CHILDRENS Archives — megan nielsen design diary

Introducing the Mini Eucalypt woven tank and dress!

09.11.2019 by Meg // Leave a Comment

Introducing the Mini Eucalypt woven tank and dress sewing pattern by Megan Nielsen!

This pattern has been in the works so long i’ve actually lost track of how long – but I am so excited to be able to share it with you now!

Mini Eucalypt is a hardworking wardrobe staple woven tank top and dress pattern. This is absolutely 100% the most used kids pattern in my house. I have used it to make my girls endless summer tops and dresses and even pajamas! I’ve hacked it to make gathered dresses and crop tops and it’s basically the base i start with when i make them anything woven.

This is a fantastic beginner pattern that will help you learn new techniques or if you’re an experienced sewer, is a super quick and satisfying make. It uses very little little fabric and is my favourite way to use up my scraps – i turn them into bias binding to use as the facings. If you need some extra help sewing, all of the Eucalypt pattern tutorials will apply to this pattern as well.

Lets run through what’s included in the pattern.

Introducing the Mini Eucalypt woven tank and dress sewing pattern by Megan Nielsen!

View A is a woven tank top // View B is a woven tank with centre front seam

This is probably the view we use the most. It’s a fabulous little summer top that is quick to sew and uses minimal fabric. I love using this to make my girls summer pjs as well as tops. one of my favourite hacks is to slash the pattern half way down the side seam and add a gathered skirt. It makes such a lovely dress!

Introducing the Mini Eucalypt woven tank and dress sewing pattern by Megan Nielsen!

View C is a woven tank dress

This basic tank dress is a great summer dress option, and i’ve also used it to make super cut nighties for my girls. The fit is roomy which makes it easier to slip on and off over their heads.

Introducing the Mini Eucalypt woven tank and dress sewing pattern by Megan Nielsen!

View D is a woven tank dress with centre front seam

For some reason i love sewing View D in a heavier fabric with feature stopstitching to use as a pinafore style dress. One of the great things about the loose fit of this pattern is that it’s incredibly easy to layer over long sleeves for winter which helps to stretch your little ones wardrobe.

If you want to try adding something down the centre front this is a great option – we’ve even done tutorials on the blog for how to add button plackets to the adult Eucalypt and the steps are the same!

Introducing the Mini Eucalypt woven tank and dress sewing pattern by Megan Nielsen!

I love sewing up these tops and dresses in my leftover fabrics. The simple lines really allow the fabric to be the feature, and the fit is so roomy and comfortable that it’s always a hit with the kids.

I really hope you love this pattern as much as i enjoy it!

We’d love to see what you’re creating from the new Mini Eucalypt pattern ! Don’t forget to tag your creations #MNminieucalypt and @megannielsenpatterns to share what you’ve been working on, and check out what everyone else is up to!

Don’t have the pattern yet? Order Mini Eucalypt today!

Introducing the Mini Cottesloe swimsuit!

09.10.2019 by Meg // 2 Comments

Megan Nielsen Mini Cottesloe swimsuit! Four super adorable and practical kids swimsuit variations in one great pattern!

I’m so excited to introduce you to the Mini Cottesloe swimsuit pattern! I started working on this pattern very shortly after I began work on the womens pattern. Making my own swimsuits made me extra irritated when I couldn’t find appropriate swimsuits for my girls. After an incredibly frustrating experience trying to find Bunny a bikini that she could swim laps in that was athletic and age appropriate, she asked if she could have the same one i had made myself. I love it when my kids ask me to make things! So I got to work and from the very first samples i could tell i was going to love this pattern for my girls.

Mini Cottesloe has been thoughtfully designed with age appropriate details and active little lifestyles in mind. The views in this pattern roughly align with the adult pattern, but with adjustments to the design for little ones. What I love about this pattern is that not only does it make adorable, practical and comfy swimsuits – but you can use it for so many other things too! By changing your fabric choice you can make leotards, underwear, trainer crop tops – there are so many options!

Lets have a closer look at all the views!

Megan Nielsen Mini Cottesloe swimsuit! Four super adorable and practical kids swimsuit variations in one great pattern!

View A is a one piece swimsuit with back ties

This is Birdie’s favourite view! View A includes a low back and back ties and is able to be fully lined if you need it to be. You can easily omit the ties if you would like, but for kids I would recommend keeping them as they are such active little souls that I think the extra security is necessary to stop the straps slipping off when they jumping around.

