You know I like mixing fabrics. And colours. And patterns.

I don’t even remember if I ever made a shirt just out of one fabric. But I am sure some of my clever readers will remember everything ever shown on this blog and know the answer to that question, so please do not hesitate to post it beneath.

I usually use a contrasting fabric for the sleeves

very rarely I do a contrast hood as well – in fact I think that should become the norm, I don’t know why I do not always do that, it looks much better, maybe I never have enough of the contrast fabric, again the clever ones of you will know.

See, the pink one looks much better.Pictures aren’t great though, I know.

Sometimes, I do even front and back in different fabrics. Well, once. It was custom made.

The benefit of this mix and (sometimes) match method is that you usually end up with rather big pieces of scrap as you do not actually need the whole width for those little children shirts (especially if the amount of fabric indicated on the pattern is usually calculated for a whole shirt) – sometimes there is enough left for, lets say a skirt for a grown up who would otherwise never have chosen that fabric. But back to the title of “one for all”. And back to my enormous project list for this autumn.

I bought a lot of sweat this season. And a pattern bundle for hoodies for the whole family.

Meet Toni by schnittreif. A comfortable hoody for the whole family with my favourite feature of a longer back. I hate getting cold at the back. Or at the derriere.

So far I made the boy version. Which is not worn. Apparently the sleeves feel funny.

I love those fabrics, not keen on the hood lining, seemed ok in the soft light of the building site light bulbs.

For the girls version, you’ll have to wait. A dress was requested instead, stupidly altered to tunic midway as the fabric seemed too hot for a dress.  So, the girls A-line hoody is actually not a Toni but a pattern from klimperklein.

Still really cool fabric. And luckily more than enough left to make a skirt for a grown up who would never ever choose such a fabric for herself. But if it is a left over, you have to use it up, haven’t you.

But first a closer look at the two hoodies:

joined in unusual harmony

close up of the hoods, I like the cross over in the girls version more:

The sleeves. Toni features a extra ribbing whereas klimperklein is “only” folded up and stitched with a stretchy contrasting stitch. Looks surprisingly similar somehow:

The two grown up versions will have to wait a little (well, I don’t know if there will be a daddy Toni, I haven’t seen my husband in clothes warmer than a T-Shirt since I made a woolen jumper for his wardrobe for him).

I got a new dress instead. Carol by pattydoo. Meant to do that since ages. It looks cool, super comfy and extremely breastfeeding unfriendly. Which is why I haven’t made it before. Now we are only feeding when I feel like it so why not wearing dresses sometimes (and at home it doesn’t matter anyway)?

I am afraid, I can not show you any pictures of the dress when worn so please click on the link to see how it is supposed to look. I really like my new dress, don’t get me wrong but I do think it makes my tummy look a bit big and wobbly in pictures (the camera’s fault, not the tummy’s) plus my resident photographers are currently busy with lego building work, so it is “dress on hanger only” this time. But as clever as you readers are, you will manage to imagine the rest.

I like the contrasting pockets and the low waist. Oh, and the little rectangle for the belt button holes are actually hiding a little mishap (others might call it hole). But doesn’t it look a bit like a belt buckle? A bit?

I have used a cheap summer sweat as this is only the trial version. I think a proper, slightly heavier sweat will actually make it more suitable for me and my tummy.

Plus imagine just the skirt part of the dress with the leopards! That will look so cool. Initially I thought only the dark navy with the yellow dots as side panels however I might not actually have enough of the yellow left and it might just become a proper mix up of both leopard fabrics and the dots as pockets only.

The clever reader will by now be wondering where the baby item is if this post has anything to do with its title (It actually hasn’t, I’m afraid, no fencing, no horses, no silly hats).

Any if you are by now thinking “I don’t get any of these tasks. Am I not the clever reader she is referring to?” then all I can say: Apparently not 😉

And as I have by now probably lost most of my offended readers, I can finally tell you that there will be a big secret revealed next time. And it has to do with the baby’s new coat. Which is far to thin for october in Austria by the way. No one has told me it would be that cold already. Anyway. Big secret coming up. Not to be shared with the whole wide world, only with those few followers who simply can not be chased away. Watch this space.