Drumming to the beat

My younger son has been doing drum lessons for a few months now, and really enjoying it.

We recently got him some proper drum sticks to practice with, so I made him a case for them to keep them together in his school bag.

He chose the fabric, and I made a long skinny pouch with a dome and some padding.

Swimming Bags and some Applique

A fun project that I took I while to get photos for was the boy's Swimming bags.

These are one of those projects I had good intentions of making for a Christmas or birthday present at some point, but actually only got made right before they needed them for school swimming lessons.

No particular pattern was used - I just measured off a draw string bag I had that looked to be about the size I wanted, and fudged it from there.

Both bags have a waterproof lining, so they don't get everything else in their school bags wet.

The main fabric shell is french seamed, with the loops for the ties to go through caught in the side seams.
In one of them, I appear to have sewn the main fabric and lining as one, and in the other the lining is loose and just caught in the stitching channel at the top that the draw strings go through.

Both function fine, and I haven't noticed any difference in waterproof-ness.

I appliqued their names on the front.

For this I printed out their names in REALLY LARGE font, and  then traced this on to some interfacing. I ironed the interfacing to the wrong side of the main fabric, and pinned a piece of contrast fabric to the right side of the fabric.
I sewed around their names from the wrong side, and then satin stitched over the first line of stitching from the right side.
Final step was cutting away the extra fabric from around the letters to reveal the names.

Tooth Fairy Pillow

When D.'s first tooth fell out this morning after over a week of doing the wiggle dance, a containment  vessel and tooth fairy signal* was required.

I gave him a couple of options of what it could look like, and he decided a tooth pillow was what he liked best.
I used the Tooth Fairy pillow tutorial by Handmade Jane, found here.

He did a stash dive of the fabric ends and small pieces shelf, and came up with a gold denim, and Spiderman print cotton, and so 30 minutes later his pillow was born.

 I did the sewing and  D. helped with the stuffing part.

The tooth is now safely stored in the Spidey pocket, ready for the Tooth Fairy to do their thing.


* Tooth Fairy signal is like a Bat signal only cooler ( and requiring money!)

By Special Request

It started innocently enough ....


T - 'Mummy, I want to be a Ninja'

Me - 'Okay. Have you got a ninja costume in the dress up box?'

T - 'Oh .. no. But I found a picture on the computer, and you can make it for me'. (The google foo is strong in this one!)

Me - 'Oh?! Show me then'.

T- 'See, it has a dragon on the front, and it has to have ... and ... and.... and you can make it for me!

Me - 'That looks a bit tricky to make ...'

T- 'But you are very good at sewing, Mummy :-) '


And thus, I was suckered into making a ninja costume.

I took the cheats way out, and purchased black pants and a long sleeve tee, while hoping I could come up with a good way of getting a ninja-like dragon on the front.

We googled images, and found one that he was happy with, and I thought I had a hope of pulling off.

In the end, I vaguely traced the image onto some red fabric, and then appliqued it to the front of the tee. Cut around the circle on the outside, and the dragon in the middle.

Job done!

More Parsley Pants

My go-to pattern for pants for my boys is the Made By Rae Parsley pants. You can see my previous review here.

I won't repeat that all again, except to say it is a quick and easy pattern that yields nice results.

First up, some of the fleece versions, or as they are called at our house, fluffy pants! No pockets, straight up tracky daks. I have also made track pants from the more usual sweatshirting.

Avengers, flouro zigzag, and camo.

Next up we have 'jeans'.

2 types of denim, and navy cotton drill.

These I did put pockets on, lined with quilting cotton to reduce bulk.
I also did a faux flat felled outseam by doing a large pintuck and then topstitching it down.

There are at least another 3 pair of these pants that are either being worn or in the wash currently.

Jalie 2567 - Bathrobe

On a  recent shopping trip where small people came too, we returned home with some Pokemon fleece.

So that it didn't lurk in stash for longer than was necessary, I decided that it should become a bathrobe. I used Jalie 2567, which I had on hand.

Despite D. only having just turned 4, I decided to make a size 5 so there would be plenty of room for growing (and to use as much of the fleece as possible!!)

