The littlest boy was in need of some new tshirts. Great! I love sewing tops for the kids, especially when my collection of knit fabrics is growing rapidly, it helps me to justify my fabric stash when I don’t end up buying any clothes for them at the shops.
I bought this superhero fabric in organic cotton knit from Spoonflower last year. I love the design for bigger boys as it can be hard to find a printed fabric that doesn’t look too young once they start to get older.
I used my Basic Tees pattern, but I was worried about it looking like a pyjama top though so opted to go with the patterned fabric only on the front and used plain black for the back, sleeves and neckline binding. I think I’ve got a winner and will be using this same design in the future…plus, it means that I am left with more fabric for other projects!
And of course superhero fabric requires some muscle poses.
This next top was made using a pattern from Ottobre Summer 3/2009. #24 “Jungle Tshirt” . I like the design with contrast fabric sleeve panels to add a bit of interest. I’ve sewed this size for Tommy before, but for some reason this pattern seems to run a little on the large size. Which I’m pleased about because it means that he should be wearing it for quite awhile.
My new labels stood out a bit too much to sew them to the exterior of the tops, so I used them as an inside tag instead and added a size label to the side. I’m usually pretty slack at adding size labels even though I’ve got them sitting in my sewing cupboard, so much better when I remember to sew in though – good for remembering what size I’ve sewed, and determining the back of the top. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to turn the kids tops around because they’ve been put on back the front!!
I’ve got a couple more tops to share, but this post is getting a bit pic-heavy so I’ll save them for another day!
Still at it…I think I might have to have another 3 babies to get all of this baby sewing out of my system! Wish I was onto it at the beginning!!
A couple more familiar outfits, new fabrics, cute stuff…
Another “Villikko Romper” from the Spring 1/2013 issue of Ottobre. Size 56. This fabric is up there with the Vikings as being a favourite. I’m loving it.
And another of my favourite bodysuit/pants sets:
The bodysuit pattern comes from Ottobre Winter 6/2012. “Kisuliini Raglan-Sleeve Bodysuit.”
And the pants again, from Ottobre Spring 1/2012 called “Little Houses Knit Pants.” In size 56 again (which I’m guessing is going to be 00).
I’ve blogged about these two patterns so much, that I don’t have much else to say about them except I can’t wait to put them on our little man!
Welcome to the next installment of sewing for baby boy! This is bound to become a series, I’m so addicted! I’ve even had a little look through the baby clothes in some shops recently and walked away with my nose turned up…I can do better than that, I think! It may all come tumbling down when I actually have a baby to try these clothes on only to find that they fit horribly or are a nightmare to get on or off – hopefully not because I’m having fun!
When I first spotted this fabric at Crafty Mamas, I was smitten. Little orange-haired vikings – seriously?! Yes, it may be a bit of a splurge, price-wise, but not if you compare buying a baby suit from a more up-market clothing store and it is way thicker and softer than anything you will buy pre-made. Plus, where else are you going to find a suit made out of fabric as cute as this?
This little all-in-one suit comes from Ottobre Spring 1/2012 – “My Sweet Baby footed coverall”. I sewed a size 50 so hopefully it will fit the baby when he is just fresh. The body looks a little wide to me, but I guess I’d rather have a bit of wriggle room rather than too tight.
A lot of work went into this one, I don’t think I’ll be sewing too many more. The whole thing is fully lined, it’s nice, but not necessary I don’t think. Next time I think I’ll try it without the lining. The suit is extra thick and will be warmer, but I don’t think it’s really necessary from the outside (it looks good from the inside though!) as he will be wearing a singlet underneath and no doubt, be swaddled up in a blanket if we are out and about. And there was HEAPS of binding to attach, I don’t mind it too much but it was pretty time consuming to get it all cut and sewed on. I love the contrasting trim it gives though.
And another of my faithful favourite sets – from The Spring 1/2012 edition of Ottobre, “Little Houses Knit Pants” and “Bert Bodysuit with henley placket”- both in size 50cm again.
The fabrics are both from Crafty Mamas – tractors are a European knit, the grey is a plain Stella.
And look – this time I got the placket centered properly!
I left off the fold-over cuffs on these pants because I didn’t have enough ribbing and really wanted to use this stripe.
And that’s it for today! Don’t despair – there’s plenty more to come 🙂
I’ve been on a roll with the baby boy sewing. Before I started these projects, I went through my baby clothes boxes and got rid of anything that I didn’t absolutely love or that wasn’t practical for baby-wear. That way, I had a good excuse to sew some more cute outfits!
