Thursday, October 23, 2014

Elena's Fall Jackets & Sweaters

I can't resist Kids Clothes Week. Any excuse to sew and not clean the house, right? So today's excuse is that Elena will never learn to zip a jacket if she doesn't have a zip-up jacket, and every kid needs to learn to zip, right? So we fixed that problem.

Tuesday, I made her a pair of black fleece leggings out of fabric from my stash. They didn't exactly seem blog worthy and didn't even make it into the Kids Clothes Week Instagram pool. This morning I found a few minutes to cut out a coordinating jacket to sew up during her miniscule nap this afternoon. Everything is again from my stash, including the zipper which I removed from her big brother outgrown hoodie. (And what a nice zipper it is- the edges are all bound in soft knit fabric.)

In only 25 minutes I managed to attach the front pieces to the back, attach the pockets, attach the sleeves, sew up the sleeves and side seams, add cuffs to the sleeves, and sew on the collar. Then I had to wake Elena up to pick up big sister from school. When we returned, it didn't take much longer to add the waistband and zipper and bam- a jacket.

All was going well until picture time. Oh man, I've had enough of pictures, cameras, 3 year olds, and computers this week. It is what it is, right? As of this moment, I have no plans to sew tomorrow, but we'll see if I can stay away.







I used McCall's 6782 for the jacket. The only modification was to size up a bit since it's meant for moderate stretch knits and polar fleece doesn't stretch a lot. I also stopped the zipper below the collar because it didn't seem like it would be comfortable all the way up since the zipper is exposed on the backside. It fits great and is so soft and cozy.

The pants are my self drafted leggings pattern with the smallest seam allowances I could manage to add just a little more ease because it's not super stretchy. I think they're going to be too short soon, but I can add cuffs to extend them when the time comes.

Both fleeces came from Joann's over the last few years and are very thick, soft, anti-pill fleece. Elena LOVES it. It can be hard to get  my little nudist to try things on while sewing, but she did not want to take those pants off. I put the half done jacket on her to go pick her sister up since she naps in her underpants and she didn't complain at all about being woken up to wear that softness. She left it on when we got home too. Until I took it off her to finish it up. Then she wore it the rest of the night. A real win for me.

As for Elena's other jackets/cardigans for her all handmade wardrobe, here is a round-up of previously blogged items. Click the pictures to go to the original post for details.

workpraysew.com
Figgy's Nituna in Wool

workpraysew.com
Greenpoint Cardigan Modified and Dip Dyed

workpraysew.com
Aster Cardigan Refashion

That's mainly it. Her winter coat from last year still fits so we may get away without buying a new one. That is one of things I'm not interested in making for her. Maybe I'll even be able to wait long enough to get one on clearance or at least a really good sale. We were also given a nice thick snow suit so we are ready for playing in the snow too - but that had better not be any time soon!!!




1 comment:

  1. I know what you mean about things not being blog worthy, but I'm glad you included the pants anyway! When you're sewing a complete everyday wardrobe there are bound to be a few boring items, but they are almost always the most worn items, so I think they deserve their place on the blog :)

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