Monday, April 21, 2014

FO A Birthday Hoody

Today Mr A turned 7!  Can you believe that, where have the years gone.  Anyway I'll write more about that later once his celebrations are complete.  Because it's Easter quite a few of his presents haven't arrived yet in the post so I decided on the spur of the moment to make him a birthday hoody.

I've had my eye on this pattern since the new Ottobre mag arrived in my letterbox a couple of weeks ago.  Yes you read that right, this must be some kind of record, they usually sit in my stash for a lot longer than that before getting used.  Anyway there was  a cute hoody in there and the shape and style really took my eye.  I actually traced the pattern out in Mr A's size a couple of nights ago but then when I read the fabric recommendations it was designed for a stretch knit and I wanted to use a sweat shirting with zero stretch.  This combined with the fact that its a slim fit meant it was back to the tracing board.

So this afternoon I went down to the garage and dragged out the fabric and then traced, cut and sewed the whole thing.
So here it is the car hoody.  The appliqué I got from an earlier edition of Ottobre 4/2008 to liven up the black a bit (Mr A chose the black), I also lined the hood and added a band on the bottom.
 The hood lining is fabric I got in a huge destash bundle and was the inspiration for the whole hoody really, it works well as a lining for my car mad boy.
The edge of the hood is meant to be bound in ribbing so I used this to nicely finish the hood and enclose the lining instead of stitching and turning.  I also tried the Kitschy Coo method for rib binding for the first time (been meaning to try this for ages).  I probably should of cut my binding strip a little wider and this was quite thick to do this way but I do like the tidy finish, esp on a hood where you see both sides.
 And on the birthday boy himself:



 I think it may be time to remeasure Mr A as the fit of this is pretty good.  Due to the lack of stretch instead of using a 104 with 116 length like I usually would I cut a 116 with 122 length.  I still had to add the length of the bottom band (well didn't have to but it didn't hurt and Mr A wanted a band) and the sleeves are barely long enough).  Overall I would definitely make this again.  I like the shape of the hood (cut on the fold at the front) and it's a nice slim fit on Mr A.  The only problem is he really prefers zip up hoodies as they are easier for him to get on and off so this may not get worn to school.

So all that remains for now is to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr A.  Love you!

Friday, April 18, 2014

It's Been A Little Quiet

I've been pretty slack at keeping things moving in here.  Partly because much of my spare time has been taken up planning a big family trip for later in the year, partly due to end of term chaos, and partly because our family of 4 celebrates 3 birthdays in April.
I have still been crafting away.  I have a couple of knitting projects on the go and one test I'll blog about shortly.  I've also been sewing when I get a chance but everything is still in a "not quite finished" state (maybe I should learn to finish one thing before starting another).

Anyway I have the next 10 days off work and I'm hoping to fit some knitting and sewing into that time.  Here are some of the things I'll be working on...

A winter jersey for Mr A which has seen more time spent unpicking than moving forwards in the last week or so, back not he straight and narrow now though.
 A winter coat for Miss M, this is a bit of a labour of love and I can't wait to blog about it when it is finally done.
 A quick wee top for me, well actually I started it about a month ago and it's been sitting ever since.  I suspect it will take me about 30 mins to finish when I finally get around to it.
Does anyone else have crafting plans for the Easter weekend?