Brilliant

As in "ooh shiny," not as in "ooh great idea," because, even though it's finished, I'm still not really sure if it was a good idea to put these together

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.

For the love of jars

I sewed a (relatively) quick thing today!

Yes, it's a Halloween print 20 days before Christmas.  La la.

I used vintage Simplicity 3263 again, and paid attention to the grain of the fabric more than to the print, which I only notice is a bit of a problem now that I'm looking at the photo while making this post.  Eh, I don't think it'll be a distraction when it's worn, especially if cardigans are involved.

Just used a solid black thin cotton (plus medium weight fusible interfacing) for the facings, which were cut from the main pattern pieces, instead of following the directions for separate facings for neckline and arm holes, and I once again did things Very Wrongly to get the facings attached (only I sewed the armholes before the neckline this time--no idea if it makes any real difference to the ease of this approach, but he brain tries to say so.)  Edge stitched around the neckline and armholes, lapped zipper on the left side.

Nothin' fancy, but somethin' finished, so yay.

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.)

Pants!

...for the kiddo

Thrifted pattern, smallest size is still too big, but, hey, it's a pattern for boys kids that isn't designed like an afterthought.  It's also from 1997, and, I'll be honest: I can't really tell if it's a truly timeless design, or if the fact that I remember fashion in 1997 is interfering with my ability to judge how out of date this might be.  (I would make a comment about Zubaz, but no-one would've been caught dead wearing loud patterns or eye-searing colors in 1997, pfft.) ((So  also won't make a comment about how it's entirely possible the Big 3 pattern companies may have been offering Zubaz-approximate patterns in 1997.  Nope.  Not gonna make that comment.))

Whoever had owned this before had used it, but...as a base for adult-size pants?  The pieces that were cut were cut beyond the largest size lines, with notebook paper extensions.  I trimmed the pieces down to the largest size, and cut the fabric in smallest.

I also combined views, using the false fly of view A with the cargo pockets of view B--not because I have any problems with zippers, or because I lacked appropriate zippers, but because the kiddo never uses the zippers in the jeans he has, instead choosing to shimmy in and out of them while they're completely closed.

Also, the pants legs really are the same length.  Really.

My curves need work, although the topstitching isn't as dire as I expected.  (...do..do I have a topstitching addiction?  I...might.)  I happened to have a perfect match thread (gifted) for this cloth (thrifted), but not a lot of it left, so I used black thread in the bobbin for the topstitching and black thread in both for the plain seams.  I didn't run out of the gray, so that was good! (Will probably use the rest for gray and black doll clothes.)

Decided to use Velcro instead of buttons on the pockets because I had the idea that it wouldn't use as much thread as button holes.  Not sure, in retrospect, if that's true, but I also didn't have any buttons that seemed appropriate for this, so I stand by this decision.

Since he's smaller than the pattern, I increased the sizes of a few seam allowances (which...it's KwikSew, so the seam allowances are only ¼" anyway), and used a smaller length of elastic in the back. The kiddo hasn't tried these on yet, because it's Saturday and it takes a lot to get him out of his pajamas on a Saturday.  We'll find out eventually if these fit...

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.

Well, I wasn't expecting that

Knew I wanted to spend time today sewing, expected I'd start a jacket for the kiddo, made this instead.