My Patterns
Jamie Shares His New PJs
How do I look? Thanks, Little Brother, for straightening me out there. I think I’m ready now!
So, you want to know about my new PJs, huh?
Well, these blue Ooga Booga ones? They make me want to sing!
And these with the animals on the shorts?
They make me want to dance!
And the green Ooga Booga ones? My mom likes them the best of all . . .
. . . because they make me want to sleep!
I guess I’ll be nice to mama and sleep in all of them. They are super comfy, and she is working on sewing me a whole summer wardrobe, you know!
Four Little Fishies
I love sewing little undies. They go together so fast, and little boys (and girls) get so excited about new underwear! Jamie had a hard time deciding which of these to wear first.
These four pair of Little Fishies Undies wrap up Jamie’s summer underwear list . . . only a few more items left until his whole summer wardrobe is done!
A Trio of Rompers
Just adding a few more rompers to Charlie’s completed summer wardrobe list. I actually finished these three just before we left on our trip to Michigan. (There was a picture of one of them in my post about our visit to St. Louis.)
First up is this heathered brown Austin Lee Romper with orange sleeves.
Second is a baby blue AL Romper with brown sleeves. Mmmm . . . Goldfish!
This last AL Romper is sewn from Michael Miller’s interlock in black and gray stripes with the coordinating black on the sleeves.
The last few days I’ve been working on shorts, shorts and more shorts, and a few more pj sets, too! Charlie’s list is nearing completion. Just one more romper, one more pj set and several pairs of shorts are left.
R’s Birthday Dress
This is the little dress that I mentioned sewing as a birthday present during KCWC. I think it’s so cute, and it was really easy. I started with my free The Tank pattern. I lengthened it and added some flare to the “skirt”. I grabbed the hood from my Charlie Tee pattern and used it in place of the neckband. Finally, I added a second layer just under the hem and used the rolled edge setting on my serger to make a lettuce edge on both hem layers.
The birthday girl wore her dress to our house last week, and I was able to snap a few modeled pictures to show you! It works well for chasing bubbles with big sister.
It’s perfect for sliding, too!
I also just have to show off the gift that Samantha made. She’s really becoming quite the accomplished knitter. Is this the sweetest little doll you’ve ever seen?
Today, I’m back to work on those summer wardrobes for the boys. Officially, June 21st is the first day of summer, and I have every intention of being done before then. It’s really been summer here in Dallas for quite some time, though, so I’d like to finish sooner rather than later!
Home, Again! Tomorrow is Catch-up Day!
Samantha, Charlie and I had such a lovely time on our road trip to Michigan and back. We made some wonderful memories with some amazing women, and I’m excited to share some of them with you! Tonight, though, I’m exhausted, so sharing will have to wait a bit.
I’m a day later arriving home than I originally planned because I had to detour around Sunday night’s tornado damage in Joplin, Missouri. My heart and prayers go out to everyone there. I can’t even begin to imagine what they are going through.
I apologize that orders received during my trip will also be going out a day late. I’ll get those shipped out before the post office closes here tomorrow. I will do my best to handle pdf requests tonight and get emails answered tomorrow morning. (Trust me, you don’t want to hear from me tonight–I’m so tired, I can barely think straight!)
I’ll leave the 20% discount code, “Michigan”, up until I get up and around tomorrow morning. Use it while you can! If you’ve been waiting for them, the Undercover Bottoms Boxers are restocked and ready for you.
A KCWC Fishsticks Roundup & A Discount Code
In addition to doing the Kids Clothing Week Challenge myself, I challenged the mommas on my favorite sewing board to join in, too. I may have even bribed them a bit with a prize offering. It was really fun to chat about what we were working on and share our creations as the week went by. I didn’t require it, of course, but there were quite a few Fishsticks Designs patterns sewn up. Here are just a few that I wanted to share:
Jamie sewed up Charlie Tees for her oldest two. I love how she narrowed the neck and armbands on her daughter’s top to give it a more feminine look.
Christine sewed a pile of Austin Lee Rompers, all recycled from adult tees. This one is my favorite.
Christine sewed Fishsticks patterns for her other little ones, too! Her son’s pjs are made from my free The Tank pattern and the bottoms from the Lazy Days Lounge Set, and her daughters got new Emmy tops.
Jill made this lap-tee from my Little One Layette pattern and embellished it with a dinosaur applique.
Mechela is finishing up a wardrobe for the new little boy that she’s expecting in a few days, and she added a stack of Comfy Sleep Sets and Little One Layette gowns.
Amanda has been working on summer wardrobes for her two boys, and I’m loving all of her Charlie Tee and Inside or Out Pocket Shorts sets. Here are two of my favorites.
Finally, I love this picture of Bekah’s four children. She sewed them all matching pajamas using The Tank pattern and the Lazy Days Lounge set bottoms, and she used a thrifted cotton jersey sheet set for the fabric!
I love seeing all of your creations from my patterns! Aren’t these all great?