Megan Nielsen Mini Cottesloe swimsuit! Four super adorable and practical kids swimsuit variations in one great pattern!

View B is a high back one piece

This is your classic one piece swimsuit and you really can’t go wrong with it. This is a fabulous option if your child is swimming laps in or you just want something with clean lines that shows off your swim fabric. You can also use this view to make gorgeous leotards for dance classes, and we’ve already had some testers report doing this with excellent results. As with all views you can fully line this swimsuit and instructions are included in the pattern.

Megan Nielsen Mini Cottesloe swimsuit! Four super adorable and practical kids swimsuit variations in one great pattern!

View C is a low rise bikini

This is Bunny’s favourite view! Bunny loves wearing a bikini to swim because it’s so much easier for bathroom breaks. Especially when school swim lessons come around every year, its much easier to wear under her uniform until it’s lesson time. The bikini top for the mini pattern is longer line that the adult pattern and provides a bit more coverage to make it child appropriate. It’s also worth mentioning that the low rise here isn’t as low on the adult pattern, again to make it more kid friendly. This is a fantastic view for using as underwear and i’ve used the bottoms especially to make my girls so many pairs of comfy undies from my knit fabric scraps. We’ve also used the bikini top to make Bunny some cute trainer crop tops as she is entering that preteen stage of life. As with the adult pattern this view includes an optional wide waistband if you would like it. I highly recommend trying this view!

Megan Nielsen Mini Cottesloe swimsuit! Four super adorable and practical kids swimsuit variations in one great pattern!

View D is a high waisted bikini with bands

Much like the adult pattern this view includes a higher waistline and wide waistband as well as a wide underbust band. As with all views this one can be fully lined. Birdie is not really fan of bikinis in general as she doesn’t like her tummy out, so this is her preferred bikini view as it only really shows a small amount of abdomen. So possibly a really good option if you want the benefits of a bikini (easy bathroom breaks) without being too exposed.

It’s also super easy to take the bikini top from View C or D and lengthen it to a tankini OR add a circle skirt or gathered rectangle to the bikini top to make a cute skater dress for summer. Honestly the amount of hacking potential in this pattern is beyond silly ;)

If you need some extra help constructing your suit, you can follow the Cottesloe swimsuit sewalong as all the steps are exactly the same with the exception of the shelf bra as that isn’t necessary for this age group.

If you’re wondering about how this pattern flows into the adult pattern, as with all my childrens patterns it’s been carefully graded so that once your child has grown beyond the size 12, they should be ready to step right into the women’s size 0.

Megan Nielsen Mini Cottesloe swimsuit! Four super adorable and practical kids swimsuit variations in one great pattern!

I love this pattern SO much and honestly wouldn’t want to put my girls in anything else anymore. I hope you enjoy making it up as much as I do! If you’re wondering about the adorable swim lycra i have used for these samples they are all from Ellie Whittaker studio.

We’d love to see what you’re creating from the new Mini Cottesloe Swimsuit pattern ! Don’t forget to tag your creations #MNminicottesloe and @megannielsenpatterns to share what you’ve been working on, and check out what everyone else is up to!

Don’t have the pattern yet? Order Mini Cottesloe today!

Bathers at Bunker Bay

04.28.2019 by Meg // 3 Comments

Megan Nielsen handmade swimsuits at Bunker Bay WA

Last year for my Dad’s 60th we went to Bunker Bay in Western Australia to celebrate and had the most wonderful magical time playing on the beach and exploring the sights. I made new swimsuits for Bunny, Birdie and myself, and now that I’ve released the Cottesloe swimsuit pattern I can finally show you a few family photos of us enjoying our swimsuits on holiday!

For myself I made the View D bikini – this is the high waisted bikini with wide waistband and wide underbust band. I actually didn’t include a waistband in this set initially, instead opting to use 1/4″ elastic at the waistline as you would do for View C. After a while of wearing it this way I found I didn’t really like it and much preferred my suits with the wide waistband, so I unpicked the waist and added the waistband. Super easy. Isn’t that the great thing about sewing? I love being able to alter my clothing whenever I want! I actually used an athletic fabric here from Sew Active Fabrics as a bit of an experiment (this one), and gosh it works well!

You probably recognise the fabric from our View C pattern sample. I loved this fabric so much I couldn’t help but use it again in our samples! I’ve worn this swimsuit swimming in the ocean and the pool and everywhere for two years and it still looks brand new. I even use the top as a sports bra! I’m pretty tempted to try more active wear fabrics for swimwear from now on. It feels so supportive and didn’t need any lining so that’s another win in my book.

