3 yards of fabric gets you one toddler sheet and standard size pillowcase. Letting your three year old pick out the fabric at the fabric store also gets you a morning’s worth of shopping without arguing.

Simple pink cotton/lycra capri length leggings for the girly. These are a size 116, I cut the waist elastic at 21″ and probably should have made it a tick smaller, but it’s okay. The coverstitcher cooperated without any adjustments when I hemmed the legs, I love it when that happens!

Ottobre Design, issue 01/2007, pattern #17

This is one of my favorite patterns for a quick dress. It has enough twirl factor to satisfy my girly, and it goes together in a flash. I’ve left off the front pocket. This one also got a lined hood and I left off the knotted extra the pattern calls for on the hood. The sleeves and bottom hem got a lettuce hem, which curls more after it goes through the wash. Zoe just loves the lettuce edge.

Sized 122/128, it’s made with a cotton rib knit called “Flutter” by Baby Nay for the body and the sleeves and hood are from the coordinate print. The pattern is Olivia by Farbenmix. Love it!

Here are the rest of the shirts I made Jack in the shirt frenzy… These are all from Kwik Sew 2918, size 4T.

This one might be his favorite – it has cement trucks on it. I have a lot of boy fabrics, but when I saw someone selling this, I knew I had to get it for Jack.

Lizards, Turtles and Snakes and Cowboys

Dogs and Dinos

Same pattern as the t-shirt from a couple weeks ago, but this time I made the capri pants. I used a butterfly camo twill for these, I think if I make them again I’ll go with something a little lighter. I wonder how they would be in seersucker. I didn’t put the drawstring in them because they just felt too stiff and I didn’t think it would play well. I’m just going to hem the bottoms. They call for elastic in the bottom, but they just seem too stiff for that to work well with this material.

These are a size 6. I’d never done pockets like this before and was nervous about it. As it happens, things actually do go quite well with sufficient pressing and reading the directions can sometimes be quite helpful. I took the hem up 3″ from where they were marked for capris and blindstitched them there, hoping to either have enough length to let them down completely to work as pants in the fall or adjust as needed for capri length next year if Zoe can still wear them in the waist.

My Otto came the other day (last week?) and I finally had the time to sit down and flip through it, making notes on the pieces I’d like to try. It looks like a pretty good issue.

The baby stuff is at the beginning of the issue. So, after I get past the “awww, how cute, wouldn’t it be fun to have another little one…”, I remind myself that I do have a new niece. There’s a cute wraparound jacket, #8, that looks like my sister might like it. And then there’s a little dress, #5, with pants, #6, that can be made to match. But, oh, look at that – there’s a cute little sunhat, #4, too. I may not get around to the dress and pants, but Piper needs a cute little hat! Do I want to try that darling little top, #1, with the shirred front? It’s a definite possibility. It is very cute.

There’s a pair of baby jeans, #11, in there, and I have to be honest – I really don’t like baby pants without snaps in the legs. I don’t know, I guess they aren’t that much more difficult to take on and off than pants with snaps, perhaps it’s just a mental hurdle I have. Of course, it doesn’t matter, really, since I think Jack is past that size and my sister can easily buy a pair of jeans for her little boy. So, anyway…

Cute little jacket, #12, not crazy about the pocket flaps. The baby tee, #9, is cute, but I have enough reliable t-shirt patterns already in my stash that I don’t feel the need to trace another one.

Flip the page and we go on to bigger girl stuff. Another knit top, #29, Zoe would probably like the poofy sleeves and decorative buttons. I’ll put that one on the maybe list. There’s a cute pair of capris on page 15. Camp shirt, #21, and shorts, #23, for Jack land on the “make this” list, though they definitely won’t be in white. We’ll probably try both the short and longer version of the shorts.

A knit top, #33, with a criss-cross at the back neckline makes the list for Zoe, but I’ll have to check her measurements to see if she can wear that large of a size yet. There’s a tee for Jack, #24, that I like the color blocks on. I’ll probably skip the applique on it, though. The crop jeans, #26, are on the maybe list.

Zoe can always use a sundress, #18 fits the bill. The capris, #17, make it to the list, as does the short sleeve top, #32. Finally, I add two swimsuits to the list. First is a cute one piece suit with tie straps and the other is a two piece boy short type on which we’ll skip the butt ruffles.

I love a quick t-shirt pattern. This toddler shirt pattern has never failed me. I cut a bunch of these out and have been putting them together in bits. This one is size 4T. It’s a bit big on Jack right now, but the kid is growing like a weed and I’d like it to still cover his belly by the end of the summer.

The pants are from the same pattern, also in a 4T; this is a no frills elastic waist pant without pockets this time. I used a lightweight dark brown corduroy, durable and not too warm for spring. The shirt is a nice cotton baby rib knit with a nice weight to it. The white background is a somewhat dangerous choice, but we’re living on the edge over here.

This one has been sitting in my UFO pile since the embroidery on the front piece was done. I’m still learning how to play nice with my embroidery machine, and when I finally got this done, I didn’t have time to put together the rest of the pieces.

It took quite a few tries to get the Snoopy embroidery on there right. It was bunching the fabric and just generally making quite a mess. I ended up getting some Super Solvy heavy water soluble stabilizer (wss) for the top and put two layers of tearaway on the bottom. I’m not terribly excited about using the wss again; washing it off was a rather gooey ordeal.

This morning I cut the rest of the pieces for the shirt and threw it together. I also put some fusi-knit on the back of the embroidery. In case anyone was wondering, if the fusi-knit is wrong side up, it does fuse very nicely to your pressing cloth. This shirt is a size 6. The fabric is a purple cotton fine baby rib knit. The lettuce edging will tighten up when it goes through the wash, making smaller curls. Zoe would have lettuce edging on all her tops and dresses if she could. I love it because it’s a super fast finish and very girly.

And here it is on Zoe –

I made this out of some c/l jersey I got from Chez Ami. It has a nice hand to it, very soft with good stretch and excellent recovery. The only downside to it, and jersey in general, is that it loves to curl up once it’s cut. Lots of pinning keeps things flat and properly aligned.

Zoe’s usually a size 116/120 in the Euro sizing. I chose size 119, or J, on this Jalie pattern for her. It fits well through the shoulders, but could have had about a half inch or even a little bit more through the belly. I made it without the ruching on the bottom of the bodice and put in the modesty panel on the top. The modesty panel calls for 3/8″ elastic to keep it stable, but I used 1/4″ instead because the 3/8″ looked too wide. Overall, I’m pretty happy with it. Zoe likes it, her only complaint is that it doesn’t have “curly sleeves.” She’s a big fan of lettuce edging, but I didn’t think that would look right on this top.

That’s what it says on the forms I have to fill out for the kids’ preschool. “In the case of emergency or illness, I authorize the following to act on my behalf if I cannot be reached.”

I’m truly at a loss as to what to put in this space. Could I ask friends to be alternate contact in case one of the kids needs to be picked up because they are sick? Sure, but they wouldn’t have the car seat to transport said child. And emergency? In an emergency, you’re doing whatever it takes to take care of my kid, and then you are calling my husband or me. There is no alternate contact for an emergency. You could call my parents, but they aren’t “LOCAL”.