It's That Time Again...Time to Show Us What You've Been Making

It's that time again to show us what you have been sewing for your tween. Last month, while the 4 entries we had were AWESOME, was a little sparse shall we say, so please pass on the word. I for one am inspired by what others are doing, so it's always good to share and show off!
That being said, please only link up:
1. Something you have created
2. For someone between the ages of 9 and 13
3. If you could please either link back to us or grab a button.
That's it! So come on and show us what you have been up to! The linky party will be open for 2 weeks and please be nice and visit those that link up with you:)

Wonderful Advice From Someone Who Has Survived the Tween Years

So far on this little adventure we have "met" and been amazed at those that still continue to sew for the tweens. I think knowing that others are out there navigating these murky waters gives hope to those of us just starting out.  Cindy is one of those that have navigated it successfully with one of her kids and she still sews for her even though she's a teen now. She also has some great boy stuff, as her boy is now in tween range. You should go check out her stuff. She's here to share some of her wisdom.

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Hello Sew Cool for the Tween Scene Readers! My name is Cindy and I blog at Siestas & Sewing.  I have 4 children between the ages of 14 and 6 who I sew for.  My oldest daughter is 14 and I've been sewing for her on a regular basis for the last 4 years.  I'd say I've successfully navigated the tween years with K since she still "lets" me sew for her.  But there were definitely a few bumps along the way.

Not every piece of clothing I've sewn for her has been a raging success.  In fact, there were a few notable flops that were lucky to be worn once.  Case in point...

Imke top from Sewing Clothes Kids Love

 Made by Rae Flashback Tee

I thought I was nailing K's style as both of these shirts were made from brand name surf apparel fabric (Hurley for the long sleeve and Roxy for the short sleeve).  But I didn't take in consideration that K generally avoids prints.  Lesson learned...always consult before purchasing fabric making any decisions!

One of the biggest obstacles I've encountered sewing for K was for her to give me honest feedback. She would say she liked something even when she didn't because she was worried about hurting my feelings. Well, when that piece of clothing is never worn, a mom gets the hint. When asked, she'd finally say she didn't like it but couldn't articulate the WHY. After a lot of talks and observing what clothes she gravitates towards, I think I finally have an idea of what she likes and dislikes.

Solids or stripes are more her thing:

Both of these shirts were sewn using Ottobre Design 01/09 #34. The stripe shirt is a more recent addition to her wardrobe (last fall) and is worn quite often.

Thanks to Pinterest, it's become a little easier to discern K's style.  2 years ago, I started a "Teen Clothing Inspiration" board for K to pin clothes that she liked on.  I could then look through my sewing pattens and see about recreating the clothes she pinned. 

Both of these dresses were a result of that:

inspired by this pin

 inspired by a Land's End dress (I no longer have the pin)

When I asked K what her favorite pieces of clothing that I've sewn for her over the last 4 years, she picked these 2:

Ottobre Design 06/07 #36 (finished January 2011)

The coat is in it's third year of being worn.  Last year, I added rib knit cuffs to it to extend the sleeve length as they were getting a little short. 

 Ottobre Design Woman 05/12 #7 (sewn just recently)

Most of the clothing I sew for K is from Ottobre Design.  Their children's sizing goes up to a European size 170 (approximately a 15/16 year old).  For the chambray button down, I ventured into the woman's magazine and sewed a size 34 (comparable to a woman's small).  It's a little loose through the bust and sides but fits perfect as far as length.  I've had good luck sewing for a tween (and now teen) with Ottobre Design in both the styles and the sizing. 

I try my best not to push my sewing on K.  I'm happy to purchase RTW as long as it fits and is in our budget. Most of her dresses, shorts, and sweatpants are sewn by me as it's hard to find a good fit in the store.  And I refuse to spend $$ on clothes that I'm going to have to do a ton of alterations on.  Might as well start from scratch!

Thank you, Sally and Major Moma for having me.  Sew Cool for the Tween Scene is a great resource for those of us sewing for older children.  I hope the blog continues to grow!

Pajama Round up

In the pattern world, there is not a shortage of pajamas.  In fact, one of my greatest frustrations with the big American pattern makers is that a great percentage of their patterns are PJs or lounge wear.  That being said, it is rather traditional to make the family pajamas for the holidays and they are so practical.  Below I tried to pick out patterns that are more than a standard PJ pant and t-shirt.  Each of these have a little something special about them.

B5586

M6596

sweet dreams

S1505

S1504

S2481

Sally here to add my 2 cents about pajamas.  Around here we are pretty casual and I don't really see the point of paying a ton of money for pjs when so many things work so well. My kids usually get a pair at Christmas time (hand-made for my girls still, but my boys are so big now that the yardage to make flannel pj pants cost more than a good deal at a retail store). Other than that they use t-shirts that don't make the 'wear-in-public' cut. 

