The more I sew with Ottobre patterns, the more I love them. This tunic is from 1-2009-17. I've made a bunch of things from this issue.
This tunic was a fun piece to make, especially with these two coordinating fabrics from Hobby Lobby. Sara's also wearing the pants I made her this spring.
The arms and neck are finished with bias strips in the same fabric as the gathered pocket. I used a button for the enclosure, but the pattern also includes a tie option.
I'd been promising Grace a summer dress for a while, so I chose this pattern from my stash as something to whip up quickly. Grace even chose the fabric (I gave her two choices - I've discovered the hard way that it's better to give options within your own choices of fabric!)
The pattern is Simplicity 7189 view B.
"Do I have to do this anymore?"
This is a super easy to make peasant dress from simplicity 5222. I made a long-sleeve version here.
I love this "Jetro" Jersey Romper from Ottobre 4-2008-8.
This is a comfortable and cute romper and I may make it for Molly again in a larger size. Next time I'll use a thicker jersey (this one has ripped through in one place already) and possibly smaller snaps (size 16 is a little too big to fit on the binding).
These pjs are a good example of what happens when you try to take shortcuts. I wanted to make summer pajamas for Sara using patterns for leggings and a long-sleeve shirt. Since Sara was in bed I decided to just hold up the pattern and estimate where I should draw the line to make shorts and a short sleeved shirt.
In the morning when Sara tried on her new jammies, I was a little surprised that I'd made 3/4 length sleeves and knee length shorts. Hmmm.
Sara wore these for the photo, but stashed them in her drawer without much comment. Little sister has happily swiped them for her own use. At least someone is willing to wear them, even though hubby think they are made of the world's ugliest fabric.
I wanted a pattern for basic "comfy" pants but didn't have any on hand that were meant for girls. So I used the "Taku" linen pants pattern I had made for the boys and added heart shaped pockets to the back.
It's hard to see, but I tried to add interest by doing rows of pink double topstitching on the outer seams. For this, I used my twin needle. I can't get that thing to work on knits, but it worked beautifully on these pants. I may be using the wrong twin needle on knits.
The fabric is cotton/poly poplin from fabric.com.
Hearty pajamas made with Ottobre Creative Workshop #301 for the "slim-fitting" t-shirt and Ottobre 1-2009-16 for the leggings with contrasting cuffs.
These are the "Katri" linen pants from Ottobre 1-2009-13 made with turquoise poplin.
The patch pockets are gathered and the hems have 18 (if I remember correctly) pintucks. Yes, pintucks are a little picky, but they were fun to do and worth the effort. This was my first try at pintucks. I did make a little mistake in tucking the length allowed for the pintucks (I think 9 cm) and forgetting to add the hem amount below that. So, the tucks are shorter than they should be. It worked out fine since the pants are supposed to be cropped anyway.
Sara absolutely adores these pants and wears them EVERY SINGLE DAY they are not in the wash. Too bad she only has one shirt to match (besides plain white) - I generally have to put up with the wild clashing that happens when you try to wear turquoise with just about anything.
I asked her if she'd like another pair of these and she said, "Yeah, in the same color." I don't know about that (:
Long-sleeve peasant dress from Simplicity 5222 made from cotton bubble gauze.
It's a great pattern, but the directions for the elastic neckline are silly. It has you sew 4 different neckline casings: two for the tops of the sleeves and one each for the front and back, and the suggested amount of elastic makes for a gigantic neckline. I ended up reducing the neck by 7 inches. It would make much more sense to stitch the arms, front and back together first and then make just one casing, allowing you to easily adjust the elastic.
There is also elastic on the sleeves and at the waist.
This is a fun pair of pants from Ottobre 4-2008-24. They're a bit time-consuming with all the pleats and topstitching, but it's definitely worth the effort. The fabric is the same mystery material I used in these pants.
Even though I slimmed down the pattern, the pants still ended up really baggy. I plan to unpick all the topstitching on the waistband (!) and slim that even more in hopes that the boys will be able to wear them in the fall.
These multi-pocketed pants are the "Taku" linen pants from ottobre 1-2009-21, made with a mystery fabric from Mary Jo's. I asked two different salespeople at Mary Jo's what kind of fabric it was (the bolts weren't labeled) and the best I got was, "It's cotton." I was sorely disappointed since I'd like to be able to order this perfect-boys'-pants fabric in the future. It's very sturdy, almost like outdoor fabric, but thicker than a nylon/cotton blend.
This is a very basic elastic-waist pants pattern with patch pocket embellishments. The pants are rather baggy on my slim guys, and they won't be able to wear them for a while - I may take in the waistband further. Somehow that stretched out when I was topstitching.
This is the first version of the "kukkopilli tunic" I made. I would have used a narrower bias binding for the neck had I realized it would look something like a mock turtleneck.
The material I used is cambric which, according to a little googling, is the same as batiste. It's very lightweight - almost sheer. 
I made this pinafore dress for my niece's 1st birthday. It's the first time I tried fusible applique on clothing - I hope it sticks!
The pattern for both the dress and the applique are from ottobre 1-2009-8. I used a spotted quilting cotton for the bodice lining and a really stiff navy corduroy for the dress. If I had to do it over again, I'd used a thinner, softer corduroy. The navy corduroy is leftover from when hubby and I recovered a couch years ago! We thought it'd be cool to have corduroy - and it was! - but it was also a horrible lint collector.
The applique is a great use for quilting scraps.
This is the darling "kukkopilli" tunic from Ottobre 1-2009-7. "Kukkopilli" is Finnish for a rooster birdwhistle, as I learned here.
This is the second version I made for 3-month-old Molly. I'll post the first version later.
I used spotted quilting cotton and a ready-made bias binding for the neck.
A fun cape for Sara's birthday. The fleece and Hello Kitty ribbon are from Hobby Lobby and the pom-pom fringe from Home-Sew.
This very simple pattern is from Ottobre 6-2008-22.
I fussed with the darts on my sewing table a while to get them smooth and rounded. Next time I'll actually try them on the model before I finish!
The boys were in desperate need of pajamas. I figured it would actually take me less time to whip up several sets of pjs than to take all the kids out shopping to try to find a good deal on pjs somewhere.
Each of these sets cost less than $4. I got the jersey from fabricmaster for about $1.80 a yard. I thought it'd be worth trying their fabric for that price. However, I definitely do not recommend them since, in this case, you get what you pay for: smelly, poor quality fabric with holes here and there (not kidding). When, with some difficulty, I eventually got hold of them, they promised to replace a certain piece of fabric, but never did.
But I'm really pleased with the results and it was a great chance to work on doing knit neck bindings. The patterns are both from Ottobre. The top is a slim-fitting basic tee from 1-2009-34. The elastic waist leggings are from 1-2009-32.
Posing for pictures in your pjs....feels kind of goofy.
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