Dress-up Clothes

Two years ago just before Jenna was born, I started sewing dress-up 

clothes for Emily. She was two years old and beginning to be very 

interested in pretend play. So I began with simple things in response 

to whatever she was playing at the time. She was cooking and baking 

a lot, both with plastic food and real dough with me in the kitchen, 

so I made her an apron, chef's hat and oven mitts

which she wore even when not playing kitchen. 

Perhaps because it was her only dress-up outfit at the time.

Then she wanted a medical career, and a library book about a 

fictitious Dr Amy Baker so captivated her that she became Dr. Baker. 

So she got a lab coat to go with her doctor accessories 

(no, I did not make the bag).

Then Jenna was born, and life was a flurry of feeding, restless nights 

and adjusting to life with two small children. 

No fancy sewing for a while - just good old bibs.

The following Halloween, Emily wanted to go trick-or-treating, 

and she wanted to go as a princess. In the cold. So I made her a 

princess outfit from strips of fleece in my remnant box (hence 

the panel skirt). The more I worked at it, the more paranoid I 

became that she would freeze in it, and the more elaborate the 

project became as I added more stuff to it - longer sleeves, then 

a shiny cloak, then a fleece lining to the cloak.

And just for the sake of completeness, I also made a tiara from 

chenille stems and whatever plastic beads we had in the house, 

using this tutorial. Emily never wore the tiara but it was fun 

to make it anyway.

She did wear the dress, though, over a turtleneck and pants. And 

even with the cape, she greeted the neighbors on her rounds 

through chattering teeth. 

Then Kate was born and, as with Jenna, I reverted to comfort 

sewing (i.e. bibs). And conveniently, Emily took a break from career 

exploration and embraced commercial girlishness, contentedly 

alternating between Princess and Ballerina, with the occasional 

Fairy variation. This fairy skirt is simply strips of fabric sewed 

onto an elastic waistband.

But with the typical attention span of a preschooler, she was soon back 

to trying out non-traditional careers, pulling Jenna along for the ride 

as well. So one Bob-the-Builder day, I was moved to 

make them both toolbelts. 

And henceforth, with two dresser-uppers, I now had to make 

two of everything, like these felt-and-ribbon star wands

and doubles of stuff Emily already has, so they could be, 

in Jenna's words, "twins together".

Halloween is almost upon us again, and Emily is entertaining 

unfeasible costume ideas, totally inappropriate for October 

temperatures on this side of the world. Am planning to use peer 

pressure on her and convince her to dress in normal clothes 

like the rest of the neighbors.

And finally, here's a kitchen ensemble for the daughter of a friend

(Look out for them in the post, G!). 

These are (I think) improved versions 

of the adjustable chef's hat,

elasticized apron,

oven mitts that actually fit

and a canvas tool belt for her son

Will post tutorials for these soon, for those interested in making them.

What career dress-up clothes or costumes shall I make next? 

As the three girls get older, the possibilities are endless - 

although the Three Little Pigs come immediately to mind.

I'd love to hear your ideas!

Two quick projects

Mum and Dad are here visiting so I've been busy hanging out 

with them. In the course of all our happy wanderings about town, 

the inconsistency of the kids' naps has left my sewing table slightly 

dusty from disuse. Still, kids must sleep at some point, so during 

those spare moments, I've been working on several unrelated small 

projects. Here's another batch of baby gifts for a friend-of-a-friend 

in Illinois, sent out just today. These were not made recently- I just 

picked them out them from my stash of stuff:

A fall linen dress for Emily's birthday. 

This was adapted from that peasant dress pattern in an earlier 

post in preparation for the cooler fall days ahead. 

More projects, pictures and tutorials coming soon 

- check back again soon.

How To Sew Shorts

One of the nicest things about summer is being able to sew dresses, shorts and other light, breezy and happy kids' clothes. I did some calculations and decided that the cost of sewing shorts isn't substantially less than buying similar ones from stores like Target. So rather than the savings, it ended up being more about the time of year we needed them. We make a yearly trip to tropical Singapore in the middle of winter here where we live and I always find that last summer's shorts are already too small to pack for this year's vacation. And since it is near impossible to find shorts in the stores in February, the alternative to wearing climate-inappropriate clothing is to sew shorts for the kids for their trip.

These shorts have elasticized waists which are extremely useful for potty-training, and can be cut and sewn in half an hour, provided there are no small children needing a snack, Band-aid or to be read a storybook nearby.

For one pair of shorts you will need:

• Half a yard of fabric
  
• 18" - 22" of 1" elastic (wrap the length of elastic around your child's waist to desired snugness and cut, giving an additional 1.5" for overlapping at the ends)
  
• A large safety pin (like a diaper pin)
  

in addition to a sewing machine and matching thread.

