Holiday 2016 Sewing: 3rd handmade gift finished! Fleece jacket saved!

I finished the 3rd handmade Holiday gift! This fleece jacket for my daughter should have been super easy and quick to make. But alas! I made a mistake when doing the measurement. I thrifted this Out of Print Simplicity 4895 a couple of years ago. I thought I should use it before my daughter grows out of this pattern. I made some quick measurements on the paper pattern and chose size 6, thinking that it should fit my daughter with a little room to spare.

After I cut out the yellow fleece and sewn up the seams, I had her try the jacket on. It was quite fitted on her and she actually had trouble putting it on herself. I forgot that there was loft with this fleece and she was suppose to wear long sleeves shirts under this jacket.

I didn`t want to just give up on the fabric and throw the whole thing into the trash. I dug deep into my stash and found a wine colour microfleece. I cut strips of about 3cm width out of this wine fleece and sewed the whole strip from the wrist of the jacket all the way down to the hem to enlarge the armhole and the side seams:

I also used this same fleece to bind the edges of the entire jacket to make the enlargement look 'intentional'. I used a thrifted zipper as enclosure. I'm happy I saved this jacket and now it's a unique gift for my daughter!

Holiday 2016 Sewing: 2nd gift finished - another set of Boy's PJs

I have finished another set of Boy's PJs. All the materials were found in my house. I used some remnant cotton flannel and sew a pair of very big PJ pants, using a self drafted pattern. Then I took one of the plain t-shirts from my son's room and sewed on a pocket with matching fabric. Another quick and easy but very useful Holiday Gift!

You can see how much bigger these PJ pants are comparing to the ones I made him 2 years ago. My son is currently between the 2 sizes.

Okay! Now I need to get on with the other Holiday sewing projects!

Holiday 2016 Sewing: 1st Gift finished - Boys PJ pants

I've been slacking in terms of holiday sewing. But now that November has arrived I must get on with it without delay!

The first holiday gift I tackled was a pair of PJ pants for my son, who has clearly outgrown the PJ pants I made him a few years ago. I dug into my fabric stash and found the exact same fabric I had used for his previous PJs:

I'm lucky that my son isn't too fussy about his clothing. Although the motif of the cotton flannel fabric may seem a bit 'babyish', he still likes it.

I didn't use a sewing pattern for these pants. Instead I just used the PJ pants I made him last year to make a rough template.

Then I enlarged the template to accommodate my son's growth for the next 2 years. Yes, I want the garments I make for my kids to last them for more than 1 year!

The pants were sewn quickly and here it is:

You can see the difference in size between these new PJ pants and the ones I made him a few years ago:

Next I made his PJ top to go with these pants. I simply cut out a pocket from the same pants fabric and sewed it onto a plain long sleeves t-shirt. Voila! Matching PJ set for my son:

Okay! One handmade x'mas gift down, many more to go!

My Birthday Dress - Butterick 5247

My birthday is in November and I just want to make a Birthday Dress! Sweater dresses have been my Fall/Winter wardrobe staple for many years. They are easy to dress (all-in-one dressing) and style. I just felt like making a new one this Fall/Winter season.

I dug into my stash and found a little bit of this wool blend sweater knit that I have used before (see here). One side is a rich burgundy colour and the other side is a plain grey. I decided to use both sides of this fabric to make a 2 tone sweater dress, which I didn't have in my wardrobe. I thought the rich wine tone would be perfect for the holiday season too.

I used a tried and true Butterick 5247 (see here and here and here) to create this easy to sew dress. It came together really quickly. I used size 14 and it's a little loose on me since I lost a few pounds recently. No worries! I'm sure I'll gain back the weight during this upcoming holiday season! ;-) Also, when it gets even colder, I'll likely be wearing additional layers under the dress.

I'm happy that I have another useful dress for this Fall/Winter season and I have busted a lot of stash as well. Yay!

I should have cleaned the camera lens before taking this photo! And I look like Robin Hood's merry men with this belt! LOL!