Fleece Vests for the Grandkids

My daughter in England requested some fleece vests for her children Canaan and Evie (two of my precious grandchildren:))  Several years back I made them for Canaan and Henry (another precious grandson) for Christmas...click here to see.  Of course, I was delighted to make more!

New Blue Vests

 New Camouflage Vest

Canaan and Evie wanted blue fleece.  Henry is into camouflage so I found some great Camo fleece for him.  I do most of my shopping at our local Joann Fabric store.  Click here to see more of Henry's Vest!

I used the following pattern that I had used previously.  It is easy to follow and instructions for sewing in the zipper are made simple.  The vest in this pattern is a little short to their liking, so I added length to it.  I had to remember to also add the length to the facing and get a longer parka separating zipper than the pattern called for.  I ordered the blue zipper and lavender zipper from Zipper Shipper . The lengths needed for the zippers were not standard and at Zipper Shipper they cut according the length needed.  They also have a nice choice of colors.

Here are photos that show how pretty the lavender zipper looks against the blue making it look more feminine and the blue zipper looking so great on Canaan's.

Below are more photos of the vests as modeled Evie and Canaan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty obvious I  "LOVE" sewing for my grandkids!

St Patricks Day Outfits

A couple weeks ago I posted about a T-Shirt and Dress I made for my grandchildren who live in England, Evie and Canaan to wear for St Patrick's Day.   So excited to post pictures of them  wearing the clothes!  

The T-Shirt and Dress look so great on them.....much better photos than just the clothes themselves in previous posts.  More photos below.......ENJOY!

Canaan is giving his shirt a "thumbs up"

I think they are trying to be taller:)

Thank you Lord, for my grandchildren................

Polka Dot Pj Pants!

Corey is my beautiful and fun 12 year old granddaughter.  I used to make her flannel nightshirts but as she got older she decided she liked to wear oversize t-shirts.  I can't blame her for that....oversize t-shirts are comfortable!!!

So this year I wanted to make her some pajama pants and learn to make them from a cotton knit.  I ordered the fabric from Fabric.Com, Inc (USA).  It was white with turquoise polka dots and Corey gave her approval for the fabric.  The polka dots are a nice large happy size.

The delimma was that I had to make my own pattern.  She had a pair of similar pj pants that we bought for her so she let me keep them to make a pattern from.  I used paper on a roll that we had purchased from Ikea for the kids to use to do crafts with.  It was perfect.  I did not have time to take pictures of this process, but basically fold pants in half for front inseam and trace around them ...and then do same for back inseam.

Some sites that have tutorials for this are Riley Blake Designs and Golden Leaf Designs.  I did sew a side seam since the ones I used for a guide had a side seam which made my pattern different since did not use fold for side seam.  There are definitely more tutorials online.

Yes....she is definitely excited about them!

Corey, you are so nice, beautiful and lots of fun!

I am so excited to make more for her!

 I love you Corey!

Camoflauge Fleece Vest

Decided to make fleece vests for 3 of our grandchildren and wanted to share on this post the one I made for Henry who is 7.  He is into camoflauge and I found the perfect fleece at our local Joann''s Fabric store.

Below is view of it with zipper closed.

These vests made of fleece are so easy to make.  The fabric does not fray so no need to turn under edges.  I got the Parka Separating Zipper from Joann's Fabrics only because they did have the correct length I needed.  Otherwise, I order them online from Zipper Shipper.

It is so easy to sew in the zippers according to the pattern directions. .....and the pattern is also very easy to follow for making the body of the vest.  McCalls M6222.  I already knew this vest pattern runs short so added length when cutting out.  However, when adjust length need to also make sure you get correct zipper length.

Even Papa Bear wanted to wear the vest!

My Great Grandchildren!

Blue Fleece Vest for Nolan

After making some fleece vests for 3 of our grandkids,  my daughter Mary who is mom to Nolan (1 year old) asked if I would make a fleece vest for him. 

I was so excited!  I knew it would be little and so cute on him.

I have enough leftover blue fleece from the vests for Evie and Canaan.  I ordered a zipper from Zipper Shipper but could not find a pattern for a 1 year old in the pattern books at our local Joann Fabrics store.

So...I tried searaching online and ordered a really perfect pattern.  I apologize that I did not keep source from which i purchased the pattern.

Below are photos of Nolan looking so very cute in his new blue fleece vest.

The verdict is in.....Nolan is cuter than the blue vest....

but the Blue Fleece Vest is still so cute on him....

Nothing more gratifying than seeing my grandchildren wearing clothes I make them....

Henry's Flannel PJ's

Every year I sew flannel pajamas for our grandsons.  This year, however, only Henry wanted flannel ones.  Canaan wanted fleece ones which are in another post.

I give them to the grandkids at Christmas but since could only recently start back to posting, blogging:)  wanted to share them now.

Henry is into camoflauge so I really hoped our local Joann Fabrics store would have that print in fannel.  Thank goodness Jerry went with me ....we looked and looked and he found some!!!! It had the perfect colors for Henry so I purchased 3 yards which is what I usually would buy for pj's.

Got home, all excited to wash, dry, cut out and start sewing....only to find because Henry has gotten taller that I needed more fabric to adjust length of shirt and pants to be longer.  I guess we bought the last bit of it and Joanns was not longer carrying it in stores or online.  Then, I decided to look online and found an etsy store in Arizona that had some. Was extremely thankful.  Arizona is close and the fabric arrived so quickly.

My very sweet, very fun and very handsome Henry!

I used the pattern below:  New Look 6746

 

Close up of fabric

The great thing is I have enough fabric left over to make hopefully another pair of pj pants and will purchase a solid for the top { or who know, maybe vice versa:)}

I simply love sewing ...... especially for grandsons!

