Accessorise a tartan blazer with a wooden snake

I finished this on Sunday, handsewing the hems up just minutes before we had to leave. This jacket is by far the most complex thing I've attempted since dropping out of fashion school {halfway through learning all about jackets ironically} and it was a bit difficult but totally fun!


I rarely sew with commercial patterns these days, so when I had to figure out the instructions and stare at the diagrams I felt like I was reading double dutch! I don't understand how you guys do it! If I wore a hat it would be off to you. I'm used to making my own patterns, or following tutorials written by clever bloggers.


Despite my issues I did remember how these sorts of jackets went, revere collars and two-piece sleeves. Matching up the plaid was pretty fun, I did well in the major areas, the body of the jacket all matches up and alarmingly the collar matches the back perfectly {unintentional but yey!}. Matching plaid has always been a bit fun for me. When I did work experience for Cyan Reign one of the things she was going to have in her fashion show were these freaking cute pink plaid hotpants. Well it took me three attempts of cutting them out before i had them right and guess what. She decided not to put them in the show. It was like my 'hazing' into the world of fashion. OH THOSE PINK PLAID HOTPANTS! Bane of my existance but it was pretty fun and she had a rad soundtrack playing while I continuously made mistakes.


I studded the shoulders and the pockets, making it a little bit punk. I used Burda 9671 for this jacket, and this was done up in the smallest size, size 3. I was sure it wouldn't fit the little Monster, since he is a tall skinny thing even though he's three in May {wait what?}. Surprisingly it fits pretty well, so hopefully it still fits him for winter! I really liked this pattern because it goes up to size 10. It was very time consuming, but now I've done it once I'm sure it won't be so difficult next time.


Also I started it when I was in my first trimester and just cutting fabric out was exhausting {woe is me}. Oh and I sewed one of the sleeves in backwards. I forgo that with two piece sleeves that there is a left and a right.

Check out that plaid-matching! I'm SO proud of myself.

I lined it in teal lining, which is kind of fun! It's my favourite colour, teal/turquoise, and I love the unexpected pop when it's not being worn. Did I ever tell you my philosophy about lining? If you're a long time reader or real-life friend then yes, you probably already know but I'm going to say it again anyway. I love lining things with unexpected fabrics. You don't see the insides of pockets or waistbands so I love lining them in weird fabrics that totally don't go. I made a pair of punk jeans once and lined the pockets with kiddie car fabric. So fun. It's like a little secret in your clothes that no one else knows about.

Pyramid studs on the pockets

The above photos I also made his purple shirt - resized down from a men's business shirt, and his pants - resized down from a pair of Tim's skate shorts that never were worn because he got too tubby {heh heh}. Bowling hat was $12 from a seller on eBay {it arrived squished which made me sad, but it was free shipping and it was for Vince so he would quit stealing mine}

Teal lining

Oh there's no buttons because while I enjoy sewing buttons on with my machine now {seriously look it up and try it out on your machine. It's revolutionary! haha}, buttonholes are a totally different subject we won't speak of. Oh how I yearn the buttonhole machine at fashion school.



Would it be too much to make matching pants?






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I have a stack of tees I need to reconstruct and resize for my little Monster, shirts I've bought from the op-shop or shirts that Tim doesn't wear. I really need to get cracking on them because he's so tall and skinny shop-bought things don't fit him so good anymore, not to mention I'm trying really hard to have most of his wardrobe handmade. Instead of just straight resizes, I decided to mix things up a little.

I made this Superman tee first, from one of Tim's shirts. I loved how it worked out so I made another.



And then I decided I would make another and make a tutorial for you!


I'd never really heard of 'Henley' style tees until I started blogging. I guess it's an American thing? I always thought of them as collar-less polo shirts, or undershirts that looked awesome as regular shirts. Haha.


Download the pdf here! If you make one, please add it to the Flickr pool!


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I wrote a new, belated, post on my pregnancy adventures blog if you want to go check it out! Go vote in the poll too! What gender do you think Monster the Second is going to be? All my friends say boy, I say boy, but the poll says most of you say girl!

Here's the sequel of photos of things I've made in the past pre-Monster in my life! Click here to see the pretty version if you missed it.

Pretty much all of these pictures were taken myself, or snaked from friends who took them. None of us are professional photographers {Except for where credited}. I was just a little trashy rock chick who didn't fit into any sub-culture but had friends in all of them. Also this was like 5 years ago.

PVC tutu! This sold faster than I could list it, back in the eBay days!



Furry Bear-Ear headband. I keep meaning to make more of these!

Please excuse the boobage! D:

I really loved this hoodie. It wasnt to keep me warm at all, but it just fit so well. I eventually decided to get rid of it and a friend snapped it up which made me happy.





First ever yoked shirt. I didn't ever bother putting buttons on it and would do it up with safety pins! Haha. I had a really cool steer-skull patch I stitched onto it


This was basically my uniform of life for a few years. Mini skirt, leggings, cute tee. The tee was an old ladies leopard-print top from the op-shop and I sliced and diced the heck out of it.



Sick Photoshop Skills, yo... LOL. A handful of t-shirt surgeries I made! How fun though


I made a tonne of mini skirts!


I can't believe my epic photoshop skills. Doesn't it make you jelly? hahah. Transformers tee transformed {for the second time}



I did a fashion show for a program called Stitch-It. I had the opportunity to do it again this year but there's a little alien in my belly right now that I really can't commit to anything that I will want to go major gung-ho at! Hopefully in a few years I can do it again!



It was fairy tale themed and all my friends and my friend's band were the models! Footwear of choice? Docs!


Sleeping Beauty in green leopard-print haha.

Big Bad Wolf hoodie



Halterneck T-shirt from my friend's band's tee. Oh I wore this SO much!





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I promised a pattern and a tutorial for these about a year ago! I made a new pair, and I'm tweaking the pattern now! {omg look how much he's grown since then!}



I used pretty much the same pattern as last time, just had to lengthen the legs a whole lot for my skinny long-legged kid!


Another thing I changed from the original deal was to add pocket flaps {with no pockets} on the back and stitch a little bandanna beneath one of them.



We took photos down at my dad's garage, with his bike.


Like the original, it features a cute collar, back yoke, dropped waistband and long enough legs to roll up.


 The little guy was long past due for his nap, so he wasn't entirely too co-operative!


And yes, that is a blue mohawk he now sports!

I'd been intending to these some time in the next few months, but with Project Run & Play's theme this week being Boy, I thought I may as well make them and enter. Not that I have even the slightest chance of winning, have you seen half the viewer entries? I might have been in with a chance last week for the June Bug pattern remix but guess what, all I needed to do was sew in a zip and I procrastinated and when I remembered I was 2 minutes late to enter. LAME. I'm still going to finish them and post them up because they are the cutest little outfits either!





Have you made anything Boy inspired this year yet? Enter it into the Project Run & Play flickr pool and you could win a gift voucher at Fabric.com! Check their blog for rules and details!







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