The Mulberry Tunic Turned Sweatshirt.

Except for my raglan-sleeved knit dress, I don't think I have ever made so many different versions of clothes from the same pattern as I have with The Mulberry Tunic Pattern by Kid Approved.

The original, The even-more girly version, The 70's dress version 

and now I proudly present you: 

The sweatshirt version.

You know me and my kids' love for knit so it is no surprise that I wanted to try a knit version of this pattern.

I decided to use very classic sweatshirt details such as a kangaroo pocket and hem with contrast colored knit rib but everything else is from the original pattern.

I did not change the sizing at all since this is an interlock fabric and therefor not that stretchy.

This is a size 5 on my fairly tall 4-turning-5-in-January-child.

The yoke fabric is woven fabric (Waterfront Park by Violet craft for Michael Miller) which I received in the goodie bag from the Girl Night Out I attended in LA. 

The cream and navy blue stripe is this ultra soft and lovely Saint James interlock knit (you can buy it HERE) that you might recognize from the Look book from Willow & Co Patterns' first collection. 

I just received a ton (okay, maybe not a ton) of organic sweatshirt fleece and French terry from Organic Cotton Plus (they also have GREAT interlocks by the way - I'm waiting for the grey melange to be ready for delivery) and I just want to make like 10 more of these. I LOVE the combination of knit and woven....even though the endless possibilities sometimes overwhelm me when I trying to decide on what to do next, ha.

The original pattern has a sort of rounded hem (who gives an almost slit effect at the side seams) and you obviously have to skip that if you want to hem with a knit rib but that is an easy fix to the pattern.

The kangaroo pocket is also easily drafted and the same height as the lower front piece and is sewed in the seam under the front placket and at the bottom to the rib.

You can carry around a lot of exciting things in a big pocket like that!

Yup, this pretty much illustrate how much she loves her new sweatshirt!

Buy the Mulberry Tunic Pattern HERE.

Thank you!

Wolf Costume - Halloween 2014

Yup, there is a wolf on my blog.....

W wanted to dress up as a wolf for halloween (I think she got that idea after our visit to Great Wolf Lodge, ha) and even though I showed her a great costume online for $38, she wanted me to sew it. Dang, they know what buttons to press, right. How can you say no to that!?!

I was totally dreading it because I don't enjoy making costumes but who knew that a trip to JoAnn's would turn that around!

I arrived early monday morning and they had just opened. There were barely any customers and the employees were more than happy to help - and I did not even have to wait to get it.

At home I had seen this perfect brown/grey fake fur fabric and their website said it was in stock in my local shop.....except it was nowhere to be found when I arrived. Back to the help that was willing and accessible......she knew exactly what I was talking about and went out back and checked the fabric they were unloading from a truck right that moment and came back with a giant roll of EXCATLY-WHAT-I-WAS-LOOKING-FOR....and it was on sale. Yeeeees.

She also informed me that some of their patterns was on sale for 99 cents and I started looking around and found THIS pattern from McCalls.....not that much on sale but pretty much what I was imagining drafting myself - but why in the world do that when someone had done the job for me!! (Except when I came home I realized I accidentally bought a adult size L and not the kids size 6-7-8 like I needed - silly me thought you got ALL the pattern sizes in one envelope). Oh well, that is why we have Amazon Prime and two days later I received the pattern in the right size....and I was started to feel at bit excited....because this could actually be quite an awesome costume, ha.

The only changes I did to the pattern (besides making it quite a bit more narrow) was to add the white contrast piece to her belly, draft a wolf tale pattern piece, add white felt 'claws' to the tip of the spats (I learned a new English word there!) and to the gloves plus I also made the gloves fingerless. The fingerless part was actually W's own idea which I thought was kind of genius so she can way easier do what you do on Halloween.....open candy :-)

Yup, we did some face paint too. I can't draw at all (okay, I probably do not even have to explain that small detail after this shot above haha) but we have a little book that followed the face paint set we once bought and luckily there was an example of a wolf too, phew.

The hood is separate and closes at the front of her neck with velcro. I put some grey knit inside to make it comfortable. The suit itself is unlined and mostly with raw seams.

It was actually super nice for once just throw all intentions about nice finishes etc out the window and just SEW....fast and easy....ahhhh. 

Maybe I do enjoy sewing costumes a tiny little bit now.

And in case you wonder what Littlesister is going to wear this year you can see it HERE.

If I was really cool I would of course have convinced her to be Little Red Riding Hood but hence the not-loving-to-sew-costumes-so-much I was more than happy to push a costume we already had in the house.

For those of you who celebrate Halloween:

Happy Halloween!

Thank you.

Elm Rain Poncho by Petit a Petit and Family

Even though I was the controller on Willow & Co Patterns' first collection, I was not able to actually sew all the patterns before the release. I'm only human, right! 

Today I'm ticking off another pattern, the amazing Elm Poncho Raincoat by Petit a Petit and Family.