I duly traced out the pattern and cut the fabric, but am still left with about 60cm of 150cm wide fleece! The shop must have been doing very generous cuts, as I do tend to find the Jalie fabric requirements to be very accurate.

This sewed up quickly and without fuss, as have all the Jalie pattern I have tried.

D. is very happy with his new bathrobe, and has been wearing it round the house since it was finished!

Kid Shorts

As I have mentioned previously, having a child who is quite slim means I can't just rock off to the shops and buy him new shorts and trousers.

This Summer, I have been trying out the Kid Shorts pattern from MADE.  This comes in sizes 12months to 10years.

This is a super easy pattern to put together, and the website has loads of excellent tutorials for changing them  - add pockets, flat fronts, piping, bias bound racer style, knee length boardie or shorter 'girl' style.

I have made these in various sizes, with and without pockets. I have also successfully turned it into a one piece pattern, so as not to break up a large scale print.

Mr School boy wanted skulls and orange shorts.

Mr Size 3 likes the Octopus fabric- More Octopus's Aunty Wendy!!!!

Mr 4 wanted tiger shorts.

Tablet covers

My children were fortunate to have been given tablets for Christmas. Both were the same, along with matching cases.
To tell them apart, and also to provide them with a little more protection, I set out to make them covers.

I used a free tutorial from Create Kids Couture, which offers instructions for cases in several different sizes for different tablets.

My only change was to replace the elastics with cotton/lycra fabric I sewed into a tube. The elastic I had on hand was either too firm or much too narrow.

These work quite well, and my only addition will be to pop a velcro dot on the back of the tablet for added security.

Simple Skirts

For a number of girly gifts lately, I have made Simple Skirts using the tutorial on the DanaMadeIt blog.
In simple terms, you use the full width of fabric - sew a side seam, hem and casing for elastic. Done!

These are a quick project, and are a nice way to showcase some pretty fabric.

Men's (and Boy's) Rugby Jersey - Jalie 3137

Pattern Description: Polo shirt with standing collar, buttoned placket, shoulder tabs, back yoke and forward shoulder seam, short (A) or long (B) banded sleeve, two chest pockets with flaps and side seam slits.

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Pattern Sizing: Toddler 2 to Mens 50" chest

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, the instructions were excellent - well written with lots of diagrams.

Fabric Used: 100% cotton rugby knit for the shirt body, and cotton ripstop/cotton drill for the collar and front placket. Snaps instead of buttons.

Hubby's jersey - still haven't managed a photo of him wearing it!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: 

I changed the collar to a woven fabric to make it look more like a traditional rugby jersey. This worked fine as the rugby knit used for the body does not have much stretch.

Next time, I would make a size or two up for the rugby knit, as it ended up quite slim fitting. My husband was initially a bit worried it was too slim fitting, but decided it was fine after he got some favourable comments when he wore it to work. My son would also prefer his a bit more roomy.

T more than happy to stand around for photos. (and show off matching side seams)

I would also possibly merge the back yoke and back piece into one, as it doesn't provide any shaping.


Would you sew it again? Yes, I will be making this again, as both my husband and son have requested more. I can see this pattern getting a lot of use for both polo tees and more rugby jerseys.


Conclusion: A great TNT pattern at our house full of boys!

Made By Rae Parsley Pants

As I've mentioned previously, my older son is small in both height and girth, which makes RTW pants an impossibility.
The current solution to this, is that I make his pants for him.

When Made by Rae released their new pants pattern, I showed it to my son who immediately latched on to the tartan pairs!!

I took myself off to Spotlight to look for some suitable fabric to try the pattern, and found some forest green and oatmeal check on the clearance table - sold!

I sewed them up, and handed them over for a try on and opinion. He liked them, but asked if I could make them warmer. After a bit of thinking, and a dive into my stash, I decided to underline the next pair with flannelette.

This time I took him with me to Spotties to pick his own fabric, and we came awaywith some 'interestinng' choices.

Lazer Beam pants!!

