shut the front door our friends are procreating?

to celebrate i made their baby girl an outfit. maybe it's the ann arbor in me but doesn't this outfit look like it should be worn to the farmers market?

love aunt maggie | farmers market outfit

the sunday brunch coat was actually the second oliver + s pattern i ever made, way back when maya was a baby.

my craftsmanship was much improved (i.e. more hand sewing) this time around: better seam binding technique, under stitching, french seams, edge stitching, and a blind stitched hem.

i also used a contrasting fabric for the facing and cuff.

to make the seam binding perfect i first attached it with the machine then folded it over and closed/finished it by hand. i have to admit it broke up my mojo to stop and hand sew before going on to the next part with the machine. normally i do all hand sewing at the end of a project while admiring my work, watching hbo, and drinking a ballast point grapefruit sculpin ipa. (could I sound any more like a pretentious bay area yuppie? nope don't think so.) but in the end the result was well worth it.

i almost managed to do the entire coat with a quarter spool of purple thread. (who wants to stop sewing to make a fabric store run?) to make it work i switched to other thread for the gathers and stitches that didn't show.

i had just finished hemming with about a foot of thread left when i remembered the button holes. everyone knows you can't risk using a contrasting thread on button holes, one slip up up you'll have a disaster akin to chernobyl on your hands. sigh.

i continued the polka dot theme with my second rendition of the 2 + 2 blouse by oliver + s. i've had this pattern forever but never made it until a few months ago and now i'm wondering why. it's really cute, fun to sew, and works equally well with a simple fabric like this or something with more pizzaz. (my first version was for neela out of the beatles fabric.)

last but not least i whipped up a pair of playtime leggings from oliver + s out of some amethyst knit i had around.

now i don't normally take cost into consideration when i sew, but being i'm a numbers person i can't help but keep track.

for the jacket i used this amethyst fine whale corduroy and some polka dot cotton, both left over from nora and etta's show & tell dresses. the knit was left over from a project a while back. so all said and done this outfit was a mere $5 ($3 for the buttons and $2 for the thread). to me that feels especially satisfying.

now go buy some produce!