Recycled long sleeve toddler tee and jeans

I finally purchased an issue of Ottobre Design. I bought the Winter 2009 issue and I love the patterns. They are fun, cute and have a good selection for boys. I actually grew up with Burda patterns, so I am familiar with tracing patterns from a magazine. I haven't done it in a while so it is fun to start again and in particular to make clothes for my little guy. I rarely have a lack of inspiration from all the ideas online. In particular, I love all the applique and stenciled t-shirts I have seen lately. How fun to take a basic t-shirt and put something really quirky on the front. All you have to do is add a pair of jeans or even better some funky knit pants and your little guy is all set. Overall I have to say that making clothes for him has been really fun. My only constraint has been having time to make everything.

So what I have I made lately? I made the long sleeve t-shirt from the Ottobre magazine. I used a pieces from two recycled t-shirts from the thrift store. I made a few bloopers, but it still turned out pretty good. I forgot to add seam allowance to the cuffs so they are a bit shorter than in the magazine pictures. I also decided to add buttons on the top instead of snaps. I completely botched the buttonholes on the first try. I haven't made buttonholes with my machine in a long time and they turned out really horrible. I wound up putting a patch of fabric over the top and reversing the placket. I then tried the buttonholes again and they turned fine. The shirt actually came together really quickly with the exception of the buttonholes. I also tried out the Teeny Pants pattern with woven fabric. I found a pair of dark jeans at the thrift store and used those to make the pants. The only differences I made in the pattern is that I added a half an inch seam allowance to allow more movement and I didn't cut separate cuffs. I wasn't sure if the gusset would work since it is sized larger to accommodate the diapers. However since the fabric is cut on the bias it gives a little bit of stretch and the gusset fit fine. So it good to know that I can use either stretch or woven fabric for making pants for the business. The outfit turned out pretty cute overall.