Cartoon pants

He is really pleased with his 'warm' pants, and they are in regular rotation, at least once a week or more often if they go through the wash.

'scuse the wrinkles - I had to spirit these out of the washing basket while he wasn't looking!!

He has a couple more pieces of fabric chosen for more, when I get to it too .....

Birthday Present Sewing

Another one of those things 'they' don't tell you before you have children, is that children will make friends, and get invited to a LOT of birthday parties! And it seems we are in the midst of birthday season.

I am fortunate to have crafty friends who appreciate a good handmade gift, so the search was on for a great idea. I came across this Art-on-the-Go kit, and decided it would be perfect for the varying ages I needed to make gifts for - mostly 3 - 7 year olds.

These are great as they don't use much fabric, so I have been able to make use of my leftover offcuts from previous sewing projects.
I have also been able to match the fabric and colours to the child I have been making them for.

I have so far made at least half a dozen of these, and my own children are making noises that they would like one for themselves.

As well as the examples pictured, there have been art rolls made from denim, shirting stripes, sock monkey print, pinwale cord, and I have used what I had on hand for the batting layer - mostly towelling, polar fleece and flannelette.

Christmas Sewing Round-up

A quick round-up of the Christmas presents that were sewn up by me. Mostly, these are all patterns I have sewn previously, so not much to add.

Another Perfectly Preppy skort, from the pattern by the Scientific Seamstress. This was a popular choice again featuring favourite colour, purple. The spots fabric is a cotton, and the lining a poly/cotton poplin.

The free downloadable popover sundress pattern from Oliver and S. I chose not to use a contrasting fabric for the yoke and straps, as suggested in the pattern. This is made from a very light weight cotton.

These shorts in a size 18-24 months are made using the Oliver and S Sketchbook shorts pattern. These are made from a remnant of cotton drill used previously. These looked and sewed up very similarly to the previous pairs made with the Burda 9793 pattern. I would choose to sew the Burda pattern in preference to this one, while the boys are in the size range for it.

These mens boxer briefs were made using Kwik Sew 3298. Unfortunately, the yellow contrast fabric was a bit more contrasting than anticipated! They sewed up quickly and easily, would sew these again with a more considered choice of fabric. The main fabric is a cotton jersey, the contrast a cotton/lycra jersey.

Boys Underwear

I recently went on a bit of an underwear making spree, after  successfully trying out the That Darn Kat undies pattern. They are fantastically cute children's underwear that use only small amounts of knit fabric, and are elastic-less. The boys style also features a functioning y-front.

TDK Undies

These sewed up quite quickly, and the only slightly tricky bit was sewing the leg bands on the smaller sized ones, as the freearm on my machine made it a bit of a tight fit.

The only change I made to the pattern was to attach the leg bands like a binding that wrapped around the leg holes rather than the flip and top-stitch method used on the waistband. To me this made them look more like undies and less like training pants.

My son somewhat logically couldn't fathom the purpose of a y-front for his 4 year old self, so a couple of his pairs have a non functioning  front piece.

After a friend saw the first pair I made, she asked if I could make some for her son too. He had very definite colour and pattern preferences, so the finished collection had a bit of a multi-pack look to it.

I really recommend this pattern, and will definitely be making more of them with my younger son about to start toilet training.

Perfectly Preppy Skort

Also for my niece's birthday I made a skort from the Perfectly Preppy Skirt/Skort pattern by the Scientific Seamstress. I made her one of these for her last birthday, which she wore at every opportunity.

After consulting with my sister (her Mum), it was determined that her current favourite things are butterflies and the colour purple. With this insight, I went fabric shopping for inspiration, and found what I hope will be a hit.

The main fabric is a quilting cotton with an interesting texture to it, and the lining and shorts are made from a poly cotton poplin. Because the purple is quite dark, I matched the shorts to the pink in the main fabric for a bit of contrast. My only variation from the pattern instructions was to use adjustable buttonhole elastic in the back waistband.

I again opted to make the version with the full circle skirt, as this is a great summer style. Something I'm really pleased about with this version is that the weight of the quilting cotton makes it drape really nicely.

You can see my previous version of this pattern here.