Baby Clothes Bonanza for Vino's little boy

When I first found out that Vino was pregnant, I was thrilled for her and then immediately started thinking about what I wanted to make for the little one. I was convinced she was having a girl, so when I was proved wrong, my plan had to quickly change. Now, I freely admit that I might have gone a little overboard here, but really, she is my bff and it's her first baby. I think I'm more than entitled to have gone a bit nutty in the sewing department. ;)

I wound up using exclusively Oliver + S patterns for this project - one tried and true favorite and two new ones. As always, I can't rave enough about the fabulous instructions and wonderfully drafted patterns from this company. They really do help to make sewing little tiny clothes such a joy.

First up, an oldie but a goodie, Bedtime Story Pajamas in a giraffe print knit. This pattern calls for woven fabrics, but I found that it worked equally as well with a nice stable knit. I really love this print - it's sort of whimsical, which is hard to find in printed fabrics for little boys. To go with the pajamas, a coordinating minky blanket in greens and brown.

For the other two outfits, I wanted to use some fun printed woven fabric. I was kind of stuck on what to sew that would make good use of the fabric, but also still be somewhat comfortable for a baby to wear. I ultimately settled on making two short-sleeved Sketchbook Shirts - one in a UCLA quilting cotton and the other in a Kokka midweight frog printed linen.

Folks, this was my first time making a button down shirt with a collar and they couldn't have gone together any smoother. For the UCLA shirt, I finished all of the raw edges in bias tape (I know, I know, it's baby clothes, but I still wanted this stuff to look as nice as possible). After sewing the first shirt, I realized that french seams would work just fine, and only had to use bias tape for the armsyce seam in the frog shirt.

I made two coordinating bottoms for the shirts. First, a pair of Sketchbook Shorts in brown linen. I love the flat front waistband with the elastic back - such a fun detail for such a tiny pair of shorts. The fly front is faux, but looks pretty convincing with the button sewn on the waist. Again, I finished the seams with bias tape. [Btw, I fully blame my obsession with bias tape on Amanda S. Don't know whether to thank her or curse her. ;)]

The other coordinating bottom was a pair of Sandbox Pants in a dark khaki stretch cotton. I originally wanted to make the waistband in the UCLA cotton, but switched a more neutral print at the last minute so they would work with the frog shirt, too. I took a cue from Night Knitter and cut the pockets on the cross-grain. My fabric is so fine-waled that the effect isn't as obvious as it was on her son's pants, but I still think it's a cute look. And yeah, there's more bias tape, too.

I contemplated making t-shirts to match each ensemble. Then, I regained my sanity. Heh. American Apparel had some great basic options and I took advantage of them - a kelly green tank to pair with the frog print and a grey long-sleeved lap tee for the UCLA shirt. A box of Trumpette Johnny socks completed the outfits.

Lastly, the night before I headed down to San Diego I remembered that I wanted to make Vino a set of homemade burp cloths using the good 'ol Gerber cloth diapers. Thank goodness there is a Joann's a whooping 10 minutes from my house. I swung by, bought some coordinating flannel prints and whipped up a set of three burp cloths using this excellent tutorial. For a totally last minute project, I was so incredibly pleased at how these turned out.

So, now ya'll see what I've been working on for the past few weeks. This weekend I'm working on a couple of simple fall knit dresses for me and then it's back to baby clothes - Blondie's daughter needs a box of goodies, too. :)