Blue Yonder

Most of the time, I have an idea of what I want to sew, but really, I don't make too many decisions until I have the fabric in my hands.  I make most of the design decisions based on the fabric.  It is less common for me to start with a pattern and then go choose the fabric.  But this time, I bought fabric with a particular look in mind.

I (Major Moma) ordered some heavy weight sweater knit from fabric.com with a specific project in mind.  It is light blue and looks just like someone hand knitted it and I thought it would be perfect for a shawl collar cardigan for my son.

He saw the fabric and asked about it and I told him my plans.  He looked at me and said, "I'm not wearing that."  What? (deep breath...) So our conversation ended and the next day I took him into the sewing room and I said, "What do you want me to make with this blue sweater fabric?"  "I will wear it if you make a sweater like the one that came with the mittens." said Eli.

The "one that came with the mittens" is a hand-me down navy blue hoodie.  A nothing special, just plain ol' hoodie.  What is a mom to do?

Make a fancy sweater hoodie.  After all, I want him to wear it.

The hoodie is a combination of patterns from the fall 2007 Ottobre magazine with a few adjustments from me. I added the kangaroo pocket. And I used twill tape to stabilize the hood and shoulder seems.

And the bias tape from the pants worked well to make a finished joint between the hood and shirt.

The embroidery is from a redwork embroidery book and computer disk that my mother gave me. The plane is more WWI era, so it does not exactly match the planes on the pants. But Eli liked it and the point was to make something he would wear.






Thankfully, my plans for the coordinating pants went over well.  I have been wanting to integrate piping into some of my outfits and and finally decided on a good project.  I used a pant pattern from that same Ottobre 2007 magazine that I have used many times before (just in a bigger size this time).  I cut the front panel of the pants into thirds using curvy lines.

I would love to take credit for the curvy line idea, but one of the pants in the magazine was done this way.  What I did differently was insert piping into those sections.  And, I lined the bottom third of the pants.  The lining is a quilting cotton with WWII style airplanes.  I used that same fabric for the piping and bias tape details on the pants and the sweater hoodie.

All these details made these pants take a lot of time.  Since I have made this pattern before, the pants normally would have flown together.  But, making my own piping and inserting it all over the place really added to the time needed. 


But it was worth it.  I think it made the pants more interesting. 

The pants took longer also because I had to re-trace the pattern for a larger size.  I have noticed that his pants just fit.  If he grows at all, he will be ready for spring floods.  And so I made these pants a little too big.  That way, when the growth spurt comes, I am ready.  (And hopefully they can be worn next winter too.)