K.I.D.S guest post: Space Pants

If you haven't been following K.I.D.S over at me sew crazy, you should check out all the sewing inspired by children's designs.

Today RJ and I are over there sharing his space pants he designed!

Check them out here!

It was so nice to have a scheduled obligation to sew.  It's been a while and was so nice to create something again!

 

More Pajamas and curtains from a sheet

I made some quick pajamas for my niece who's even taller than I am at 6' tall.

For some reason, there are never long pajamas (at least that I've seen).

She's taller but I'm bigger, so I couldn't throw them on to model them however.

I used Anna at Noodlehead's tutorial here.

It has a waistband with elastic and shirring on the back half.

Check out Anna wearing her cute ones from cotton voile.  

They have a really cute fit for pajamas. 

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The only other sewing I've done lately was to make new curtains for my kids room.

I used a white flat sheet that had striped texture.  It was only $2 from the thrift store.

I used the wide decorative cuff that goes at the head of the bed for the bottom of the curtains.

Then just a simple valance to go across the top.

We're putting our house on the market to try to sell next week.

EEK.

So I've been packing up a bunch of things I won't need between now and our move, de-junking, organizing and deep cleaning.

It's been a drag, especially with my kids running around making messes in areas I'm not working on.

Selling our house hasn't even started and it's kind of stressing me out.

So here's my MLS photo of the drapes in the kids room.

I had to pack up half my fabric stash to make the sewing room presentable.

In the process of going through all my fabric there was a shocking mass I'd totally forgotten about.

So now I have a whole stack of inspiration from the forgotten fabric but need to keep cleaning/ organizing, etc.

But here's my question:
What are your methods to store your fabric?

I have the cubbies for smaller pieces 1 yard or less on the wall, but the folded stacks just don't work very well for me.

Like clothes, you only wear what you can see.

I only sew with what I can see and so much got lost in the piles.

So if you have any ideas on how to store fabric that's a few or more yards in size, I could use some tips! 

Pajamas from Pillowcase

{made with standard size pillowcase, just monster printed}

Using a pillowcase for kids clothing is an old idea.

Tons of pillowcase dresses have floated through blog-land for years, along with pajama pants as well.

So I realize this isn't the first time you've seen pants made with a pillowcase, but these were just really fun. 

 

We had a Herberger's department store open last fall and they had huge sales with their grand opening.
I got a twin sheet set in this monster print for $12 regular $60.

They're a microfiber blend that's really soft and silky feeling.

But to be lame, these monsters didn't go with the rest of his bedding to go on top of his bed.

So we use the sheets and I cut the pillowcase into pajama pants.

I actually made these last fall, but RJ said he wouldn't wear them.
So we set them aside and I brought them out and this time he had changed his mind.

The nice thing about using a pillowcase is using the cuff as the hem.  It makes it quick to sew, these were made in less than 15 minutes.

The bad thing is there is only one direction to cut the fabric, so in this case having a print made them go side ways rather than up and down and if you notice or things like that bug you, not the best idea.

RJ's favorite photo in these pants below:

They're a really great fabric with the silky feel and non-wrinkle factor.

Why didn't he immediately love these? 

Who knows.

I've actually thought about using the flat sheet to make me my own since the flat sheet always gets shoved at the foot of the bed anyway. 

Despite the initial hatred of these pajamas, RJ did cooperate to have some quick pictures taken.

(I had to exchange nailing scraps of wood together for a "car boat" he was building, so pretty fair trade)

But then he said he was dead.

I guess the photo shoot is over!

Thanks and A Mom Memory

Just a quick post:

First, thanks for all the support I've received on the baby bedtime bag pattern! 

I really appreciate all those who have purchased it and hope to see some of your versions in the flickr group so I can check them out!

Next, I also enjoyed all the comments on RJ's sharpie t-shirt.

I'm glad I decided to document it really fast.

As I was reading your nice comments, it reminded me of something my mom did for me when I was little.

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Here's my dad's all time favorite picture of my mom.

I was number three and not born yet, looking at this now makes me realize RJ kind of looks like my oldest brother.

STORY:

So I don't know how old I was, but pretty little.

I drew my family on a paper, and at that time humans to me were circles with arms and legs coming out of the head.

NOTE: I grew up with a "fun" mom.

She'd jump on the trampoline, build snow slides in the front yard, freeze us an ice skating rink over the garden in the winter, and even check us out of school to go see girly movies like Swan Princess and Little Women.

So anyway, this occasion she was impressed with my drawing of our family and decided to put it on a sweatshirt.

Which made me think I was amazing.

baby Jess around age 2

I remember she was using black puff paint (late 80s) on a peach Hanes generic sweatshirt.

