Periwinkle and red

So I thrifted a few yards of a...sorta...dusty periwinkle heavy knit, and decided I'd use some of it to make a hoodie for the kiddo, once again using Burda 9672

(yes, I know, the separating-zipper view is not the hooded view.  Minor quibble.)

 The only separating zippers in the appropriate length I had were white, gray, and bright red.  I couldn't decide between the white or gray, so I showed all of the options to the kiddo and let him decide.

He chose the red zipper.

Well...then...

Huh.

I'm sure he would have had no problem with a purely periwinkle hoodie with a red zipper, but my brain demanded that something else be done so the red zipper would 'make sense'...somehow.

Ah, but, I had about a half yard of a red double jersey knit!  As to what I did with it...

Kid's Choice

So I've been venturing into the thrift store every few weeks over the summer, acknowledging that the kiddo is not as enthused about the activity as I am.  I make the deal: we'll only look at toys and cloth.  Toys he's fine with, but, cloth?  Enh.

So I was surprised when he fell in love with a yard of fluffy polar fleece, a camo print in colors I think of as "spring thaw."  I said I'd make a hoodie for him, thinking I had a separating zipper of appropriate length, which...no.  I'd intended to use Burda 9672 again, anyway, so I asked him if he'd rather have a jacket or a pullover, and he chose the pullover, also choosing a yellow zipper.

It went together pretty fast, except for the part that involved unpicking stitches in fluffy cloth...

Patterns are only Guidelines

The kiddo's (relatively) heavy winter coat is a few years old--it doesn't tend to get cold enough around here to use it a lot, so it's in good shape, and fits him fine in the torso, but his arms...they have grown long.  So, in my current fit of "I really should start using all this fabulous cloth I've accumulated," I decided I would make a heavy jacket for him to wear this winter.

I started with ideas of using the various wool/wool blends I have in relatively small yardages, then also dug out a length of bright green medium weight knit, and threw in the red and black flannel that had been used to underline the eye jacket.  I couldn't decide, so I let him.  He...couldn't really decide, either, but as he talked about what he liked about each fabric, I remembered something that I thought he'd like--as soon as I said "purple and green" he started bouncing around (more than usual) and agreed to that before he even saw it.

It's a dark cool purple and pea green cotton plaid flannel, thrifted, and about 1¼ yard of 60".  With that as the inspiration, I poked around online to see what kinda of things kids these days are wearing in the realm of 'flannel winter jacket,' and it looked like I could probably do view A of Burda 9672 again with no problem

...but...we know I wouldn't really do that, don't we...

Oh, sure, I started with view A, then decided to add the hood from view B, as well as view B's un-ribbing-ed sleeves...and eliminate the ribbing from the waist, too.  And put the pockets in the side seams.  And line it, which would require improvising a facing piece.  And close it with buttons, which would require extending the center front pieces and interfacing that improvised facing piece.  But I did start with this pattern

It's underlined with a medium weight black knit that probably contains at least a little cotton, and lined with a lightweight knit that probably contains even less cotton.  It's brighter than the green in the flannel, but, not a bad match considering these were definitely not bought as intentional coordinates (or from the same store...or in the same state...or in the same year decade century.)

My thread assortment wasn't as accommodating, so I went with a pale khaki that ended up looking white against the dark purple (which could be described as royal blue in some lights, and likewise the pea green shifts to khaki...just...not the same khaki as the thread...)  But it's pretty well established that I will always choose to top stitch, so we'll say it's a design element.

I didn't look through my buttons until it was time to make the button holes, and I expected I would end up with mottled brown buttons (which are my default buttons), but, hey, whadddaya know, the fact that my button stash was established in the late 1990s means I had some perfectly pea green (and slightly lustrous) buttons in the large size I'd envisioned.  The buttonholer attachment and button-holding presser foot made finishing the jacket go very quickly, and the kiddo danced around when he tried it on, so, as slapdash as it is, it's still a success.

Action Child!

I wanted pictures of him wearing the eye jacket and the gray pants, and he was happy to pose...and pose...and pose...

(Yep, I made the kitty, years ago, using the NunoDoll Ragdoll Kitten pattern/instructions, enlarged to 150%--this pattern works amazingly with knit faux fur...not so much with woven cottons...  The kiddo doesn't see any problems with it.)

The Eyes Jacket

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who had a beloved hoodie.  This hoodie was a Target Halloween product, printed with black stripes on gray sweatshirt fleece, with staring green eyeballs scattered throughout.  The little boy wore this Eye Jacket until it was threadbare all around.  The jacket was then disassembled and a good piece of it used to make a pillow (because the little boy also loved pillows.  So. many. pillows.)  The little boy's mother had carefully picked apart the stitches holding the separating zipper, and then used it on another jacket--made of black, white, and red thread dyed plaid--just for the little boy.  The little boy also loved this jacket, but, as most little boys do, he grew and grew until it was no longer comfortable to wear.  And, so, when an all-over eyeball print was acquired from JoAnn this year, quickly followed by a copy of a Burda pattern for children's JOGGINGANZUG sweatsuit (the mother thinks she likes the German word better), well...things came together, and that zipper from the original Eyeball Jacket found its way into another Eyeball Jacket, and the little boy was happy.