Megan Nielsen handmade swimsuits at Bunker Bay WA

For Bunny I made her a bikini crop top to go under her rashie, bikini bottoms and a matching rashie. The rashie was self drafted but for the bikini top and bikini bottoms I used the Peekaboo classic panties pattern and it worked really well! By the time I made Birdies i got a bit smarter and instead of drafting a whole new pattern for the rashie I just used the Mini Briar tee as my base and it sewed up like a dream! Her bikini bottoms are also the Peekaboo classic panties pattern. Poor Buddy missed out this time on a handmade suit as I honestly couldn’t find any good boys swimsuit fabric. It was so frustrating!

I bought swim lycra for both of these swim sets at Tessuti fabrics and though Birdie’s suit has lasted really well, Bunny’s is absolutely shredded. This is one of the ways that I learnt that swim lycra is fantastic but has it’s limitations. Bunny does weekly swim lessons year round, and I think that just sped up the natural rate of decay for swim lycra. Birdie’s set on the other hand is still perfect.

This year when I made my kids new rashies and swimmers for summer I ended up purchasing the rashie pattern from Peekaboo patterns. I would definitely recommend that rashie pattern – it’s fantastic!

Megan Nielsen handmade swimsuits at Bunker Bay WA

So that’s a little run down of our handmade swimsuits! I haven’t got photos of me wearing my other Cottesloe swimsuits, so i’ll try and take some flat lays so i can show you what they look like! I may or may not have made Bunny and I matching swim sets…

Megan Nielsen handmade swimsuits at Bunker Bay WA

Boo Designs rashies for the kiddos

02.13.2019 by Meg // 5 Comments

Boo Designs Rashie's made using Ellie Whittaker Creamy Ice Dreamy swim lycra // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

We’ve just finished up the summer school holidays here in Australia which for us means the end of a busy beach season. My kids do beach swim lessons every summer holidays, which is possibly our favourite holiday activity. Surf safety is a big deal when you live near the ocean, and knowing the kids are learning valuable ocean skills goes a long way to putting my mind at ease – and of course it’s a great excuse to spend every morning on the coast!

Last year I made my girls rashie and swimmer sets to wear to the beach (unfortunately I haven’t blogged them yet) and though the girls loved them, they’ve grown out of them! When I first made them I used self drafted patterns, and it was a lot of work. And then something irritating happened – I lost them. Cue temper tantrum. I honestly couldn’t bring myself to start the process over, and decided that this year I would choose a pattern from another designer who had already put all the hard work into creating something awesome.

Boo Designs Rashie's made using Ellie Whittaker Creamy Ice Dreamy swim lycra // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

I went on a bit of a hunt and ended up really liking the Boo Designs swimmers pattern. It made me really happy that I didn’t waste my time trying to draft my own pattern (again hahaha) – this pattern has it ALL. It’s got a Classic Rashie, Raglan Rashie, Togs (one-piece swimsuit), Tankini, Bikini, unisex Shorties, Classic Briefs and Contrast Briefs – all in sizes 2-10. Though Bunny is a size 10 right now and the top of the size range, I figure there are so many options here I’ll end up using this pattern over and over again for Birdie and Buddy. Bunny already wants me to make her the tankini for school swim lessons this term, so I can tell this pattern is a winner with the kids too.

I have a tendency to feel like I should draft everything myself, but this was a really good lesson for me that sometimes I should stop and consider whether it’s actually sensible to do that. I could have saved a lot of time last year if I’d used this pattern and I think I enjoyed sewing these more because the pressure was off and I could just cut out the sizes I needed and enjoy sewing. And I really really enjoyed using this pattern! I made Bunny and Birdie semi matching rashies using Ellie Whittakers Creamy Ice Dreamy swim lycra in purple and blue colourways. I let them choose the combos, and Birdie went for Blue body, and purple arms/neckband, and Bunny chose purple body and blue arms and blue arms/neckband. For Buddy I used some leftover fabric I had from Sew Active fabrics. Though Buddy’s fabric wasn’t technically swim specific fabric, it’s a high quality sports poly and given the fabric composition I know it’s going to last really well. Finding swim fabrics for boys has been quite hard, so I was happy to make this compromise. Though I have a sneaking suspicion that his will be longer lasting. I ran out of fabric for his sleeves so I ended up splicing together pieces and adding some topstitching. I love turning a necessary hack into a design feature!