The sweatshirt was laying flat on a couch that had brown, blue, grayish huge flower things on it.
Hideous couch looking back.  It was the kind of print as a kid I'd stare at and see all sorts of fish or monsters in what I assume were flowers.

Anyway, my memory is standing by her watching her study my drawing, then puff paint the heads with limbs on the sweatshirt for an exact replica in my mind.

I assume it made a lasting memory so young because I was obviously so proud at how clearly awesome I was.
My mom apparently LOVED my drawing of our family so much she was painting it on a sweatshirt!

For her it was mainly a work shirt, but I do remember her wearing it once in a while and again just thinking how great I was.
I was great, and my art was great.

I don't know what happened to that peach sweatshirt, but I wished I'd stolen it from her to have it now!

So pretty much I had an awesome mom and I wish I was more like her.

Hopefully remembering that piece of childhood will help me give my kids more opportunities to feel their creativity is....(and makes them) amazing!

when your kid finds a sharpie....

...and a plain white t-shirt in his drawer.

This is what happens.

 My husband got home from work and came up where I was changing the baby's diaper and asked if I thought it was OK RJ was in the basement drawing on a shirt with a permanent marker.

WHAT?

I ran down there to see him holding up this shirt smiling.

Initially I was really mad.

I asked him what he was doing and he told me all about his picture he drew on his shirt.

"It's those fish that can crawl on sand, then they get back in the water, just follow the arrows".

Then I decided I couldn't really get mad at him for making the shirt as he sees me make crap all the time.

But we had a new rule about permanent markers and asking before you make your own clothes.

I don't want creativity to be against the rules, I'd just like some control over where he lands his next big idea.

He was pretty proud of his shirt.
I was pretty impressed myself.

My favorite part is his own head on the top with a cartoon bubble holding his name "RJ" and the fact his head looks like a troll doll.

Pattern Release! Baby Bedtime Bags

The pattern for the baby bedtime bags is available!

CLICK OVER HERE FOR MORE DETAILS ON THE PATTERN!

Newborn Leggings

Most of our girl newborn clothes are onesies.

So Izzie needed something on bottom.

Ellie has grown out of most of her pants and I was sewing a stack of toddler leggings for her and decided to make some baby ones while I was at it.

They take very little fabric and I made four pairs in about 30  minutes, just whipping them out on the serger.

They look cute with a onesie. 

Or layered under skirts and casual little dresses.

spring scrunched baby dress

You can also use knit t-shirts to repurpose for baby leggings.

This red/white striped pair was formerly my mom's shirt.

 It saves time because I just used the shirt's hem for the ankles rather than making my own!

I also like having options for colors other than pink and purple baby clothes.
It seems especially hard to find newborn clothes not in typical girl colors. 

These stripes are my favorites from the bunch.

Babies grow too fast you don't want to invest too much time or money in making them tiny clothes, but these little leggings are quick, cheap, and easily sewn in a little batch.
They'd be a great gift in a little stack! 

One month old and her hair hasn't started falling out yet...hoping it will stick around.

I was really hoping it would stay dark, but she'll probably be blonde like our other kids.

As a free bonus, I'm including these newborn leggings in the baby bedtime bag pattern 

I wanted to have another project in the pattern to compliment the baby bags and thought of these cute leggings !

Baby Bedtime Bags for BOYS!

 Baby Bedtime Bags Pattern Here 

I was hoping to have it done earlier, but a last minute trip to my in-laws last week put me behind.

So it's near completion and in the process of sewing lots of baby bags this week I decided we needed some especially for the boys!

Obviously plain or patterned knit work for either gender, (and this idea would work well for girls), but it seemed perfect to make baby boy something from dad's t-shirts!

Men's t-shirts are great for repurposing for kids clothing.
It seems we have a bunch of t-shirts that we can't get rid of because they're too sentimental and they could use a new life.
My husband has this t-shirt from high school (late 1990s) with Casper the Ghost on it and won't throw it away.
Maybe if we ever have another baby boy Casper will finally come out of the closet for baby jammies.

I thought t-shirts could also create  unique, meaningful gifts for someone else's baby.

Using sports t-shirts for families that have favorite teams, or nerdy goofy shirts like the "fantasy football" shirt would rock someone's baby shower.
 Practical gift to help baby sleep plus something personal and awesome too.

For these I used contrasting but coordinating colors for the snap placket and neckline.

Depending on the size of shirt, you could even use the original neck ribbing if you wanted.

Isabella kind of looks like a boy in this, I can't believe she's one month  old today!

Have a good weekend and you can find the sewing pattern for these bedtime bags here on Monday!