Look out! It's a girl post! More out of the Aviator Pants

This year my daughter (10) wanted to be Catwoman for Halloween.

She kept pointing out all these skin tight costumes in her online searches.

Yeah, not happening.

I must admit, Halloween is the time of year that I am hands down most grateful for my ability to sew. I have only been sewing for serious sport for about four years. I have been sewing Halloween costumes for 15. Once a year I would get out my machine and go to town. Some years, following a big four paper pattern, and some years, making it up as I went along. I would make them whatever they wanted to be. I just knew hands down, that my girls would not be sporting one of those skimpy, sexed up, hardly any fabric involved, costumes the stores supplied.

Have you ever googled "tween girls Halloween costume"?

Yeah, again, not happening.

Now back to Catwoman. I'm not a prude. At all. BUT, I will not be allowing my 10 year old daughter to wear a skin tight spandex body suit. Nope, again, not happening. But of course, this is what she wanted to be! After a little thinking, I found a way for both of us to be happy.

Here in the lovely midwest, it is typically pretty chilly on Halloween. So the entire outfit is made from cozy warm microfleece. It has the fitted look that says "Catwoman" to her, but isn't skin tight, which makes her daddy and I very happy.

She also got to wear a bit of make up for this shoot, which she absolutely LOVED. Not going to happen on a regular basis, but for Halloween, totally appropriate.

We went with the Julie Newmar version of Catwoman. I am thrilled with the whole look.

Somebody please tell this kid she is only TEN!

Her pants are the super awesome Aviator Pants from Winter Wear Designs. I so love these pants! This is the basic version, no pockets, no accents. I took them in a bit at the hips and thighs to make them a bit more fitted, but left them loose on the bottom. The only thing I would change is that I wish I would have taken advantage of the waist band and used it as the belt, instead of making it separate. But this way they are more wearable after Halloween is over. :)

They are clearly comfy enough to take on Batman with some fierce foot moves.

The shirt starts from Heidi & Finn's All You Need Jammies. I widened the neckline and added the short cowl to it to mimic the neckline in the original costume.

I love that she can use the base of the costume for everyday wear. This top will be darling with some jeans and boots this winter.

The ears and mask are self drafted. The ears are simply two layers of fleece sewn wrong sides together and hot glued onto a headband. The mask is a sheet of glitter canvas held on with an elastic strap tucked under her hair. The necklace was a cheap score from Walmart of all places.

The belt is some fantastic gold spandex. I just cut a length a couple inches smaller than her waist and sewed it into a tub.

The entire get up costs around $20 and is not a one time wear. She loves it, I love it. It's a definite win!

My little super hero and his villainess. If you want to check out how to make the Batman costume, I have a full tutorial over at Peek-a-Boo!

Don't let them trick you, they are total goof balls!

And totally ready for Halloween!

If you missed anybody on the Aviator Pants tour, go back and check them out!

Tour Stops:
Pattern Revolution       10/20
Paisley Roots                10/21
Handmade Boy             10/22
Sew a Straight Line      10/23
Lady & the Gents         10/24
Shaffer Sisters              10/24
Additional Fun      10/25

 

Want a little treat of your own before Halloween? Head over to Winter Wear Designs and take advantage of her first site wide sale! Use the code AVIATORTOUR for 15% off any pattern (except bundles) until 10/26. Or you can buy both the women's and children's aviator pants bundle and save 30%!

 

He wanted to sew something

For the past week, Thomas has been begging me to teach him to sew. Last night was a pretty good opportunity so we ran with it. I asked him what he wanted to sew and he said a coat with buttons. We decided some simple pajamas pants were a better idea. He asked if he could pick his own fabric. Of course!

We ended up with these.

Yucky grainy picture. Sorry, he only let me grab one and then he was off. So no chance to actually correct my settings after getting this way underexposed shot. It happens.

Pony fabric. Never mind the yards and yards of super boyish prints I have. The kid wanted ponies. He loves My Little Pony and can name them all.

He was super thrilled to get to sew! Until, I made him pin. He didn't care for pinning. Can't say I blame him, I don't like to pin either and avoid it as much as possible.

He LOVED feeding the material into the machine though.

And he did a super job at keeping his seam allowance nice and even. He is detail orientated and this is a task where it paid off!

We had to make it so he could use the foot peddle. That was his favorite part!

And the ironing. Let's hope he always likes to do that!

He was a very proud boy when he was finished! Of course he didn't do it ALL himself. I cut the pieces, serged, pinned the inseam to make sure it lined up and threaded the elastic.

He, of course, wore them to bed last night and has no desire to take them off today.

People may have been shaking their heads, but I did let him wear them to the grocery store today. He had on shoes at least, no slippers!

Goofy face when he realized I was taking picture of him eating his cereal and watching Curious George this morning. 

Of course, I had to make him a shirt to match his new pajama bottoms. ;) It's a good thing his dad is super cool and not a "my boy must be a BOY" type of guy. He did shake his head, chuckle, and remind me about how thrilled I was to have another boy when Thomas was born. LOL Hey, my boy can wear ponies and purple!

I can see these sewing lessons continuing. He is very proud of himself and we actually got this accomplished in about an hour. Not bad.

I made pants! Winter Wear Aviators Tour

Back in August I made my youngest two some awesome pants for the Bundle Up Boy Tour using Winter Wear Designs Aviator Pants. I simply LOVE those pants on both my son and daughter!

So, when I was invited to participate in the Aviator Pants tour to celebrate the release of the woman's version, I couldn't say yes fast enough! I mean come on! Look how comfy those things look. And they must be, because each kiddo has pulled their Aviators out of the drawer multiple times already this fall. I needed in on that comfort!

Now, it's time to get real. And I mean REAL. When the tester photos of the women's aviators started making their appearances on Facebook, I was a little blown away. Those testers made those pants look GLAMOROUS. The styling was amazing. They paired their Aviators with heals, ballet flats, blazers, jewelery, you get it. They looked awesome.

And then, I started to have a small panic attack.

Because, that's not me. Yeah, I can style and dress my kids. They look pretty awesome if I say so myself. And I CAN style myself. BUT, I'm never COMFORTABLE when I dress like that. And I don't mean that the clothes aren't comfortable, it's that I don't feel like ME. I'm super casual. So, staying true to me, I bring you the super casual, super comfy, super, youaretotallygonnawanttomakeapairlikethistoo Women's Aviator Pants.

These are made of minky. Yeah, they are way awesome. Jealous?

You are. And that's okay. They are super cozy for lounging around on the sofa with a little crochet project.

Yeah, who am I kidding? That project is MONTHS old and should have only taken me a week to finish. I'm more likely to be found like this in these pants.

Yep, doing dishes. Hey, at least I'm comfy! Let's talk the outfit. My awesome minky Aviators are paired with a tank top layered with a size XL maternity hoodie that I can't bare to part with. It's ENORMOUS on me (I wear a size medium or large shirt to give you an idea of how enormous.), but I love it so it stays in my closet and I wear it like a robe.

They are also wonderful for that calming morning cup of coffee.

Yeah, my morning caffeine consumption looks more like this.

I know I'm not alone guys! Remember, we are being real here!

Actually, super real. That floor is in the process of being ripped out. New flooring goes down in a few days!! I'm beyond excited!!!!

Back to pants.

I also made a wonderful pair out of french terry for my sporty look. Paired with a hoodie. And running shoes. Fancy pants here. I actually wore this outfit out last night. People will attest to that. They saw me. My husband says that one day people from an ambush make over show are going to show up at our door. Really, is that a horrible thing? All expense paid shopping trip and mini vacation without the kids for a few days? Sign me up!

When I came out in these for pictures, my daughter said "I thought we were doing more pictures? Where are your pants?" When I told her these were them for this round, she said they looked store bought. Calm down, it's a compliment. Her next question was where my glasses were. I forgot them and was too lazy to go back for them when I was half way up the steps and noticed. So, I'm squinky. But oh well. Real life, remember.

I plan to use these for running also. So I figured that would be a cute way to model the pants.

Did you know it's HARD to look cute and fake run at the same time?

How about a fake fast walk instead? I'm sure my neighbors were very confused by the action going on in front of their houses.

So ,those are my Aviators. Super simple. I went with the front pockets but left off the cargo pockets and the cuffs. Making these, I found out my body is a complete mess and I had to blend a few sizes together to get the proper fit for me. You would think I would know this since I can never find pants that fit me well. Even sweats pants will be huge in the front rise and waist to fit my hips and butt. Apparently, I have quite a butt on me because it is two sizes bigger than my waist and my front rise and a size bigger than my hips. THREE blended sizes and FOUR muslins later, I had some good fitting pants! The muslins are wearable, but not for anything outside my living room. I have standards, folks. Not high ones, but I do have them.

All that said, I am really happy with the pattern and my pants! The way the pattern is nested made it really easy to blend the sizes to get a fit perfect for me! There are also tips and alteration lines for customizing the rise and the inseam in the pattern. I will no longer be fumbling around a store trying to find comfy pants to fit me!!

You don't want to miss out on the rest of the tour!

Tour Stops:
Pattern Revolution       10/20
Paisley Roots                10/21
Handmade Boy             10/22
Sew a Straight Line      10/23
Lady & the Gents         10/24
Shaffer Sisters              10/24
Additional Fun      10/25 

And to make it even more awesome, head over to Winter Wear Designs and take advantage of her first site wide sale! Use the code AVIATORTOUR for 15% off any pattern (except bundles) until 10/26. Or you can buy both the women's and children's aviator pants bundle and save 30%!

Then, pull some minky off your shelf and make the most cozy lounge pants ever! I am doing that next. My 13 year old was promised a pair for playing photographer for me. :)

Disclosure: I did receive the Women's Aviator Pants pattern for free for participating in the tour. My opinions, thoughts, and goofiness, are all my own.

Greenstyle Focus on Fall Tour

I can't tell you how excited I am to be a part of Greenstyle's Focus on Fall Tour!

 Greenstyle Creations has some fabulous patterns for the entire family. Stylish stuff that your crew will actually want to wear! In fact, there are a couple patterns I will be picking up for my 16 year old son. I know he would love the Hudson Hooded T-shirt. And I even have a discount code to use. I'll share it at the end of this post. I'm nice like that. ;) 

 When I had my choice of patterns from the kid's line to sew up for the tour, I had the hardest time choosing what to sew. I finally settled on the Brassie Capri Pants, Lacy and Lane Hooded T-Shirt, and the Regan Dress or Shirt.
 Yep, that Regan dress/shirt is totally a girl pattern. But I will share with you how I made it more boyish.

We did two looks for our stop on the tour. Both looks feature the Brassie Capri Pants.

Our first look is a pajama/lounge wear look.

 I used the Regan shirt option and changed the body to a more boxy style more suitable for a boy. I also straightened out the bell sleeves. Perfect comfy t-shirt for my guy to sleep in. Or play in. Who are we kidding? Clothes totally do double duty at my house.

Riley Blake Designs was so generous to supply all the fabric you see here for this look. The orange stripes and grey solid are a wonderful cotton jersey from the knit basics line and the foxes are from their line Good Natured and are a cotton woven. LOVE those foxes!

This pair of pants was sewn per his waist measurments. They are a bit slim, but trust me, he had no problems running around in them. I lengthened the pattern to make them pants length. I have no problem with capris on him, but he is funny about them. They confuse him. He says they are too small. LOL This are really comfy and sew up super fast! I plan to make a few more pairs in knit for him. He likes cozy fabrics.

Our second look is a day time look. But we took a quick detour while changing for that shoot. I hadn't planned on it, but I really like the mix and match way the two styles go together. So of course we had to take a couple of pictures with the stacked patterns!

Here I paired some Birch Organics that I had previously purchased with the Riley Blake grey knit. Really love those fabrics together in this Lacy and Lane Hooded T-shirt. He loves the large hood and of course, thumb holes in the cuffs!

The Brassie pants I made for his day look are from a cozy flannel I purchased from JoAnn's last year. It has a slight herringbone pattern to them. I sewed up a size larger than his waist measurement for this pair, so they have a slightly baggy look to them, that I love. I did insert some elastic into the waist band to make sure they stay in place. We do our best to avoid wardrobe malfunctions over here.

I would call this look "styling nature boy". The cuffs protected his tender little hands from all the climbing. Those were his words by the way. The cuff fabric is from Purple Seamstress.

 It's grainy, slightly out of focus, and I totally underexposed it. But that folks, is the look of concentration and determination in a 4 year old.

By the way, nearly every picture is out of focus because the kid would NOT hold still for a second. And I wasn't able to crank up the shutter speed of the camera enough to keep up. He took those woods as his own personal America Ninja Warrior course.

He built this catapult with his daddy this week. He was so excited to bring it out with us. It bought me 15 seconds of stillness. That was a joke. Next time I'll bring more pom poms with us.

So there you have our two, okay, three really, looks for the tour. Perfect fall styling for an active boy in the woods or the city!

Be sure to check out all the other stops on the tour!

Greenstyle Creations Focus on Fall Blog Tour Schedule

October 13- Kick off Post by Blogs Like A Mother

October 14- Friends Stitched Together

October 15- Handmade Boy

October 16- Becca Duval Photography

October 17- The Lady and The Gents

October 18- Snickerdoodle Stew

October 19- The Sewing Sparrow

October 20- Once Upon A Sewing Machine

October 21- Babyfish Designs

October 22- FABulous Home-Sewn

October 23- Gracious Threads

October 24- Wrap Up Post by Blogs Like A Mother

Love what you see and want to sew up your own fab clothes for fall for your kids? Well you're in luck! Greenstyle Creations is offering a 25% discount with the code "25discount" during the tour.

And there is a raffle!!! Who doesn't love a give-a-way?! I want to give a huge thank you to
Whimsical Fabrics and Greenstyle Creations for providing the prize packages.   Enter by using the widget below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was given the three patterns used in this post for participating in the tour. I was also supplied the fabrics listed by Riley Blake Designs. I did however purchase the fabric from JoAnn's and Birch Organics. My thoughts and opinions on the patterns and fabrics are all my own. :)

Na na na na na na na na BATMAN!!!

Today I'm over at Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop sharing how I made this cozy fleece Batman costume. Head over there to see the whole tutorial.

Yep! The whole thing, down to that awesome utility belt and shoe covers!

Before you jump over to the how to, here are some bonus shots from his photo shoot.

He is kinda proud of this costume. He wears the roll well.

He has had a massive growth spurt since I last made him a cape in April. He did get a longer cape made for Halloween, we just didn't get it photographed.

The rad belt. I tell you exactly how to make it in the tutorial. Nice, huh!

And the shoe covers, too!

Those things stayed on during a half hour of this.

And this.

Go over and find out the details of the costume. They are all over at the Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop Blog!

Happy Costume Making!!