of boys out there.  Anyway, this review is for the Good Night Sweetheart Pajamas pattern and I would consider my clothing making abilities more on the advanced side.

My son is normally a size 3 on bottoms & a size 4 on tops.  I made the top in a size 4/5 and the bottoms in a 2/3.  And here is what happened.

 

Eh hem.  So as you can see, it is “a tad” on the big side.  My husband and I were giggling putting him in these tonight but really, the sizing on the patterns in this book is frustrating.  A 2/3 vs. a 4/5 in little kids sizes can be some pretty big differences, so if there is another version, I REALLY hope they break out the sizing a little more.  I highly recommend trying any of this book’s patterns on cheap fabric first.  So I think my next set is going to be making the top in a 2/3 and the pants again in a 2/3 but shortening the length a couple inches & maybe even take in the side a little bit.  I grant that my son has short legs, but he is filling out almost all of his 3T pants these days and these PJ pants are clearly at least 2” too long. I’ll save him this pair for a year and a half from now maybe.  

Anyway, the pattern itself is cute.  The instructions were easy to follow & I had no mishaps, although I think they could have had some more useful diagrams in there.  And I think the yardage requirements are about half a yard short and there were no fabric layouts provided.  I don’t know that I like the front facing without interfacing, but no biggie.  I was apprehensive about the piping but it was easy too. I do really wish the authors included a summer version of PJ’s in their book, but I think the pattern selection is slanted more toward the northern half of the country.  I live in the south & it is just too hot & humid to wear pants & long sleeves in the summer.

Whenever I do a swap, I have so much fun brainstorming, I usually end up biting off a little more than I probably should with the confined timeframe.  Such was the case with the Chocoholics Unanimous Round 4 swap.  The guidelines were for a medium, 2 smalls, and of course chocolate.  My medium ended up being more like an extra-large in terms of time (doh) but I wanted to keep it after I finished it, so I figure I did a good job.  My partner katcal has graciously agreed to let me use her photos so I present the embroidered ribbon pillow o’ chocolate…



I got the ribbon pillow idea from the tutorial here and then thought about how to make it chocolate-y.  I found a free pattern after a search on the internet (I have been Googling like crazy to find it with no luck so please let me know if you’ve seen it and I’ll be happy to give credit), and thought it would make a cute pillow center.  What took me so long is that I decided I didn’t like the look of the plain aida cloth on the non-stitched portions, so I cross stitched the entire "empty" background in white.  Insane, yes.    Insanity here:



I then framed the cross stitch piece with fabric and wove ribbons around the whole thing.  I top stitched the ribbon around the cross stitched piece so there would be no slippage.  And with that bit done, I otherwise followed the ribbon pillow tute.  

I have been meaning to make myself one – just haven’t gotten to it yet.  That’s the thing with swaps – you get so caught up in them that you don’t get your own sewing done.  

[Group 1]

Post your FQ's here!

Original swap thread



Orange = Sent
Blue = Sent & Received

Group 1
A2K
hayleylujah
littlehajerika
Nolansmomster

Group 2
A2K
Nolansmomster
Artmomto5
Smmarrt

I started this quilt when I was pregnant & didn't yet know I was having a boy, so I was going for a unisex color palette.  Anyway, the pattern was from Moda Bake Shop.  I couldn't get the letters to print correctly, so I did my own.

I figured I would review all three patterns at the same time since they came out of the same Ottobre magazine (3/2010) & I made them to be worn together for Easter.  This was my first time sewing from Ottobre patterns, although I am a big fan of the boys selection of patterns.  If you have sewn with Ottobre before, then you know that the instructions require a basic level of clothing construction knowledge...so I wouldn't recommend them to beginners unless you have a more experienced sewer to help you.  It also is all in metric & requires you to add seam allowances when cutting out pieces & some of the verbiage was a little weird so I figure the translation is done by a non-American.  My sewing experience is more on the advanced side.  Anyway...



The Jodhpur pants I made out of a stretch denim since I didn't care for the linen/linen chambray selection at my fabric store.  They have a zipper fly, but the back has an elastic bit in the waistband.  I found that the measurements for the elastic piece were off, so I would highly recommend fitting this to your own child.  Granted the pants were a bit big on my son anyway (I made a size too big with the hope that he could wear them next winter since it is almost shorts weather now here in the south).  However, even then, the elastic didn't have much stretch once I'd put it in - it was almost flat.  I also found the zipper fly instructions a bit confusing.  And although there were instructions for attaching the belt loops, there did not appear to be pattern pieces for them.  In terms of fit, they were about right but they look a little full in the hips.

The vest went together easily & was nothing different than any other vest pattern I've done.  I did add 2" though because my son is long waisted & it looked fairly short in the magazine.  And I've never done ties that small (I mean it is for a toddler, after all) & I had a bit of trouble manipulating pieces that small.  

