Sleigh Ride Outerwear

UPDATED TO ADD: the Sleigh Ride Outerwear Tutorial is here !
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 {Project Run & Play Season 3 Sew Along}

This week's challenge is Outerwear. It's currently winter here in Minnesota, so I was inspired by: winter, white, fluffiness, & softness. This winter outerwear creation includes a coat with matching mittens & a matching ear warmer. For the coat I used the Abby Jacket pattern (which I've used before, but this time I made a few changes which I'll explain in the future tutorial post), for the mittens I used the mitten pattern from the Oliver+S little things to sew book, & for the ear warmer I didn't use any pattern, I just made it up... tutorial on how I made it coming soon.

Can you guess what embellishment I used to create the texture for these pieces?

Be sure to check out the Project Run & Play flickr group to view all the Outerwear creations.

The fifth week's challenge: Special Occasion/Party Wear

PS I found it interesting that Kate from see kate sew & I both made a coat out of white fleece during Season 3  ! 
I just wanted to share that my sleigh ride coat creation that I started the last few days of December was all done before she posted her winning look :)

Octopus Hoodie Tutorial

UPDATED TO ADD: check out the Aug/Sept/Oct 2012 issue of Altered Couture magazine, pages 119-123 where I show step-by-step how I created this, including all the tools & materials needed, complete instructions, as well as some helpful tips.
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As promised here is the tutorial on how I made this Octopus Hoodie.

 My 2nd son's favorite animal is the octopus, his favorite color is yellow, & his favorite piece of clothing is a yellow hoodie, so that's where I started. I took a photo of him wearing a hoodie, printed a couple of copies of that photo using a black & white printer, then took a pen & yellow & blue crayons  and came up with these sketches... the hood is the head of the octopus, there are 8 legs coming down, one on each sleeve, 3 in the front & 3 in the back... the 3 in the front & the 3 in the back form letters with octopus leg font that spell out his name !  I picked blue for the undershirt for the water since an octopus lives in the ocean.

 I grabbed 3 shirts: 2 yellow long sleeved t-shirts (one from the closet & one bought at Target for $6.99) & 1 blue long sleeved polo shirt (bought at a children's consignment shop for $8.50)

 I got a piece of paper big enough to cover the shirt

 by hand drew the design & cut it out to make my pattern

 I tucked the blue polo shirt inside one of the yellow t-shirts & pinned them together

 slid a large book inside to make a flat surface for writing

 pinned the pattern to the front of the shirt

 traced the pattern with a disappearing pen

 checked to make sure it looked OK

 I started sewing in the upper left hand corner & sewed one continuous line, following the line I drew

 checked that it looked OK

 I cut off the excess fabric by cutting close to the sewn line

 Then I repeated the same steps for the back of the shirt

 For the sleeves I continued the line from the front of the shirt

 used this pattern for the octopus legs for the sleeves

 sewed down the sleeve as far as I could with the sewing machine, then sewed the end of the octopus leg by hand

 I took a hood that fits my son well & placed it on the 2nd yellow t-shirt as shown

 traced it leaving 1/2 inch for seam allowances

 cut it out

 turned right sides together & sewed it

 pressed the seam open

 I removed the buttons, tags, & collar from the blue polo shirt

 attached the hood to the shirt

 sewed the hood onto the shirt

 All done !

Total cost for making this? $15.49

Happy sewing !

Another Art Smock

:: I've been catching up on some sewing projects ~ things that have been sitting in my inbox for far too long...

:: here's another art smock from the Oliver + S book

:: in the fall I sew one for school, this one is for home

:: the fabrics are turquoise & white damask from JoAnn's and green/blue Russian nesting doll fabric from Denmark... that Russian nesting doll fabric has been a lot of fun ~ other projects from it have been a purple skirt, a red/pink skirt, & a red/pink tablecloth for my sewing table

:: have a sweet day !