St. Patrick's Day Dress

As I mentioned in previous post St. Patrick's T-Shirt, I was having trouble finding holiday socks to send to my two grandchildren in England .  So at last minute I went to our local Joanns Fabric store and purchased some green knit fabric to make a t-shirt and dress to send them.  I did get some socks for each of them there, but think the socks will possible be too big.

For Evie's dress/tunic I had the pattern to use and used the version you see on it as the green tunic/dress with pink heart.  I used the size 6. ....

Below are some photos of the one I sewed.  I did elect to not put any four leaf clover, etc applique on it so, if Evie wants, she can wear it at other times.  The pattern was a little too short, soI had to alter it in length and think I did not do it in the right place, so, of course next one I make I will alter differently.  I do like to learn as I go.:)))

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Evie.......I love you!

St Patrick's T-Shirt

Since I do send monthly packages to my grandchildren, I have been looking for St. Patrick's Day Socks for them.  Canaan and Evie live in England so I need to allow 2 weeks shipping time for their package to arrive.

I started sending socks in the monthly packages but the ones for Valentines I sent Canaan did not fit him.  Luckily Evie's did.....I was sad that Canaan's were too big so really wanted to get the right sizes for St. Patrick's Day package. 

Well....found some but they look the same size as ones sent in February.  I got them anyway at Joann's and also decided last minute {of course:) } to make a t-shirt for Canaan and simple dress for Evie.

Joann's had some nice green knit fabric I purchased for each and got the notions required.  I already had the patterns so rushed home to wash the fabric and start sewing.  (I am a slow sewer so this was a huge challenge).

Using the pattern below for Canaan's t-shirt, I was able to complete it by late afternoon and really liked how it turned out.  I had used this pattern once before but it seemed easier this time.  View D with the long sleeve insert into the short sleeve was my choice.

 Below are some photos of the t-shirt.  It was a lot nicer looking than the photos show.  I thought the socks were cute also, but have a feeling they are too big.

I elected to not put a shamrock, etc on it so it can be worn year round.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Canaan.....I love you

Bath Towel for Nolan

Around the beginning of November, my daughter requested a towel for her son soon to be 1 year old.  He had outgrown the ones she had been using.

Jerry and I went to our local JoAnns Fabric Store and purchased blue terrycloth and Jerry found a really cute print that had a taupe/gray background with cute little footballs on it.  Perfect! since Mary and her husband are great sports fans.

I did some research for patterns for the child towels and used ideas and instructions from these two blogs..Pretty Prudent....Stitched By Crystal

I cut out an "N" to applique on the hood of the towel.
I think I cut a 45" square of the towel fabric.  I honestly cannot remember the exact size of the hood, but I think it was 22" x 15"x15" with the 22" being the bottom of it
.

I made the bias binding out of the really cute cotton fabric Jerry found.  See above!

Next cut out the triangle for the hood.  Appliqued the N on it and sewed on the fabric bias binding.

Before sewing the fabric bias binding on the towel, I used a bowl to trace the curve for the edges. (This was a suggestion in one of the tutorials.)

Sewing on the fabric bias binding to edge of towel.  I folded the binding in half, ironed it and put the raw edges against edge of towel.  Sewed all around, then turned the folded edge over to the back of the towel and sewed in the ditch of the first seam made.

Finished hooded towel and washrag.

For Nolan

Project Yesus Pillowcase Dresses

So, continuing in catching up, in May it was time again to sew some Pillowcase Dresses for Project Yesus.  Mallory Fundora who founded this organization as a young girl actually takes these dresses to girls living in Uganda.  You can see here story here.

I ran into the Pillowcase Dresses Project on the blog of Charlene at A Pinch of Joy a few years ago.  It is always a project I look forward to each year now.  I still follow the tutorial Charlene posted which she has a link to on her site. Other tutorials are on a page on Project Yesu here.

The dresses I made in May 2014 were all from the same fabric and ribbon that I purchased at our local JoAnn Fabric Store.  I made 4 different sizes and shipped them to Mallory.

I just noticed that Mallory is now collecting shorts for the boys in Uganda.  They can be sewed or purchased.  Like the fabric for girls' dresses is colorful, she recommends cheerful colors for he boys' shorts also.  I plan on making some this year of 2015 as well as dresses.

What a lovely way to share....thank you Mallory....

Colorful Boy Baby Quilt

Later in May, I wanted to start using up some of my fabric scraps.  I had a lot of cute fabric from shirts, etc I had made for our grandsons. I initially was going to make it to donate to an organization called Wrap Them In Love.  I was showing a photo of it to my daughter who had recently had a little boy who was about 9 months old.  She loved it so I actually ended up making it for my precious grandson Nolan.

I looked up ways to quilt on several blogs and got some good ideas.

Photos I took are below:

Jerry cut a piece of plywood to use to put the fabric on.  I purchased clips (laying on the board) to hold the quilt once it was sewed together to the board.

Above are the squares sewed together.

This is close up of the cute patterns of the squares

After sewing the blue edge on the top piece to make it be larger, I put the back pice right side down on the table top, then the batting, and then the top piece (right side up).  I clamped the botom and batting piece to the table.

I started pinning the three pieces (bottom, batting and top pieces) together,  using quilting safety pins.
Then trimmed some of the batting and wrapped the bottom piece around to the front to create the binding.

This blue fabric I pieced together from fabric scraps to add to the sides of the quilt to make it larger.

As you can see I used the clips to hold the front, batting, and back pieces together before I sewed along the the edged of the squares on front to be the quilting stitches.

This is a close-up of the cute fabric I had to use for the back of the quilt.

The Finished Quilt!

I love this cute, cheerful, and colorful quilt...for Nolan...