Praise the Lord, I had enough time allotted to me yesterday to work on these overalls. I confess that there were a few rough spots. Entirely due to "operator error" on my sewing machine. In other words: me. Mostly involving the automatic button-hole sewing function. Whereupon I had not affixed the bobbin correctly and it kept jamming up. Entirely my own fault. Then, I had a brain fart and missed the last little step in threading the needle (the one step prior to the actual threading of the needle). I'm almost embarrassed to admit these things. Or how long it took me to actually do two buttonholes. After those, the buttons themselves were cake!
The bottom line is: they're finished. And I like them. And I'm proud of them. They're not perfect, but that's ok!
Here's the little connecting point between the legs. I had the option of using snaps or sewing it as a normal seam. Since my "plan" was to use these for Dorien, I did snaps.
They aren't the most beautiful job, but I was largely winging it. They do, however, snap. And that is the point, isn't it?
Here's the little notch up the side of the leg.
I think instead of lining these, they used front and back facings. Pretty neat.
And here is Model #1.
Funny story here. So, my first experience with using a pattern was with Brooklyn's dress. And it was a modern pattern. It came equipped for different sizes and those sizes were indicated on the pattern cutouts. If I wanted a 4, I just cut out along a certain set of lines.
Well, the pattern set I used in this case had "Toddler 3" indicated on the front of the package. However, on the back of the package, there were other sizes indicated with the required yardage for each. Led me to believe I had options. I purchased the required yardages for size 1.5 and 3.
Then, beginning with Dorien's fabric, I cut out the patterns as indicated and went to work. It wasn't until yesterday, as I finished up this project that the nagging thought hiding in the back of my head made itself known.
I had never at any point made modifications to the pattern or seen an opportunity to do so, meaning that the end result would theoretically fit a 3 year old. Or hang very very loosely and very very low on my almost 4 month old. My very drooly almost 4 month old. (look closely at the picture below and you'll see a string of drool from his mouth to his left hand).
I'm not sure why they even bothered to give sizing variations on the back if they were not going to give me any help on reducing the size the pattern was made for! There is a silver lining here, though.
One: I had enough fabric to make Dorien's in spite of having purchased fewer yardage, thinking it was a smaller size.
And two: I now know that in order to make August's pair, the existing pattern is going to need to be altered to make it larger. As you'll see below, yes, it fits him, but it's short. I need to lengthen the waist and straps.
Model #2: August. It really does look pretty good on him!
Since he's still wearing diapers himself, it's a little snug under the bottom and I plan to give him a little more length in the shorts and shoulders.
He posed like a good little boy...
Even though I'm embarrassed again to admit that the first time I had him try it on, I actually put the whole thing on him backwards. I kept thinking it just didn't look right. See how helpful those tags are that tell us what's front and what's back??? He accommodated me and tried it on a second time, but only grudgingly.
