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signal wears the pants

Mom is gone and the house is rather eerily quiet with Ru gone to work and just Signal and I at home. Poor kid wandered around the house today saying "Oma?" and "Mama?" as he rounded corners and peeked behind doors. It slowly dawned on him that he was alone with me. Some rather trying behaviour ensued. Lovely. We miss you Oma!

Once I got Signal down for his nap this afternoon (at 2:oopm instead of 12:30pm... trying behaviour...) I took a moment to build on the sewing skills my mom left me with and try out another makeshift pattern that I found online.

Some of you know that I was working on my very first project while my mom was here, and she really was a great help. Despite the two of us losing our patience more than once (big surprise!), we actually managed to turn out a really decent little pair of pants. I made them following a "Burda Start" pattern. They're supposed to be patterns for people with little sewing experience, but I actually found the instructions to be remarkably lacking. Without my mom around, I never would have figured it out. Here they are. Pretty spiffy, no? Check out that toggle! They're 7/8 length.

The project I both started and finished during naptime today was a practice run at a pattern for making longies out of wool or fleece. Basically, you cut the sleeves off of old wool or fleece sweaters and reconstruct them into pants for your little one. There's a great tutorial online, and I got the whole thing done in just over an hour. And on top of that, they actually fit Signal! They're rather fitted, but I made them out of a pretty small sweatshirt. I'm going to go to Value Village and/or Goodwill and try to hunt down some larger men's sweaters in order to make him longies with a wider leg. Side view. The bottom of the pants used to be sleeve cuffs, so there's no hemming! Bum shot. Pretty good fit, no?

I really am loving having the sewing machine around. I have some Heather Ross fabric prepped and ready to be turned into another pair of summer pants for the boy, using the Jackie Clark Britches & Bloomers pattern. I think it'll end up being easier than the Burda pattern, because it has a foldover waist and no front pockets. Stay tuned for the finished product, hopefully in the next week or so!

Posted by M at 9:02 PM Labels: sewing, signal
 omaopa said...

Congratulations on the fleece pants - they look great! Tell Signal that I am joining him in the search for my friend in every room and behind all doors! I missed the "Oh, Oh, Oma" this morning. Hugs....
