Rerelease of The (Buzz Puffer Coat and) Mackinaw Coat by DbCA

I just had the chance to work with one of my favorite people of the sewing community, again, that is Ajaire, from Designs by Call Ajaire... and it was great. I had my mind all set on sewing only the things that were really necessary for my kids, but somehow I found myself signing to sew yet another coat for my daughter... of course, she has at least 5 more, but I just couldn't pass on the chance to try on the Mackinaw coat. 

And it payed off. The girl loved it so much! She's been a picky rat and it kinda makes me frustrated when I think she's gonna love something and then she doesn't. Oh well, so happy it wasn't the case, because, this little fellow here needs a little love, time and dedication to be finished. 

I won't lie and say it is the easiest project out there. It isn't, but IT IS one of those so worth the time and work you spend on them! Besides, in case I just scared you away because you've only sewn a t-shirt in your life; don't worry, you can still sew it, the pattern comes with great instructions you just have to follow, and with patience, you'll end up with a great coat for your little one, and you can drool over it.

Don't believe me? Just look how beautiful it gets on the inside? It is fully lined and depending on your choice of fabric it can be pretty warm and cosy too. I used a medium weight cotton for the main, and this absolutely adorable polka dot satin in one of her fave colors. I actually bought this one and the same day, I knew where I'd use it. Not what I bought it for - as I had a cute set of top and shorts, as in pajamas for me, but well, I gave it a use use anyway. 

What about this back? I love the back. I love when I sew a pattern and it has something new to me. I had never sewn a belt loop like this before, so interesting. And just one more thing... How did this girl grow up so much? Or when? Because I look back and it seems she was just a tiny little human not long ago. Her shoulders are nearly as wide as mine, I know I am small, but gosh, she's 9. I made her a size 10, which fits her as you can see, BUT, if it wasn't for the too short sleeves, it would fit me to - as a shorter kinda coat, of course (yes, I do like to try her clothes too...ahahaha). 

And there you go. Happy girl, happy mom. Check out all the features of the coat on Ajaire's shop, both the Mackinaw Coat and the Buzz Puffer are on sale until November 15th, 50% off people!!

Suco by Susana's new pattern |Sagres Pants & Shorts|

My friend Susuana, by Suco by Susana has a new pattern out there, it is the Sagres pattern, in her words "a relaxed fit pants or shorts designed for woven fabrics, with elastic waist and no zip or closures for easy getting dressed". This was originally designed to be part of One Thimble magazine, and you can now find it in her shop. 

Again, I was lucky to be part of Susana's testers group and I really enjoyed making these. Actually I made a pair of pants too, but they turned out too baggy on my skinny boy, they will fit later though, so hopefully, I will remember to take some photos and share them with you. 

The shorts fitted pretty well though, and he got to wear them quite a few times until the weather got cold enough to set them apart - for now. Because of the elastic waist, I am sure they will still fit next summer and he'll be able to still enjoy his cute shorts. 

I failed to photograph the before, but this was a chambray men's button up shirt that I refashioned into the boy's shorts. I used a much darker thread while sewing to achieve some contrast and try to make this even more interesting. As always, I love to sew with Susana's patterns, she's very professional in her work, and her finishing details stand out. If you were to ask me for a single designer to recomend you, I'll surely point her out. Her designs are actually day-to-day pieces, the kind my kids wear the most. Check her blog out, for more pants and shorts inspiration (boys and girls). 

More underwear

I can't say that underwear is THE thing I've been sewing the most around here these days, because I'd be lying, only because masks requests have been more than many, and I just can't say no. I guess I could say that underwear, is indeed the second most sewn in this house for the last couple of months. I don't know if anyone remembers I did a one year no buying clothes back in 2013, and recently I just felt like I needed to do something like that again, I was going no control lately. OK. I did these underwear pieces before I made the decision again, but I guess somehow I was already made up about stopping the waste around here. Waste of our money, waste of my time... So, when I say my kids always had and still have a lot of clothes, I's no joke, or at least, it looks like too much for me, anyway. They do have plenty enough to go through each season without the need to buy anything... except for... yeap... drum roll... underwear! They get lots of hand-me-downs from their cousins and also some friends, so when each season changes, I know I am prepared. However, underwear is something that isn't passed away as the rest of the clothes and they get shorter on these, eventually. 

So, this brings me to my post today. A couple of weeks ago, I got both my kids a few new pieces - well, only one for him, and a new set for her, but more are coming for him, that's for sure. Anyway... I had bought my son three new boxers and one day, looking at them, I thought "I should do this, instead of buying more", and I did. I used those RTW boxers to draft the pattern from, making it a bit bigger to last a little longer. Then I grabbed a striped shirt from my refashion pile (I should refashion more often again, shouldn't I?), and in a blink of an eye, I had the boxers done. For the waistband I used leftovers from a pre-loved baby onesie I didn't even know I still had. I found it on a quest for red knit fabric, on my own stash.

This is the shirt I used. I will hunt any striped knit shirts at op-shops and markets, especially if they are red, or black. This shirt was cute as it was, but it didn't fit me, and the lettering on the front... just, no, no! I've put it to a much better use, I am sure. 

