everybody look at your pants

Sometime immediately after the holidays, my serger came unthreaded. When I worked at a fabric store in San Diego, all of my co-workers (65+ year-old women) would moan and groan about how difficult it was to re-thread their sergers because they had to use tweezers. Ha ha, old ladies! I would think, With your failing eyesight and trembling hands! Yeah, it turns out that sergers are indeed a pain in the ass to re-thread. After the holiday craft-fest that was December, I needed a break and my poor sewing machines had been sitting unthreaded and cold since early January.

Nevertheless, George needed some new pants. His drawer is inexplicably full of elastic waist cargo pants that (needless to say, I hope, though I'll mention anyway) I didn't buy and funny colored leggings that, while adorable, are neither warm nor terribly practical. 

I made three pair: a couple of Anna Maria Horner's quick change trousers (from Handmade Beginnings) using flannel I'd been saving and some fine wale corduroy that was on sale at Joann, and one pair of flannel-lined linen harem pants. I love using linen for George's clothes (and mine, for that matter), but people are always shocked by this. Linen for babies? for TODDLERS? But it wrinkles up to the kind of soft, rumpled perfection that is unmatched in any other natural fabric. It's beautiful and can be easily found in off whites, browns and grays and calm greens and blues, rusty reds and mustard yellows. All my faves. 

Unfortunately, George is ever harder to photograph, always on the move. And he wouldn't agree to a third costume change.

His little red sweater is one of the handful of things I will be really, really sad to put in storage.

And, pants the second:

The inner flannel is double-sided, so plush and snuggly. He's almost sized out of this pattern (these are size 24 months with a tiny bit of room to grow, yeesh!), so the next round will have to be adjusted a bit to fit my little chubberoo. 

All three pair cost about $30 which isn't a screaming deal or anything, but considering my feelings on what's available for that much in stores, we did pretty well. 

Next up: for Spring, some blatant rip-offs of the clothes from Nils & Happy to See You (Um, sorry, but I don't have 75 euro for a shirt for my kid).