Thar she sews!

A stitch in time saves...

Well, certainly not money if I keep buying fabric like this! I follow a blog called Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy! who do a monthly sew-along, on a boy theme. All the patterns come from a book called Sewing for boys. It's a lovely book, with some real variety of patterns. I can see myself making a lot of them.

I've watched other people post month by month, with wonderful items of clothing made for their little boys, and always felt a little bit too novice to take part. I love to sew, and tend to do a lot in the summer - the winter seems more appropriate for knitting!

Be brave

I decided that enough was enough. After all, what did I have to lose? Niblet ends up with a nice piece of clothing, and I get to share it with other people. This month's sew-along was the Luka Hoodie, which is a great little hooded jumper. The only downside is that the smallest size is age 2 -3... Niblet is 10 months, so it won't fit him for a while! Hey, nothing like getting ahead!

I really enjoyed sewing the hoodie - the cutting took one evening, and then the sewing itself was probably about 5 or 6 hours, broken up over a week or so. I even did my own covered buttons (which I've never done before!)

One thing that I struggled with was the final joining the lining to the outer - it was like a crazy piece of origami, and somewhere I managed to get a twist or six into it. I ended up unpicking the ends of the sleeves where the two where joined, untwisting, repinning and resewing. Realistically, it took me longer than any other stage in the pattern. There were some parts that I felt were somewhat badly worded, and took a long time, and several readings to work out, but it is an advanced pattern, so I'm chuffed that I finished it with only one problem area.

As part of the sew-along, you have to create an embellishment, or change the pattern somehow to personalise it. I had found this amazing elephant fabric, and decided that what it needed was a little felt elephant in the secret pocket. When I was a little girl, I had a lovely Clothkits jacket, which had lots and lots of pockets. Each of the pockets contained a little stuffed animal, and that jacket kept me entertained for hours on end. I wish I still had it! It was a lovely grey and black jacket, with (I think) a bright red lining. I know that my Mum spent hours working on it, and felt really special to have it.

So, here it is. My Luka Hoodie, age 2 - 3, on my ten month old! I love it, and am really glad I took the plunge! Note the cat, helping the photoshoot, and the sleeves, that were about 3 times the length that he needs at the moment!