Category — Kid's clothes

I have had a blue singlet top and little pile of material sitting on my bottom step for a couple of weeks now, waiting to make something for one of my nieces in New Caledonia. I also had a parcel of ballet shoes and fairy dresses all ready to send the girls – but I couldn’t send the parcel until I had sewn up the outfit. So on Monday morning I walked past the two half made quilts, the half knitted blanket, the scraps of fabric ready to make into a bib, the denim on the floor under the cutting table to be made into another kinder dress for Zoe…and sewed up the outfit. It only took an hour all up – and if felt great to have a job finished and the parcel on its way. But I hated the result. The top is cute, but the skirt seemed all wrong. I’ve just had a look a few days later and I’m a bit more forgiving. Hopefully a little girl on an island paradise will be happy enough to wear it. Salut Lucy et Hannah!

Remember this dress that looked like a nighty? Well when I found this drop dead gorgeous linen I knew immediately that it was time to give the pattern a second try – with some more appropriate material. I think this is my favourite dress I’ve made yet, and is the first small step in creating a much needed winter wardrobe for Zoe.

Here is the gorgeous Miss Zoe all ready for kinder in her knew frock:

Zoe came home from kinder one day and asked me to make her a purple dress with a lion on it. Now how could I refuse a request like that? I chose this very purple linen from Spotlight, and after initially puzzling over how I was going to get a lion on there I remembered the gorgeous Wizard of Oz fabric I have squirreled away in my stash.

One evening and one viewing of the Wizard of Oz later, and here is Zoe modeling her dress as she practices being a school girl ready for next year.

It is the first time I have used linen to make a dress but it most certainly won’t be the last. At first the dress puffed up in strange places, but the more Zoe wears the dress the more it falls into a beautiful shape around her neck and arms. I’m not sure I’ll ever have a need for purple linen again though!

Aha! Remember me?

I’m back

We arrived home 3 weeks ago to our piece of suburban paradise and have been reacquainting ourselves with our suburban existence ever since. In between all that I’ve been sewing!!!  I must say I was a little worried when I left that my joy of sewing would somehow leave me whilst we were away but I am pleased to report  that it has not! Apart form the 46 degree days when the sewing machine scolded my hands I have enjoyed nothing more than retreating to my newly decorated sewing room to sew up a storm. In just three weeks I have sewn curtains, library bags, clothes, soft toys and mattress protectors AND have got the house cleaned up for a rental inspection. I’m feeling like a bit of a hero (and if you’re thinking there’s nothing heroic about getting a house ready for inspection that has only been lived in for 3 weeks then you don’t know us very well!).

I will update this blog over the coming week with all my creations…but here are a few to start off with.

This is a favourite skirt from a Japanese pattern book that I can whip up very quickly for summer and winter. I squeezed this out of half a yard of Amy Butler fabric:

Here’s Zoe modeling it in front of the Fairy Tree in the Alexander Gardens holding Russell the kinder wombat:

This is a copy I made of one of Zoe’s old dresses that is nearly too small and I LOVE it! It was so quick to make too.

And this was another dress out of my favourite Japanese pattern book. I currently have this dress hanging on my sewing room wall as I love looking at it off more than I love it on (it makes Zoe look a bit pale and looks too much like a nighty!).

I might give it another go in a better fabric, or I might not. Toooo many other things to sew!

Zoe has grown!  I know that doesn’t sound too remarkable to most people, but my kids grow so slowly they often get two seasons out of their clothing.  Not the Pink PMP Pants though!  I found this Ginger Blossom cord on Etsy and tried to sew her the prettiest, softest, baggiest, girliest pants I could (to avoid the pants rage we face experience each Tuesday morning).   The kinder teachers all made a suitable amount of fuss and she seems quite happy with them (after calling them ‘poo-poo pants’ all week).  I very loosely used her old pants as a pattern (which were cut from an older pair of pants) and they’re way too baggy around the hips.  I might take the waist band off and sew in the sides, but since we’re hoping to go away soon it might not be worth it.  I find it hard to leave sewing creations that aren’t quite right though.  Funny, because in most parts of my life I’m very relaxed about ‘not quite right’.

Zoe and her cousins each got a pair of new pyjamas and so did their dollies!

By the time I’d sewn three kid’s sets and three doll’s sets I was pretty keen to put the flanelette away until next winter. But wasn’t really fair on my little man who also needed another new pair. He loves sewing on my machine (I have a start/stop button on the machine so he can sit on my lap and sew) so I figured it was time for him to learn how to make his own pair. Here he is cutting out the pattern and the fabric….and now he’s doing what all good sewers do which is let the half finished project sit for a while before finishing it

As of today he’s being home schooled so I will get him to finish them during home economics class!

My sister came over one day about six weeks ago with her daughter dressed in a gorgeous little pinafore. I had a good look at it and said “Wow, that’s so simple…I could make one of those this afternoon!”. Hmmm…ominous words! I did in fact get the dress cut out that afternoon, but spent at least an hour sewing in my first ever lining and then stayed up past midnight appliquéing cats along the bottom of the dress. So it didn’t take an afternoon, never mind, I was really pleased with the result. Until Miss Zoe got up to put it on the next morning…

It doesn’t look too bad in that photo, but the dress was ridiculously short and could really only be worn over jeans (which of course meant it was never worn). I ummmed and ahhhed for several weeks trying to decide how to lengthen it, before settling on a pleated frill. Here’s the result:

I am so pleased that this dress could be saved, and Zoe loves wearing it (unlike the last couple of things I’ve made her which she refuses to even try on). Now just one dress left to fix….

This is another top I picked up for $5 after Mother’s Day. It has been sitting on my sewing table (or rather my dining table) for a few weeks and I figure it was time to move it to the ‘finished’ pile. Here is what I did with it:

It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot prettier than it was, and for $5 plus fabric scraps I think it’s turned out quite well. I will definitely try it again when I’ve got another top and some different scraps around.

I made this dress over a month ago from a Japanese pattern book.

I wrestled with the crazy pattern sheet and and inserted my very first zip, only to find that the pattern is much too wide for my Zoe. See how it drops off her shoulder as she puts Vegemite on her biscuit?

It was only supposed to be a trial run but I loved the dress so much I unpicked practically the whole dress to try to fix the problem. I took the zip out and cut an inch out of the back, and took the side seems in as well. As you can see it’s made all the difference, and this has become a really practical dress for Zoe to play in (I know – pants would be even more practical, but as I’ve mentioned, Zoe doesn’t do pants!).

I would love to make another version of this dress in some fancy fabric, but I still have two other dresses that need my attention before I can start anything new…

My first applique is finished!!

It was actually the thought of putting super cute pictures all over my daughter’s t-shirts that first took me to a fabric store and led to this creative spurt in my life. Unfortunately after I had ironed seven teeny tiny odd shaped handbags onto Zoe’s top (yes I know it only looks like six, but there’s one hiding in the bottom corner of the top) I found out just how much fun the sewing part of applique can be (or not!). I’ve been pretty good at finishing projects, but this is one I found difficult to even look at after the two holes I put in the top on my first attempt. Last week I finally gathered the courage to finish it off using my brand new sewing machine and it’s not so bad after all. Here’s a close up:

I’m still in love with the idea of applique and Zoe could really do with a few new tops so I hope to have attempt number two finished a bit faster (and with a little less heartache!) this time.