working on Tobie's stuff

It was time for me to make my grandson Tobie some clothes once I got done with Alex's. This first shirt I made a mock layered long sleeve by adding the seam allowance and some room for the hem turn up to the top of the piece that goes from the bottom of the short sleeve to the bottom of the long sleeve, if that makes any sense. I put the pieces right sides together and serged them. I folded up the hem and stitched it in place. Voila - layered-look long sleeves! It was easier than I thought. I like how it looks. I was a bit concerned that since I didn't follow a specific pattern for it I might make it and regret I hadn't gotten out the patterns I have and used one of them.


This is camouflage Ooga Booga fabric with a forest green rib knit for the bands on the sleeves, which I just added because I wanted to, and for the neck band. It's actually the same pattern as the shirt in the first picture, I believe. It just shows you the different things you can do with a pattern just by changing the way you cut the fabric and assemble it; you can get many different looks from one pattern if you're creative enough. I like trying different things, anyhow. I dread boredom or stick-in-the-mud-ness. It would drive me crazy to always do something the same way all the time.


I made this shirt from a Burda pattern. Now I've not used Burda patterns before because a lot of them don't include seam allowances and I thought it was going to be a pain in the pants. However, it was part of a $1.99 sale at Hancock's, I think, so I got this one to try for Tobie. I have to say it went together remarkably well. I will have to use this pattern again and again. I'll probably make him another shirt for Christmas, maybe with long sleeves, and possibly all one color. The other option is to use a color-block style with different solids for each pattern piece - front, back, each sleeve, and either the whole hood or each half of the hood.


Here's a back view of the hoodie. I really like this shirt. I love geckos and other lizard-type critters. The one thing I think might have helped a bit was if I had bothered to go get my coverstitch machine from the quilt shop that does repairs. I've been under the weather this week, though, and didn't want to expose a bunch of people to whatever it is I have. I actually cancelled 3 appointments this week - one with the pain doc, one with the surgeon, and a sick appointment with our primary doc. That's okay because honey already had an appointment with the primary doc for Monday so they rescheduled me for an hour after his and we'll just go in together. We're going to get the machine after we go to the doc since it's in the same general direction, anyhow...nothing is close to home. It's all a nice hike. Most of the time I like it that way. The only time it's trouble is when there's an urgent medical problem.

Hubby saw this shirt finished up this morning when he got up and he really likes it. He says my stuff is like the kind of stuff you can buy at a store. I don't know. I keep trying to do better and better. I've never been one to settle for mediocrity, except maybe when it comes to dusting and keeping the piles of magazines and patterns and sale ads under control. I used to be a lot more anal about it but now it's like it doesn't matter so much any more.

I think this hood will probably fit better than any of the Big4 patterns I've used. I made a jacket from one last year and I declare, that hood is 4 or 5 inches too tall for my head! It's also so wide from front to back that I can't even tie it if I want to see my fact. I'd like to get busy this week, remove that hood, and cut it down to where it will fit like it's supposed to. Plus sized people don't have humongous heads, for crying out loud.

So, now I need to make Tobie his pants or long shorts - no, I still haven't decided which - and then some boxer briefs. Once those are done I can either send them off or, God willing, fly down to Tampa and take them to the kids myself. It's been 5 years since we have seen each other. That's a long, long time.

I need to go. I'm getting really tired. Maybe I can even sleep in the bed tonight! Usually I'm asleep for an hour, than awake for one or two, and it goes on like that all night. It's been this way for a few years now; it's getting old.