I added some Kylie and the Machine labels to the back of the rashies so the kids could tell which way round they go when dressing. For the girls I used the rainbow handmade labels and for Buddy I used the hand made label – both available in my store. I used this project as another opportunity to get used to my coverstitch machine. I think It’s going a lot better now that I’m using woolly nylon in it. I think my relationship with my coverstitch is a bit strained – it’s taking me some time to fall in love, but in situations like this it was a real help.

Boo Designs Rashie's made using Ellie Whittaker Creamy Ice Dreamy swim lycra // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

I didn’t take any snaps of the kids wearing their rashies at swim lessons because I’m always wary of not including other peoples kids in my photos and it was a bit impossible to achieve that on days with the beach so crowded. So instead here are some photos of them in action at my favourite spot in the world, Matilda Bay on the Swan River. We have a tradition of coming here for a picnic as a family on our wedding anniversary each year, and it really was a beautiful afternoon celebrating with the kids making giant sand castles and swimming with the swans.

Boo Designs Rashie's made using Ellie Whittaker Creamy Ice Dreamy swim lycra // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

Christmas Pajamas 2018!

11.25.2018 by Meg // 4 Comments

Christmas Pajamas in Ellie Whittaker Gone Coastal Fabric

I am feeling rather smug and incredibly proud of myself because I have finished my kids Christmas pajamas over a month before Christmas! I’m usually sewing them on December 23rd in a mad panic, so being finished so early has feeling like it’s time for a happy dance!

It’s become a bit of a tradition for us to give the kids new pajamas on Christmas eve, so they can wear them on Christmas day. They really look forward to it and I really enjoy knowing they will all be wearing cute matching outfits when i inevitably paparazzi them as they open their gifts.

Since we live in a hot climate, they are always summer PJ’s and somehow sewing summer PJ’s in snowflakey, snowman, nothern hemisphere winter themed fabric just feels super weird. So i usually just go with something cute and summery. This year my lovely friend Ellie Whittaker sent me some of her new fabric line to play with, and the second I saw it I knew I had found the fabric for my kids Christmas Pajamas!

For the girls I made them matching mini Eucalypt tanks and shorts – both are kids patterns I have been developing slowly the last few years, and I’m really loving how they are fitting.

Christmas Pajamas in Ellie Whittaker Seabirds Fabric

For Buddy I made him some shorts with the same pattern I made for the girls using Ellie’s Seabirds print, and a grey knit tank top using the Oliver & S Schoolbus Tee with the sleeves left off. Our summer nights are so hot, even sleeves are a bit too much to be honest. I bound the neckline and armholes with grey ribbing to match. I usually add a patch pocket to Buddy’s PJ tops to make his shorts match better with his top – but it just didn’t look right this time, so a plain tank top it is! I was quite happy with the Oliver and S pattern – though the fit is close and sleeves do look really small to me. I think i may need to size up if i make Bud a tee with sleeves, as he usually likes his tee’s loose and breezy.

My lovely friend Kylie sent me some of our gorgeous labels to try and i couldn’t resist adding these “Yo Mama made it” tags to Buddy’s PJ’s! I plan to add the “This is the Back” ones to the girls, but haven’t gotten there yet. My kids are super sensitive to labels in their clothing, so i generally sew labels on the outside of their clothing. It works for us – but when the labels are this cute I mean why wouldn’t you want to show them off!

Christmas Pajamas in Ellie Whittaker Gone Coastal Fabric

Bunny and Birdie’s PJ’s are made from the Gone Coastal print and they both spent an inordinate amount of time choosing which part of this fabulous print they wanted where. Beyond the fact that at 4 and 10 their PJ’s are quite obviously very different sizes – i love that they look a bit different due to their personal choice of print placement. I just love this print so much – i think it’s the epitome of Aussie summer in a print which makes it perfect for our Christmas time.

I finished the necklines and arms of the tanks with bias tape made from all the offcuts of fabric left after cutting.

Christmas Pajamas in Ellie Whittaker Seabirds Fabric All Ellie Whittaker fabrics officially launch today on her website – I used the super soft cotton sateen for these PJ’s, but most prints are also available in swim lycra or canvas. I also have some of her creamy ice dreamy fabric in the swim lycra which i’ve been making the girls the most adorable swimmers with! They’re looking wayyyyyy too cute and I can’t wait to show you!