Ottobre 03/2011-18

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted! Life has been crazy, but good. Starting with the reason for this dress! My sister was married at the end of November, in Scotland! And we got to be there! Naturally, some new dresses needed sewn...

All my photos were taken in front of the Leith Registry House in Edinburgh, where my sister was married. It was a lovely venue!

Obviously, November in Scotland demands a certain level of cold protection. Not something this Southern girl generally has to deal with, but thanks to my Ottobre subscription, I had plenty of pattern options for Myra! Those Finns know how to deal with the cold.

We settled on Ottobre 03/2011-18, which is a simple dress with long sleeves and a turtleneck collar. Very cozy.

The skirt is lightly gathered into a high-low waistline, which has a pretty effect on. The skirt is nice and long, and kept her warm over tights.

The sleeves are long and slim, with plain hems at the wrist. The sleeve caps are gathered into a full puff, which Myra really likes.

The fabric is a cozy ribbed sweater knit. I'm not sure where I got it, but it's at least four years old, so yay for a nice deep stashbust. It really was perfect for this dress. It's a little on the unstable side, so I did stabilize the shoulder seams and waistline with clear elastic, but otherwise it sewed up without much trouble.

We've had a surprisingly cold winter here in Tennessee so far, so Myra has gotten quite a lot of wear out of this dress. I'm pleased that she likes it so much.

Ottobre 03/2015-24

This sweet faced boy doesn't get much sewing time. He has a lot of handmade clothing passed down from Logan, so he really doesn't need much, and he lives in tee shirts and shorts anyway. He only has one dress shirt, and it was purchased for Logan, so it's in rough shape now. It was time for a nice new one of his own.

This is Ottobre 03/2015-24, which is a sport shirt with some nice details. The back yoke is echoed in front and there are several pocket options.

The fabric I used is a tiny stripe, so I had fun playing with directions along the yoke and pocket. I cut the main body of the shirt on grain, with the front yoke on the bias and pocket on the cross grain.

In the back, the yoke is on the cross grain. The shirt has a nice fit, with just a little shaping.

Back ease is incorporated into two pleats near the armhole area, rather than the traditional center back pleat. I like the sporty look it has. It suits Duncan's active personality.

The shirt has button bands and a one piece collar. The pattern calls for buttons, but since Duncan likes to Hulk out of his clothing, I went with snaps. I hadn't applied snaps in a while, so it took me a few tries to get them on properly, but I like the way they turned out.

I've missed sewing for my sweet boy. There never seems time enough for all the projects I'd like to do, but I definitely need to make more time for Duncan.

Ottobre 03/2014-16 sparkle tee!

My sassy girl recently outgrew her entire tee shirt drawer (conveniently timed for Top Month!), and there was much weeping and wailing as I "made" her get rid of many of her favorites. I told her to choose a few for me to recreate for her. One of those was a RTW Old Navy top that I had added HTV to. It was a beige shirt printed with gold stars all over it, and I really wasn't sure I would be able to recreate it. Where was I going to find the fabric?!

FabricMart came to my rescue with this grey/silver version that Myra just loves. Whew! I was afraid I was going to have to cut a zillion tiny foil stars. That would have been not so fun...

The original shirt had long sleeves and a gathered neckline. Myra requested short, puffed sleeves, since we live in the South and it's hot here. We found a perfect pattern in the 03/2014 issue of Ottobre. The original was designed for striped knits and to be cut on the bias for a diagonal stripe, but I didn't need that, so we cut it on the grain instead. Otherwise I didn't change the pattern at all. It's a really nice basic tee.

The neckline is a nice high scoop, gathered with clear elastic and bound with self fabric. Those stars gave my coverstitch binder a wee bit of trouble, but they sure look nice. The sleeves are puffed just at the cap and hemmed.

The top came in two lengths and I sewed the longer one, in the hopes that Myra will be able to wear it for more than 5 minutes. She's growing so fast these days!