As you can see there are plenty of options if you are a go-by-the-pattern kind of person...especially if you want the top or the nightgowns. But for pants, drafting your own really isn't that hard.  I was going to do a nice little post with pictures and everything  you need on how to draft some, but realized I would really be reinventing the wheel. There are a TON out there, a lot of them very similar, but some add some unique things as well.  Here are just a couple that I found:

Simple Simon and Company

The Sewing Loft Blog

The Mother Huddle

Basic Grey

Seriously, just type in "draft your own pajama bottoms" and there are a ton of tutorials out there. Now you don't have to worry if you decide last minute to make pjs for your kids for Christmas and you don't have a pattern.

Outerwear Round up

Well, though it is still fall in the northern hemisphere, we had a significant spurt of winter weather this week.  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your travel was not too stressful with the storms that just crossed the US.

All that snow got me thinking, do you sew your tween coats?  I have sewn several jackets, but for weather below freezing, I always just purchase rtw.  There are actually several coats on the market that would be lovely in either boiled wool or high tech fabrics.  Below are a few that I thought would be especially versitile.

kwik sew coat

Alpine Wonderland

Happy Camper

S2534

So, let us know... Do you make coats?  Where do you buy your outer wear fabric? 

Mission: Secret Squirrel and a Pattern Review Thrown In

 Have you heard about Secret Squirrel? Well if not, go check out what he is all about.  Basically, he's a world traveler who gets to visit various lucky bloggers and give out secret missions(5 acorns). Sounds kind of fun right? Well being the geography buff that I am and loving a good challenge to tie things together, I've been meaning to sew along for the past couple of months. But as always, life happens and my ideas never quite make it out of my head.  

This month however was different, because each of the things I envisioned were things I already had plans to make. Convenient, nah(that would be German for 'Right"...it's getting late here and I'm a little loopy)?

First up let me tell you the "Acorns":

Those would be 1. Where the Wild Things Are, 2. Blue, 3. David Bowie, 4. Pockets and 5. Great Britain.

Now on to my creations...you probably can't see them all that well in the lousy photos, but it was dark and I haven't figured out the camera's flash. While it doesn't do the outfit justice, I think the yellow glow effect looks kind of cool.

Here they are:

1. Furry vest

2. Blue button on the pants and a blue zipper as well(I only had a navy blue 4" zipper so this was by default)

3. Ruffly white shirt...think of the movie Labyrinth. That's the first thing that came to mind when I thought of David Bowie.

4. Pockets on the pants with...

5. A British flag sewn on to them.

And here's the cool thing, the pants I had already lined up to review, the vest was from the dress pattern that I just reviewed and I promised to make Sophia a furry one from it and the white shirt she needed for an upcoming chorus concert. The only thing I really had to think about was how to add Great Britain and on the black stretch denim I think the flag looks totally trendy.

So how did I do with Secret Squirrel's mission?

 The shirt is a completely made up pattern and the ruffles were made from circles. I'm trying to decide if the vest even warrants a review...it was so easy and simple. I used the vest pattern from Simplicity 1787.

As for the pants (you can see the blue in the button) here's the run down:

Pattern: Burda kids 9500

Again, it's one I picked up at JoAnn's a little while back because Sophia wanted some skinny jeans. It comes in sizes 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13jun and 14jun. I'm assuming the 'jun' means junior and I'm not sure how that changes the sizing by adding that. I sewed them up in a size 10. 

Special Materials: You'll need a 4" zipper, button and some interfacing and the fabric called for is stretch blend fabrics. I used a stretch blend denim with some spandex in it. It was a dream to sew with...stretchy like a knit but sewed like denim.

Skill level: I would say intermediate. Burda is not heavy on the pictures or explanations when it comes to their directions. I think they assume you know a lot going into a pattern like this. That being said, I think you could figure this one out even if you've never sewn a zipper fly before.

I pretty much stuck to the pattern...until I realized it was not fitting well. Which leads me to the good, bad and ugly.

Good: A great classic of a pattern with a great skinny jean look.

Bad: My legs were kind of wonky looking and were twisting around...probably my fault, but I've noticed that some of my store bought skinny jeans do this, so maybe it's a skinny jeans problem. Any thoughts? Also a bad, Burda has you basting EVERYTHING before practically each step...I skipped this a lot.

Ugly: The rise is really too low in the back and the rear end didn't fit quite right. I ended up taking the back seam in by another inch to help it fit better. If I were to make this again, which I will despite this all, I will add a couple of inches to either the back yoke or back leg pieces to bring the back up a little bit and I will take off some from the width.

 Overall I'll give it and 1/2. I gave it the half because I think it is such a classic pattern and it really wasn't that hard to put together.