Just some simple board shorts today. Though now that I look at them, they look more like old timey golfing slacks. Am I subconsciously trying to get my son on the course before he’s even held a golf club? He can rock the style without playing the game, right?

The pattern is from Happy Homemade vol. 2 again. Lots more of them cut out and ready to sew up, too. I told you you were going to get sick of this pattern. It’s got simple, easy to put together slash pockets and a totally useless, but awesome fake fly. Seriously, I love the fake fly. Makes the pants look a little more pulled together, a little less becky homecky.

1.garden party frock 2. sun hat 3. skirt that swings 4. smocked sundress

oops! I realized as I was putting this collection up that it’s all girl clothes today, but there are some fantastic boy clothes in the flickr mix too. Like this slammin red parachute jacket and these stylish jeans and this adorable baby sweater. I find that boys are a bit harder to sew for the in the summer. Maybe it’s because all those easy, summery dresses are calling to me to sew them up. What about you? Are you sewing frilly dresses or twenty pairs of boy shorts?

I forget it’s not always making the clothes that’s hard, because sometimes the sewing goes swimmingly, but it’s the taking a picture that is the trying part. Oh if you could see my daughter’s crabby face in this picture, well actually better you can’t.  How are my children going to turn out, growing up thinking it’s normal to take pictures of pants (and feet, and cupcakes, and anything else random and bloggy)?

Anyway, the skirt. I wanted to do it in a dark shirting fabric (sort of like my dress), but the fabric store was cleaned out when I went. So I used this cotton seersuckery stripe. The pattern is from another Japanese pattern book I love, Everyday Bottoms.

I added the secret shorts. Figuring out which sides should face each other when I was sewing the two together made my brain break out into a sweat, but it worked out in the end. After I was done I remembered Ellen has a quick little tutorial on a skirt with built in shorts (a skort?). So no brain sweat for you. Turns out the skirt is actually a little long to require shorts underneath, but hey, now I know how to do it. And it’s not hard!

1.leah tunic 2. strong-man 3. elephant pants 4. top and trousers

Look at the amazing stuff that you are making! Check out the flickr group for even more good stuff. I have to admit the laundry is starting to take over the house, but I have plans for more pants and short and I traced a button up shirt pattern, which I think might be going a little too far. How about you? Are you still going strong ?

The lovely ladies from my craft night came over last night for some beers and a little sewing (the two go together right?). If it hadn’t been for them I would have given up after the first hour of trying to rethread my serger. Seriously. Who designed that damn thing? But they saved the day! And I was able to turn a stained tablecloth into some rockin pants.

I used the same pattern that I did for these pants and these shorts. Except I skipped the back pockets and added cuffs. You are going to see a lot of this pattern this week, because my son likes it and my daughter too. It’s from Happy Homemade Vol. 2, which I can’t recommend enough (if you are down with making patterns written in Japanese). I’ve made a ton of clothes out of it and they’ve all turned out well and been worn a lot.

1. lace dress refashion 2. 008 3. 006 4. …went sailing by ‘wrap’ top

And look at what you guys have made! Adorbs. Obviously I’m partial to my knot shorts pattern, but you have to admit they are pretty darn cute in gingham. There is so much good stuff in the flickr group already and day two isn’t even over yet! You guys rock.

Yee! Haw! Today is the first day of the Kids Clothes Week Challenge! Last year, I had my own little kcwc a week early so I could have a finished garment to show you each day, but I’m playing it fast and loose with the rest of you this time around. The only thing I’ve done is pick out the fabric I want to use for each kid. Sorry for the crummy photos, I snapped them quickly before I headed out to the fabric store to stock up on elastic. Then what do you know? There was a bunch of awesome fabric there, which is in the dryer as we speak. So my hour today might be all ironing. How about you, did you get all the pattern tracing and fabric cutting out of the way before today or are you going in cold like me? Anyway you do it is fine as long as you find that hour to do it!

We are 400+ strong this spring! So the flickr group is already blowing up. And I’ve got tutorials and inspiration over on my pinterest page if you get stuck. Ready? Set. Go!

Yasuko is a children’s wear designer out of Hong Kong. She makes lovely patterns for girls and boys (sometimes those poor boys get forgotten) and sells them from her etsy shop, Dans La Lune. This is my last interview for the week. KCWC starts on Monday! I hope you learned about some new designers and maybe even got some patterns for next week. Do you have a list yet? Be bold and tell everyone what it is (on flickr or your blog). And I’ll see you here on Monday!

1. When did you start sewing kid’s clothes?
About 10 years ago I got interested in making bags out of Kimono fabrics. Then after my first child was born, I started to sew more baby clothes. I was in London at the time and I could not find anything original for boys that didn’t cost a fortune. That’s why I tried to make them by myself.

2. How did you get into designing patterns?
It’s quite simple: I just thought if I can make my own design of kids clothes, it would be twice the fun. Also I enjoy so much the combination of many kinds of fabric. That’s what I really like.

3. Do you have a specific kind of child in mind when you are working on your designs?
There are lots of cute clothes for girls, but maybe not so much for boys. So I want to try and focus on unisex designs. But I also really enjoy making cute dresses for girls whenever I find a beautiful fabric.

4. How do you think children should dress?
Surely I believe children should wear comfort clothes because they are very active, they need to jump and run around all day long! Then on top of it if we can make the clothes out of our own taste’s fabric, we can enjoy much more putting them to our children.

5. Do you think what you wear influences how you dress your kids or design your patterns?
No hesitation: Yes. For example when I wear my favorite dresses, I imagine if I could have a same dress for a little one.  Then I try to find a really original fabric for children as they can wear anything so well!

6. Do you also sew clothes for yourself?
I used to do it before but not recently.

7. What children’s clothes designers do you admire?
I like Agnes b. because her design is very simple yet original. I also love Anna Sui. I saw some girls dresses the other day again, they are so pretty. I am just a big fan of her colour choices.

Thank you Yasuko! Check out her etsy shop for all the patterns show here and more!