recycled wool sweater coat and kids star tote bag

 

Last fall, when Fyn was outgrowing his little fox sweater coat, I set about making him a new one. The fair isle sweater was the starting point and from there, I added the ice skating sweater on the back. With the hood and sleeves layed out, I placed the other sweater pieces in place and stitched them together. Using a fleece vest as a lining, all the pieces were attached and here it is! Fyn loves it and we get plenty of attention when he wears it. 

"You didn't get that here! You must have gotten that in New York!" is my favorite comment to far.

And the pointy elfin hood pulls up to cover his head, while the sleeves roll down to cover his hands when we need a little extra warmth. That means we don't have to keep track of hats or mittens all the time.


Yes, I was able to figure out a way to circumvent the technical issues so I could blog! There's so much to tell you about with christmas and all! I'll try to get you caught up in the next few weeks. And I'm hoping to post a few more tutorials and some new things on my etsy shop.

recycled patchwork kid's clothes

How could you resist? Shari at SorenLorensen Design makes the cutest patchwork from recycled clothing! And this picture is so cute it's not even funny. Wouldn't little guys look good in this hoodie?

So you can order the size you need, along with any other specs and she'll whip it up for you!
There's a blog too, which has some fun creative tidbits!

recycled wool mittens for toddlers!

Ooh, I'm so excited! For about a week, I collected all the tiny mittens I could find around the house, in hopes of designing a pattern to make more. Then I found this, and headed right into my studio to make some. Thank you so much, Amanda from kitschy coo for the pattern and instruction! I printed them out in a few sizes. Instead of fleece, I used felted wool sweaters, adding a tree on one and a cardinal on the other. And then I made two more pairs, one of them lined with thermal fabric from a shirt! They are pretty snug, so in the future, I think I'll just put elastic on the inside.

recycled kid's pants tutorial

Here's a quick little project inspired by a gorgeous pair of silk pajama pants from one of my friends. They were too nice to retire, but they had some structural issues. And I wanted to try out this new pattern I made by tracing a pair of my niece's pants before I made her a pair with expensive fabric.

Cut out the pattern the fold of the pants. You can use the bottom hem if your pattern fits.

Unfold the pieces and lay them with right sides together. Stitch the inseam.

Now line up the center seams and stitch up the legs.

Fold under about 1/2", and then about 1 1/2", press and stitching, leaving open a few inches to insert elastic.

Cut a piece of 1" elastic that is about 3/4 the size of the waist, or maybe a little less. If you are lucky enough to have your subject handy, you can "try it on" first and then add a little for overlapping.

It's a good idea to make sure that the elastic is flat all the way through, and not twisted.
Overlap elastic ends about an inch or so and stitch a little box.

If you can try them on, now's the time, to see if you need to change the elastic. Otherwise, just stitch the opening closed and voila!


I mailed them off yesterday and now I can't wait to see them on her!

making kids shirt patterns

Today I found a brilliant tutorial on making shirt patterns, and before I dash into my studio, I wanted to jot it down and share! It's perfect for recycling old shirts into new kids shirts. This one is made from 2 shirts and a piece of fabric from one of my friends. I used the hemmed edges for the sleeves and bottom so it went really fast. For the neckline, I used the ribbing from one of the shirts and serged it on before sewing the lapped neck pieces together and it worked great! It fits really well, although I discovered that it might look better with the lapped part showing in the front.

My friend, Colleen has been asking me a lot of sewing questions lately, and she's the inspiration for this need to share my finds for kids clothes. There must be more moms out there who are sewing, if there are two of us in this tiny corner of Michigan. Perhaps, someday, my book dream will become a reality...