Goal Setting: Sewing projects for Fall 2017

Sometimes it helps to set goals, to put pen to paper, and to commit to it! After we finish up my jacket this week I want to finish Simon's pants, sew Tyler some PJ bottoms and make him some sweat pants. Then to sew Simon's winter jacket!

My jacket will be done by Sunday this week.

Simon's pants: Give me 2 weeks

Ty's PJs and pants: One weekend afternoon.

My snow pants from a sewing course that I NEVER finished (From 2014!)



 For Tyler's pants Jalie 3355 is a good choice. I need to make the next size up so I will have to retrace the pattern. The pockets have a nice topstitching detail, so I can funk it up with topstitching details.








For Tyler's PJ bottoms I will use my old pattern Simplicity 9499. Again, I will need to trace the next size up.









I need to finish my snow pants from 2014, I play a lot in the snow and I need pants that fit! I used Jalie 2109 in a sewing course and we left the last few steps not done.
My Snow pants: Not finished yet!

I feel that if we had 1 more week of classes after the last class we would get more completed. Often I have questions during the last stages of completion. And there are a lot of last minute questions and fitting issues during the class that I feel rushed. Like in my pants class I never did my pair of pants. There was too much chitter chatter and fitting issues. I gave up. And now I gain a few pounds, so it is a moot point since I did my pattern. 

Wish me luck!

Fall sewing

So I did not end up making that cardigan. However, I did make an Angry Bird PJ bottom and a pair of nylon rain pants for Tyler. Simon and I had bought the nylon material a few years ago when we needed rain pants in the fall. For some reason they only sold rain pants in the Spring, as if it never rains in the Fall. Right after buying all the material I found rain pants a Joe Fresh at Maxi, of all places. So that bag of material was put aside.




Don't you just love quick and easy projects to get your sewing mojo back? I used Simplicity 9499. This pattern has a nice loose fit to it. It is easy to modify the elastic in the waist and the length in the leg. I use this pattern for all his PJ bottoms and now his rain pants.









I made the hem super simple, and a bit long. The waist was made a bit looser to fit over his pants. I measured his waist while he was wearing his pants so it is a perfect fit. 

The angry bird material is left over from Tonitex. I had previously made Tyler a PJ bottom, but he is outgrowing those and I have oodles of fabric leftover. It is a nice lightweight fabric.

 All in all this pattern is very versatile, quick and easy. Boys are not complicated. Well, when it comes to clothing my boys are not that complicated. Let's see if at 14 they will be caught dead wearing my home made clothes!

Summer PJ's for the boys

The warm weather is upon us, and it looks like it is going to stay! I must say I am loving this, but it has caught me by surprise. I do not know why, it is not like we had a lot of snow, nor has it been cold lately. I’m just not that organized this year I guess. Too much going on.

I have gone through the boy’s clothes and took out the clothing that was for winter. I just haven’t taken out the summer garments yet. Tyler has a few short PJ bottoms, but not many. And I KNOW we have some for Sam, I just can’t find the size 2 clothing bin at the moment. PROJECT!

I have the perfect pattern for PJ’s and I have the pattern traced out for Tyler’s size already, Simplicity’s 9499. I can bang out a shirt and short in no time at all! I will make sure I get the most out of this pattern. It gives you both the children's sizes and the adult sizes. Make sure to trace the pattern to keep it for a LONG time!

I plan to use this pattern to make Tyler's splash pants that we bought the material for, and then that night I finally found his splash pants tucked away. 

Men's shirt, Simplicity 9499 size Medium

This past Friday I got a nice stash of fabric for shirts for the men in my life. I made Simplicity's 9499 for Men, size medium. I chose the nice blue knit. It is soft and fuzzy, like a nice soft blanket. Simon is in dire need of shirts for work. He works in construction and they tend to take a beating. Let's hope this size is good and he likes it. I have a lot more fabric to make shirts.


 I had made this pattern for Tyler and he loves it. The men's pattern is exactly the same, only larger.
The pattern is simple, straightforward and easy to assemble. This is a basic "baseball style" shirt. Now I still don't have my serger, it's coming. But when I do, this pattern will sew in mere minutes.

I cut out a man's medium and a boy's small. I have about 4 meters of this fabric for all of us to have matching shirts. 

The length of the arms and body are perfect for Simon, no adjustments needed. Good thing too, as this was a surprise and I hemmed it without taking measurements. He is so proud! The first thing he said when he put it on was that it was soft

Halloween PJ's Simplicity 9499

So I made Tyler some Haloween PJ bottoms using our graveyard fabric. I used Simplicity 9499 pattern. I traced out the pattern using tracing paper we purchased at DeSerres. It is a good thing I used the tracing paper as this pattern I will use over and over. It is so simple and quick! It took me 1 1/2 hours to make these bottoms and I was going nice and slow.

This time I made sure the graveyard was going in the proper direction. You only make that mistake once, lol! Tyler still asks me why the haunted houses are upside down. Oops.

One good tip is to sew a tag in the back of the pants so when you go to put on the pants, you will know which is the front and which is the back. Kids need a little help sometimes!

And Voila! New PJ pants for Halloween!

Simplicity 9499 Unisex Pajamas

Simplicity 9499 Unisex Pajamas and knit top



This is a great pattern. It has sizes for adults and sizes for children. It has great value. The pants are quick and simple and so is the waistband.
I first did this with Halloween material that was on sale at Fabricville for $1.99/meter. I did a boo boo on Tyler's pants, as the haunted houses are upside down, but now I know how to lay out directional material. We learn best from our errors, n'est pas? Tyler is happy and he thinks I rock.

Now I tried to make another pair for Tyler in flannel and I was super tired and brain dead, and I do not know what I did but I attached all the pieces incorrectly and had finished the pants when I noticed. I undid all the pieces and will attempt it again today. The flannel ones are for PJ day at daycare on Tuesday and he chose the fabric, so I hope I did not goof too badly! I trimmed the crotch area and everything.
So much for wasting my sewing time that Simon helps he have. Another lesson learned, do nt sew when you are dog tired!
Ok, so I went back to it this morning and the only error I did was when I went to assemble the PJ's front to back and sew the side seams, I placed them incorrectly. I do not know how I did it, but I put them together wrong. So I ended up undoing all my seams for nothing, lol.
Oh well, at least I now know how to selvage a project when all goes wrong.