I am just under the wire with this post. Today is (was) the last day of the kids clothes week challenge and I am all challenged out. With the little bit of sewing mojo I had left,  I managed to finish–well almost finish–this tank top for my son today. I’m not totally on board with the whole sewing with knits thing yet, but I picked up a bit of the softest blue striped knit at the thrift store and I had to at least try. So I faked it and pretty much made it.

A matching one for his little brother is in the works. The shorts I eeked out from some random thrift store yardage as well. I had to use some scraps for the pocket, but it’s kind of a cool detail I think. They are from the same pattern I’ve been using all week and I think I could sew it in my sleep at this point.

It was a stripey kind of day in the flickr pool. I want to eat that little shiso baby up, she’s so cute. Check out all the matching outfits Mimi made for the whole shiso family!

1. fashion show sunday 2. flat from shorts 3. sailboat top 4. linen pants

It’s been a pretty damn fantastic week, I have to say. But there will be much reminiscing and showing off and patting each other on the back this week, and maybe even a prize or two. Did you have a good time? Or do you never want to look at your sewing machine again?

Just some simple board shorts today. Though now that I look at them, they look more like old timey golfing slacks. Am I subconsciously trying to get my son on the course before he’s even held a golf club? He can rock the style without playing the game, right?

The pattern is from Happy Homemade vol. 2 again. Lots more of them cut out and ready to sew up, too. I told you you were going to get sick of this pattern. It’s got simple, easy to put together slash pockets and a totally useless, but awesome fake fly. Seriously, I love the fake fly. Makes the pants look a little more pulled together, a little less becky homecky.

1.garden party frock 2. sun hat 3. skirt that swings 4. smocked sundress

oops! I realized as I was putting this collection up that it’s all girl clothes today, but there are some fantastic boy clothes in the flickr mix too. Like this slammin red parachute jacket and these stylish jeans and this adorable baby sweater. I find that boys are a bit harder to sew for the in the summer. Maybe it’s because all those easy, summery dresses are calling to me to sew them up. What about you? Are you sewing frilly dresses or twenty pairs of boy shorts?

The lovely ladies from my craft night came over last night for some beers and a little sewing (the two go together right?). If it hadn’t been for them I would have given up after the first hour of trying to rethread my serger. Seriously. Who designed that damn thing? But they saved the day! And I was able to turn a stained tablecloth into some rockin pants.

I used the same pattern that I did for these pants and these shorts. Except I skipped the back pockets and added cuffs. You are going to see a lot of this pattern this week, because my son likes it and my daughter too. It’s from Happy Homemade Vol. 2, which I can’t recommend enough (if you are down with making patterns written in Japanese). I’ve made a ton of clothes out of it and they’ve all turned out well and been worn a lot.

1. lace dress refashion 2. 008 3. 006 4. …went sailing by ‘wrap’ top

And look at what you guys have made! Adorbs. Obviously I’m partial to my knot shorts pattern, but you have to admit they are pretty darn cute in gingham. There is so much good stuff in the flickr group already and day two isn’t even over yet! You guys rock.

You say you’ll never dress your kids in matching outfits, but then you have a bunch of kids and realize how freaking cute it is when they wear matching outfits. So you do it even though you know they will hate you for it later.

The bow tie is of the fake variety. I made it with the help of a lemon squeezy tutorial. The tie tie is the real kind. The pattern is the little boy tie from the purl bee. I made one last year for easter as well. It’s a very mediative process, making a tie, lots of hand sewing and ironing. Sounds no fun, which is why I forgot how much I love it.

The whole orange/floral match matchy thing actually came from this dress, which came from a garage sale last summer that my husband and daughter went to. I wouldn’t have ever bought it and he doesn’t remember buying it, but whatever, we had it and it fits perfectly. I decided the tie was the worse bit about it, so I cut it off and made a new one.

Not perfect, but at least better. The orange headband was a last minute addition after my daughter cut herself some super de-duper short bangs. Right in time for grandma to see. Nice.

We had a lovely Easter with lots of  little kid cuteness and a beautiful brunch too. I hope your weekend was full of baskets stuffed with candy and not too many candy induced meltdowns.

Soon, so soon! Easter is a few weeks away and I might just have a tutorial or two up my sleeve to celebrate. They are kind of stuck there–up in my sleeve–at the moment, so in the mean time if you can find a baby sock, you can make this cute little bunny to get in the spirit.

Tangrams would be a nice, non-candy addition to an easter basket too. The lovely ladies at Mes Petites Mains (an online magazine full of projects for parents and kids) thought so too and kindly included it in their spring issue!  There are other good things coming up too: guest posts and recipes and projects I’m super excited about making if I could only find the time and the energy to actual get them done. Know what I mean?