Bamboo, Baby!

Oh, I love that Panda Cord. Feels like butter; sews like a dream; washes and dries beautifully. It's light-weight, perfect for spring clothes. And it doesn't shed the way cotton cord does. What's not to love?!

Plus I love this little Ottobre pattern (1-2008-2), "Susette" sash pants. DH thinks my result is weird, but since when is he the baby-fashion-police? We'll see what my DD thinks and what DGD thinks.

These pants were pretty easy to put together. The directions were helpful, but of course, Ottobre never gets carried away with directions, especially for something straightforward like this. I made the lower part of the pants first, using 1/2" elastic in the pant hems. I made belt loops out of 1.5" strips of fabric. I just folded them length-wise toward the center, then folded again to hide the raw edges. Then I top-stitched it - blended right in with the cord. I made the yoke and attached to the slightly gathered lower part of the pants, sandwiching one end of each belt loop into the seam. I top-stitched to upper end of each loop to the yoke. Lastly I inserted the waistband elastic in a channel, rather than directly on the fabric, as suggested by Ottobre.

That's the only thing I'm too wild about. I used the elastic I had on hand. It was left over from a bra project and I'm thinking it was meant to be the shoulder strap. As a waist band, it's no good - rolls and folds - yuck. So I need to run to the big box fabric shop and buy something better for baby pants.


The sash is made from two cotton fabrics - aqua heart fabric and striped cotton. I think this will be the perfect birthday outfit for DGD since her birthday is St. Patrick's day. Now she needs that little "Maya" blouse to go with the pants. I plan to use one of the two fabrics on the sash.

Actually this is one of the best issues of Ottobre yet for girly stuff. I'm looking forward to making several things from this issue for my 2 DGD's. DH has refined his critique since I started this blog - says he's just not too fond of that pattern. I still love it.