Contemporary Sewing Patterns for the Modern Maker
Birdie decided what she wanted to be for Book Week over a year ago, and has been biding her time waiting for this moment. The Paw is one of Chris’ books from his childhood and has now become Birdie’s favourite book! It’s the story of a little girl called Leonie, who becomes a cat burglar at night, stealing caviar from the rich to feed stray cats. I was so excited to help bring her dream to live and I had so much fun making The Paw Book Week costume with all it’s over the top details!
Are you ready for this? Birdie loves her polka dot Mini Darling Ranges dress and she can’t stand still she is so excited! My girls have been so incredibly patient during the development phase of Mini Darling Ranges. I can’t even tell you how many samples they had to try on, how many fit photos were taken. For Birdie she kept falling in love with samples that she couldn’t keep yet as we were still using them. This dress was one of those samples. When Birdie tried it on in the development stage she absolutely fell in love with it and wanted to wear it immediately. But we hadn’t taken photos for the website yet. Remember when I told you the rules for sewing for kids?? This time we had to make sure we had our product images for the website before Birdie could wear her dress, and the poor kid did not take it well. She was desperate to wear it. So you can imagine the second she got the go ahead she was all over it! There was jumping, twirling, flossing and general overflowing pure joy – as you can see from these photos!
So you’ve decided to sew something for your little darling, what a great idea! If you are planning to make your children something handmade there are a few simple rules for making clothing for kids that you should follow. Do as I say not as I do ;)
I’ve been sitting on so many gorgeous Mini Darling Ranges makes waiting to release the pattern and I’m so excited that I get to share them all with you now! This is Bunny’s vintage sheet Mini Darling Ranges dress, and she has been wearing it constantly since we made it during the early testing days to the point where it is now – much shorter and very fitted haha. But to be honest, that’s what makes it a successful make to me. Anything that my child can wear for two years is a win – and if they love it so much that they want to wear it that long, even better!
There are many things I love about sewing for my kids. One is how much I enjoy seeing them wear what i’ve made them over and over and over again. Another is how little fabric kids clothing uses.
This project gave me both.
I made this Mini Jarrah for Buddy when we were working on the Mini Jarrah pattern, and almost immediately after I’d finished he asked for matching pants. You’ve got to love a kid that likes a matching set, and Buddy loves matching sweatsuits ;). Chris and I still disagree on whether this is casual wear or pajamas (Buddy and I say casual wear, Chris says pajamas haha).
For the pants I turned to my favourite kids sweatpants pattern, the Mini Hudson by True Bias. I’ve used this pattern so much for my kids and truly love it. It’s the perfect kids sweatpant!
I couldn’t believe my luck when I realised i could fit a pair of Mini Hudsons in the leftover fabric. I can’t decide if this is a happy accident or my past self being super organised and making sure to buy enough!
For this pair I really wanted to add contrast details and was really happy that I still had enough matching ribbing to do so. The fabric and ribbing are both See You at Six fabric which i purchased from Maai Design. At the waistband I used my favourite lazy trick of just sewing the cording to the waistband as faux ties. Yup I did that and I’m rather happy about it lol.
Buddy on the other hand would like you to know I made him tuck his shirt in for the below photo to show the waistband. He was not on board with this styling decision and would like that information to be noted on the record ;)
But though I adore the fabric used for this set, what i love most about this project is how much Buddy loves this set. He literally won’t stop wearing it in winter. You have to pry it out of his hands. The sweatpants were worn so much last year they developed a split in the centre back and i had to resew the centre back seam! That makes me really happy. I know I should be upset when my kids destroy clothing I’ve made them, but when the destruction comes about due to honest to goodness playing like a kid in the great outdoors – who could possibly be mad? Not me.
The cold weather is supposed to be starting in Perth soon (it’s hard to believe because it’s still so warm!) and I can’t wait to see this sweet little guy running around in his matching set 24/7 again.
