Baby Easter romper

When Konik was Sprinkaan’s age, I made him a little suit coat and pants in blue and white seersucker and it was adorable. I looked at that pattern this year for Sprinkaan and I just wasn’t feeling it. Aside from the waistband on those little overall pants being a pain to put together I thought, soon enough and my baby will be wearing “big boy clothes” so why rush it? That’s why I chose to dress him in a baby outfit this year. Our babies stay babies for only so long.

This pattern (Simplicity 4243) was my go-to when friends had babies and I wanted to send a gift. Although it has been several years since I’ve used it, it was still somewhat familiar territory. I chose a robin’s egg blue poly-linen blend for the fabric. There is a zipper down the back and snaps around the inside of the legs. I chose the bear applique because Sprinkaan’s nickname is Little Bear and it’s a shape he recognizes. He probably would have preferred a car because that’s his Absolute Favorite Thing in the World, but alas, the applique selection was rather paltry. I didn’t get many good photos of him wearing his little one-piece suit because he was melting down after church.

He has changed a lot since last Easter!

Little boy blue

Here are some more detailed pictures of the suit I made for Konik for Easter. The suit pattern is Butterick 6894 from 2001. I used a cotton bottom weight fabric for both the jacket and the pants. Some might think it’s cruel to make a little boy wear a suit. Let me assure you: there is no “making” here; Konik loves him some suits.

A little twisted and rumply after a morning in church, but hey, he’s 5. It probably looked like this about two minutes after we left the house.

What is this pose?!

His shirt was also a Butterick, #2164 from the ’60s by the look of the pattern art. A long time ago I had bought this at the thrift store with some other patterns. I hadn’t had a reason to really inspect the contents of this specific pattern envelope until I went to make this little button-up shirt and discovered that the sleeve piece was missing. After consulting lots of tutorials and making lots of drafts, I finally made a sleeve that would work. I wasn’t 100% pleased with it, but it worked ok. Personally, it doesn’t look comfortable, but Konik claims it’s fine. And, considering that he has worn this entire outfit four more times just since Easter, I guess he’s right because 5 year olds aren’t going to wear clothes that bother them.

The tie was another from Vanilla Joy’s pattern that I talked about in my last post. Konik likes that it looks like an Easter egg.

Still my handsome little man.

Happy Easter 2015

Yes, I’ve been gone. However, absence here means productivity in real life! And I have most definitely been productive. I’ll write at more length later about the kids’ Easter outfits, but I know that there are plenty of people who wanted to see the outcome after a solid month of sewing (and some crocheting).

Wishing you all a happy Easter!

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Cue ZZ Top

‘Cause every girl’s gonna go crazy for my sharp-dressed man.

Yes, I’m finally posting pictures of Konik’s ring bearer outfit! Here’s where I talk about the making of it.

He would like you all to see his van.

Yeah, they look like high waters when he’s sitting down. I added some length to the legs, but it looks like I probably could have been a little more generous. These won’t fit him long. I might add a cuff…

Like this, Maman?

This pose was totally his idea. I was having trouble getting him to stay in one spot because he always wants to come see the picture display on the back of the camera. Problem is, he starts coming to look before I’ve even snapped the shot. So I told him to stand on his car mat. For some reason, he took a knee. Funny dude.

That was supposed to be in my mouth.

He was trying to chew a straw like Axl Rose does at the beginning of the “Welcome to the Jungle” video. Yeah, I know Axl wasn’t the first to chew on a straw, but my kids don’t know that, and they think his every move is cool. So in an attempt to emulate their hero, they pull straws out of my broom. Gross. Besides, what does a straw + suit make? Hick chic? Not that the cabin backdrop really goes, either, but ya get what ya get.

Wouldn’t you know it

We got back yesterday afternoon from nearly a week of family reunion/wedding stuff. It was great, a lot of fun, but hectic! At any one time, there were 13-25 people in the vacation rental house, and seven of them were children under 6 years old. “Busy” is an understatement. The day of the wedding reminded me of the scene in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” — people running up and down the stairs in various states of dress; Oops forgot to grab the girls’ hair ribbons; Has anyone seen Mom’s shoes? Somebody needs to get out of the bathroom ’cause I still need to do my makeup! — and we were the family of the groom!

Things didn’t get any better when we arrived at the reception site for pictures. I went to help my sister unload the wedding cake from her car and we were greeted by a mass of mushed up cake and frosting in the back and dripping off the hatch onto us. It was horrendous. In ten years of my sister making and decorating wedding cakes, she has never had one collapse. She was heartbroken and we all felt awful for her. My little brother has the most even-keeled personality of anyone I know, so he took the news in stride and L’s family were all very gracious about the cake disaster. My grandpa took my sister to the store to try and find some kind of replacement cake. When the pictures were done, Mr. Gren took our crazy monkeys back to the house to burn off some steam before the wedding and I stayed at the reception site with my sister to help her dress up the pseudo-wedding cake. We still managed to have some time to wind down back at the house before the actual wedding.

Everyone should get to see how lovely the cake was before it died.

At the wedding, Mr. Gren found his seat and carefully distributed brand new coloring books and crayons along the pews where the six little flower girls and one little ring bearer would be seated after they performed their duties. Meanwhile, my sister, sister-in-law and I were corralling all the kids in the back room waiting for show time and trying to keep them out of the way of the bridesmaids and bride. Of course, right when the wedding coordinator popped her head in to let us know it was almost time to line up, I noticed that Konik wasn’t smelling so fresh… and Mr. Gren had the diaper bag. Ugh. But the kids all did a good job walking down the aisle and filed in to their seats just like they were supposed to (and then Mr. Gren whisked Konik away to get him cleaned up).

