I have been trying to sew more these last few weeks…

I made the gdiaper, a few training pants and then last week I found some great knit material and decided to sew a few things from a pattern. Of course, as usual, like cooking, I ending up using the pattern as a guideline and adding my own details or mix and matching things together…

I have been getting Ottobre magazine for a while now. Last year I cancelled my subscription but I still have many patterns to work with… maybe I’ll renew again soon though now that I have a girl to sew for 🙂

Ottobre is an amazing Finnish  magazine (available in many languages) that comes 4 times a year for the children’s issues. It has pictures modelling the clothing and then in the middle has the full-size patterns and instructions. The patterns are a bit daunting when you look at them but once you get over the initial shock it is pretty easy to work with.

Ottobre pattern

Each article of clothing is assigned a colour on a certain page. You find the colour on the page and then you find the number of the pattern piece. After that you just need to trace the right size. Some people use tracing paper but I found that the easiest way is taking pieces of plastic sheeting and tracing with permanent marker, then I just write the details on the pattern pieces and cut them out. Not only do I find it easier to use, but the pieces also don’t wrinkle or tear…

tracing Otto

Here are two things I have made in the last few days…

(long sleeve jumper)

long sleeve jumperlong sleeve jumper

Short Sleeve shirt (I have added a bit of elastic to the sleeve since I look the pic)

New shirt sleeve

I also made this little dress, upcycled from a onesie… (Onesie’s and EC don’t go well together)… I just cut off the bottom and added the skirt and waist…It is really girly but looks very comfortable…

upcycled dress