"I love them," he said

So this week the kiddo's school rewarded the students for having perfect attendance; the reward was dress up days.  Monday was Labor day, so no school; Tuesday: Hat Day (kiddo didn't care); Wednesday: Sport Jersey Day (kiddo didn't care, and, furthermore, nothing could've stopped him from wearing the t-shirt I freezer-stenciled a Half Life lambda on for him on Tuesday anyway); Thursday: Pajama Day--dingdingding pajama days are his favorites.  He wears pajamas pretty much every day he doesn't have to leave the house (a trait he 100% did not get from me.  I don't even like staying in pajamas when I'm sick.)

The constant pajama wearing was especially hard on the pajama pants I made for him (for the last school pajama day) and that I seem not to have blogged.  They were made from a penguin and snowflake print flannel that someone sent to me, and I had more than enough to make that first pair...and I thought there was enough left to make another pair, a reassurance I stuck to when the pajama pants in question blew out at the knees and ripped in all directions from there.  Which he thought was hilarious.

Not gonna let him wear those to school pajama day, though.

So!  Time to make another pair--this time with reinforced knees, an option already in good ol' KwikSew 2544

I've been using the faux fly from view A for years, but this was the first time using the knee patches from that view.  I also decided to eliminate any hint of the fly completely, as well as extend the top to make a fold over waistband, with elastic all around, instead of the flat front with elastic only in the back as the pattern is designed.  Oh, and, eliminate the pockets. (And also eliminate the cuff elastic, which my brain kinda refuses to even acknowledge is there in the picture.)

But it's basically the same pattern.  Also cut on the size 14 width lines but size 10 leg and size 12 waist rise.  Still the same pattern.

And then of course I discovered that there was not enough of the penguin print left to make an entire pair of pants.

Now...OK...see...

I don't like flannel.

But I do like cloth and bargains and ridiculous prints, so I had a few yards of an eyeglasses print flannel, plus that yard of Pokémon print flannel that the kiddo picked out a few months ago.  He's since lost some enthusiasm for Pokémon and shifted over to Half Life, so I tried selling him on the eyeglasses print as being a very vague reference to the glasses on Gordon Freeman and the other scientists of the game.  He said yeah sure but he also really wanted another pair of penguin pants.  I changed the angle and suggested mixing the prints.  That got some enthusiasm, because this kid does love humorously obnoxious combinations of stuff.

So.  Glasses + Penguins.

I cut the entire back out of the glasses print (no effort to print match, so of course it shows how close it was to matching the print)

 and the front was one leg of each, with the knee patches swapped printwise.

 I didn't look at the pattern directions for the knee patches--I just knew that even two layers of flannel probably wouldn't last too long, so I added a layer of a random cotton broadcloth.

I sewed the flannel to the broadcloth right sides together, then flipped them right sides out and  ironed the edges before aligning the patches with the pattern notches and edge stitching and top stitching the patches to the legs.  I hope three layers of cloth will be more durable.

 Edge stitching along the center seams (which I somehow completely forgot to serge?) and double stitching on the elastic channel.

 The cuffs were serged and then folded inward twice.  I know that serging is kind of a waste there, since the raw edge absolutely does not show, but it really helps me get an idea of how much to fold, since, y'know, I can't be bothered to measure.

When I finished and showed him, he smiled and very quietly said, "I love them."

So yay!

Tomorrow is the last day of dress up week--the theme is Mismatched Day.

That should be interesting...

Succumbing to the Cocoon Dress

Sorta.

I follow a lot of sewing blogs, and it seems like cocoon dresses are always popping up in those.  I get that the construction is novel and the appearance is interesting, but I can't even begin to imagine me wearing one.  This doesn't mean I won't, just...not now.

However...I do have this army of, y'know, fashion dolls...

So here we are

And, yes, I made a pattern to share!

I believe you should be able to right click and save, and the 1" and 1cm lines are included to double check that they print out at the correct size for those famous size fashion dolls--and this will fit all of the body variations available as of late 2018, too.  The dolls on the ends in the photo are both Curvies.

The multitude of arrows on the side front pattern piece are, if it's not obvious, because grain can be used creatively on that piece.

This version has the grain straight

This one had the side cut on the cross grain

This one's on the bias

 ...and this one uses the no-pocket front piece.

 The picture is taken from the side to show the curve of the back seam that they all have.

And now I have cocoon dresses out of my system!  Tiny cocoon dresses...