In the midst of all that chaos, neither of us got a picture of little man in his spiffy wedding clothes. Not even at the reception! So, unless one of my family members got a photo of him, we’ll have to try to stage a shot. And of course, it didn’t occur to any of us to take a picture of me in my new dress, either. I’ll try to get some pictures taken this week!

Rana waiting for dinner at the reception

But, despite all the craziness on our end of things, my brother and his bride were beaming the entire day and thoroughly enjoyed all the festivities. And that’s the most important part!

Congratulations, S & L!

 

Somebody’s gonna look good

In just a few days, my little brother (little in years, not in stature) is going to get married! He and my soon-to-be sis-in-law asked if Rana & Granota would be flower girls and if Konik would be the ring bearer. Well, of course the girls were thrilled out of their little minds! Princess fantasies abound! I did not have to make flower girl dresses because my four nieces are also going to share the flower girl duties and naturally, they all have to match. A whole little flowery entourage. Unless they’re going relay style in honor of the recently completed Olympics… (S & L, I’ve got an idea for you!) Originally, I wasn’t going to have to sew anything for Konik, either, but the lovely Miss L couldn’t find a tiny suit in his size. So I volunteered to save her some time hunting and set to work sewing.

Cute stuff!

This super cute little vest was made with help from the tutorial by Ashley at Make It-Love It. For my template, instead of a t-shirt, I used the button-up shirt that Konik would be wearing underneath the vest. And lucky me, I didn’t have to sew that either! We found a tiny white linen Children’s Place shirt for a couple bucks at the thrift store. Woo hoo! The pants I made using the same pattern as I used for his Easter suit. I added a little extra length to the biggest size and it’s a good thing I did! Looks like that will be the last time I can use that pattern.

The fabric is polyester shantung. I hate polyester and try to avoid it whenever possible. But, in this instance, the only alternative is real silk shantung and — in case you’ve missed it — we’re not exactly in the tax bracket that can afford making silk suits for 2 year olds. Sorry, kid. I love ya, but I know what you’d do to it and that, in turn, would make me weep. Not like anyone can fault me. For less than $15, my little man is going to be stylin’.

Real pockets, fake fly.

I can’t let him wear it just yet, though. I would be beside myself is something happened to these clothes before the wedding! Now, if we can just get him convinced to wear his new black dress shoes that go with it…

Dapper little dude

I don’t know why it’s so hard to find an actual little boy’s suit in stores these days. You would think that, of all times of year, the weeks leading up to Easter would have the racks packed with tiny suits. But sweater vest is as dressy as it gets anymore. Not knockin’ the sweater vest; I just prefer to take it up a notch. So for three years running, I’ve made my tiny guy a little Easter suit. Even sewing patterns are hard to come by, though. Anyone who has tried to sew for little boys knows what I’m talking about it. You get the baby romper patterns, pajamas, and t-shirts & shorts. (Seriously? I’m going to waste my time sewing an itty-bitty t-shirt?) Vintage and retro patterns are the only way to go anymore!

I thought I had made a pretty good score on a little suit pattern that I got on ebay for 99 cents. Then there was a whole wrong address fiasco and I wasn’t sure I was even going to see the pattern before Easter, forcing me to return to the pattern I’ve used the past two years. I found it at Value Village for 69 cents (I’d say I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of it by now). For some reason, I thought I had used the largest size last year and that’s why I needed a new one. Lucky for me, I hadn’t, so one week out from Easter, I was buying fabric.

Whenever I can, I try to avoid synthetic fabrics, which tend to be the only option for suiting material at Joann’s. I had to resort to that last year, but it wasn’t my favorite and I was hoping to find something better. And then I found the linen! Ahh, so many nice linens. I really want to go back and get several yards to make myself a dress. Or two. Or more. Focus, focus! Florals will not work for a little boy!  Not only are there a dearth of boy patterns, it’s tough to find appropriate fabric, too! I finally settled on a nice tan and white stripe.

Tiny jacket

The stripes turned out to be a minor hassle. I’ve mentioned before how you have to be careful when sewing with plaid and the same rules apply for stripes. When the fabric is folded in half, the stripes should line up before you start cutting anything. Should. Unless, the stripe is not an even pattern. At first glance, mine seemed to be, but once I folded the fabric in half, I realized that the repeat on my stripes only went one direction. It’s not a big deal, but it does mean that I had to cut out the pattern pieces with the fabric laying flat. Twice as much work to make sure that both sides of the jacket and both pant legs and sleeves resemble each other, with the dominant stripe running through key spots on the body. By the time I finished cutting everything out, my brain was fried. I didn’t want a repeat of the horrible sewing experience I had with Rana’s pink dress, so I just set everything aside and came back to it the next day.

Tiny trousers with fake fly, decorative button, but real pockets.

That was the right choice! It all went together beautifully. And, since I managed to crank it out all in one day, I decided that I had time to make Konik a little hat. After all, the girls had sun bonnets, why shouldn’t he get a new hat, too? That, too, was a good choice. I mean, just look at him!

Who else wants to just hug him up?

Corduroy newsboy cap lined with seersucker and one of those do-it-yourself buttons to match.

Oh, and little man knew he was good-looking stuff today. It was so funny watching him cavort and frisk around at church. He was even shaking hands with people, this tiny little person who’s not even 3 feet tall acting like a big man.

Maman loves her baby.