Color dipped boy

Continuing on my quest to prolong the life of P's pants...
His grey corduroys got outgrown for the second dime. The first time I just let down the seems to the maximum. Since he loves this pants, not only they were short, they were seriously worn out, and weirdly only on the left knee and thigh. As I didn't want to cut the pants to look like hot pants, I cut them at an angle that could go across both legs and cover all the areas that needed to be cut off, but still give me enough fabric of the other pants to attach and lengthen a little.They look like I dipped them in colour:)

Enough already...

The beanie on the above photos is also a project from my first KCWC two years ago.

Plaid times two

It is KCWC week. Yeeeey!!! I love KCWC, two years ago I started blogging so I could participate in it. It got me back to sewing and for that I will forever be grateful. Apart from that, it is just a crazy exciting week that makes numerous women around the world turn in crazy sewing ladies. As for me, I am one of them too, I sew long into the night and sometimes make the kids try the stuff on before they leave in the morning. Hell, I had my son wear a dress just for the sake of a photo. I got to love upcycling and dropped my fear of knits.
Back when I started sewing I only wanted to do new stuff, buy a fabric, draft a pattern and sew something for my evening out. I never wanted to sew the same thing twice, I thought that was boring. AND, I hated it when my mom asked me to fix something, change a zipper or shorten some pants... and now that is all I do, clothes wise, I mostly fix or refashion stuff, and I love it. To make something from nothing is great, but to repurpose and reuse the same piece of clothing several times gives me butterflies.
My first KCWC project was a sweats upcycle for a skinny 2.5 year old. Now I have a 4.5 year old, whose pants become too short too soon, and I simplycan't make myself just buy new ones and set these aside, too easy:)

So here is out brown plaid pant getting a blue plaid (actually the same one as in that first KCWC project) cuff and some other blue accents to accompany it.

Mustard details off...

and blue on!

I added some blue accent to go with the cuff, took off the buttons and sewed them back on with blue yarn. I even coloured the embroidery with a blue fabric marker.

He's been wearing these since he was 2. When I let down the seem there was so much fabric there that I almost didn't even need a cuff, but it was so much more fun this way:)
What do you think?

Piktopest - Kids souvenir collection from Budapest

Souvenirs are a dear subject to me. Many years ago we started buying magnets on our travels. That seemed like a sensible thing to do, it is small, easy to carry and it hangs on your fridge all the time, and whenever you see  it you remember the good times. But, truth be told, even though there are some beautiful magnets out there, most souvenir fridge magnets are crap. Crap dear to your heart nevertheless. So it happens, that because I had a certain number of magnets on my fridge, my friends got the idea that I was collecting them, and they started bringing me magnets from places I've never been. The whole crap-collection started losing it's appeal, I couldn't connect to it any longer, except at moments when I was picking them off the floor and swearing. Needless to say, when we moved I packed them all in a box, where they are still resting in peace. I have this great series over at Eastok Europe, where I tell you all about the souvenirs you will never want to hide in the box.


Budapest based graphic designer Zita Majoros, who also happens to be my friend (our sons are actually friends, we just sort of tag along:) and the owner of a cool design concept store Printa Budapest, where the best coffee in town is served, has created a kids souvenir collection called Piktopest.
I am normally not too crazy about souvenir T's, but Printa T-shirts are really cool even outside the souvenir category. We're still in love with the one P got for his birthday last year. And could you resist a T-shirt with pooing dog on it? If you've been to Budapest don't think so:)
Printa has a great grownup souvenir selection too AND they have a contest going on at the moment called Love in Print Phrase Contest, if you have some original thoughts on Love submit them here, you might land some Printa stuff if you win.

What kind of souvenirs do your kids get when you travel?