There was some sunshine today! Hallelujah! I ran out and snapped some pics of some garments I’ve finished, but have been struggling to capture. I believe this year was a record one for Seattle in terms of rainfall (it doesn’t rain half as much as people think) and I can tell you we’re all feeling the long grey days… Anyway! Enough about that. I don’t make my son clothes too often, but when I do it’s in a batch and Joe was in dire need of new pyjamas and a couple of winter layering items, so I cut some out just before Christmas and finally finished them up.

The new garment I tried this time was the Brindille and Twig Hooded Vest No. 95, which I made out of this Albstoffe Quilted Knit Jersey in Dusty Blue (I see the light grey is still available and on sale). As with most Euro knits, the quality is lovely and the jacquard jersey is quite thick and warm.

I was originally planning to use a cool striped ribbing to finish the armholes, neckline and bottom of the vest, but I just didn’t have enough, which is a shame. Instead I decided to use this royal blue ribbing I had in the stash and, to be honest, wasn’t super happy with the colour combo at first. However, by the time I’d finished the whole piece, I liked it a little more and happened to have perfectly matching snaps, which also made life easier. For the hood I used a mix of the quilted knit and then the brushed side of the sweatshirt knit that matched the ribbing. It’s super cosy!

As far as construction goes, it was a pretty quick sew, although it took me aggeessss -because my serger broke! Booooooo. I spent weeks trying to fix it with the hubby’s help, and finally got up and running again this week. I could have finished the vest on the sewing machine, but I actually think my machine would have struggled with the thick layers.

It was mostly very straightforward and logical, but I would probably change a couple of small things next time. I wasn’t keen on the pocket construction and there are neater ways to put on a little knit pocket. You also just snip little holes in the body of the vest to insert the drawstring at the end and, while it works, it seems a little… barbarian. The drawstring is, incidentally, some neon yellow cording I picked up from a craft shop some time ago. Joe picked it out and I think it looks great. Despite the couple of little niggles, it was, all in all, another satisfying sew from Brindille and Twig – they really are good at funky, functional knit clothes.

In fact, some of the other clothes I made Joe were also Brindille and Twig. I made him two Crew Sweatshirts out of some lovely sweatshirt fabric. The submarines are by Majapuu and the seaside village is by Lyddi-Grace Fabrics in the the UK – both gorgeous soft French Terrys. I’ve made these before, so not much new to add, except that I still think the pattern runs slightly large (a good thing) and they’re quick and easy!

And finally, I made three sets of pajamas. I used a pattern I thought I’d blogged before, but it seems I haven’t actually. Okay then! It’s the Alex and Anna winter PJ set from Peekaboo Patterns. You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to find a simple pajama patterns with options. I guess it’s a pretty easy thing to sew, and I could easily have adapted some of my other patterns, but I just didn’t want the hassle last year and these ones by Peekaboo are a good offering.

They cover ages 3 months to 12 years (unisex) and offer long trousers and PJ shorts, long-sleeved and short-sleeved tops and a tank. Everything you could need in kids’ knitted sleepwear, in other words. I used a few different fabrics – the anchors are lovely soft Birch Organics jersey knit and I finished those with same-fabric cuffs.

Construction is quick and easy and I would say the pattern is quite long and thin. They are designed to be fitted pajamas, but the pants are quite tight on Joe and, while he’s not skinny, he’s not chunky either, so make sure to check the sizing. I don’t know if “chunky” is a good word, but I don’t really know what to say when talking about kids! You know what I mean anyway. The dinosaurs are by Memba and finished off with orange ribbing.

The last fabric is from Hilco and I didn’t quite have enough of it, so there’s a nice selvedge stripe down one side, haha. Ah well, they’re only pajamas. I added labels to the inside of the pants as it’s hard to tell which is the front and back. Perhaps slightly unusual for a 4 year-old boy’s pajamas, but you can never start them off too young, ammirite? These cool labels are by Stitch Collective, based right here out of Seattle and Crissy, the owner, has some really excellent new ones, which are selling like hot cakes. Grab them while you can!

Well, that’s probably all my kids clothes for another 6 months. Back to business with womenswear next and my plans for #thegreatmodulesewalong, organised by Whitney from Tomkat Stitchery. I’m looking forward to it and have popped some planning pics on Instagram, but will do a proper write-up here at some point soon. Bye for now!