Made for Mondays: Mommy, my baby is cold!

THE PATTERN: McCalls Crafts M4338, Pants G and Top F

THE MATERIALS: less than a half a yard of flannel that let me down when I washed it so I couldn’t use it for the shop; a couple inches of velcro; a few inches of elastic, thread

TIME ELAPSED: About 45 minutes, with a three year old “helper"

As part of my series "Sewing My Way Through the Fabric Store," I am accepting challenges from you all on sewing projects, as well as sharing some of my personal sewing adventures!

This week's post is a challenge from my little girl, who provides inspiration for many of the things I sew. This story is from a couple Saturday mornings ago.

That morning started with quite a to do list of preparation activities for the weeks ahead. The hubs had taken our little boy to the hardware store, so our daughter and I were milling around the house. I had a million things I needed to sew to get ready for the start of the HappyLittleMonkey Craft Show Tour 2010 and the little guy's birthday party, but I was trying to be present with her and her “boy baby.” We had recently made him a swaddling blanket and today she said he needed a burp cloth. Burp cloths, I can do! We dug through the remnants and a few minutes later, we had a suitable burp cloth. Ok, that was fun.

Then came the title plea, "Mommy, my baby is cold."

Hmm...baby already has a swaddling blanket. So, that won't work. What else??? I considered telling her to go get an outfit out of her stash of store bought baby clothes, but this was "boy baby," so clearly a dress wasn't going to work.

So, what to do? It was off to the pattern stash. Found an outfit that could double as pajamas. Perfect! Next, found some flannel I had purchased for the shop, but didn't use. Check, check.

Ok, now, deep breath, collect the rest of the supplies and mentally prepare to sew with a three year old assistant.

Inhale, exhale, and...

We laid out all of the pieces and cut them out. (Details: McCall’s Crafts pattern, M4338. We cut out Pants G and Top F, without the collar.)

For sewing the pants, we followed the directions pretty closely. The only difference I did was to serge the ends of the fabric before hemming them instead of doing a little roll. Since everyone doesn’t have a serger, most patterns instruct you to fold 1/4 inch or so and then the next 1/2 inch and hem. Its just more time consuming and with my three-year old Assistant, time is in short supply.

I really liked the pants directions. On people pants, most of the time the pattern directs you to sew the front and back seams, and then creating a pocket for the elastic at the top. Doll clothes are small and can be a little harder to work with. This pattern directed you to only sew the front seam then sew the elastic pocket, insert the elastic, and then sew the back seam. So easy! I even placed the elastic in the pocket, sewed, and then pulled the elastic to the desired length (about 5 inches of elastic, relaxed).

The shirt was really easy too, especially without the collar. I put velcro up the whole back so that she will eventually be able to get baby dressed by herself.

Here is the final outfit.

Best was the big hug followed by "Mommy, thank you so much." Ok, so totally worth it!