Kids Clothes Week: Pony Bloom Dress

A second make for Kids Clothes Week complete!  For this I used the incredible Pony Bloom fabric.

It's quite a large scale print that I didn't want to break up, so I decided to omit as many seams as possible.

I combined my basic a-line dress block with my Dolman Top pattern so there wouldn't even be sleeve seams.  Just side and shoulder seams and as much uninterrupted ponies as possible!

For a little bit of visual interest, instead of a normal scoop neck I switched it out for a V-neck.

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Kids Clothes Week: Tangerine and Turquoise

Would you believe, blogging *and* sewing just for the fun of it? Maia is in desperate (theoretical) need of new Spring and Summer clothes, and with this season's Kids Clothes Week happening at this very moment I thought I'd seize the opportunity to fill some gaps in her wardrobe.

The top is a turquoise and orange organic cotton knit from my shop, using my Dolman Top pattern. I used the stripes horizontally for the body, but as it's a four way stretch I flipped it vertically for the neckband.

The skirt is my free Tennis Skirt pattern in the coordinating Happy Whales.  This is the only skirt that fits her at the moment, when I said 'gaps in her wardrobe' I wasn't kidding.

The leggings are store bought but, fortuitously, a perfect match for the charcoal whales.

The shoes match nothing.

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What's New In Skater Dress Land

Lots of exciting news to share about the Skater Dress pattern!  First up, did everyone see this lovely little girl sporting a miniature Skater Dress?

'But wait, Amanda, surely she's too little for your Skater Dress?' you plaintively ask.  Not so!  I have graded the pattern down for sizes 6-12m and 12-18m, and you can get them for free here.  It's just the pattern pieces to download, if you want the instructions they come with the pattern for the bigger girls. Many thanks to Max California for testing it out and writing such a sweet post, and also for being the co-creator of that delicious baby. Nice work, my friend.

In other Free Skater Dress News, Katie drafted an adorable flutter sleeve for all sizes and is gracious enough to share both the pattern and the instructions! Seriously, one of the kindest people around, Katie is.

Finally, my heart grew at least two sizes last week seeing all of the awesome Skater Dresses pop up in the Kids Clothes Week Flickr pool.  There were heaps on Instagram too!  Love seeing all the variations from appliques, waistbands, pattern mixing, flutter sleeves, peplums... and see that little gentleman top left? Lengthening the bodice of the Skater Dress yields awesome tanks and tees!  Keep on keeping on, peeps.

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KCW: Hosh Pants and Colour-blocked Tee

It's been more than a year since I've gotten Maia to wear woven trousers for more than an hour or two.  They're too tight! They're too itchy! They're too uncomfortable!  To be fair, she has a very valid point;  We have had zero success with store-bought jeans or woven trousers.  Largess in the hip department (for reference she has the same waist to hip ratio as I do) means that despite fitting through the legs, jeans and trousers can rarely be pulled up past her bum even with a fly.  It's an exercise that flies uncomfortably close to body shaming and, ergo, one best avoided. 

 

Enter EmmyLouBeeDoo's Hosh Pants pattern!  The cut sounded very promising for Maia's body- slim through the legs but with extra room to the rear, a nice higher rise, and an elastic to the back to eliminate the dreaded gapping. The pattern only goes up to age five but I graded it up to a six for length and used Maia's measurements through the hips to adjust the back section and rise.  The result... woven trousers that got a full day's wear!

 

The fabric is a lovely stretch sateen that I had left over from the Catriona Dress.  I also made a colour-blocked dolman tee as she's seriously lacking non-patterned basics.  Wondering what that is on the ground?

This weather is killing me.

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KCW: Contrast Shoulder Tee

First boy-make for Kids Clothes Week complete!  I know I said I wasn't going to make the same old things I always do, but being too short on time to draft something completely new (or trace out an Ottobre), I'm allowing myself the compromise of playing around with the details of my tried-and-trues.

For this, I split my raglan sleeve where the shoulder cap falls and switched out the top section for a contrasting print.  While the airplane print is a nicely drapey interlock, the star print is a hefty french terry with a bit more structure.  My inspiration came from the uber-stylish leather insets from Groovybaby and Mama.

With Kids Clothes Week more than halfway done and tolerance for photoshoots waning, can I suggest setting up a sibling in the window for amusement?  In related news, Maia has learned how to use a pane of glass to make piggy noses.

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The Skater Dress goes peplum

 

My focus for Kids Clothes Week is to make clothes for my kids that aren't destined for the shop and to stray away from the tried and true makes that I keep doing over and over and over.  I'm calling day one a success!

Okay, so I'm a little bit of a cheater as I started with the skater dress as my block, but I switched out the skirt for a peplum.  Maia and I might have had a (mock) fight over who loves it more.

