We just recently went on a family vacation/adventure to New Zealand - as in so recently that the last two posts on this blog were scheduled because I was off adventuring. I managed to get one hoodie sewn up for Vincent to wear at the snow, however my plans of making a matching one for Eddie only got as far as cutting out the sleeves. So here are some photos I took of Vincent in his alpine-themed Submarine Pullover while we were on vacation!

Warning, this kid is 4 years old and pure comedy! Don't say I didn't warn you...

I used the Submarine Pullover by Shwin Designs for Vincent's latest hoodie (the kid has like 75 hoodies, another one wasn't going to kill him). You may remember I did a summer/hippy-ish version of this when the pattern was first debuted,  here. I really really loved that pattern, so I was excited to be able to pull it out again and use it once more!

The fabric is some delicious warm fleece I scored from the op-shop on my latest op-shop adventure (I'm going to start blogging my hauls because sometimes they are truly epic!). It's white with a black print of skiers and snow and alpine-esque houses and trees. As soon as I saw the fabric I KNEW what it was supposed to be. I ended up with about 2-3metres for a cool $5.


The cuffs on the sleeves and the bottom of the hoodie are black rib-knit stretch fabric salvaged from a pair of leggings of mine. The elastic in the waistband went PLINK and suddenly my leggings were around my ankles. I guess that's what I get for buying cheap Kmart 3rd-world-labour clothing instead of Australian-made and/or DIY. Either way I repurposed the leggings into a mini pair for Edison and the scraps became the cuffs in this hoodie.


I used a scrap of aqua-blue and white striped binding that I had made a little while ago when I made toy sacks {never blogged about that! will rectifiy that situation ASAP}. I should have used black, it would have looked much better, but I kind of like the unexpected colour at the pockets there.


As you can see this hoodie went a lot of places in New Zealand! He wore it every single day and it was easy to pull on & off and to layer over his clothes. This kid likes to do boy things, but he never gets overly-boy-dirty which is nice. This white hoodie was almost not a good idea but the mud washed right out after he went digging for gold in the river and then rolling down a hill at Arrowtown.

This picture just cracks me up

 I am yet to sew on the decorative buttons I made for it. I've lost the buttonhole attachment for my sewing machine and there is no way I am going to sew a buttonhole without it, so the kids' clothes have been featuring snaps the last few months (lol). I wanted some big buttons down the front like the original Submarine Pullover I made, so I decided to take the plunge and hopefully be third time lucky making some buttons myself!

I used Kat's tutorial for making buttons from clay. This time I decided to read the instructions & followthem properly. THEY WORKED. I used a cool aqua blue fimo combined with some GLOW IN THE DARK. I got about 5 different packs of Fimo on eBay for not very much at all. Vincent and I tested the buttons and yes, they do indeed glow in the dark.

I bought the mold/mould/? from Mold Muse on Etsy, and the size is perfect for the big buttons I like. I do want to try her 'Giant Button' mold also though! Vincent was very interested in what I was doing so next time I make buttons I'm going to enlist his help. I mean, it's like playdough just more permanent aha.


What is super cool about this hoodie is that I didn't have to run to the fabric store for anything. I still have not set foot inside a fabric chain store since PR&P (okay I ducked into Lincraft 3 times for Sonic the Hedgehog goodness) but it makes me really proud that I am spending hardly anything on sewing supplies! I've been working through my stash, recycling clothes and scoring epicly at the op shops.

Breakfast

There are so many PDF patterns out there so readily available, free and to buy, and I am the kind of girl who finds it easier to just make my own pattern. However in saying that, once you find a pattern you really like, and you do find the opportunities to use it again and again (and not all in the same sitting) it makes you feel quite good! So thank you Shauna, I do love this pattern!