All said about his piece, let's see her entire set now. This isn't anything new either when it comes to two of these pieces, I used the very same patterns I have used before for the top and the panties. The socks though, it's a different story. It is the first time I used the pattern, and might as well be the last, at least if it is to sew for my girl again, which is a shame, they fit her so well. The socks look beautiful, but she can't stand the seams on her toes, she just tried them on, never really wore them.

I bought this fabric from Paula @Serafina a few years ago, and been saving it since then. It was just half a meter and was right enough for the three pieces. I almost had no scraps left when I was done. I was so happy to used it to it's most and make somethin I really enjoyed seeing after all. It might be my favourite so far. Not only because of the fabric I used, but also because I payed a little bit more attention to detail in this one, and instead of following the tutorial for its finishings, I encased the seems and it looks much better like that, outside and inside. 

Patterns Used:
#123 Girls Tank and Pants by Thread Faction
Sew It Forward Sock Pattern by Ellie & Mac - which is a FREE pattern guys!

As seen before on the blog... 

When the time comes to make her some new panties, I might try to change the pattern, and go back to Serger Pepper's Big Girl's Briefs.

I made socks patching this one too, but I draft my own pattern back then.

Ginger Shorts |Liola Patterns|

Back in April, as I had to stay home I got to sew a lot, especially for the kids. I blogged about most things already, but since I am not as good at blogging my creations as I was a few years ago, I failed to share one of the things I made as being part of a pattern test, and turned out to be one of the things my kiddo used the most. These are my final version of the Ginger Shorts, a pattern from Liola Patterns.

This is a straight size 5 on my boy. I haven't done another pair yet, and I am not one to repeat the same patterns over and over, but I see myself sewing at least another pair when the weather starts to warm up again next year (because we are going into Autumn right now, around here). 

He wore these quite often, because they are comfy and easy to put on and off with an elastic waistband, which is a must for my lazy boy, and being a breeze to sew, with a different finished touch, they are a good pick for me too, because I get to cloth my child in a blink, and we're both happy. 

We both love the original design for the pocket shape, and it is of course, what makes this different than just a pair of simple, plain shorts. You can also style this shorts by adding trim or piping to the seams, but I skipped that option. 

This is a good pattern to use when you want to use up some scraps, or refashion a piece that is too small to refashion, because you can play around with the different pattern pieces and mix and match a couple fabric options. 

In my case, I chose to refashion a women's mini pencil skirt, but - there you go - the fabric I could use from it, was not enough for the entire shorts, so I picked this cotton one I had recently purchased, which has two different sides to it, and used the plain one as contrast in the pockets area. 

❤️ I couldn't love this goofy face more than I do ❤️

Baby Doll Basket

When I had a baby girl of my own, - nine years ago - I pictured myself sewing her lots and lots of baby doll acessories. I grew up surrounded by all sorts of dolls (although Barbies were my number one), and really thought it would be the same with her. Until she was about two, I didn't give up hoping she'd play with baby dolls, but turns out I got an intelectual and her favourite things were books, puzzles, drawing, painting... except for the time we had her baby brother, when she'd carry a baby doll all around, she really didn't pay much attention to those. I'm fine with that now. I got to sew her so many clothes, she has been my own baby girl doll... and I just get extra happy when I get the chance to sew these sort of items for my friends daughters. 

This baby doll bed was one of the things I once hoped to make my daughter, but never got the chance to. I made it for my friend's daughter a while ago though. I started by searching for a free pattern – I was using this only once – and I found this one, but I liked this other one much more. I knew I could easily draft this on my own and that's what I did, my own version, own measurements and all that. However, you can get the well written/tested pattern, from a proper designer, with three different sizes available HERE (this is not sponsored). 

For the bed's main fabric I used the one I bought to make some Christmas presents about two years ago (links below) and for the lining, I used some curtains cut offs. To make it stand on its own, I interfaced all pieces and used batting as well. It worked quite well, and at the same time, it was also pretty foldable, which is great – as I see it, because, kids toys easily pile up, don't they? 

This was made a while ago, and it's kinda funny, that a couple of days after I looked into these photos to edit, my friend sent me some pictures of her cat using the bed, I couldn't laugh any louder when I saw it. 

The Bella Bralette Hack and the Betty Panties

I made myself some new underwear. Yes! It has been on my to-do list for quite a while, but it's no news I don't sew as often as I did before, and when I do, it is often something for the kids, gifts or some pattern test I seemed to come across. Meaning, most of the times, I sew things that weren't actually on the list of things I'd really like to make – not meaning I don't love making them, just that they made their way to come out ealier, stealing sewing time from things that were thought and wished long before they were. Get ready, because I am feeling wordy today!

Anyway, I made myself some new underwear! Just because I have a very tiny memory, I can't tell which piece I sewed first, the bra or the panties. Since that isn't important either, I will start by telling you about the bra. I actually used a bralette pattern, the BellaBralette by Day Dream Patterns to be precise, which I tested and shared with you back HERE. This is a pattern meant for lace but I wasn't happy enough by hacking the bralette into a bra, I also had to make it with knit and lace. 

