KCW – Leather shoulder raglan sweatshirt

For Kid’s Clothes Week this season I really wanted to crank through a few projects that have been sitting on my “must sew before spring comes” list, and this was one of them; a leather shoulder raglan sweatshirt for my son. It’s a straight up copy-cat of this sweatshirt from Groovy Baby and Mama. She has some fantastic style and I love everything she sews for her kids!

For my version I used the Oliver + s Raglan t-shirt pattern and modified it a bit by making it wider in the body and sleeves, skipped the pocket, widened the neck band, added sleeve cuffs and bottom hem band, and stitched on leather shoulder patches appliqué style onto the sleeves before sewing the whole thing together.

The sweatshirt fabric is this incredibly soft organic cotton sueded fleece in color camel which I bought from here. It’s pretty much the softest thing I’ve ever felt! I think I need to order more in all the colors 😉

Action shots! You can see it ended up being a bit huge on him. I’m debating whether or not to take it in or not. One the one hand, he’ll be able to wear it for several years the way it is. On the other hand.. it’s huge.

But he still looks pretty darn handsome either way 😉

Holy smokes is KCW already almost half way done? I’d better get cracking.

Do you sew your kids clothes big enough to grow into or do you prefer to have a good fit right away?

Ruffled picnic shorts

I’ve been ogling over these Jcrew kids shorts for for some time now, not to mention seeing several very cute knock-offs showing up in the Oliver + s flickr stream.  With both Knock-it-off and Shorts on the Line in full swing I had double the reason to sew these! And so I finally took the plunge and followed this popular tutorial to transform the class picnic shorts pattern into these ruffled Jcrew knock-offs.

For my version I sewed them from the Oliver + s class picnic shorts pattern in size 4 width 5 length from Robert Kaufman hampton twill in color calypso with Liberty of London for the waist and pocket linings.

I added the pockets in myself to make them more like the inspiration shorts. But I made a mistake and added them to the wrong spot! The pockets on the inspiration shorts are on the outsides of the ruffle, but mine ended up inside. Oops! That’s what I get for not thinking out my pattern modifications. Oh well, they’re still cute 😉

Detail shot. Love these ruffles. I think I’ll try these shorts again next summer and hopefully figure out those pockets!

Liberty waistband <3. I finished the inside visible waist seam with charcoal 1/4″ bias tape. I much prefer this over simply serging the edge as it provides such a lovely and professional finish.

In an effort to remember what size garment was made, I’ve added size tags. Why didn’t I do this sooner!?

Shorts in action.

Adorable from both sides 😉

I feel like summer sewing is coming quickly to an end. Are you still squeezing in some summer sewing or have you switched to fall yet?

Baggies knock-it-off

This month I’m participating in the Knock-it-off sewing series hosted by Heidi at Elegance & Elephants. From August 1-20 we will be sewing copy-cat versions of retail styles. There’s a flickr group here where you can see what’s been sewn, and post things you’ve knocked off as well! For this knock off I sewed a pair of shorts termed “baggies” by Mini Boden followers.

The pattern I used for these was the “Coastal Craze Baggies” by Peek-a-boo pattern shop. I sewed them in size 2 from some luxurious gray stripe bamboo blend knit and a solid mint knit both from Girl Charlee. For the waistband I used gray rib knit from Joann’s. The bamboo blend is fabulous; very soft and not too lightweight. I need to make more things from this fabric!

This sewing pattern required only a little modification to make it a perfect knock-off of the baggies. The things I changed were to edge-stitch around the bottom of the waistband with a twin needle, plus to use a serger-like top stitch on the faux fly stitching as well as the back pocket stitching. I was happy to keep these as shorts but if you wanted them the same length as the baggie pant, you should add a few inches to the leg length.

Also, next time I make these I’ll change how the back pocket is constructed so the top edge-stitching (in mint thread) is hidden. I prefer a cleaner finish for the pocket plus the originals do not have this extra seam.

Oh hai! The shot of the rear is my favorite. That mint pocket just kills me!

The front is pretty stinking adorable as well!

I adore these knock-off baggies. I can see why they are so popular! I think these will be an annual summer sewing staple around here 😉

Have you seen the awesome knock-offs being created? Come knock-it-off with me!

Sunny Day copycat shorts

On the right are some awesome chambray BabyGap shorts I’ve been drooling over for a month. On the left are my copycat version. Pretty good right? I wasn’t aiming for an exact copy, just something close using what I had on hand. I absolutely love how they turned out!

The fabric I used was Robert Kaufman interweave chambray with cream linen for the front pocket linings. I love the weight of the chambray for this project; definitely more of a medium weight and very sturdy which is perfect for little boy shorts!

I used the Oliver + S Sunny Day shorts pattern in size 18-24 months as the base. I then modified them by adding front pockets, belt loops, a faux fly, faux draw string, a cargo pocket on the back, flat felled seams, a button, and lots of topstitching. Whew, that’s a lot of modifications! But I think it came out amazing and looks very similar to the inspiration shorts.

Cargo pocket and belt loop detail.

Here’s a peak at the cream pocket lining plus the topstitching detail.

I left the length slightly longer and I’m so glad I did. The length is perfect on him!

Action shot!

I’m kind of in love with the whole copycat idea now. I think some “jcrew” shorts for my girl will be coming up soon!