At Myra's request, I replicated the decal on the original top, this time with silver glitter instead of gold. We do love to sparkle around here! I was so happy I was able to replicate a favorite top, and even to improve on it!

*************Tip for tops********************
Since it is Top Month for the stashbusters, I though I'd share a little tip for hemming in a tight spot, such as sleeves on a child's top like this one.

When I know I'm going to have limited space for pressing my hem (or and binding/bands - pretty much anything that is getting sewn in the round), I press the allowance up before sewing the piece into the garment. If it is a particularly small piece, like doll clothing, you can stitch the hem at this point as well, but I don't do that for human clothing, since it leaves a bump under the arm. Pressing the hem is at least 4000X easier on a flat piece than it is once the sleeve seam is sewn and you have a tube to deal with. Once the hem is pressed, it is much easier to fold up and stitch. As I mentioned, this also applies to binding and bands - press them in half before you sew them into a loop. It will be much quicker and easier! I hope that helps with your knit top sewing!

Ottobre 03/2014-35 dress

After I finished cutting out my last dress, I had about a yard of fabric left over. I don't really use ITY much in small pieces, but I thought Myra might like a dress to match mine, so I went hunting for a pattern with similar features, particularly the gathering in the bodice and skirt.

After a perusal of my Ottobre collection, I found this dress from the 03/2014 issue. I love the style lines. It's a really nice echo of my dress, with the bodice gathers and waistband, but with a more youthful feel.

Ottobre suggested woven fabrics for it, but it works well in this lightweight knit with very few changes. I omitted the zipper, and rather than gathering the neckline with traditional gathering stitches, I used clear elastic so that the neckline would have sufficient stretch and recovery for the dress to go over Myra's head.

And of course, I added pockets. Dresses need pockets.

The design of the dress is fairly straightforward. The bodice gathers into the neckline binding and into the waistband at center front and center back.The skirt is full and gathered evenly around the waistband. Since the design is intended for wovens, the waistband has some ease in a knit.

I used my coverstitch binder to do the neckline and armholes. The pattern includes a pattern piece for bias binding, which I used to measure the elastic for the neckline. Myra loves her new dress and says she understands now why I like to wear dresses every day. They're so comfortable! Now to go hide my ITY stash before she claims it all...

Jungle January forever!

Myra and I are in just under the wire, but we could not miss Jungle January! Leopard is our spirit animal.

We went with an easy wardrobe addition - simple knit tops. Leopard print, of course. And for a little flair, waist level ties. We like a little fun.

My top came first. I used burda magazine, 10/2016 #101, which is a drop shoulder tee with an integrated tie. The pattern is pretty interesting, which made for a fun sew.

The left side tie is cut on with the front of the tee, but the right tie is actually a separate piece. Both ties are faced, so the wrong side showing isn't a problem.

Since the ties are not incorporated into a waistband, it leaves the tee with a nice flowy, relaxed fit. It's not my usual style, but I think it works in this fabric, a slinky ITY from FabricMart.

For Myra's tee, I wanted a similar look. I started out searching for tie waist tees. And burda did publish one, but drafted for wovens and sleeveless.

I didn't want to do that much drafting, so I found a good drop shoulder Ottobre tee (01/2015-11) that I added a waistband and faux tie to.

The look is nicely complementary while the hip band and slightly longer length make wardrobe malfunctions less likely for my active girl.

Both tees got self fabric bound necklines and coverstitched sleeve hems. You can also see the dropped shoulder of both tops in this shot.

Blow a kiss, Myra! Let's go paint the town... leopard!!

Ottobre, with Sprinkles on top

So many things I should be sewing, but I really wanted to make this cute outfit from the 06/2016 issue of Ottobre. So I put the practical on hold in favor of the cute.

Myra's a fan. I'm always happy when something I created makes her want to dance.

Both pieces are packed with adorable details. The top (06/2016, #29, the Shy Eyes tunic) has a triangular shape which comes to points at the side seams. The flattened hemline is filled in with an adorable ruffle. The fabric I used is a digital printed jersey from Kitschy Coo, although I got it a few years ago so this print is no longer in stock.

Just in case sprinkles and ruffles weren't enough cuteness, I added a graphic decal to the front. The black is glitter and the shadow layer is pink metallic. It's hard to see them in photos, but there are also large multicolored, flocked sprinkles surrounding the words.

The pants (#30, also from the 06/2016 issue) are a slim leg style with an elastic waistband. While they are similar in shape to the Jalie Elenore pant, there are a few critical differences that made me want to try these out. The fabric is pink stretch corduroy left over from these jeans. It was nice to get the last of that out of the stash, but it is a very soft corduroy, perfect for comfy, kid pants.

From the rear, the inset heart was the detail that made me want to sew these. So cute!! Also a huge pain, but worth it. I think it's adorable and so does Myra. You can also peep the cute little keyhole in the back neckline of the tunic. Ottobre doesn't miss a trick. I love all the great details.

Another nice feature of these is functional front pockets. I did some hearts as the pocket topstitching, just for fun, and because I feel like Vera's decorative stitching is sadly underutilized. Myra likes them. Hearts, ruffles, sprinkles and glitter can't lose! She's already worn it two days in a row, so It's a win for sure.

Train PJs

I'm afraid this post isn't going to be earth shattering, but I wanted to record the info for my own purposes. For some reason, I can never remember which patterns for PJs I like and what sizes I have used! It's a problem. Anyway, I finally got a chance to do some sewing, and the boys need PJs.

I started with Duncan, as his need was the greatest. The shirt is a blank from Walmart that I added the diesel engine to with flocked HTV, It's fun and fuzzy. For the pants, I used the Goodnight Sweetheart pants pattern from the Sewing for Boys book. I've been using it successfully for years, but Duncan is in the largest size now, so we'll be retiring it soon. Sad day. I did have to shorten it significantly. I took 3 inches off the length, and it's still got some grow length.

He likes them very much because TRAINS. The fabric is quilting cotton from Fabric.com. Not my favorite choice, but train printed fabric is difficult to find in anything else.

Logan was a wee bit trickier. He prefers shorts and short sleeved tees for his PJs. All the stores around here have switched over to winter stock, so long sleeves are all that are on the shelves. So, the shirt is mommy-made.

I was a little apprehensive about this, actually. I know, just a tee shirt, but sizing for Logan has been really challenging me lately. He's getting into pre-teen sizing, and I don't have the same intuitive feel for that as I do for children's sizing. The last tee I made him was on the small side, and I didn't want that to happen again. After some discussion with the ladies in my Ottobre sewing yahoo group (Thank you, ladies!!) I decided to go with the Dirt tee from the 01/2015 issue of the magazine, as the photo of the shirt looks on the looser fit side. He falls pretty squarely into the measurements for a 148, but after also comparing a few of his favorite tees with the pattern, I ended up sewing the next size up.

He loves the way it fits, so yay! I think the neckline is a bit wide, but since it's a PJ top, I'm not too fussed about it. If I were making it for him to wear to school, I would have made a band for the neckline, rather than the narrow binding, and probably brought in the neckline 1/2 inch or so. The fit through the body is just the way he likes it though, so win! He likes the shorts very much too, and declares he is happy with his PJs.

The shorts are from the 06/2011 - the Green Check boxers. I went with the same size in the boxers as the tee, but of course, cut the waist elastic to Logan's actual waist measurement, which was 25 inches. I skipped the fly as Logan will never use it, and added a tiny bit of topstiching to the side seams, While Logan was wearing them last night, he happened to need a pocket and I was informed that future PJs needed pockets. Ok, then. The boxers are long - coming to below his knee - but he says he prefers them that way, so that was a win.

I'm happy to have a PJs formula for the boys that will work for now, and I have plenty more train fabric to work with, so there will be more of these forthcoming.