You can make your own pattern from a pair of shorts that fit well, or you can use mine below. Sorry they aren't pdf files - I haven't got a clue how to upload those. If you can print them out so they fill a US letter size paper, they'll be the right size. This pattern is for a 3-year old, so size it up or down for children of different ages.

The numbers in the pictures below indicate the sewing sequence so if you are already used to cutting and sewing fabric, you can ignore all the texty instructions and just follow the numbers as a guide to assembling the pieces.

How To Sew Shorts

• Fold fabric lengthwise (selvedge to selvedge) and cut out two front pieces and two back pieces. The length of the pattern should be parallel to the selvedges. So in the picture below, the selvedges were vertical.
  

• Place a front piece and a back piece together with right sides of the fabric facing in. Do the same for the other pair of front and back pieces.
  

Sewing Step 1
Sew the short inseam of each pair as shown.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the edges to prevent fraying.

Sewing Step 2

Line up the long sides of each pair and sew together.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the edges.

You have just made two "tubes" - one for each of the wearer's legs.

• Turn one tube right-side out
  

• Flip that tube over and insert it in between the layers of the other tube.
  

• Line up the edges of the U-shaped center seam
  

Sewing Step 3

Sew the edges of these two tubes together all along the U.

The aim of this step is to connect the two separate tubes

in the earlier picture to each other.

Serge or zig-zag stitch the seam edges.

• Turn the shorts right side out - looks almost finished!
  

Sewing Step 4

Fold in the bottom edge of each leg 1/4" (1st fold) and then

fold over again 3/8" (2nd fold) to make a hem about 3/8" wide.

Top stitch all around the hem.

• A close-up of the leg hem showing the top stitching.
  

• The waistband is essentially a casing for the 1" elastic. So fold down about 1 1/4" of fabric as shown, and tuck in 1/4" of the edge

• to make a hem that's a little wider than 1".
  
• Here is a close-up of the 1"-wide folded hem with the elastic for reference.
  

Sewing Step 5

Top stitch close to the edge of the hem, so that the finished width

of the hem is adequate for the elastic to fit inside it.

• Leave an opening of about 2" so the elastic can be threaded through the hem.
  

• Using the safety pin, thread the elastic through the hem, leaving both ends sticking out of the opening.

• Overlap 3/4" of both ends (i.e. total of 1.5") of the elastic, ensuring that it isn't twisted, and sew to join the ends.
  
• Top stitch the opening closed.
  

The finished shorts

worn by Emily who refused to let me pre-shrink

them in the wash first (see note below).

Some miscellaneous notes:

1. My favorite types of fabric for these shorts are knits - specifically, cotton-lycra blends with four-way-stretch. They sew easily, are not too flimsy and allow a lot of freedom of movement. I don't pre-wash the knit fabrics before cutting and sewing because they are easier to handle without all the curling edges. So the pattern I use makes allowances for shrinkage after washing. If you are using non-knit fabric, you will need to cut the pieces about 1/4" - 3/8" smaller all round the pattern.
2. The finished, unwashed shorts might fit loosely and hang rather low in the crotch at first. I usually fold the waistband over itself the first one or two times the kids wear them. After two or three washes, the shorts fit just right. It's odd but true.
   
3. Different elastic has different stretch, and some are "tighter" than others, and most shrink a bit in the wash. So give some allowance (1/2 to 3/4" should be sufficient) when measuring your child's waist for snugness. I like the no-roll elastic because it doesn't twist the waist hem around after a wash.
   
4. I use regular thread but I do use a needle for knits because regular needles pull on the fibers of knits.
5. These shorts work for little boys, too, especially if they are really little (like younger than 4), if you pick appropriate fabric prints (i.e. probably not floral!)
6. Although the back and front pieces are cut from two distinct patterns, the finished shorts are completely reversible - a feature of the knit material, I think. If you think your kids might be confused, you can always sew a tag under the waist hem at the back of the shorts. My kids don't particularly care.

Cardboard Car

Sorry everyone, for the long absence. 

We've been busy the past two weeks - first, we all had colds, 

and then my parents came, all the way from Singapore! 

They'll be here five weeks, which is absolutely lovely. 

So in recent days we were occupied with recovering and 

getting the house ready (i.e. repeatedly cleaning the same rooms 

of the same toys which seemed to magically reappear 

at the same places five minutes after putting them away).  

