Saturday, May 6, 2017

Rowdy's First Chanukkah


I got a little behind with my posts.  I have tons of projects that I've created in the last few months that I need to write about, edit the pictures and post.  Whoops!  This is why I'm now here talking about Chanukkah in MAY.  


It isn't easy to find Chanukkah clothing for little kids.  There is usually one option for "My first Chanukkah" but that always sells out so fast that you will likely miss the size you want.  And what if it is a child's second Chanukkah?  I have been enjoying appliqueing designs onto clothing for my boys, so I thought it would be fun to make something for the festival of lights.


I struggled to find Chanukkah fabric that I liked.  I turned to Spoonflower and found some awesome Dreidle Dreidle Dreidle! fabric.  Silly me initially thought that I would be able to make a pair of pants for both boys out of one yard of fabric.  I seem to have forgotten that pants have two legs and therefore I would need double the fabric.  Rowdy would get the pair of pants since it was his first Chanukkah, and I would use the fabric to make the boys matching tops.


I used the same pattern as my practice pair of pants.  (Make sure you check out the Fleece Pants Pattern - it was really easy to follow, comes in MANY sizes, and had great step by step instructions!)  For these pants I decided to cut a 17" waistband but still follow the same pattern size (12 month).  The fleece pants were a little large on Rowdy, but the quilting cotton fabric would be much less stretchy than the fleece I used before.  Hemming the bottom and making the waist elastic a bit tighter should help with the fit.  

When preparing to cut out the fabric, I let the pattern go onto the unprinted edges. These will be hidden in the seams and cuffs so I wasn't worried. I wanted to save as much of the custom printed fabric as I could!


I love how easy this pattern is.  It really was Cut.


Stitch each leg together.


Attach the legs together.  


And... BAM!  Pants!  


The cotton pants fit amazing! I put them on Rowdy over his pjs which probably helped the fit a bit. Since these pants are done with quilting cotton, I wanted to press down the hems before sewing it together. I pressed down half an inch on the top and then down 1.5 inches. I want to sew the casings before doing the pants cuffs so I could cuff them more if needed.


For the casing I did a narrower zigzag than I did on the other pants (width 3.5) I decided to not do a proper (double folded) hem in the bottom. I may want to re-hem if it is still way too long. This way I can trim the fabric if it is constricting.


Rowdy's Chanukkah pants look smaller than the fleece ones, but the fabric dimensions are exactly the same.  


Once the patns were done, I wanted to applique some Chanukkah shapes to the front of some plain sweatshirts I got at Target.  I debated whether I should use a Menorah on one sweatshirt and a dreidel on the other.


After a lot of back and forth I selected two dreidels from the fabric.  A big dreidel for big brother Lucky and a small one for little brother Rowdy.  


I used two sided iron on interfacing to attach the dreidels onto the sweatshirts.


Using navy thread (to complement the sweatshirts sleeves), I used a zig zag stitch (settings 8, 2, 0.3 on my machine) to create a satin stitch around the border of the applique.


My custom Chanukkah outfits were ready to go!  


I finished these outfits in the middle of December, so I didn't have to wait long until the first night of Chanukkah to wear them.  Rowdy was a little cutie pie in his outfit at 11.5 months.  I was even able to get an adorable picture before my little drooly monkey got his sweatshirt all wet!


Lucky loves being a "twin" with his brother.


The boys were so excited to light the real and flame free candles.  It was well worth the effort to learn to make a pair of pants!  


Now that I've done this, maybe I'll need to make some custom fleece pants for gifts next year.  Certainly my costume making options have expanded!


Started and Completed 12/17/16