The shirt was great.  I've never done a male button up shirt before just because they sell them all over the place.  The instructions were easy & I had no problems with it.  I was glad my machine has an automatic button holer - my old one didn't & the vest & shirt would have been SUCH a hassle.

When I was a little girl, I always got a new dress for Easter.  Now that I have a son, I wanted him to have a special outfit for Easter.  I always see lots of girls outfits on here so I thought I'd put this up to inspire the other moms of boys.     The sewing options out there for boys can be a bit limited. 



The shirt, vest, and pants were all from the Summer 2010 issue of Ottobre magazine.  The shirt is blue & white striped seersucker.  The vest is linen & the pants are a brown stretch denim.

So my dad likes to sleep in nightshirts...the kind I can picture Ben Franklin wearing.  My sister & I have teased him over the years for it, but it's kind of his thing.  As you can imagine, they are not always that easy to find in stores.  He also wears a lot of Hawaiian shirts - it's kind of his thing too.  Anyway, I have made him a few nightshirts for him in the past with fishing or train novelty prints (his interests).  But after he went to visit my sister a couple weeks ago and she complained about him dragging her around to look for Hawaiian shirts, I had an inspiration.  I would make him a Hawaiian nightshirt!  So here it is (McCall's M6231).



My husband is modeling it & he didn't want his face in a pic of him wearing a "dress" so don't mind that.  

   

[Communication is very important to me.]

Swap name: Batik Fabric Fat Quarter Swap



Craftster member who is organizing this swap: donniesgirl

Sign-up date range: Tuesday, March 5th –Sunday March 31st, OR UNTIL FULL
Date to send item by: Tuesday, April 30th
Limited to a certain number of people? (optional): 24 spots (possibly less people)

Restricted to people who all live in the same country? NO
If so, which country? N/A

Additional Age requirement? 18

Swap Organizer himself/herself meets these conditions:
- Has fully read the Swap Info Guide: YES
- Has successfully completed two swaps as a participant: YES
- Is not organizing more than three swaps right now: YES
- Will recruit a co-organizer or give all details to a Swap Moderator if this swap has more than 25 participants: YES
- Is at least 18 years old: YES

Swap Organizer will check each participant to make sure they meet these conditions:
- Has been a member for at least one month: YES
- Has posted at least 15 times: YES
- Has completed one swap successfully before signing up for multiple swaps at a time: YES
- Is not currently signed up for more than five swaps: YES
- Does not have any negative feedback: YES
- Participant has agreed that he/she is at least 16 years old: YES
- If within the US, understands that Delivery Confirmation number is required for this swap: YES
- If outside the US, understands that a mailing receipt copy is required for this swap: YES

Details of swap:

This is a spinoff of the Novelty Fat Quarter Swap, except that instead of swapping novelty fabrics, we will swap batiks!.  Each participant will buy 1 yard each of 4 different batik fabrics (total of 4 yards of fabric). 100% cotton only, nice quality fabric please! You will cut the fabric into **Fat Quarters,** and send a set (1 FQ from each batik) of 4 fabrics to each person in your group, keeping the fourth set for yourself.

Confused? Here's an example. I'm in a group with Pam, Linda, Tonya, and myself. I buy a yard of multi colored sailboat batik, a yard of pink flower batik, a yard of green sea turtle fabric, and a yard of blue dolphin batik. I cut those into fat quarters and then make them up into sets of 4 FQ--1 each of sailboat, flower, sea turtle, and dolphin. One set goes to Pam, one to Linda, one to Tonya, and the fourth is mine!

*What's a Fat Quarter? A fat quarter is a piece of fabric approximately 18 inches by 21-22 inches. Standard fabric is generally 42-44 inches wide, and when you buy a 1 yard (36 inch) piece, you have a piece of fabric 36 inches by 42. When you cut that in half lengthwise and widthwise, you end up with a fat quarter. Quilters often like this cut of fabric better than a traditional 1/4 cut yard of fabric (9 inches by 41 because the dimensions may be friendlier to the squares/strips/pieces they want to cut. But anyone could have fun with a collection of Fat Quarters, they are great for sewing small items and starting or adding to a fabric stash, or you can combine some coordinating ones to make a fun project!

I'll partner people in groups according to themes and shipping ability (although I strongly consider saying "yes" to the shipping out of your country question if at all possible. It should be fairly cheap to ship a yard of fabric, plus think of the cool batiks you could be receiving from other countries! I) AM NOT taking allergies into consideration for this swap, it will be hard enough to group people as it is, and fabric should be coming into the home and leaving again quickly. If your allergies are bad enough that washing the fabric won't fix the problem, I advise you to sit this one out.

