Raglan Tee

For my 30th birthday I invited some friends over for a little day of craftiness. It was absolutely perfect. One friend got out her colored pencils, another knitted, another cut out some sewing projects and I sewed.

Crafting among friends is one of my favorite things. It was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday!

That day I worked on this raglan tee. What a simple and fun project! I got my inspiration here.

I used an old graphic tee from Jesse and drafted my pattern using these instructions..

The sleeves turned out a little tight above the elbows. I'm not sure how that happened, but I'll need to tweak my pattern the next time around.

It's hard to see the pattern in the pictures above. Here's what it really looks like.

Don't mind the yogurt stains. I was too lazy to wash it and take the pictures on another day.

Urban Hoodie

Whose kid is that? He's adorable. Oh, that's right. He's mine and I tell him everyday that I'm a lucky mama.

It's mostly true until he throws a fit in public, at church, while I'm holding a fresh cup of coffee and can't wrap my arms around him to force him in the right direction. In those moments I just tell him very quietly and sternly that he'd "better get up right now and listen to his mama" and try my hardest not to make a really big scene, although that's impossible. Nothing like the pastor's wife and the pastor's kid getting into a scuffle in the lobby.

I'm still lucky.
So, I've had this little pattern floating around in my brain for while. It's the urban hoodie pattern and come to find out . . . it's only $6! The pattern comes in sizes 6 mos to 5T. I think it would look great in all of those sizes. In fact, I can find this little number useful in every season. So $6 is a great deal for one size and it's like I robbed the place to get 6 sizes in one pattern. You should go buy it now, you really should.

I put this picture in here just because I'm in love with it. You really can't see the sweatshirt at all.

I used the leftover red knit from his Christmas pajamas last year. And, I lined it with some great khaki stripe that I found on sale at Joann's awhile back.

I used the 2T pattern and on his small 20 month old body (26% for weight/40ish% for height) it fits him well. It's a little long in both the body and sleeves, but it should fit well for a good 6-9 months I would think. It probably will get us through summer.

What a great, casual style. I'll definitely be making more!

P.S. Jude recognized himself and said, "Jude!" while I was creating this post! It's the first time he's used his name without a little prodding from us. How fun!

A Christmas Knock-off

This Christmas I had the pleasure of sending gifts to my twin sister, Em, and her husband. She's fun to have for Christmas because I pretty much buy whatever I would love and it's well received. Course, the same could be said about any of my sisters, really.

Around Thanksgiving she was here and we were "pinning" together. We ran across an image of this. So cute, right?!

Even though I would love to support the American handmade artist I couldn't swing $100+ for a Christmas gift. So, I thought, "I'll make that". (Why do we sewers do this to ourselves? It's like a competition to see how crazy we can make ourselves.)

I drew up a pattern and ended up making four versions. The third was right and that's the one I sent to her. The hood and collar don't look exactly like the original I was going for and I couldn't figure out how to get them "wider" and still keep it all one piece. Still don't know the answer, but I like the pattern I came up with.

The one I'm wearing is version 4 - I made it after Christmas and am keeping it. Merry Christmas to me. It's a perfect winter piece - comfy for lounging or casual for work.


By the way, you would die if you knew how many pictures I took of myself in the mirror. More often than not it was a picture of the door knob with me smiling, out-of-focus in the background. Good times.