Tag: sewing for my daughter

Self Drafted Dress For My Daughter

My last post was about my daughter and this one is as well, but so many changes and things have occurred between the two 🤣. She cut off most of her hair and donated it, her first phase of braces came off, she had a bad fall that resulted in a concussion, broken nose, whiplash, and full body aches and pains. She turned 11 and continues to grow out of clothes. She has been going to physical therapy for her body and concussion recovery, she had surgery to repair her nose break, and has slowly been getting back to regular life. She is such an amazing, tenderhearted kiddo, and I am so blessed to be her Mom. I love when she has an idea and I can make it happen. So when this beautiful fabric arrived, that I had plans for, and she saw it and could see a maxi dress, I did what I could to make it a reality.

The steps I took are very simple, and can easily be replicated into a skirt as well. I made this while our family was down with a week long flu bug, so my pictures are less than stellar, apologies for that, and I hope you can still see things clearly.

The first thing I did was measure for the finished length. So I simply ran a tape measure from her upperbust/underarm to her desired length (45″). Then I took several different elastic pieces and held them around her upperbust, to determine which felt the most secure and which fit best for her body. We decided on 1″ elastic (the exact one we used is EL57WH from Wawak). Once I knew the elastic width, I was able to add my casing measurements to the finished dress length.

For this elastic casing, I wanted everything enclosed so it would be more comfortable against the skin. I like to serge the top edge, then fold that 1/4″ over once. Then take that piece and fold it over the additional 1 & 1/4″ to make the casing. Because of this, I added 1.5″ to the finished 45″, plus 1/2″ for a hem, giving me a total length of 47″.

Since we were using elastic to pull it all together, we wanted to make sure we had enough fabric to give a slight gathered effect. To make it simple, we used the entire width of the fabric. So our final piece was 47″x 59″.

One of the things that grabbed both my daughter and my attention, was the single border print this fabric had. We both felt that it needed to be emphasized, and so we added a slit in the maxi, which allows for more movement as well as drawing the eye to that fun border. To determine the slit length, we just measured down from her upperbust/underarm to just above her knee/ mid thigh area (20″).

Now that we had all our measurements I was ready to cut. The first thing I did was to square up the fabric to make sure we had a pretty even starting point. Then I removed all the extra non printed selvedge.

Once it was squared up and selvedge removed, I measured out my 47″ length and then marked across the entire width of fabric (WOF). The fabric was wider than my cutting mat, so I used both my rotary and scissors, then cleaned up the scissor cutting since I’m not so good at that.

To sew it up you place the fabric right sides together, then measure out and mark your side seam/slit opening. We measured 20″ for my daughter, so I clipped it to just below that. Then I basted that to hold it together and for a quick length check before serging.

When making the slit you can do it several ways. For this fabric, print, and look I kept it simple and just serged it. I like to start at the slit, place the fabric under the pressure foot, and just start serging it up to the top of the dress. Then I tie off my serger tails. It leaves a nice finish, and since it kind of rolls the fabric into the slit, it keeps the slit more subtle. If you have basting stitches here, you can now remove them. Most of mine ended up serged in the seam, but those that didn’t, I removed.

As I said earlier, I like to serge the top of the elastic casing. So I did that next, being sure not to cut off any fabric. Then I folded that serged edge over, pressed it, and then folded it all over another 1.25″. Pressing and clipping as I went.

Once it was pressed and clipped I sewed an edgestitch all around the lower part of the casing, being sure to leave a few inches open so I could insert the elastic.

To determine the elastic length we started with her upperbust measurement and removed a few inches. Once we put it through the casing and added the fabric weight we determined we needed to remove more.

TIP: Since all elastic stretches differently and fabric weights will vary, I highly recommend basting your elastic and trying it on prior to closing your casing. No one wants that dress falling down 🙈🤣.

You can see my markings on the elastic where I basted, then marked it for the final stitching. Once I did that, I finished the edgestitching on the open portion of the casing.

I evenly distributed the gathers around the elastic, and then to prevent rolling during washing and wear, I added a few vertical lines of stitching, through the elastic, in a few places around the casing.

