KCWC DAY 1: loungies

This week I'm participating in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge hosted by Elsie Marley. Besides some matching pjs for my stuffed orangutan Punky Ponzo and I in elementary school, I have never sewn clothes for myself or the mini me's. I started sewing this last year to make some plush toys for the kook and her cousins and am pretty much just teaching myself as I go along. My mom taught my sister and I when we were young so I have some basic and very, very rusty skills, but beyond that, I'm learning by trial and error.

I followed Carla at Small and Friendly's projects through KCWC last year but had no motivation to sew anything besides softies and decorations. This year I had just purged my closet when I saw that KCWC was coming up in a few weeks. I happen to be needing some sweats and basic pieces for the kids' fall/winter wardrobes so I figure there's nothing to lose (besides my sanity) with just trying. If you want to participate, it's not too late. You've only missed a couple days and I'm pretty sure Elsie doesn't have any KCWC cops to come take your sewing machine away.

For day 1 I decided to start on a pair of sweats for the little man. I love this DIY for Low 'n' Lazy Loungies from Sophie of Cirque du Bebe so I gathered up a pair of long sweat shorts I had in my repurpose pile and went to work cutting out one side. As soon as I tried to starting cutting pieces for the other side, I realized a big ugly embroidery piece (the reason the shorts were in the repurpose pile) was in the way and there was no way for me to have enough material for both sides. Oops. Trial and error, I tell you. So I grabbed another pair of sweats in a coordinating color and cut a side out from them. In Sophie's DIY, she had a cute huge pocket on the front of the Loungies because the sweatshirt she repurposed had a pocket. I didn't have a pocket to repurpose but loved it enough to try and make my own. It isn't as big as I would like and I made it a bit low, but I still like it. Instead of sewing a waistband from scratch, I just used the waistband from my sweat shorts.

All in all, the Loungies fit well and will be great for fall weather. I hope to find some funky sweatshirt fabric like Sophie's to make some more for the little man and some for the kook.... and some for hubby... and some for me. C'mon, don't they look comfy? I think hubby might protest. He's not really a drop-crotch kinda guy. And really, anyone that is a drop-crotch kinda guy is very... special.

(If you'd like to see some of the other projects I'm dreaming of sewing up. Check out my KCWC board on Pinterest.)