Swimsuit Success!

At least for string bean DD there is! I took a break from all my fitting woes with my suit and worked on one for DD (aka beanpole). I used Kwik Sew 3165 and was very pleased with the pattern. So pleased I made DD another suit immediately after I got the first one done!

It amazes me how little fabric it takes to make a swimsuit, but what a huge price tag they come with - jeez, what a ripoff! Both fabrics I got for $1.99/yd and each took about 1/2 yard of fabric, so that is $1/suit, plus the cost of elastic and a little swimsuit lining. What a bargain! Here is my review on Pattern Review (you can see the other suit in the review as well as details on the alterations I made).

Since I'm still in a quandary about what I'm doing with my suit and what direction to go, I decided to give myself a break and work on a quick and easy project. DS #2 has been dinging me to death about making him a shirt with the M&M fabric I bought off eBay. The kids all love M&M's because Grammie collects them and each one has their own "color". Hattie is green (the girl of course), Jack is red, Will is yellow (suits his personality too!), and Andy is blue. Well I had originally planned to make them each t-shirts with the fabric and make the sleeves "their M&M color" (and I probably still will), but for now Will got a "muscle shirt" shirt instead. He informed me he loves it, but wants a t-shirt still too (kids are so thankful aren't they??? LOL). This pattern is Ottobre 2-2003-28 and can be made into a tank top/muscle shirt or a t-shirt by adding or leaving off the sleeves. For this shirt I used the M&M fabric on the front, solid orange cotton/lycra jersey on the back, and yellow ribbing for the trim. I also posted a review of this top on Pattern Review.

Speaking of Ottobre, the new issue is up and get a load of that super cute baby on the cover! I could just eat him up - chubby babies are just so yummy! :-) In case you don't know about Ottobre, it's a sewing magazine that is published in Finland which specializes in children and youth sewing patterns. I have almost every issue of Ottobre (even the foreign ones - it's now published in English as well as four other languages) and it's definitely the most bang for your buck if you're sewing for children. I can't speak highly enough about the patterns - they are just phenomenal (both in style and pattern drafting). Plus flipping through the magzines always provides me with a huge dose of inspration! I do buy a few other patterns, but mainly sew Ottobre for my children. The subscription costs 32.50 Euros for the four children's issues (they are published once per season) or you can subscribe to the four children's issues plus the two women's issues (I also highly recommend their women's pattern magazine) for 42.50 Euros. Yes, it's a little spendy, but well worth it in my opinion considering there are about 45 patterns in each kids issue.

Since the preview of the fall issue just came up today, it will be time to start stalking the mail lady later in the week. I suspect the magazine will arrive by next Saturday - yippee!