Pants.

I have soooooo many sewing chores to do.  So many projects partially completed.  Blanket orders, dresses, yellow pants, 2 quilts...  it's bad.  My sewing table exploded.

However.... a certain 3 year old was rather insistent that my precious few minutes of daytime sewing should include new pants for her creep-o doll, Olivia.  I resisted, she persisted.  There were tears and there was whining.  I hate whining. (Despite it's almost perpetual existence in my house, or maybe due to it!)  I told her she could help sew!  I gave her some fabric, scissors, and free reign to create!  Still... she wanted PANTS!

So Olivia got some pants.

I used no pattern.  I held up 4 scraggly pieces of fabric, lined them up kinda sorta, and cut out a shape that looked like a pants pattern in a size I hoped would fit.  I didn't pin them, I just sewed.  I used bias tape that didn't match for the elastic waist, and orange thread because it was in the machine.  And a mermaid button.  They fit!  They are cuter than I expected.

Raina is thrilled.  And Olivia looks much warmer.  The pants don't do much to help her in the creep-o department, though...

Now it's almost 10 pm.  I've made doll pants.  I've blogged about doll pants.  Maybe I should try to put a dent in that sewing mess now? 

Treasure Pocket Pants

Sewing for Boys, for girls!  

This pattern is from the book "Sewing for Boys' by Shelly Figueroa....  I ordered it because I saw the treasure pocket pants here on Tara's blog and I fell in love with them.  When I took a look at the book, I decided it was a pretty cute book that could just as well be for girls with a little fabric switch-up!  So I ordered it, and my husband got really nervous when it came in the mail :)

"What's this?"

"A new pattern book I ordered!"

"Sewing for BOYS?"

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you..."

(silence)

"I'm KIDDING!!"

(nervous laughter)

oh, good times, good times!

Anywho... I traced the pattern on vellum, which I've never done before.  It was awesome.  You can see right through it to trace, but it holds up much better than tissue paper.  Love it.

I made them in the smallest size the pattern comes in, 12-18 months.  I don't know why.  I don't know who I thought I was making these for.  I have a 6 month old and a 3 year old.  Yeah.  I would have made them in 2/3 for Raina, but she only really likes jersey or fleece pants these days, and I was afraid she wouldn't wear them!  So I made them as small as possible, and Lucca will be in them before I know it.  Or maybe Raina will love them, and she can wear them as capris.  Who knows.

First step, the pocket panel assembly.  And I was already a tad confused.  Luckily, I found this Treasure Pocket Pants Sew Along on the trusty old interwebs and it saved me a lot of headache!  Sadly, by that time the birds on the top part of the panel were already flying upside down, but we'll pretend they aren't.

Poofy pocket!

What the elastic casing looks like on the inside of the pocket:

So then you attach the completed pocket panels to the front pant pieces.  Easy beans.  Then you construct and sew the faux fly.  And this is where the aformentioned sew along came in really handy.  Without it, I'm pretty sure it would have taken me twice as long.  With two little girls, I have never constructed a faux fly before... but I think my first one was a success!  I was so proud of it.... I made my husband look at it way more closely than he really wanted to, but hey, I listen to him talk about video games, so it's only right!  Right?  Another note:  You have to mark the stitching line for the fly on the top front of the pants...  and the pattern says to do this in chalk.  I usually use a good old fashioned fine tip orange crayola marker to do my markings, so I was initially stumped as to what I might use.  I ended up using a piece of honest to goodness sidewalk chalk from Raina's basket of chalk.  :)

Inside the flappy-do:

Next you attach the back panels and do some fancy top stitching to make it look all pretty.  After the pockets and faux fly, this is cake.  

And then you have a pair of very unfinished but very recognizable pants!  Woohoo!

This is the hot pink thread I've been using on all of my projects this week:

I love the color, and that it came from my Grandma's sewing box, which I was incredibly blessed to inherit.  I have no idea how old it is, but it cost $.60, so probably a couple decades at least. It's beautiful and silky, but when you use it to topstitch on white, things get tricky.  My stitches got crooked a few times, and (to me at least) it's pretty obvious because of the color.  Not that I'd change it, though!