I was going to hem the dress, but my daughter wants me to leave it exactly as it is, fortunately with it being ITY, it doesn’t fray, and can be left unhemmed. It’s something that is easy to add at a later date if she changes her mind. Maybe even a rolled hem would be nice!

She was so happy when she tried it on and that makes my heart incredibly happy. I even think I have enough fabric to make myself a short skirt or a tank top. 🤞🏼

Fabric is Navy/White Single Border ITY from So Sew English Fabrics

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my sewing 💕

Tie Dye Twinning – 11th Hour Gear Joggers

With the sun here, everything gets hot to the touch, chairs, swings, slides, everything. My daughter was getting frustrated with the continual “back of the thigh burn” and she asked for some longer play shorts. Her requests were to have them just above her knees, relaxed fit, and with pockets. She also wanted to match with our puppy, so she picked a beautiful royal/aqua tie dye French Terry from So Sew English Fabrics.

I recently used the 11th hour gear jogger pattern for several pairs of joggers for her and my son. She really liked the fit so I just did a length modification to it, and added pockets.

To decide the length, she tried on her joggers, and I measured down from the crotch seam, to where she wanted them. This ended up being about 6″.

I measured down the 6″ from the crotch curve on the pattern piece, and added a new cut line. Since she gave me a 2″ area she wanted them to hit, I wasn’t worried about including seam allowance or hem.

Sewing tip: before cutting, I like to place my pattern pieces together, and ensure that the modification I did to the front and the back, will match on my side seams when sewn. Once I verified that mine matched, I sewed up the pattern per the jogger instructions.

Added a matching scARF for our “little” puppy, and done!

Enabler Alert – All Pattern Niche patterns are on 30% off sale until tomorrow (March 25th) with code SPRING30

The fabric is from So Sew English Fabrics, and they have $8.50 flat rate domestic shipping, for the month of March.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my sewing 💕

My Lost Blog Post – Unchartered waters

*** This was scheduled to post months ago, due to some error, it never went live. So please excuse the delay and inaccurate dates. ***

If you read my last blog post, you heard me talk about how my daughter is constantly growing. Well, as she is getting older, she is requesting different clothing and her needs are starting to change. When we had a recent talk about some new clothing she was feeling she needed, I had these horrid flash backs to my first shopping trips. I decided right then and there that I would try and sew her whatever I could and make things as comfortable for her as I possibly could.

I recently tested the Made for Mermaids Girls Ruby for their release, and my daughter loved it. So we talked and decided to use some Pinkfire Nike Dry-Fit fabric from The Fabric Fairy, and add an extra layer to the Ruby tank. She doesn’t need a whole lot so an extra layer was just the right addition for now.

I’ve never done anything like this and I didn’t have time to do my usual research, since we had an upcoming trip scheduled, so I just winged it. Of course, my machines all acted up, and I was far from happy with the results, but she loves the fit and the fabric and couldn’t care less about the funky, messed up stitching. Just look at this stitching 😂

To keep it simple, I measured down on her body, how far we wanted the extra front layer to sit, then did the exact shape of the front bodice piece, just at that shorter length, for her “shelf bra”. It ended up being about 3″ down from the armscyse.


I used some 1/4″ soft knit elastic, just a little shorter than the width of the bodice, and zig zag stitched it to the bottom of the “shelf bra” layer. Then I folded that raw edge up and when I serged up the shirt sides, I tucked the sides of the shelf bra layer in, to secure the fold. Since it’s folded up, the unfinished raw edge is against the bodice and she has a smooth comfy finish against her skin.

Once I had the shelf bra layer, serged into the side seam with the front and back bodice, I just treated it as one piece with the front bodice and added the neck and arm binding per the pattern directions.


She absolutely loves it and practically lived in it the entire week we were camping recently. This fabric is amazingly comfortable and the moisture wicking properties are perfect for our weather. She fell in love with the fabric base when her Dad and Brother got a bunch of new shirts from other color ways (you can read about their shirts here). I’m thinking I need to rectify the fact that I’m the only one that doesn’t have a shirt in this fabric 😂

The links in this post are not affiliate links.

Shorts, Shorts, and more Shorts

My daughter keeps growing and her wardrobe is in an almost constant rotation. Just when I think she has what she needs, she comes walking out of her room and I hear, “Mom, I grew again!”.

It’s usually when we are trying to run out the door or leaving on a trip, never the best times to sew. Fortunately, she likes the fit of the free Ginger Shorties from Sew Like My Mom. I can usually do a quick remeasure, reprint the few pages, cut and sew, and she has a new pair of shorts in under an hour. So the last time the scene played out, we went fabric shopping and I made her a few pairs, to hopefully buy some time.

This first pair was made from a Black Rainbow Foil Liverpool from So Sew English. She loves glitter and rainbow so these were a huge hit. I made her a coordinating Patterns for Pirates Jolly Roger Raglan in a purple French Terry I’ve had in my stash for a while.


This next pair was made from scraps from my recent Iris shorts ( you can see the sew along I did for them here). When she saw my shorts she fell in love with them and I was so happy I had enough scraps left to make her a pair of shorts, plus we got matching scrunchies, made by her. This fabric is a Scuba from So Sew English.

She picked a neon pink bullet from Sincerely Rylee for her third pair. She loves how it looks with her Sassy shirt and the bunny shirt she made for her birthday, back in April. She raided my stash for a coordinating fabric to make herself a headband too.


I am so glad that these are such quick sews!! You can see my time lapse of the scuba pair here.

Maybe these three pairs will last her through the rest of our warm weather, fingers crossed.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. 

Camocozy – Hoodies for Two

When we went to California back in April, for our family vacation, we had the pleasure of visiting the So Sew English fabric warehouse. You can read about it here. While we were there, Amanda generously gave my kids some fabric. One of the fabrics my daughter picked was a spiral tie dye French Terry. As soon as we got home she told me she wanted it as a hoodie. Unfortunately, our weather was already too hot for hoodies, so it had to wait. A recent family camping trip to the mountains was the perfect opportunity for me to make her hoodie and she was even able to wear it a little.

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As she is getting older, she is developing her own style and I try to allow her to pick what she wants, as much as I can. It’s so fun to see how she pairs things and her personal style.

For this hoodie she picked the girls Tami Revolution from New Horizons Designs. It has several options for the hood; double hood, crossover hood, and standard hood. You can do a pullover option or have a front zip up. It has regular cuffs or thumbhole cuffs, and an optional shoulder accent zipper. You also have the option of doing no pockets, side inseam pockets, or a kangaroo pocket.

For her hoodie, she chose the pullover with a double hood, inseam pockets, and the regular cuffs.

Last year we got this pink quilted fabric from So Sew English and made her a vest with it. Fortunately we had enough left to use it as the coordinating fabric for her hoodie. The exact quilted is no longer in stock, but there are several other quilted options in stock currently. This pink was the perfect complement to the spiral tie dye and she chose to use it for the body and the inner hood.

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Since his sister was getting a new hoodie and he had another growth spurt, it was the perfect time to make my son a new hoodie too.

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He really liked the raglan sleeves on the Tami, but since it is a bit more shaped at his size, it wouldn’t have fit him quite right.

I asked the New Horizons team about the fit for him and they suggested mashing the Streamline Tee body with the Tami hood. It worked so well!!

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I simply did his size Streamline Tee and matched it with the similar size standard hood from the girls Tami Revolution. My son has a good size head and other hoodies have been snug for him to get over his head. This specific combo gave him room to get it over his head and with the overlap in the front, it keeps it from gapping and looking sloppy. The Streamline Tee is a standard raglan with both short and long sleeve options. Since it fits him so well we will definitely be making regular shirts from this pattern too.

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Just like his sister, he loves to shop for fabric in my stash and online. I have found he likes similar combos as I do, and in this case, he actually picked fabric I had been saving for myself.

This blue camo French Terry has been in my stash for several years and I am so happy I used it for him. It fits his personality to a T and he couldn’t be happier with the end result. He picked the blue brushed French Terry from last year, as the coordinate. He says they are both so soft and he is “camocozy”.

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When we were taking pictures, he kept telling me to “Take this pose Mom!” and “Here is another one!”. We had fun taking these pictures and I hope you enjoy his poses and looks as much as we did.

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The spiral tie dye French Terry is available in a bundle. The rest of the fabrics I used from So Sew English are currently out of stock, but there are several other quilted, brushed French Terry, and regular French Terry still available for you to create your own inspired combos.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Let’s be honest, we all know it goes right back to adding to my fabric stash. All opinions on this blog are my own.

 

April Spring Capsule Challenge, in May

When I sew, I usually try to make complete outfits or separates that I can add to my current wardrobe. I see it as a way to freshen up my wardrobe or allow it to transition into another season without too much effort. I have never made a full capsule, unless you count my, “I’m going on vacation and need new clothes”, as a capsule.

When So Sew English Fabrics hosted a Spring Capsule Challenge last month, the idea appealed to me but I decided to skip it since I already had my sewing list for the month. If you are a list maker like me, you know how it is always longer than the time we have to sew.

Then, when I was scrolling facebook one afternoon, my daughter was reading over my shoulder and piped up with, “Ohhh a capsule wardrobe? That sounds like fun! Mom, can you do one for me? My clothes don’t fit.” Off we went to shop the site and see what she could put together. I let her pick her fabric, patterns, and how she was going to wear them together. The rules were that you had to make 6 items, one of which needed to be a bottom (pants, skirt, shorts, etc). This is what she picked.

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The fabric arrived. life happened , my health struggled, and the fabric sat. In a pretty, cordinated, freshly washed and folded pile, it sat. Just when I was getting caught up, my machines started acting up. But finally, it happened, her capsule was done, and only a month after the challenge. 😆

She didn’t have any comfy shorts so she chose two pairs for her capsule. I used the same free pattern for both, The Ginger Shorties from Sew Like My Mom. This was our first time using one of their patterns and it sewed up quickly. She wanted a rolled hem look, so that was a slight modification to the pattern, otherwise we did it as written.

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For this first pair we used cotton spandex heavy french terry, the same I used for my leggings in this post. This fabric is no longer in stock, but there is another that is equally amazing still available. She paired it with the Patterns for Pirates heart breaker cami, in lavender cotton modal spandex. The heartbreaker cami has a few different strap and ruffle options as well as different lengths. There is even a matching adult version. This fabric was super easy to sew up and with the cotton content it will be a great top for summer.

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She really loves the addition of the front ruffle and how it took a simple tank to a dressier look. Pssst, it was super simple to do too.

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She picked the Made for Mermaids Kelli Kimono in this gorgeous lavender beth wool dobby woven, to wear over the tank and short outfit. She gets chilled easily so she wanted to have a lightweight option to add to it.

For the second shirt she picked lilac cassidy venezia ITY. This is her first shirt from ITY and she kept talking about how smooth and cool it felt, ha ha ha. Yes dear, that’s why I like it so much. We used the Kaitlyn tank from CKC Patterns. This is a repeat pattern for us both, and this newest one didn’t disappoint.

To wear her ITY top again, she added the second pair of Ginger shorties. For this pair she chose solid fuchsia ponte. I offered to add some pockets to this pair but she opted for some on her “next pairs”. I think I’ve created a monster.

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She also asked for a rolled up hem on this Ponte pair.

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When she was shopping for fabric she fell in love with this white butterfly floral venezia ITY. She wasn’t sure what ITY was at first, so I took her to my closet and showed her a few of my ITY items. She gasped and said, “That dress!! Can you make me one like that?”. Fortunately the pattern I used for my dress, also comes in girls sizes, so I was able to make that happen. I used the Annelaine girls Lexington. The Lexington has a few length options for the skirt and some different sleeves as well. For this one, we did the tank option with the high-low hem skirt.

I have to mention that both these ITY’s have such vibrant colors, but the butterfly floral one, it’s almost as though the print is popping off the fabric. They are just so beautiful!

I am really quite impressed with how she picked her outfits and the patterns she chose for each one. I kind of want to copy them for myself now. 😆

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All fabrics were from So Sew English Fabrics.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you make a purchase through that link, I may get a % back, at no additional cost to you. Let’s be honest, we all know it goes right back to adding to my fabric stash. All opinions on this blog are my own.