Elijah's Birthday Presents

My son, Elijah, LOVES the cartoon Chuggington. I will hear my crazy kid in his crib at 4am saying "Mama, mama...choo-choo?" Translation: Hey, Mom? Can I watch Chuggington? No, kiddo, sorry, no Chuggington at 4am. Now, while I much prefer Chuggington over, say, Thomas the Train (seriously, does anyone else find those trains a little creepy?), it can be really hard to find merchandise. Toys R Us sells the train sets, but for things like clothes and shoes with the characters on it, I would have to order them from England...and pay HUGE shipping costs...no thank you. So instead, I have taken to making them myself.

One day last November, while walking aimlessly around JoAnn's, I came across some Chuggington themed fabric - score! Since I didn't have a project in mind, I just got one yard each of the three different fabrics - 1 cotton, 1 flannel and 1 fleece. I knew I would figure out something to do with them.

Side Note - Elijah was with me during this trip and kept yelling "choo-choo" at the fabric, and now when we go to JoAnn's, he runs right to where the Chuggington fabric is (well, after stopping to touch all the strands of beads in the front of the store). He's got a great memory!

For Christmas, I used the flannel to make a pillow case, and I put a crochet edge around the fleece to make a blanket. (I used this nifty tool that I discovered on the Project Linus website) Both items are currently in Elijah's crib and he loves them.

Now, I had been staring at the cotton fabric for a few months and I finally decided what to do with it. I was going to make pajama pants! I had never made them before...in fact, I don't think I had sucessfully followed a clothing pattern before...but, I decided to give it a whirl! I picked up the pattern below during a $1 pattern sale at JoAnn's.

http://www.simplicity.com/p-2604-boys-and-men-loungewear.aspx

 

The pattern looked simple enough - cut 4 pieces, sew them together, add some elastic, and hem. I could do that! Then I stared at the pattern packet for a few days. Anyone else hate cutting out patterns and then trying to fold that tissue thin paper back into it's original shape?

 

One night, I had had enough staring. I took the pattern and my fabric and got to work! And it was easy! It really was cut out 4 pieces, sew them together, add some elastic, and hem! Now, the pattern is meant for boys, and Elijah is still a toddler, so the pants are a little long (should have done the shorts!), but at least he'll be able to wear them for a while.
 

 

I tried them on him the other day and he skrieked in delight and kept pointing to all the trains (mostly the ones near his crotch, which is what he's doing in the picture). He won't get them until his birthday next weekend, but I HAD to see if they fit. Pretty proud of myself...and I see more homemade pajama's in Elijah's future. (In fact, I just picked up a remnant of some Cars fabric...my little boy also love "Maymay".)

Side note - I scored a Chuggington dish set and book at TJMaxx for $10 the other day!