And a little aside... does anyone else have one of these amazing bobbin winding devices?  I bought it with a Christmas gift card and it is seriously one of the best sewing tools I've bought.  Major time saver!

Back to the assembled pants...

I am in love with this bird sheet as clothing fabric!

Can you see my pink topstitching to the sides of the pocket panel?

p.s. - I did some of this during Raina's nap.  Here's what Lucca did.  Yum yum on some baby mum-mums.  She loves to gnaw them into a pile of mushy rice goo!

Next up, you create the hem and waist facings and attach them.  This is also where you thread elastic through the waist casing to make a for realz waist band that is so cute.  And do more topstitching.

Again, the faux fly :)

The fabric is from two places...

the main part of the pants is this purple and pink print, recycled from a pair of Gap capris I could never throw away, but that haven't fit my mommy body in many moons.

And here is the queen sized pile of bird sheet.  What else should I use it for?

When my husband first saw me cutting the fabric, he asked if the fabric was for one pair of pants.  He's not big on the pattern mixing.  :)  I think it came out really cute, though!

One more thing.  Here are three pairs of pants.  The center, as you know, is the treasure pocket pants, size 12-18 months.  On the left is a pair of Raina's capris from last summer - also size 12-18 months.  On the right is a pair of Lucca's current pants, size 6-12 months (the waist is the same measurement as R's old capris!).  Sizing is so arbitrary!

Can't wait tog et one or both of my girlies into these pants this summer!!

Dipes and wipes for Dolly

OR more accurately, dipes and wipes for meow!  Meow is a funny little kitty cat.  Meow enjoys wearing diapers.  Unfortunately, Meow enjoys wearing baby Lucca's diapers, and those diapers aren't free!  Now, Meow has a fancy diaper wardrobe all his own!  And if Meow feels like sharing, baby Olivia can cover up a little bit, too!

These diapers were a bit of an experiment.  I sort of followed this tutorial  doll diapers, but I changed it around a little to make the tabs longer and to make the crotch area a bit narrower.  I also used velcro across the entire front of the diaper to make them more adjustable.

They were a VERY quick and easy project!  The lining is pink flannel and is a repurposed receiving blanket.  The outsides are flannels I had on hand that would normally go to bonnet-making... but the season for flannel bonnets is coming to an end!  (And I'm pretty happy about that!  C'mon Spring!)

I DID make diapers out of all of these fabrics, despite the fact that only the blue and yellow ones are pictures here :)  We are away for a few days at my mom's house, though, and those are the only two that made the trip with us!

They were pinned, right sides together, sewed almost all the way around, and turned right side out.  I had to poke a knitting needle up inside to get the corners turned.  Then I topstitched all the way around, and decided to have a little fun with it!  I used purple thread to contrast with the fabrics, and also because it is currently Raina's favorite color.  I also took the opportunity to use some of the fancy stitches on my machine.  I need to use them more often!  (Actually, a couple of ideas popped into my head while I was making these... maybe I'll find some time to make them next week!)

love this stitch!  I definitely need to use this one more!

After the stitching was all done, I cut some velcro to make closures.  The loop (soft side) is on the front of the diaper in one long strip.  The hook (rough side) is sewed onto the inner tabs in one-ish inch strips.  Both were machine stitched on.

And that's it!  They look super cute on Meow and Olivia, and comfy, too!

However, no set of diapers is complete without some wipies, too!  I used some of the leftover blanket flannel to cut rounded edge squares, and zig-zagged around the edges.  Couldn't get much easier than that.

This pattern is SO easy to tweak... so if your doll or stuffed animal of choice is larger or smaller, play around with it a bit and I'm sure you'll find the fit that's right for you!

As hard as I tried, I could not get iPhoto to recognize that I flipped this picture.  Every time I added it to Blogger, it was sideways again.  Meow in his yellow dipe is too cute to leave out, though :)