This set was made using some lovely monkey jersey knit fabric and Hilco stripes from Crafty Mamas. The ribbing is also from Crafty Mamas. I can’t stress enough how important I think it is to use good quality knits for your sewing. I’ve used some cheap fabrics in the past, and while they look good for the first few washes, but after months of washing and wearing they just loose their shape and don’t look as nice. These clothes will be getting a lot of washing so I don’t want to skimp on quality. Plus, they feel so lovely and soft and I know they will be comfortable for baby to wear.
The bodysuit pattern comes from Ottobre Winter 6/2012. “Kisuliini Raglan-Sleeve Bodysuit.” It was very straightforward and simple, I’m becoming a pro at attaching all this binding now!
The pants are the same as the ones I’ve made before, from Ottobre Spring 1/2012 called “Little Houses Knit Pants.”
Once again, they have the cutest bottom and I’ve added a fold over cuff to keep little feet warm.
This little suit was made using some knit fabric from Spoonflower. The fabric is beautiful and soft and has a great stretch, but I’m still not 100% sure about the fading issue I’ve read about. It will be in for a lot of washing and wearing so I guess I’ll find out soon enough!
I’m loving this suit, it will look so cute on. The pattern comes from the latest issue of Ottobre – Spring 1/2013 and is called “Villikko Romper.”
Uunfortunately I couldn’t add any fold-over foot cuffs to this one because of the style, so I’ll have to invest in some good-quality, stay on socks!
I made both of these outfits in a size 56cm which I think I’ve worked out should be the equivalent of 00 or 3-6 months. Size 50cm is the smallest Ottobre size (000 or 0-3 months), but not many patterns start that small so I may be waiting a few months until he can start wearing these.
Truth be told, that if I could have had a choice in the gender of this baby, I would have gone for a girl. It would have evened the family up and I love having sisters and wanted Lil to be able to have a sister of her own. Plus, I’ve got soooo much girly fabric and patterns to use that it would have made for some very fun sewing!
I’m excited to be having another boy though, and have started hunting out boy-friendly fabrics and sewing patterns with the intent to sew as much of this little man’s infant wardrobe as I can. I do have lots of boy clothes in my baby boxes, but after two sons (plus some sharing with family and friends) most of them are looking tired. And it’s always nice to have some fresh clothes for a fresh baby so I’ve got lots of sewing ahead of me!
I started going through my stash of Ottobre magazines to choose some practical newborn outfits. This one comes from the Spring 1/2012 edition. The pants are called “Little Houses Knit Pants” and I’ve sewn the smallest size – 50cm. I’m hoping that they will be small enough for a brand new baby, but it’s hard to know when you don’t know what size they are going to come out!
I used a combination of Hilco Campan knit in light blue and white stripe and Stella grey. For all of the topstitching, I used the honeycomb stitch on my sewing machine because I don’t have a coverstitch machine.
My favourite part is the contrast bottom panel – I’m going to have fun with this in the future! Cute for me to look at and comfy for baby’s big nappy bottom.
The pattern had regular cuffs on the bottom of the legs. If there is one thing I can’t stand, it’s bare-footed babies in the cold weather and it seems that the cutest baby clothes are footless. I’m yet to find a pair of socks that stay on a baby, so try and steer away from footless clothes. I do have a few baby suits that have fold over cuffs though – they are genuis! It means that you have the option of a regular cuff if you want to see the feet:
And a closed foot when you want them all snuggly:
To make them, I took the length measurements from one of my old baby suits and used the width measurements from the cuffs in the pattern. I started to use my brain to work how they were constructed, then did a quick online search and found a great tutorial by Things for Boys. I like the idea of using these for big kids jammies too – so nice to know their feet are snuggly on a cold night!
The bodysuite pattern is called “Bert Bodysuit with a henley placket”. Unfortunately I messed up the placket and it sitting off centre. I’ll only be making that mistake once! So annoying, but I figure that once it is on a cuddly baby it won’t be as noticeable as it is sitting flat here!
This was another easy pattern – lots of binding to sew on though!
I was excited to break out my brand new snap machine from Snaps Australia for this project. I’ve only had it for a few weeks and have tried it out on some bibs, but nothing as thick as this and it worked brilliantly. Went through all the thicknesses without any hassles and the snaps feel really secure and sturdy.
And that, my friends, is the first of lots of baby boy sewing! I’m very excited to use some of my favourite boy print knits I’ve been collecting so stay tuned!
