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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

KS2911 and M5740: Go Bruins!

Anyone who has tried to find cute and interesting baby/toddler boy patterns knows that it's damn near impossible. While you can find 275948759723 adorable little dress patterns, the boys typically get a basic t-shirt, collared shirt, shorts and pants. Okay, maybe there are a few others thrown in, but the pickings are slim. So shortly after T-dogg was born, I started scouring the pattern bins, looking for gift ideas for his 1st birthday. Yeah, it was early, but I wanted to make sure I came up with something good.

T-dogg's parents, MoP and Tre, are our travel and sports buddies. We share Lakers and UCLA tickets, we've traveled to Peru, Vegas, Hawaii and Palm Springs together and we really hope that our children (theirs real, ours theoretical) are good pals. Since we had already given T-dogg some Lakers gear, I thought it was time for him to start supporting our other favorite team - The Bruins.

I picked up some UCLA argyle fleece which I thought would be fun for a sporty zip up vest. In all honesty, this print is a tad big for a toddler garment, but I liked it and really, there are only so many years in your life that you can get away with wearing a bright blue and yellow argyle fleece vest. Heh. ;)

KS 2911 features 3 unisex fleece outerwear garments for toddlers that looks pretty much identical to things I've seen from North Face. Gotta love patterns that closely mimic RTW garments. This was my first time trying to match a large repeating pattern and after getting a few tips from my local sewing shop, I think it turned out pretty well. I made sure the UCLA was centered on the back and then again on the front upper right-hand side.

For the collar, I specifically cut the inner band so that "UCLA" was in the center - I thought it made for a nice touch.

This was such an easy vest to put together and the finished result looks like something you would find in a store - with a large price tag on it. To me, the swimwear binding is what really sells it and it was remarkably easy to attach.

To complete the outfit, I made the fleece pants from M5740 (now out of print).

I used a mid-weight polar fleece that I found at Michael Levine Loft. The fabric washed up well, but I wish I would have made the front pocket bags from a very light jersey instead of the fleece. As it was, when the waist was folded over to make the elastic casing, I was sewing through up to 6 layers of fleece in some areas. Ugh, not fun. Other than that, I really like the pattern and the resulting pants are basic, but with some fun details. I did leave off the side cargo pocket because I didn't think the fabric would lay well.

Paired with a long sleeve white t-shirt (thank you Baby Gap!) and some snazzy trainers, T-dogg is all set for evening football games this fall!

14 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, that's SO cute! And no one else will have one like it! Nice job centering the logo on the back and on the collar :)

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  2. You did such an awesome job. The placement of the logos are wonderful.

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  3. So adorable! This little boy is all set. What a perfect gift!

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  4. This is so professional looking, A! You did a wonderful job.

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  5. Wow! you did an AMAZING job! the pattern squares line up perfectly!! And it's sooooo cute!

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  6. So cute! I never really notice boys sewing patterns because I have two girls. I do think Burda magazine has a good selection of boys patterns over the different months though.

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  7. You did a fantastic job on lining up everything. I especially love the logo in the inner band.

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  8. My gosh, the vest is so cute! You did a wonderful job with all the details.

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  9. What a great gift! You are SO right about finding boys' patterns!! There really is a slim selection. However, I see the new Ottobre magazine for fall/winnter has a bunch of adorable little boys things. I have never sewn from there magazine before, but it looks worth it!

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  10. What a totally cute little vest and pants - yes the binding on the vest is very professional - where did you get it from?

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  11. Great job!

    P.S. My word verification is "fluckin." he he

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  12. Cute!! I used that same fabric to make a vest for my daughter for UCLA vs. USC day at school!

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