The Chess Skirt vs The Knight Hoodie

Today we are participating in Crafting Con’s Board Games theme competition.  There’s some pretty stiff competition (pun intended!) from the likes of Frances Suzanne and Stitched by Crystal.  Naturally, we had to make every move count before we found ourselves in check mate.  So we chose the game of chess. 
The oldest game, played by millions for hours over the years!  Chess required 2 players, so we had to include 2 children.  Boy vs. Girl.  Black vs. White.

My idea started with the boy outfit.  There was no questions the occasion called for a Knight Hoodie by Charming Doodle! And to make an even more powerful statement, we added the knight chess piece on the back, using reverse appliqué.  In black of course, since Thomas was representing the black chess pieces.  I used the knight template and printed it at 100%, or full paper size.  I used our reverse appliqué tutorial, found here. Due to Thomas’s tall and lanky frame, I had to make him a Knight Hoodie in a size 7 width by size 12 long!  Talk about almost checkmating Mom!  Next time I will lengthen the sleeves even more. All the top stitching on the Knight Hoodie is in black, of course.  The grey sweatshirt knit came from Girl Charlee, and the cuffs and waistband are from an old sweater. The Knight Hoodie pattern calls for buttons in many different places on the armor, but Thomas wanted none of it!  He was afraid it would make his Knight Hoodie too much like a costume, and he wanted to wear it everyday.  I thought they would look cool, and add to the overall effect, but obviously he won that round!
Thomas needed some pants to go with his Knight Hoodie, so again I turned to the Oliver + S Field Trip Cargo Pants.  This is the second time I made these, and this time I made a few changes.  I changed the waistband to be exposed, thus enlarging the size of the pockets which was an issue on the first pair.  I also lengthened the pants at the bottom even more.  This 2nd pair of Field Trip Cargo Pants took me less time than the first pair, and I think I have a new obsession!  I found the black twill fabric for these pants in my stash.  
Next up was the girl look.  Since Annie is the current recipient of the current edition of All The Skirts: Oliver + S & Fat Quarter Shop, she didn’t need any more new clothes, but Aria did.  So again we made our move with Oliver + S pattens.Since we are currently sewing up ALL the Oliver + S skirts, we were looking for an excuse to sew the free Lazy Days skirt.  This skirt is the perfect palette for a game of chess.  First, I added some checkered fabric (from the stash!) onto the bottom of a black piece of fabric (thank you stash!) 
Aria is representing the white chess pieces, so we stenciled them in white onto black fabric, just sitting on the edge of the checker board.  If you want to make a chess skirt, we’ve got the free printable for you below!  Aria, who is quite a nerd herself, insisted the pieces be in the proper chess order, and there are two full sets of white chess pieces around the whole border of the skirt.  Allegra gets the prize for stenciling them all on!  I used black seam binding to finish the bottom of the Lazy Days Chess Skirt.
Aria need a simple black t-shirt for summer.  We used the Oliver+S women’s Metro T-shirt and black knit fabric from Girl Charlee.  The only change we made was to use narrow black fold over elastic (from Amazon) on the neckline which gives it a tiny bit more femininity.  We cut out one size smaller than the XS by overlapping the pattern piece off the edge of the fold on the front and back pieces.  I can’t tell you how much satisfaction it gives me to be able to make plain old t-shirts!In Summary:

Black Chess Look:

Top Pattern: Knight Hoodie from Charming Doodle

Top Fabric: Gray sweatshirt fleece from Girl Charlee

Knight Stencil: Free download here.  Print at 100%

Pants Pattern: Oliver+S Field Trip Cargo Pants

Pants Fabric: Lightweight black twill from our stash

White Chess Look:

Top Pattern: Oliver+S women’s Metro T-shirt

Top Fabric: Black jersey knit from Girl Charlee

Skirt Pattern: Oliver+S Lazy Days skirt

Skirt Fabric: Black cotton from the stash

King & Queen Template: Free download here.  We printed at 60% for size 12 tween.  You may want to go smaller for younger child’s skirt.

Chess Pieces Template:  Free download here.  Print at the same percentage as King and Queen.  To read more about the outfits, the photo shoot, and to find out who won that chess game, be sure to visit Crafting Con!  But only if you can stand more bad chess puns!!!