My youngest has a thing for hoods. He would be happy if every shirt he own had one (this tutorial makes that a possibility). He was looking a little like the incredible hulk in his old hoodie, so a new one was definitely in order.

the pattern: the hoodie pattern from Happy Homemade vol. 2. I made this pattern a few years ago and my son still wears his--has it on today actually. Successful boy's patterns for tops made from woven fabric are few and far between. That makes this hoodie pattern practically perfect.  I added a kangaroo pocket to make it actually perfect.

the fabric: yellow linen from JoAnn's. I've been using a lot of linen this week. I can't help it, it is just so perfect for summertime kids: sturdy but still soft, lightweight but still durable. Also, my youngest is crazy for the color yellow and there aren't a whole lot of tasteful options out there for that color. This yellow was yellow enough for him, but mustard-y enough for me.

the sewing: This pattern comes together crazy fast. The elastic in the front is a little fiddly and I know it doesn't look the greatest, but whatever. The hoods on the last hoodies I made seemed small, so I made this hood bigger. Except I made it bigger in the back and now my son looks like a conehead. I fixed the hood not so it's not so pointy (after this photo shoot), but it's still elf-y. An elf is cuter than a conehead, right? I think the hood pattern needs to be made bigger in the front so it covers his forehead. I already cut out another of these hoodies for my five year old son, but I may re-draft the hood before I start sewing.

Here are today's cuties from the flickr pool:

1. kcwc 2012

2. sleeveless t-shirt

3. flat front pocket shorts

4. here fishy fishy

I'm feeling a little less than creative these days, more scattered and listless--maybe it's the change of seasons. Also, I can't find the damn camera cord to upload my pictures, so you are stuck with this link link linky post. But it's good.

I recently discovered the newish blog lightbluegray and I went a little crazy for this cowl she made for her daughter, especially the bright yellow Xs. All of the blog is fantastic, check out her nightstands and embroidered sheets!

This display via Blosoem is some sort of paper mache/paper bag awesome.

I have always had a thing for laundromats--used to live above one even--and this one takes the cake. It's like living in a roll of washi tape. via hi + low

how fantastic! turn your plush into lamps (via whip up).

And do you know about pillow week over at erin's house? I plan on making the pillow version of this bedspread. If you want to know what other things I like you can look at my tumblr: things on the internet that are pretty.

Since I crocheted over a stone a while back I've been working on little crochet projects here and there.  It's nice to have a little project to work on for no other reason than it's enjoyable to do. Crochet can be so odd and sculptural, like this potholder: it looked like some leggy sea creature when I was working on it and then with the last row it suddenly came together and became a beautiful flower with folded petals.  (Here is the ravelry link if your interested in the specs)

I'm not sure if these projects will be gifts or not, but the baby seems to think we're keeping this one. Crochet can get very crazy, very quickly and this very apparent with potholders for some reason, but these bears are restrained enough to be just the right amount of cute.

Though I failed horriblly at facebook, I'm kind of enjoying twitter. If you would like to listen to me blather on about nothing at all there, I am elsiemarleyblog. Hey, have a good weekend!

I got these two pairs of PINK! and YELLOW! cords at the gap this summer for 3 bucks each and knew right away I wanted to turn them into pants for my kids. Last year I made pants for them out of my husband's old jeans (sort of like this) but the rise was too low and they never wore them--my son called them, without any malice, his "falling down pants."

I wanted to get the fit right this time, but the stinkers were sleeping when I made these so I got all fancy with the pockets while I waited. There are two patch pockets on the back of each pair and a little pocket in front--a star for my son and a heart for my daughter.  When they tried them on they both complained that the pocket was too small. Wouldn't you be excited to have a star pocket on your pants? Whatever. They fit.

I used a pretty bit of printed corduroy for the elastic casing on the pink ones and this crazy awesome vintage scrap I had for the yellow pair. This is a super easy way to make use of those jeans you never wear, but can't get rid of for some weird reason. Cute recycling. My friend Mary Jo over at Five Green Acres put a little upcycling twist to kids clothes week; check it out if you are making big clothes into small clothes this week.

Made by Rae Giveaway!

Today's giveaway is from the fabulous Rae from Made by Rae. She is hilarious and down to earth and a damn fine seamstress. She kindly offered up two patterns for kids clothes week: the big butt baby pants and the toddler backpack. Both patterns are PDFs, so you could even add them to your list for this week (ha!). Just tell me which one you would rather have in the comments and I'll choose two winners! The toddler backpack is full of nice details: pockets and piping and padded straps and little loops for hanging. And the big butt baby pants, while also being extremely fun to say, are versatile and useful and super cute. Decisions, decisions.

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The winners are

big butt baby pants: #10 Shannon

toddler backpack: #55 Stephanie from neuroses galore

Congratulations!

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This is a crazy easy project. Just iron down some freezer paper on a shirt and slap some yellow paint on it. It's a super springy shirt that I copied straight out of this japanese craft book. I don't own the book, but it looks like it has some awesome patterns in it. As with most japanese craft books the shapes are so simple and the fabric choices so spot on you want to make everything in it, but then dammit it's just not as easy to follow directions in japanese as they say it is--even if there are lots of pictures. I'm working on a japanese pattern right now and it's slow going. It's yellow too actually. We need some yellow here in the grey midwest, but if this 50 degree weather will stay I won't complain about the grey.

and here he is showing off his matching yellow star undies.