Dinosaur boy

With the British summer being what it is, my boy needed a thin rain coat to make sure he stays dry but doesn't overheat. Luckily his mummy had some random dinosaur print PUL lying around so he is now the proud owner of this little number:

I made it based on a a pattern from a website called You Can Make This. It's an odd one that site- they have many many children's patterns but most of them are just horrendous (sorry but they really jar with my taste). And then you get some amazing ones. Like the jacket pattern from the Peek-a-boo pattern shop:

It occurs to me that children's clothing is perfect for practicing making new things. So far I have made two collared shirts for Oskar and so would feel confident tackling a grown-up sized shirt in the future. And now this- totally makes me comfortable trying to make something like this for me.

The pattern instructions were a bit of a nightmare to follow for this and PUL is a complete nightmare to sew- honestly, I had my zig zag foot, teflon foot and walking foot out as well as playing with the zipper foot. Was basting almost every seam and had to rip seams out several times along the way. Plus, the organic bamboo and cotton mix I used for the lining has got to be the world's most easily wrinkling material.. But it's ok. It all worked out in the end.

Have you ever sewn PUL? Any tips?

Daddy's t-shirt to boy's top

Hello and happy Father's Day to all the daddies! I can't believe our house is already on it's second

father's day. Oskar surprised daddy with a father-son breakfast this morning:

As befits the day, I thought I'd show you what I've been doing with the t-shirts that get a bit too tight for Mykal. You guessed it- they get turned into Oskar's shirts.

First, you need a pattern. You can either buy a proper one, like the Flashback Skinny Tee from Made by Rae, or just copy something that already fits. I decided to copy O's pyjama top for this.

I folded it in half and traced the front and then back halves onto some pattern paper. I also traced the sleeves in halves which worked fine.

So now I had a pattern to work with. I made up one top which turned out nice but did show where I needed alterations (reduced width and added an inch of length). And voila- my messy pattern pieces were ready!

I cut out the pieces, ensuring the t-shirt image stays in the middle of the new shirt. I cut the sleeves from the t-shirt sleeves which saved me from finishing the edges on those.

A word on neck binding- on t-shirts where the stretch of the jersey is completely gone the neck hole may need to be a bit wider for smaller children (O is one)- sadly the robot one doesn't go over his head so will have to remake that one (red raglan sleeves anyone?)

Now if only I could catch the little blighter wearing one of the shirts...

I'd be very happy to post the pattern I made for my 1 year-old if anyone's interested.

*** Update: caught him on camera. Here's my little man striking a model pose in his new tshirt: