Twig and Tale Upcycle Tour

Today I'm participating in Twig and Tale's Upcycle Tour.

I love a good upcycle and often use adult size clothing found in thift stores or sheets for making clothes for Thomas. So, I was very excited to join in on this tour. Today, For today's Twig and Tale upcycle, I used the Little Red Riding Hood Cape. But instead of a cape, I created a swim cover.

Thomas and I are in love with this! I used 2 full size bath towel for my "fabric".

I placed the front edge of the front pattern piece along the existing hem of the towel. This allowed me to also use the towel detailing along the front of the cloak adding some interest to the front of the cover.

I also used the hem for the front of the hood. The bottom of the cloak was finished by simply serging the raw edge with matching thread. No hemming made this a really fast project!

Thomas is 6 years old and 52" tall, so for an oversized cover, sure to keep him cozy, I used the size 8-teen cloak. He is very happy with the generous sizing this gave him.

Go check out Twig and Tale for all the details and direct links to the tour. 

Blog tour overview page: http://www.twigandtale.com/blogs/news/upcycle-blog-tour-it-is-all-in-the-details Rafflecopter:

Tours are always more fun with a giveaway!

Enter to win 4 Twig and Tale patterns!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Day one: Sew Shelly Sew - Handmade Boy -Nap time Creations - Boevenbende

Day two: Stylin Stacy - The Craftingfiend - Gaafmachine -While she was sleeping

Day three: Huisje Boompje Boefjes -Life in our busy household - The Crazy Tailor - Sew Sophie Lynn

Day four: Crafty like a Rox - The Wolf and the Tree - NZ Green Buttons -Vera Luna - Paisley Roots

Thanks for stopping by!

Faux Layered Shirt Tutorial

I adore the look of layering. However, Thomas is rather hot blooded and can't stand to wear layers. (Any layered looks he wears are strictly photo shoot looks. LOL)

Thomas does like the look of layered tees though, so these faux layered shirts are a win win!

Winter Wear Designs Real Deal Jeans

Welcome to my stop on the Winter Wear Designs tour! I am so excited to share my Real Deal Jeans with you today. That's right! I made jeans! For REAL jeans for me! Not for one of my kids!

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. :)

Bundle Up Boy's Blog Tour

My first blog tour!! I was so excited when I was asked to be a part of the Bundle Up Boy's blog tour!

There are so many great patterns, I couldn't decided what to choose! But I finally got it narrowed down to Brownie-Goose Pattern's Butler Britches that I paired up with Fairytale Pattern's Letterman Jacket.

 Seriously, how great are these together!

  I love the look we came up with!

First, let's talk pants.

Brownie-Goose Designs Butler Britches

They look a bit different than the pattern shows, right. 

 

Well, I was sewing along, minding my own business and BAM! The fabulous lines of the Butler Britches just smacked me in the face and begged me to leave the cuffs off the pants entirely. It wasn't until after a lot of mental back and forth though! Do I dare leave off a key element of the design?  I finally went for it and so glad I did! I did ask Amy, the amazing designer of Brownie-Goose, and she gave me the thumbs up to go with it. :)

The pattern has two options for the pocket style. LOVE the pockets on these! 

There are also two different waistband styles as well, flat front, or elastic throughout. I went with the flat front and I think these could be pulled out when he needs a dressier pair of pants, they look so clean and modern.

I used a super light weight denim for these. They are so soft and comfy! He requested more of these. Honestly! So I have more planned, of course! I want to do a pair in flannel for him for pajamas. I can't wait to get to those. :) I have some beautiful Michael Miller broadcloth in a gorgeous gray that is set aside for a pair as well.

 

The fit on these is perfect! Thomas is really skinny and tall. I went with the size 2T for the waist and then used the size 5 for the rise and the inseam. The rise is a bit high for his liking, the waist sits right across his belly button. Next time I will probably use a 3 or a 4 for the rise. Clearly his height is all in his legs and not his torso.

The directions are written up in a very nice way and have lots of little tips for avoiding mistakes. Things like marking which rise is the front so you don't sew your pockets on the wrong side. Not that these pockets wouldn't be adorable in the front also! These pants are a crazy fast sew without the cuffs. The instructions for the cuffs is very clear, so I can't imagine they take a long time to do either. I'd call this a one nap time pattern.

Now the coat.

Fairytale Pattern's Letterman Jacket

This Letterman Jacket is the bomb. That is all. Enough said.

I went my own direction with it and totally ignored the fabric suggestions of fleece, sweatshirt fleece, twill, bottomweights, denim, corduroy, flannel backed satin and faux leather. I used knits. Specifically, I used a sweatshirt knit (black fabric) (not sure why it is called that, it's nothing like a sweatshirt. It's more like a thick brushed interlock.) and french terry (yellow) and a ribbed knit as suggested for the waistband and cuffs.

"Want me to smile like this, Mom?"

 I also fully lined this bad boy with some soft cotton/lycra fabric. The actual pattern for the Letterman's Jacket is unlined, which is great for the fabrics actually suggested for the pattern! But, between the lighter weight fabric I went with, and the fact that little man is a sensitive little guy and seams drive him mad along his neck, I altered the pattern and lined it.

(yucky iphone picture)

So, I took all those wonderfully cozy fabrics, a great pattern and then throw in some BATMAN! How could this coat not be loved by a four year old boy?

The large Batman symbol on the back is a hand made applique. I used the same french terry as I used for the sleeves. The rest of the patches are from an amazing hoodie I bought from Target a few years back that was long out grown.

It was really hard to cut into this. He LOVED this hoodie and wore it all the time. I am so happy that the elements of the hoodie can live on though!

The pockets are traditional letterman jacket welt pockets. I heart welt pockets!

(Don't fall for the puppy eyes. He can fake sad like nobody's business!)

I placed a patch on the upper sleeve like you can find on many letterman jackets.

He is such a tenderhearted guy. He was watching some older boys play and the two oldest left the youngest behind while he called for them to wait up. It concerned Thomas a lot that the boy was left by his friends. Such a sweet kid I have.

And a huge goof ball at the same time. LOL

Thanks for stopping by and check out our new look using Brownie-Goose's Butler Britches and Fairytale Pattern's Letterman Jacket! Be sure to check out all the amazing blogs along the tour!

 20th Boy, Oh Boy, Sew Like My Mom, Sew a Straight Line

21st Made By Sara, Friends Stitched Together, Max California

22nd Just Joshin, Kid Approved, Gracious Threads

23rd Mimi's Mom, Feather's Flights, Once Upon a Sewing Machine

24th Handmade Boy, Made By Momma, Bee Quilted Beauties

25th Handcrafted By Red, The Crazy Tailor, Kelly Hogaboom

26th Mae&K, Get Your Crap Together, Lady and the Gents

27th Paisley Roots, The Berry Bunch, Knot Sew Normal, 

 BabyFish Designs, Rebekah Sews, Lady and the Gents

28th Swoodson Says, Petit a Petit, Kelly Hogaboom

29th Beaza & Llama, Shaffer Sisters, Fabulous Home Sewn

Disclaimer: I was not paid for this post. I did receive the two patterns I reviewed for free. My thoughts and opinions on the patterns are purely mine.