Pattern Description: (from the pattern envelope) MENS’, CHILDREN’S AND BOYS’ MUSKETEER AND PRINCE COSTUMES: Tunic-length, lined doublet has collar, long sleeves and cuff variations; doublets A, B have belts and cap sleeves; doublets B, C have contrast sleeve and cuff; doublet C has contrast collar; loose fitting, pullover, lined tabard has mock sleeves, applique and back opening slit; cape E has contrast lining; all garments have purchased trim; doublets A, B have purchased crowns; doublet C, tabard D have purchased hat with feather and sword.

Pattern Sizing: Boys’ sizes 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; Mens’ sizes S, M, L, XL. Pictured/reviewed is a modified version of doublet A in boy’s size 7-8.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? yes/no. I made significant modifications to the pattern to get a specific look – but it looked just like I imagined it when I purchased the pattern.

Were the instructions easy to follow? They were very easy! I bought the pattern in a 99 cent sale intending it to be a quicky halloween costume. It wasn’t as quick as I had hoped, because of all of the steps, BUT, the instructions were good and easy to follow.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I like how cleanly the pattern went together even with my modifications. It gave me exactly the look I wanted. I have to say I was annoyed when I looked at the length of the instructions, but it went together so easily, I quickly forgot my annoyance. I could wish there were less darts since I find putting together darts a very tedious process, but when the results are this nice, I can’t really complain.

Fabric Used: Kelly green corduroy for the outside, kelly green cotton for the lining.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: My son (4-year-old) wanted to be the superhero, Green Arrow, for Halloween. Here’s a picture of Green Arrow if you don’t know what I’m talking about: Green Arrow Model Sheet. My goal was to make something that was easy and comfortable for him to wear, satisfied my concerns about him being warm enough AND was simple enough for the teachers at school to handle. I decided to just make a doublet that could be worn over a shirt or jacket, and he could wear whatever pants he was comfortable in. That way he wouldn’t need to change completely while at school and he wouldn’t have to wear a coat over his costume when we went trick-or-treating. The picture here has him wearing it over his very heavy lined sweatshirt: Caleb as Green Arrow.

First, I shortened the doublet “skirt” to be more like a peplum (I think I went to about 4 inches, unfinished). I thought about not lining the doublet because I didn’t think it was necessary, but it actually made the pattern go together more easily. I left off the full sleeves, just using the little cap. I ended up binding the arm sythes to finish them. And lastly, I used grommets and lacing for the front of the doublet instead of buttons to be more “authentic”. It really needs one more set of grommets at the very bottom before the peplum, but otherwise, this is pretty much exactly what I wanted.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I will and I do!

Conclusion: This was a really nicely built pattern with a lot of room for modifications so you can get the look that you desire. Recommended for beginners with a little experience to experienced sewers alike.

I wanted to make a tie for Caleb for the wedding and then I thought to myself, why not make one for Bill as well? I’ve had this nifty Alexander Henry dragon print lying around for ages, and I thought it would make a nice tie. I like the scalloped design in the background.

I already reviewed the Burda Osman Tie pattern I used for Bill’s tie in my post Holiday Gifts: Necktie.  I went ahead and left out the tie interfacing/interlining as I did in the last version, again this was quilter’s cotton, though not as heavy as the pirate ship cotton from the last post.  Bill commented that he really liked the way the tie tapered a little in the middle, it made tying it easy and made a nice looking knot.  All in all, the tie took me about an hour to make. Easy Peesy Lemon Squeezy.

Caleb’s tie was even simpler.  For his, I used the Ottobre Designs Boys Tie Pattern. Once again, take the time to copy it out nicely onto pattern paper – you’ll thank yourself later.  Note that Ottobre Designs does NOT include seam allowances, you will have to add your own (don’t forget!), depending on what you’re most comfortable with. I added just a quarter inch, standard quilting seam allowance.  The toughest part of this pattern is turning the whole tie tube inside out after you’re done  sewing. I don’t know why I have such a hard time turning tubes. I have any manner of tools to help me with this task and they never seem to work right. I always end up picking the tube out with a pin! At any rate, that is really, really the toughest part.  I promise. If you have a little boy, I encourage you to make this tie!  The tail end sticks out because Caleb kept “adjusting” it. In truth, I think he liked it that way. The tail is a little short to put inside a keeper, I might lengthen the pattern next time so the tie will be long enough for a keeper. 

