Whales!!

Gosh it has been a long time since I last posted- apologies for the silence! I've been busy with everything small boy- related so have not had much time for sewing and kind of lost my mojo for a bit.

When my niece came to visit at the end of October, I discovered that she was totally obsessed with all things princess and really wanted a princess dress. So I went to Ray Stitch, got a world of pink and made her one which I've now posted off to her in Estonia. I've yet to get a picture back of her wearing it so will blog about it a bit later.

I have also been learning how to make a block with the amazing Moyna Hamilton and now have a bodice block of my very own. I must find some time to go learn about trouser blocks etc. soon.

Meanwhile (as you can maybe guess) I have been making whales.

These guys turned out amazing! I have been doing a big lot of de-cluttering inspired by the 5-day de-clutter e-course run by Lisa Cole and had two merino wool jumpers that I was never going to wear again. So I did the thing you're never meant to do with wool and washed them at a high temperature AND tumble dried them to make them go all nice and felted.

I then used this gorgeous pattern for a whale softie from Etsy to make up these little fellas. They turned out super cute. I've made them for two gorgeous little men that I know and will be handing them over this afternoon- I really can't wait!

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: