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.

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.

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.  

I have been in love with the Wiksten harem pants ever since Jenny started posted development shots of them on Instagram. You only have to check out the hashtag for this pattern to get bitten by the harem pants bug. Unfortunately by the time they were released Birdie was at the very top of the size range, and I was feeling bummed. But I loved them so much and Birdie is a small four year old so I decided to go for it anyway – and gosh am i glad i did!

These were such a quick and satisfying sew! They take a very small amount of fabric, and there are so few steps that i’m pretty sure i was done in under half an hour.

For this first pair I made them in a mystery fabric that I picked up at the Morrison outlet sale last year. I was told it was linen which is why i bought it, but the second i tried to press it, it became apparent that this was not linen or anything natural. It literally will not hold a press, and though these have been pressed and washed multiple times the seams still look spongey. It’s missing the usual polish I like from my makes, and I’ll probably only get over my frustration with this as soon as she grows out of them haha.

Since I was making a size 3 for a four year old I was feeling pretty nervous despite the fact that they seem very generously sized – so i sewed all the seams at 1/4″ with my overlocker and added some length (just an inch) so we could roll them up. That seems to be her preferred way to wear them too.

As you can see she has more than enough room in the legs, so i feel happy with simply sewing a smaller seam allowance. Isn’t it great when you find a simple hack?

It took me a bit of time to get used the silhouette on her. I’ve only seen these on smaller toddlers and babies, and i think they look quite different on a four year old. I was worried that she would be physically restricted or that it would just look like i made ill fitting pants. But now that she has worn them for a whole season i’m feeling pretty satisfied with her range of motion, and I’m really enjoying this different silhouette on her. She calls them her Taekwondo pants because they remind her of Buddy & Buddy’s uniforms.

Now that I’ve made a test run in cheap mystery fabric I’m going to crack out the floral Liberty print I’ve been hoarding for these. I’m so excited!

The only problem is that we are towards the end of the cold months now, and i’m wondering if it’s a waste to make more long pants. I probably should have gotten started earlier in the season, but I’ve just been so so busy with new pattern development that personal sewing fell to the wayside. I hate it when that happens!

What do you lovelies think? Should i just go for it? Logic be damned?!

Don’t you love it when you find an amazing pattern and you just want to use it over and over again? I honestly never thought that this would happen to me with a pattern from my childhood – but I am absolutely 100% obsessed with sewing Simplicity 5591 for Buddy.

This is a sweatshirt/sweatpants/tee pattern from the 80’s and we adore it. The first one I made was loved until he had a growth spurt and it became so short that I had to pass it down to his little sister (giving it to Birdie made him slightly happier about parting with it).

But this one, this is my favourite, and it’s Buddy’s favourite too!

I actually made it last year, so it’s now lasted two winters which is always a win in kids clothing. I hate it when i make them something that only lasts one season.

For this version I decide to add some detail to the front of the sweatshirt and i’m thrilled with how it turned out! Since Buddy was quite small if you asked him how he was doing he would say “awesome!”. I loved this so much that while i was working on the Mini Briar sweater pattern , i decided to include some slogan stencils that included two of my favourite Buddy and Bunny sayings. So when I made this sweatshirt i just used the slogan stencils from Mini Briar and it made life so easy! I simply cut out the letters in the sweatshirt fabric using the wrong side so that it would stand out more. To keep everything in place while i sewed the letters down i used my favourite trick – a washable kids glue stick! I just glued down the letters, let them dry and then sewed around the edge of the letters with a narrow zig zag stitch. After sewing it was a little wrinkled, so i gave the slogan a good press and it smoothed everything out beautifully.

The neckband, hem band and sleeve cuffs are all self fabric with the wrong side facing out. That’s one of my favourite sweatshirt tricks for when i can’t find just the right ribbing to match, often the wrong side of the fabric is just the contrast that’s needed.

This sweatshirt was worn constantly last winter and this winter and it’s still looking awesome! See what i did there ;)

Unfortunately this one is starting to look a bit short now too (i had originally made it a little longer than the first version). It will get us through the rest of this winter, but if he grows even a bit taller it will be too short. I’m going to be so sad when we have to retire it next year. Even worse, it means that this single sized pattern probably won’t work for him next year unless i set aside some time to grade it out. I don’t want to retire a favourite sweatshirt and a favourite pattern – the horror!

But hey, that’s next years problem!

I’m so happy that Buddy loves his sweater – and I love that it captures something so much a part of his quirky personality. Now when i asked him how he’s feeling he likes to point at his sweatershirt and just wink. And we both have a good giggle.

Keep being Awesome Bud!