1. McCall’s vest 2332 and bow tie, 2. Day 1, 3. Tea towel pants, 4. Kids Clothes Challenge, 5. annabelle in ruffle top, 6. Baggy towel pants, 7. 90 minute shirt with pleats, 8. Princess & the Pea Sundress – 2, 9. Goldfish

I was a little unsure about kids clothes week when I first posted about it. There are enough tasks to get done everyday, I didn’t want to add to that list and make mothers out there crazy (or crazier).  But I thought maybe we could eek out a little bit of time each day and that wouldn’t be too much to ask.  Then blazzam! You took that little bit of time and ran with it. I am floored by the creativity and skill and perseverance of you all.

1. front, 2. Ice Cream Dress, 3. yellow pants . front, 4. kids clothes week challenge :: day 1, 5. sailboat pants – on alice, 6. WIP – polka dot dress, 7. kids’ clothes challenge – y’s shirt, 8. kcwc rainbow leggings, 9. Vintage Dress

There is inspiration in the flickr group to last all summer long.  I cut out twice as many patterns as I got to sew last week–and I’m sure I’m not the only one–so the group is sure to keep growing.  Looking at all that you’ve made makes me want to sew so much more! The list will never be completely crossed off and I’m ok with that. Thank you so much for doing this challenge with me.  I had a blast and my kids were pretty excited too. One of the participants (arg I can’t remember who) said her daughter told her it was like Christmas getting all these new clothes!

I will definitely be doing this again next year.  We could beef it up with prizes (most completed projects, most botched projects, most beautiful on a hanger, most beautiful on the actual child…) or we could just keep is as it is.  You guys made this challenge successful, so what do you think it should be like next year? Really, I want to know.

oh you didn’t think it was over did you?

The baby doesn’t really need clothes, but how can I not sew something cute for him. Plus it’s easier to make new pants than to go get the box of bigger clothes and go through it again.  The knee pad pants are from the illustrious Dana of dana made it. And the purple pants I made from sleeve of a sweatshirt. He had some purple leggings that I was squeezing his chubby legs in because they were too cute to give up. Finally I traced them and made these and there are some yellow ones in the works from the same pattern.

I bet you could squeeze in a couple hours of sewing this weekend to finish up some projects, then maybe take some pictures and put them up on flickr. Next week I’m going to show off some of the beautiful things that people have been making because wow! you guy are amazing!

One of the most popular post here on elsie marley is kid clothes week. I was inspired by this post from Soulemama where Amanda sewed one garment a night for a week for her daughter’s summer wardrobe. The goal I set for myself was just one hour a night (or day) spent in my studio working on summer clothes for my kids. It’s the getting started part that’s always been hard for me, so after that first hour was over I usually stayed another and by the end of the week I had a bunch of clothes for my kids. The momentum actually lasted for the next week and the one after too (I hoped it would continue through the summer, but evening cocktails on the deck killed it, oh well).

Now for the Challenge!

On the second week of May (May 10-17) I challenge you to spend an hour each day working on clothes for your kid’s–or kids’–summer wardrobe.  This challenge is great for those new to sewing and seasoned seamstresses alike–we all have trouble getting off the couch (or off the computer). Summer clothes are super easy and don’t take much time or fabric, so you might have a whole wardrobe by the time the week is up! edit to add: Sorry I didn’t mean to leave you southern hemisphere folks out–fall clothes are cute and easy too! You have three weeks to daydream about what to make and then after a lovely Mother’s Day where your children are beautiful and well behaved and give you very cute presents, you can sew some shorts or skirts or dresses or tank tops with some of that ridiculously cute fabric you have been saving.

If you are interested in playing along (sewing along?) just leave a comment or drop me an email. I will write up a big list of participants and their blogs–though, of course, you don’t need a blog to play along. I’ll try to make a button too, so you can show everyone you are in the kid clothes week challenge. From now until the second week in May I will post some tutorials for kid’s clothes that I’ve used or that I really like. So what do you think, sound good? Are you in?

I wanted to make some corduroy pants for my kids this fall and my son picked out this crazy purple called blackberry.  That was weeks ago. And it’s not like the fabric has been sitting around waiting for me to get to it. I have been working on these pants and his sister’s skirt for a good long while now. First it turns out that a yard and a half will no longer get me two pairs of pants like it used to, so the shorter one got the pants and the taller one had to settle for a skirt (luckily the tall one’s a girl). And then when I really looked at the fabric, though it is corduroy, it’s barely thicker than quilting cotton (damn you Joann’s and your cheap ass fabric) so I thought I’d try to line it. Which I’ve never done. And while we’re at it let’s try flat felled seams because hell I’ve never done those before either. Oh and pockets, they need pockets. All of this added up to my sewing machine permanently living on the dining room table, because I only have 10 minutes here and there to work, and now my hand wheel is covered in peanut butter.  Neither piece turned out great, but I was doing lots of things I didn’t really know how to do and made up the patterns as I went along, so really I shouldn’t be surprised.  Lining is hard. We live in Wisconsin and our winters are super cold, so I would love to line all the clothes I make, but I don’t know how. You would think it would be easy. In the vastness of the craft blog world there must be some “how to line clothes” tutorial . Isn’t there? I know I did the lining for the skirt wrong because it can stand up with no one in it and the ruffles aren’t very ruffly. And the pants lining was a little easier, but the hems were a pain in the butt because they were so thick. So they got warm, if a little half ass, purple clothes. All they care about is the purple, so whatever.

The heart pocket was my friend’s brilliant idea and my daughter loves it. And I love the bright blue stitching that I used on both garments and the buttons she chose. So they weren’t complete failures. Luckily I just bought the book “Carefree Clothes for Girl,” which is beautiful–and has patterns, because I learned I can’t just wing it. And to help with that problem I got “Design It Yourself Clothes: Patermaking simplified” from the library, which I just started to read and it’s awesome. My list of things to make get longer with every new craft book that comes out.

boy!

He was 5 days late, 5 excruciating days, but now he’s here and part of the family. This second son of mine is modeling his “if I make it the baby will come” outfit that I made in that last week of pregnancy. I stole pants and hat idea from Made by Rae, because I literally could have no other thoughts that week besides, “it’s it time yet? now? now is going to happen?”The hat reverses to a pink stripe because we didn’t know if it was a little man or a little lady. The pants are from an old tank top that is  super lightweight because it’s August and should be hot, right? The Midwest has decided what the hell let’s have fall early this year.

The booties I actually started when I was in labor and finished up this past week. They’re from the same pattern I made for a friend’s baby and they are just so stinking cute. And now I have a whole Von Trapp matching family!