FOs: Simplicity 1566

Not a willing model on this occasion!

Follow me back into matchy matchy land where this time I've been making matching hoodies for Felicity and her new cousin Alice.  After keeping us all waiting, Miss Alice arrived on 2nd Feb and is completely perfect and we all love her very much.  I made these hoodies before she was born and therefore before we knew she was a girl so these jackets are completely boring gender neutral.

Simplicity 1566 is pretty much all you need to dress a small person and I've made Views A and F so far with great success.  I'll probably make the short sleeved versions of both of these and the little trousers are quite tempting too so this pattern is worth whatever I paid for it without a doubt.

For the hoodies I used white fleece with a cable pattern somehow incorporated into it.  It's really cute and snuggly and I didn't hate working with it quite as much as I'd feared!  It did get quite bulky in places and I did have a bit of a job persuading my overlocker to suck it in at the beginning of seams, but it squished down nicely once it got going and I'm pleased with how it looks.  So pleased in fact that I didn't actually bother to photograph the insides, preferring to just describe it with words!

You can see the tiniest peek of the binding here, just above the zip

I'm also quite pleased with my first ever separating zips, they very nearly match up and that's enough for me.  The binding around the neckline and zips looks super smart, I chose a cheery paisley I had in the stash.  I can see me making more of these in a lighter weight fabric as a little summer cover up.

View A is also already a total favourite and I'm already sewing up my 4th version as we speak!  The first one was made before Alice was born and I made it using an old t-shirt of my brother's.  I was really pleased that he recognised it when I gave it to them.

I decided that the snaps I used at the shoulders were really a bit too bulky so I bought a load of the open ring type and an applicator before sewing up any more.  The day after Alice was born I gathered up some slightly more girl friendly fabric scraps and whipped up the other two shirts.  My girls both have t-shirts made from the purple birdy fabric and I have a dress made out of the other stuff.  I made the second size up so she'll have to grow a bit before they fit, which is fine but I really can't wait to see her wearing them.  So far the new mummy and daddy have been really good at sending me photos of Alice when she wears anything I've made so I know I won't miss a thing!