What themes might you pick? There are a ton of different types of fabric out there. When listing themes you can think less specific or more specific, but here's just a few~

Animals
--sea creatures
--birds

Nature
--leaves
--trees
--flowers

Communication is very important to me.  If you do not let me and/or your partners know when you have received, you will receive feedback comments.    It only takes two minutes to thank someone versus all the time they spent picking out fabric (and all the time I spend chasing down packagages) for you so thank you for your attention to this.  

If you want to participate, please reply to the thread, and then send information  to organizer:

QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANSWER:

Name of swap: Batik Fabric Fat Quarter Swap

Craftster username:

Email address:

Your real name:

Mailing address including the country, formatted for shipping:

Would you be willing to ship to an address outside your own country?

Confirm that are at least 16 years old or, if not, that you have moderator approval(YES/NO)

Have you already posted in the sign-up thread? If not please do so before sending your sign-up in so that you can get updates! (yes/no)

Please list 5 themes/colors you might be interested in receiving. I will do my best to accommodate people into similar groups. If you are flexible please list "any" as one of your themes (or as a sixth theme):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Are you signing up for 1 or 2 groups? To sign up for 2 groups you must either be an FOC, or have at least 5 swaps with very good feedback regarding shipping and communication. If you sign up for two groups, please list additional themes if you would like:

Do you understand that you will be sending out to 3 people (or 6 if you signed up for two groups)?

Do you understand that DC is required if shipping within the US?

IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR INFO TO donniesgirl VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE AND NOT TO REPLY WITH IT HERE.

Also, remember to read the Swap Info Guide to find other rules about participating in a swap.

Read more: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=419216.0#ixzz2Mj82nNeh

Sign Ups
1.  donniesgirl
2.  A2K
3.  hayleylujah
4.  littlehajerika
5.  Artmomto5
6.  Nolansmomster
7.  Smmarrt

Group 1
A2K
hayleylujah
littlehajerika
Nolansmomster

Group 2
A2K
Nolansmomster
Artmomto5
Smmarrt

Gallery

Here's the gallery!


  
Link to original thread

Sendouts April 20

This is not a traditional gallery, we will be posting pics of what we make, not of what we receive.  Please claim a spot.

Everyone please make one post that will be your personal gallery post that you will keep adding your pics to as you make blocks for your partners.  After everyone has a gallery, then we can start chatting about what is posted, just so we have all of the galleries at the beginning, k?I'll let you know when all the galleries are ready. Chat away!

Here is the list for me to check off of who has created their gallery post:

1. donniesgirl
2. kbrison
3. Melladh
4. EllaRain
5. princesspimp81
6. waterbaby
7. sloth003
8. carolmb
9. danynn
10. Pearliepie
11. Sparkledust
12. amnesia
13. Deece in MN
14. Colorado Deb
15. Homerof2

This is my second review for a pattern from the Sewing for Boys book, which comes with 24 patterns with actual pattern pages, so I figure this qualifies as a pattern.  Many of the reviews I saw on Amazon were for people just excited that there was a boys sewing book (totally get that) but it seemed like they hadn't actually tried the patterns.  So I figured reviewing the ones I tried would help other moms of boys out there.  Anyway, this review is for the Kickin' Back Sweats pattern and I would consider my clothing making abilities more on the advanced side.

These shorts were made in a size 2/3.  My son is just moving into a size 3 on bottoms (he has short legs so he is more like a size 2 in terms of length).



This review will be much kinder than the Raw Edged Raglan tee one.    These shorts are 2 pieces & elastic waist - a piece of cake!  The only thing I would have added was a little better markings on the pattern piece or a diagram when the directions start with sewing the inner legs together.  If you were a beginning sewer, I could see how this might be a little confusing.  But really, that is the only complaint I had about the entire pattern.  Really, once the pieces are cut, you could have these done in an hour easily.  And if you weren't matching plaids on a persnickity fabric like I was, that would probably include cutting out the pieces as well.

This pattern was modeled in the book as pants, made with a knit of some sort.  I opted to make shorts out of a woven fabric.  The pattern pieces are shared with the Bobby's Bathers (swimsuit), so the shorts line was marked.  The authors only allowed 1/2" for a hem allowance (with wovens - they tell people not to bother hemming knits) and the pattern looked short, so I did add about an inch and a half on the bottom.  When I make these again, I would just stick to the pattern length because my son has short legs.  In terms of fit, they are on the roomy side & I would say the fit is more in line with a size 3 than a 2.  They allow for active toddler type movement.  

If you are looking for something special, than these shorts probably aren't it because there are no details like pockets or anything.  But in terms of a basic shorts pattern (I didn't have one), I would recommend these.  And quick & easy is always a bonus for moms of small kids.  Plus, since we are potty training, the elastic waist is a plus to me right now.  I plan to try these in a pants form & I'll update my review when I do.