There's a lovely full drape from the side which pleases me, but the real reason she's in love...

The twirling.  Least painful photoshoot ever.  I'm definitely going to make a tonne more of these as her shirt drawer is pretty spartan due to a recent growth spurt.  And I'll tell you how to use the skater dress pattern to do it tomorrow!

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A Scooter Shirt and Kids Clothes Week

 

I made each of the kids a last minute item of clothing for our recent trip Stateside; Jamie a long sleeve Dolman in this scooter print and Maia an as-yet-unphotographed skater dress.  She now has thirteen skater dresses, I do not consider this excessive.  But with temps in Connecticut firmly at or below freezing, I never had the chance to get proper pictures outdoors.  Surely the weather in Edinburgh mid-April would be more cooperative?  Not exactly... 

The four day windstorm we've had this week (that also misrepresented the lovely cut and drape of Maia's Doli tank), also gave Jamie's longer hair a old man comb-over.  He will make an adorable old man.

Comb-overs are funny, but not as funny the transformation of his mod cut into a 1980's mom cut.

No words.  You can caption this one yourselves.  In other news, he has finally lost a second tooth.  He's been patiently waiting for all his loose teeth to literally fall out of his mouth by their own accord, but not before they get stuck in the backwards position (true story).

Is everyone geared up for the Kids Clothes Week spring challenge?  There is a dedicated blog space this year which is rapidly filling up with inspiration and enthusiasm.  I am determined this year to play along (oh, how I always say this...) and even more determined to sew SPRING CLOTHES.  Not cruelly-extended-neverending-winter clothes, spring clothes.  'If you make it, it will happen', right?  What are your plans for Kids Clothes Week?

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KCWC: The Birthday Edition

In 'Time Flies' news, the boy turned seven yesterday.  He was a bit disgruntled that he had to go to school but I told him about how having a birthday in the summer holidays is massively overrated; I never had four separate classes at school sing Happy Birthday to me and have suffered with depression on-and-off ever since.  Okay, those things might not be directly linked but we'll never know.  It can't be a coincidence.

Where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday he didn't want to make Dope Dope Yo hands in photoshoots*.

 

With seven years on this planet successfully completed, you're allowed to be a bit casual about birthdays. (Pictured above: casual attitude).

Can you tell who has started karate this year?  If you need a clue I can post another hundred pictures of him punching and kicking towards the camera.  And looking tough.

Ladies and Gentleman (ie my dad), please prepare yourself for the grand denouement of this post, where I demonstrate with irrefutable proof how time does indeed fly:

I present you with three year old Jamie versus seven year old Jamie. At least 75% percent less moon head but otherwise identical.

*Actually, this is the first occurence of Dope Dope Yo hands so it could have been yesterday.

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The Cityscape Jumpsuit

I didn't get a huge amount of fabric when we were last in the States, but I did pick of three colourways of Lizzy House city scenes.  I mean, who can resist?  Other people, probably.

There have been rumours there is a season called 'summer', with a warming yellow orb in the sky so it is possible to have bare arms and legs. 

This so-called 'summer' happens in America and some other countries I believe. 

You can also take pictures outdoors there.

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The Androgynist

A dolman top for the boy and the jury is still out, the judge is getting impatient, and it might just end in a mistrial.

The hesitant model's immediate reaction was that it was 'for girls', but when questioned it was blamed on the fabric rather than the style.

The quite-conservative husband thought it was fine for boys.

The nothing-if-not-predictable Maia wished this top was hers.  Which it might be.

And wishy-washy ol' me think it would probably be fine for boys, although if in doubt it could be masculinised with an applique, a more boy-centric print, or perhaps the subtitution of a normal hem for the waistband.

What say you:  A-okay or pre-book therapy?

Bonus topic of conversation: How much does everyone love Picmonkey?  I like it even more than Picnik!  Last two pictures have filters on them. Urbane and Orton if you're a naturally curious person.

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Dolman Cool Cat

It's a busy time of the year for sew-alongs*!  Right on the back of the Spring Top Sewalong is Elsie Marley's Kid's Clothes Week.  Theoretically I should be able to participate in this one more, as I sew kids clothes for a living and all.

So first up is this dolman top, a pattern that I drafted last summer, used precisely once, and then bunged in my to-do pattern pile. My, my, the girl has certainly grown in a year.  Using the same size (which I remembered as being too big), this top has come up a bit small.

It's that belly / bum double whammy. As always.

Until a couple of hours ago, I thought of a dolman style tee as being a pattern for the girls but now that I've seen it on I think it'd be cute on boys too.  What do you think, mums-of-boys and people-with-opinions?

*I'm actually fomenting plans for my very own sew-along and the pattern I have in mind is for girls.  If there's enough dissent by disgruntled boy-sewers, I'll rethink though. Speak now or forever hold your peace!

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