Olga turns four tomorrow, so I made a a birthday outfit for her big day. It’s not too often that I get to make something AND keep it a secret, but somehow I’ve managed this time. Of course I’ve sacrificed some sleep to this end, but… Who am I kidding? I would have just stayed up late to do something dumb anyway. Click on any picture for a larger view.

I used patterns from Ottobre magazine to make the outfit. The shirt is from the Spring 2006 (1/2006) issue, design #17, and the pants are from the Spring 2004 (1/2004) issue, design #16 (I used the waistband pattern piece from design #17).

I think this will be very comfortable for lounging around and playing while we’re still in that transitional weather period. All of the fabric is from my stash. The legs of the pants and front and back of the shirt are cotton velour which I bought right before Olga was born. The pants waistband, shirt sleeves, and neck band are pink ribbing from. . . somewhere. I can’t quite remember, but I know it is inherited stash.

The side front panels are cut from the last scraps of this delightful barnyard print. It is a lightweight cotton/polyester jersey from JoAnn Fabrics several years ago.

I only had small pieces of each of these fabrics, so I had to do some creative layout. I shortened the body of the shirt after I compared the pattern pieces to a shirt that fits her. If I decide she needs more length, I can always add a band of ribbing around the lower edge, like a sweatshirt would have.

I also shortened the pants a little bit, so they will be more like capris. Instead of the waistband called for in the pattern, I substituted the wastband from the skirt pattern (below). It looks really comfortable to me. I may have to make it a little smaller, but I’ll let Olga try it on first.

If it moves and makes noise, it’s A-okay with Gavin. Today we stopped at the bookstore to pick up an order I placed last week, and to find a book about “hiss” snakes that Olga has been asking for. Gavin stopped at the train set table that is set up in the kids books section, and had such a great time playing with the trains, helicopters, and cars that I had to peel his hands off the bridge trusses to get him out of the store. We did pick out a new locomotive to bring home and add to our train set, which the kids set up as soon as we got home.

This is really just a test post, but I’ll leave it up to show you these beautiful flowers that my Step-Mother-in-Law sent me.

Olga was determined to strike a pose. She’s very happy with her new Summer-time jammies (although she now claims that this is a new outfit “not for sleeping, for tomorrow”), even though they are HUGE on her. Seriously. The top is wide enough to fit me! I’m going to add some elastic to the neck edge to snug it up a little bit. The good news is they’ll fit until she’s 12. Probably. The jammies went together pretty easily. I used my serger, mostly, but did the gathering and neck/arm hole finishing on my sewing machine. The lettuce edge was done with a 3-thread rolled edge on my serger, and it came out perfectly! The pattern called for lace, but this was easier (and softer). I also didn’t put elastic around the legs to turn these into bloomers. I didn’t have any narrow elastic, but mostly, I didn’t think it would be comfortable. I think pattern companies go a little bit overboard with elastic on kids clothes. Sure it’s cute, but cute at the expense of comfort is sort of dumb.

Overall results: happiness.