And... yes, there's more, that said knit, was actually re-used from a t-shirt. I used part of that t-shirt for my boy's shorts (here) and these were just scraps I had left. As you see, they were enough (though just quite) for the whole set. Because I have these huge boobs (NOT really), I also had to adjust the damn cup size, shortening a bit the smallest size. Never did that on a bra before, but it went just fine, and I never had a selfmade bra fitting so well – oh wait, this is my actual real bra ever. I had a little help from Susana's tutorial on how to turn a bralette pattern into a bra pattern.

 

And now that I've mentioned Susana, this might be the right time to mention that I recently got the Betty Panties pattern from Suco by Susana and I was eagerly wanting to try this one out, because again, making myself some new underwear was something I was planning to since a while ago. And what can I say? I was pretty much satisfied with it, so much so, I have at least three more planned on my list. 

There are a few views for this panties and I did view F to start, next on my plans is view D. I did make panties for myself before, you can see them HERE, and I am happy to say both patterns have the perfect fit for me. Ever since I made all of them, they became part of my fave and I wear them more often than I wear most of my ready to wear panties. They're all so comfortable. 

 

There are a few more undies patterns I'd like to try, and I can't wait to, but I won't tell you to come back soon for them, as I don't really know when that might happen. One thing I'd really like to try to make, is a lace body, oh I love them so, but never pondered making one as much as I have lately. Should I? Could I? What about you? Have you tried sewing underwear before? I promise is not as scrary as it might be in your head.

Chromium Cropped Hoodie

Scroll down for english, please. 

Para finalizar esta série de publicações dos moldes que testei para o último catálogo do Project Run and Play  (aqui), já só nos resta o que terá sido talvez o segundo preferido da minha filhota, o Chromium Cropped Hoodie (Designs by Call Ajaire). 

To finish the set of posts about the patterns I tested for the latest Project Run & Play pattern lookbook (here), there's only one left, which might have also been my daughter's second best choice, it is the Chromium Cropped Hoodie (Designs by Call Ajaire). 

Como nas outras peças, fiz-lhe o tamanho 9 e ficou perfeito. Foi ela quem escolheu todas as opções, cropped, manga comprida, capuz com orelhinhas de urso. Estava verdadeiramente feliz quando o estreou, acho que o usou durante dois dias seguidos. 

Just as for the other pieces, I did her a size 9 and it was spot on. She picked from all option, cropped lenght, long sleeve, hoodie with bear ears. She was truly happy to try it on and I think she wore it for two days in a row. 

Este tecido foi-me dado pela amiga Patrícia, e era perfeito para este projeto, que pede um tecido com pouca elasticidade. Infelizmente era retalho não muito grande, e quase que não tinha suficiente para terminar a peça. Acabei por improvisar para cortar e costurar o cós, mas já vos conto como. 

This fabric was handed to me by my friend Patrícia, and it was perfect for this one since it calls for a non very stretch fabric. Unfortunately the piece of fabric wasn't much and I barely had enough to finish my garment. I had to improvise to make it to with the waistband, I'll tell you how in a bit. 

Este é mais um daqueles moldes que se tornam um bom investimento devido às mais variadas opções de escolha no design da peça, mas também pela quantidade de número disponíveis. Por exemplo, este vai até aos 16 anos (o que para uma baixinha, magrinha como eu se torna ainda melhor, de certeza que até para mim eu podia costurar com ele se me desse na real gana). 

This is again, one of these patterns that are a very good investment due to the many design options but also the size range available. For instance, this one goes from newborn to 16Y (even I could sew for me with this one if I wished to, since I'm both slim and short). 

E foi assim que me desenrasquei quando percebi que não tinha tecido suficiente para cortar o cós numa só peça. Felizmente dava para fazer um enxerto casando as riscas do tecido. Uni os dois pedaços de tira e depois, pelo lado direito costurei uma fita de viés para tapar a costura. Posso sempre dizer que não é erro, é design, toque especial. 

And this is how I made it up when I realised the fabric wouldn't be enough to cut my waistband in an only piece. Luckily for me, I had just enough to patch two bits, allowing stripes on the fabric to match as well. I sewed them both together and then covered it up with a bias tape. I can always say it's not a mistake, it's a design touch. 

Como já tinha dito, também fiz uma para ele, mas não chegámos a tirar fotos decentes, o miúdo sentia calor com a sweatshirt e não quis massacrá-lo sem necessidade. Na falta de um tecido apropriado, reciclei uma sweatshirt do primo, e aqui também usei a frente nas costas. Para a gola, usei um retalhinho de tecido que sobrou de um outro vestido que fiz para a miúda (por partilhar ainda). 

As I said before, I also mede the boy a sweatshirt too but it was too hot for this already and he didn't want to do a shoot with it on. I didn't want to bother him with that either. Not having a better fabric for him, I used one of his cousin's sweatshirts, and again I turned it the other way around, using the back as the front. For the cowlneck I used a scrap left from another dress I made for the girl (still to share).