I've been making stuff - sewing mostly, but haven't had the time 

to put them in pictures. I even have a couple of tutorials ready to go, 

except I haven't gotten round to learning how to scan patterns 

into the new computer with the relatively new scanner 

(new to me, anyway). So once I've figured all that out,

 I'll post the tutorials. 

In the meantime, here's what we made today - 

a cardboard car for the kids. Usually when I make something, 

the ideas and plans churn in my head for a few days before 

I am ready to execute them. But yesterday, Emily decided 

she needed a cardboard car. And fast. Now, in fact. 

Managed to hold her off with the (true) excuse that we didn't 

have any boxes. But she wouldn't be put off, and the longer she waited, 

the more complicated and fancy her "car" idea became - first it was 

a car for her dolls, then it was a car for her and Jenna, then a car 

for her and Jenna and their dolls with seat belts. Then it was 

a carriage with a roof. Then a sort of utility vehicle. 

Finally it was bedtime (phew).

And this morning she asked for the car again. And I thought 

we'd better make it before she got enough ideas to ask for an 

amphibious-bus-cum-sedan-chair-cum-flying-saucer. So we set about 

making it, with no plans in my head except that it needed to have 

some nice wheels. Somehow found two diaper boxes (visible 

in the photo) and used them inside-out. Gives the kids a surface 

to decorate and avoids telling the whole world which stores 

we shop at for necessities. 

It essentially has two small boxes for bench seats, a smaller box 

for the engine/dashboard, two paper plates glued together 

for a steering wheel, a wooden disposable chopstick for the 

steering column, another box in back for a trunk/boot, and paper 

shapes for the headlamps, taillights and wheels/hubcaps. 

Grandma and I put it together (hooray for help!)

Emily drew in windows on the sides and decorated the trunk.

I realize it is about the boxiest car I've ever seen, but at least 

it's generic in shape. This way, with some imagination, it can 

be a fire truck, bobsled, canoe, race car, convertible, non-waterproof 

submarine, amphibious boat and bus! Perhaps even a princess 

carriage, if we decided it came from a zucchini rather than a pumpkin.

Baby Gifts and New Insanity

Lots of people having babies over the next few months 

so am sending out these baby gifts in the mail. Come this weekend, 

these little balls, bibs and fleece blankets will go to new homes. 

Am always excited when I hear of another happy event, 

not only because I think babies are great and smell nice, 

but also because it means my bib stash gets to shrink a little.

Since we are on the subject of baby stuff, I thought I'd share 

another obsession: these soft balls with a bell in the center 

and ribbon tags all over. I began making them almost three 

years ago when my eldest was teething. I'd noticed that many 

of her softies were unusually pristine save for their laundry tags, 

which were frayed, faded and perpetually damp. I decided then 

that the ideal teething toy was featureless (why waste time 

including ears, nose, hair etc?) but covered with these little tags. 

So set about sewing my favorite shape with folded ribbons and 

ric-rac trims sticking out- the more, the merrier. Then discovered that 

these already existed, and with sincere imitations all around, besides. 

And as blankets! Was gratified to know that there were other odd 

children out there with a tag fetish. So I kept sewing - and giving 

them away. Plus it was such a good way to use up bib remnants. 

The balls in the photos are just some of what I have left after giving 

many away. I finally stopped when I ran out of room to store them. 

Sadly, there is no similarly convenient limitation for bibs, which are 

flat, so that particular addiction has continued unchecked.

I have many happy memories of sewing these while Emily 

(my eldest) was napping. I had just moved into our new home 

and left all my childhood /teenhood sewing machines behind in 

mom's house. My mother-in-law, understanding only slightly 

my almost rabid need for a sewing machine in those early days even 

before we had furniture to speak of, loaned me her old Singer. 

I didn't feel quite ready to jump back in to sewing clothes, having taken 

too long a break from it while in paid employment, 

so baby stuff was the prefect re-entry project. 

When I grew a little bored of the balls, I tried some blocks

and blankets

Along with the balls, I've since given quite a few cubes and blankets 

away and these are what are left. Wish I'd taken pictures of those

 that have left for better homes but that was in the pre-blog days 

and it never crossed my mind that there'd be a reason to.

And here is evidence of further insanity: new fabric I've been 

buying over the past few weeks. Not exactly impulse buying, 

considering how long I stood in the store rationalizing buying 

them. I am pleased to say I know exactly what each piece will 

become. The challenge now is to find the time to make them 

before the weather changes and renders the particular garment useless.

These cotton-lycra knits will become shorts for little girls 

(or maybe pants if I don't get to them by the fall)

These are for secret projects for birthdays, 

so sadly I will have to reveal their outcome only later.

And these (shameful glee) will become more bibs!