I mentioned yesterday that I am heading to Michigan late this week to meet up with some friends. Actually, they’re sewing friends from the online sewing board that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. One of the mommas who coming is my dear friend, Jamie. If you’ve been around here long enough, you’ll remember that the two of us once had an online sewing business together called Fishsticks & Jam. In the several years that we’ve know each other Jamie has become one of my very closest friends, yet we’ve never met in person. She lives in Canada which is a long, long way away from here. Things worked out at the last minute for her to be able to join us, and I am beyond excited! I can’t wait!
Would you like to celebrate with me? How about a 20% discount code that you can use on my patterns from now through next Tuesday? All orders placed between Wednesday at noon central and next Tuesday will ship on Wednesday, May 25. The discount code is “Michigan”.
Kids Clothes Week Challenge Day 7
I know I’m supposed to be working on summer wardrobes for the boys, but Samantha, Charlie and I are heading off to Michigan next weekend to visit with some friends, and, well, highs are only supposed to be in the 60s. Here in Dallas, it’s been summer-like for months! Most of Charlie’s cool weather things are outgrown, so I set aside the romper that I had cut out and spent my sewing time today sewing up a quick Charlie Hoodie for him.
I did modify it slightly by adding a fold-up cuff. I’m hoping that he might be able to wear it again in the fall.
That wraps up Kids Clothes Week, but I still have work to do on the boys’ summer wardrobes. I’ll be taking the next week off to get ready for and take our trip, but I’ll be back to work on finishing those wardrobes as soon as we’re home! I will have some sewing to show you early this week, and I’m sure I’ll have lots of pictures to share from our trip while we’re traveling. I may even have a discount code starting tomorrow morning!
Kids Clothes Week Challenge Day 6
After a crazy day filled with birthday parties, football games and fabric shopping, I settled the kids in after dinner to watch a movie while I pulled out these couple of UFOs (that’s unfinished objects, not transportation for aliens) and set out to finish up the last two pairs of PJs that are on Charlie’s Summer Wardrobe List. (I hadn’t sewn anything at all for Charlie yet this week!) It was a great plan until Jamie wandered over to my work table, saw what I was working on and gently reminded me (okay so maybe it was more of a whine than a gentle reminder) that I’d told him I would make him some pajamas from that tool fabric. A momentary panic set in because I did remember telling him that, but I realized that there was not enough left of the tool fabric to do a size 5T pajama set!
What’s a mama to do, but start cutting and piecing and call it colorblocking? A few hours later, two tired but happy little boys wore new pajamas to bed, but not until after one amazing husband helped one crazy sewing mama wrangle them long enough for some way past bedtime pictures.
Charlie’s Jamie Jumper is from my Wee Tot Collection pattern. I used the short-sleeve option and shortened the inseam on the legs to shorts length.
Jamie’s top is from my free The Tank pattern (you can find it in the sidebar on the right), and the pants are AJ Bottoms.
One more before we all collapsed into bed.
I have an Austin Lee Romper cut out to sew up for Charlie today. Maybe I’ll get that other PJ set finished up, too.
Quilts & More Ad!
It’s Spring Quilt Market Weekend, and I’m a little sad that I’m missing out on all the excitement. I am thrilled, though, that I’ll be taking my patterns to Fall Quilt Market in Houston in October! I can’t wait! In the meantime, Michael Miller has a few of my patterns with them at this weekend’s Market, and while I was out at my local quilt shop this morning, I found a copy of the summer issue of Quilts and More with this in it:
Woo-hoo! It makes up a little bit for being here at home instead of checking out the latest fabrics and patterns in Salt Lake City. I’ll be stalking my favorite blogs to find out the inside scoop over the next few days!
I’ll be back this evening with my KCWC work for today! (If I can set this magazine aside for long enough–there are some great projects in here!)
Kids Clothes Week Challenge Day 5
I’m pretty sure that I’m . . . um . . . a bit unusual. My oldest daughter, Morgan, and I decided early this morning that since it was a beautiful day, we should take the little ones and head over to our local nature museum and enjoy the great weather. Sounds pretty normal so far, right? Well, I had about an hour and a half before we wanted to leave, and there was one more top left on Jamie’s summer wardrobe list, and we were headed somewhere where I knew I’d have plenty of photo opportunities. I couldn’t resist grabbing my Charlie Tee pattern and sewing away.
I have to say that in a pinch, it really pays to have a good basic pattern that you’re really comfortable with. I grabbed the 5T Charlie Tee pattern tracing off of my pattern board at 9:25, and Jamie was pulling on his new “T-Rex Shirt” at 10:05. (And that included several minutes in which my sewing machine and I exchanged words over the fact that it tried to eat the jersey along the hem line.)
Raaawrr! Stomping and growling like a dinosaur in his new shirt:
And with that, all of Jamie’s tops for the summer are finished!
I spent the rest of my sewing time today working on something girly for a sweet two-year-old’s birthday party tomorrow morning. I’ll have to wait and show it off later, though, since that two-year-old’s mama reads my blog, and I don’t want to spoil the surprise!
