Monday, September 28, 2015

Geek Out!

Ah, geek out
Le geek, c'est chic!

If you've been hanging around for awhile then you know...we are a sci-fi, pun loving family so when Melissa of Rebel & Malice asked me to take part in her Back to School Capsule Tour I knew I had to dress my boy in some fun, practical clothes!

The first thing we did was talk patterns. My middle man is 11 and he only wears what he likes so...we need to be honest. Then we talked about colours...he wanted to keep things fairly neutral with grey, blue and black for the most part.

Most everything can be mixed and matched but I've broken our sewing adventure into 3 main outfits...

1. Heads up for Clone Troopers!


The Raglan? It's an old friend in our house...I love making it for my boys, it's fun, it's simple and it's a crowd pleaser. If you don't have it go get it! 

The Fleece? I want one! I made the middle man's fleece out of Looper Fleece (he chose the fabric) and I love it! Finally the pants...one of the biggest reasons I like to sew for my middle man is how slim he is. 

The pants? I love that the back waistband is done with ribbing! I put an elastic in there since my ribbing doesn't have great recovery but it increases the cozy factor for sure! However, they are beyond skinny! I made them based on his measurements plus 1 size up...so size 8 and with some extra length. Unfortunately he finds them a bit too tight and the rise and the pockets just aren't enough for my skinny little man. I DO love seeing him in pants that fit though!



2. Pie in your face!

Shirt: Jolly Roger Raglan by Patterns for Pirates
Pants: Metropolitan Pants by Terra's Treasures

 The Shirt? You know what's fun about this pattern? The things you can do with it! I took an old shirt and upcycled it into a new one that my son loves to wear! He likes to serve up some attitude with this shirt!

 The Pants? Again I sized him up to an 8 even though he measures a 7. We are pleased with the fit of these but I didn't add anything to the rise so I changed up how I finished the waistband so that they would go where my son prefers his rise to be. I would totally make these again for my slender son with more length and a more accommodating rise. I have learned a lot about making pants for my middle man!



3. Canadian Blinking!

Shirt: Jolly Roger Raglan by Patterns for Pirates
Hoodie: Lumberjack Shirt by Patterns for Pirates
Pants: Field Research Pants by Scientific Seamstress

 The Shirt? Well, a good friend of mine did the lettering for me and he LOVES it! Actually, I think there are 3 more orders for this shirt in our house alone!

 The Hoodie? I love this hoodie! I put pearl snaps on it because they are a throw back to my dad's old shirts...makes me smile whenever I see them. Since my middle man is so slim, next time I make him this one I will definitely size the hood up. The shirt fits great but the hood? Not so much.

 The Pants? This is the quintessential Canadian piece of the outfit. Zip-off pants! Boy do these come in handy when it's cold in the morning and simmering by noon! We love these pants and they are great lined too! Because of the relaxed nature of the fit there were no rise or pocket challenges for us and lots of growing room!


This was well worth the time for us...my middle man has some one of a kind shirts, some pants that actually fit (he's a 23" waist - size 7 and the height of an average 11 year old) and I learned a lot about making pants that work even better for him!

I was lucky enough to receive 3 of the patterns featured here for free but all opinions and experiences are solely my own (well, and my middle man's too!)

I hope you have enjoyed the tour! 

Heather
Posted by Heather at 22:46 0 comments

Monday, June 01, 2015

Oh Canada!

I am so excited to be part of the Canadian Pattern Designer Blog Tour hosted by Lulu & Celeste for the month of June! I am not sure how it happened but here I am on Day #1 starting us off!


I was lucky enough to sew up Gracious Threads Henday Hoodie! 

Anthony Henday (fl. 1750–1762) was one of the first European men to explore the interior of the Canadian northwest (source: wikipedia). Pretty cool right? I also think the hoodie is great but...I decided to change it up a bit. Since this is a Canadian Tour and we are headed into the summer...I decided to create something my inspiration will wear when we hit the road for one of our camping trips.

Since I had camping on the brain...I thought I'd take the kids to a more rustic location for the photo shoot. Then this happened...he was SO smarmy!!! Fortunately, my middle man was in a happier place so he filled in.

 Hang on! Wasn't that a zipped hoodie (like a sweater you were sewing up) Heather??? Yup. But I changed it up...I added an inch to the centre of the front panels so that I could use snaps instead.

And because my girl outgrew her vest sometime ago...I made her one too! This hoodie only goes to a size 12 so I graded it up to about a 14 so it would better fit my girl.


 And because I was having SO much fun, I made both of the vests completely reversible! We had loads of fun choosing zippers and snaps to coordinate with our fabrics!

This is my first time doing inset zippers like this...they were SO easy to do! I won't even get into the details on how I made that part reversible but I did it! There is just one set of pockets on each vest so when they wear it the opposite way, the same bits are in their pockets.


 And this is when my little one found his happy...he had a blast taking photos with me a couple of good sleeps later!



Want a shot at winning this great pattern (or another amazing one) from Gracious Threads??? Enter to win here! I almost forgot! Gracious Threads is offering a discount so you can join in the Canadian Tour and sew a long!

Jess is offering readers a discount in her Etsy shop for one week only, read through to the end to get the details!

We've got a sew-a-long, great prizes and loads of fantastic bloggers in on this tour so be sure to follow along with us!
June 1 - 3
June 4 - 6
June 8 – 10
June 11 - 13
June 15 – 17
June 17 - 19
June 18 – 20
June 24 – 26
June 25 – 27
June 29 - 30
Lulu & Celeste: new makes and a round up post
July 1st


Did I mention how much my kiddies LOVE their vests???

xo
Heather



Posted by Heather at 05:40 9 comments
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Sunday, May 17, 2015

Happy Birthday to moi!

 My birthday is a bit of a sticky subject around here...as in, it always seems to come late and sometimes...well, more often than I would like to admit...I end up having a more of a planning role than I might like. I think Mr. CB would argue that I like to be part of planning everything but honestly...I do like to be treated once in awhile! ;)

So...just to be sure that I did get treated on my birthday, I finished a dress that I started last year!!! I was thrilled about his and wore it out to dinner on my birthday. It's Scientific Seamstress' Jamie. I made this pattern awhile back and really love it so yes, I actually do repeat patterns on occasion! The other picture shows me wearing my favourite Patterns for Pirates' Womens Raglan Shirt (well, one of them at least!)


In the end I was treated to a lovely necklace (I wore it with my dress), cake made by my Creative Crew and a day out in Niagara Falls. We went mini putting and had appetizers at The Rainforest Cafe! Mr. CB sometimes forgets that I like to do silly things...I am not a very good adult much of the time.


Didn't my crew do an awesome job on the cake??? I love it! 

Enjoy!
Heather


Posted by Heather at 11:02 0 comments
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