Burda Osman Tie Pattern: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ out of 5. Easy, free and yeilds professional results.

Ottobre Designs Boys Tie Pattern: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ out of 5. So easy and free as well, but it needs to be a couple inches longer.

Isn’t he a cutie pie? Yes, I’m biased.

PS. Yet another To-Do-list project down!

I went through my patterns, of which there are many.  I pulled out a few for each of us to choose from and showed them to Bill & Caleb.  Caleb pointed at McCall’s 5500 and announced that he wanted to be, “A knight!”.  I showed the pattern to Bill and noted that I had it in both Caleb AND Bill size.  With some further probing, Caleb decreed that he would be a knight, like Captain America, with a sword and a shield.  Notice I said “probing” not “prompting”.  He came up with that all on his own.

We packed up and headed to the fabric store and picked out some royal blue cotton poplin for the tabard, blue, red & white felt for the design, white rayon for the sleeves and, my favorite and the most expensive, royal blue corduroy with red and white embroidered stars for the pants.  When I showed Caleb the corduroy he exclaimed, “That’s just like my Captain America!” Bill had decided to be be Captain America Knight’s nemesis, Red Skull Knight, in an army fatigue green ultasuede tabard with a red skull in felt.  And just because I’m a follower, and I loved the blue corduroy, I will have a red on red stripe cotton/poly blend upholstry dress with a bodice made from the royal blue (with embroidered stars) corduroy.  No official superheroine title, but we have a little time to figure that out.

Speaking of “figuring it out”, anyone have a clever title for my little Captain America Knight? Captain New World doesn’t have that special ring to it.  

Doesn’t he make an adorable fashion model? OK, I know, he’s my son, so of course I think he is cute.

This pattern went together like a dream. It is so rare that commercial pattern pieces fit together so perfectly. All of the markers lined up and the seams matched and the points turned; wonderful.  It yeilded very clean, professional, and of course, adorable results.  Because it was such a busy print, I didn’t feel it was necessary to line up the print in the front or on the pockets – I don’t think it made a difference in the end results.  I used snaps on the pockets and shirt fronts – I’m having some trouble with the buttonholer on my sewing machine and the snaps were an easy fix until I have time to get the machine serviced.  I think in the end they added a nice touch, too.

On the downside…the lap instructions were a bit over-complicated, as were the instructions for adding flaps to the pockets (making sure the two snap halves were lined up for the pokets was quite a pain).  The sizing seems way off.  The shirt looks a little small, no?  Caleb takes a 3T/4T in most clothing now, sometimes even a 2T still (40lbs, 40″).  I would say this shirt is a 2T, not a 4, which is the size I made.  Already, he can’t snap that top snap (not that you would on a bowling-style shirt anyway).  It’s a little disappointing, after having spent so much time on the shirt, that he will only be able to wear it for a short time.  On the other hand, I like the pattern enough, I am going to see if I can get it in a larger size. 

So, in conclusion, excellent pattern, but watch the sizing on this one.

[EDIT 7/14/2010: Added my review to Pattern Review right here.]

Strictly speaking, this was not a holiday gift.  My dad’s birthday falls just a few days prior to Christmas and, because I understand how much it must suck to get a load of Christmas ‘n’ birthday combined gifts each year, I make a concerted effort to give him one gift for each. This year’s birthday gift was a pirate ship necktie.

Now, be honest, a necktie is kind of a lame gift. But a handmade necktie?  It kind of rocks. I used the Osman Tie pattern from burdastyle.com (http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/osman-tie) – it is available in a PDF download for all of $2.  The most painful part of the whole process was taping the pattern together and then copying it out onto pattern paper. I do HIGHLY recommend this step, though. Pattern paper is much easier to deal with than taped together printer paper.

I used cotton, not tie silk; and to make matters “worse” it was quilter’s cotton – already relatively thick and stiff on its own. I also didn’t buy tie interlining, but used a piece of suiting that I had on hand  as suggested in the pattern instructions. The whole thing went together in the matter of an afternoon. I ended up leaving out the interlining all together – the quilter’s cotton was so thick it was unnecessary.

Just a couple lessons learned on this one: don’t just eyeball where the design is on the material. As you can see from my photo, I only ended up with one little pirate ship on the front of the tie because I thought I had it lined up correctly, but I didn’t check. Also, if and when I make this again, I’ll move the stay up a little — the skinny side of the tie is a little short to stay in my stay.

See? Cute. Mine is going to be in this greyish-periwinklish wool/cashmere blend, with vintage silver-backed glass buttons.

A while back (like six months ago) I made myself a new skirt, but it was much too short. Didn’t realize how short the pattern was until too late. Other than that, I haven’t made any clothes for myself in quite some time. Since before they baby. That’s a long-ass time. So the jacket is taking me a little while.

Not gonna make the hat, though. That would just be way too much.

Just realized that it’s Tuesday so it’s sewing night!

My New Costume
More pictures on flickr.

Quick-and-Dirty (Renaissance) Skirt
Supplies:

• About double your waist measurement in a lightweight gauze fabric 60 inches wide (selvedge to selvedge)
• Thread to match
• 3/4 inch elastic to fit comfortably but tightly around your waist
• sewing machine and/or serger
• iron/ironing board
• pins

Instructions:
DO NOT CUT OFF THE SELVEDGES.

Sew the two cut ends of fabric together to make a tube, with the selvedges on either end. Serge the seam if you want to/have access to a serger.

Fold one end of the tube down over the other end, putting wrong sides together, having the selvedges meet at the bottom, making a double layer tube with a fold at one end a two selvedges at the other.

Measure this against yourself. If it’s too long, leave it as, we’ll cut it later. If it’s too short, lengthen one layer and shorten the other. The shorter layer will become the outside layer. If the length is just right, Congratulations! You’re one of the lucky ones! Once you have the length where you want it, pin the fold in place and press.

Starting from the seam, sew 1 inch in from the fold, all the way around the tube, leaving a 1 inch opening for the elastic.

Open out the two layers and locate the opening for the elastic. This should be simple since you placed the opening near the (one and only) seam. (Ah, see? There’s a method to my madness!) Insert the elastic, make sure there are no twists or rolls in it, test the length/comfort/tightness and sew it back and forth on the machine a few times so you’re sure it won’t be going anywhere.

Here’s where those of you who are tall can stop. The selvedge is all that you need – you don’t need to hem the skirt, unless you REALLY want to. The selvedges on a gauzy fabric are usually perfectly serviceable, especially for a quick-and-dirty costume skirt. For those of you who the two selvedges together was a perfect length can choose to stop here too, or continue on. That’s right, you’re lucky because you have choices.

I like the look of having the two different layers have two different lengths. If you’re tall, you don’t really have a choice – your layers will be two different lengths unless you want your skirt to be short. For me, I removed 3 inches from the bottom layer (I am 5’4″ and I certainly don’t have “legs to there“) and 6 inches from the top layer. You can choose to finish your hem however you like – fold it under and hem it, zig-zag it, or serge it. In the interest of expediency, I zig-zagged (because I didn’t have any black thread for my serger). If you choose to zig-zag or serge, you have one further choice – lettucing the hem. I also like the look of this as it helps the layers to separate.

It took me maybe 2 hours to make this skirt, only because I was doing it for the first time and needed to be sure of all the measurements and things.  I think I could easily whip one up in an hour now that I’ve done it once.