Kids Clothes Week in Review - Spring 2014

This was my first time participating in Kids Clothes Week, and it was fun.  My week ended up turning into a stressful week, so I didn’t sew a couple nights (but I sewed more than the hour on the nights I did sew).  One word – taxes.  

Although I didn’t finish everything I wanted (which was less than my original list of possibilities), I did make progress.  

Here are my finishes:

Small Fry Skinny Jeans for Will (and already completed ones for Sam)

I had already made a first pair of this pattern for Sam (in size 4) using old jeans from my brother’s donation pile (yes, I totally went through that basket and took all the good stuff to remake for the boys).  They were regular denim weight American Eagle jeans.  They are wearable and work fine for now, but I think a stretch denim (as suggested on the pattern) would definitely help, as Sam says he can’t sit cross-legged as comfortably as usual.  He loves the lining fabric and will flip his waistband out to show you (I apologize for any undies flashing in advance).  I think next time I could maybe make a size 3 waistband since he’s so skinny.

I made Will’s jeans with the 12-18m length and the 18-24m width to fit his cloth diaper bum.  I think the thinner twill fabric (from the juvenile apparel section at JoAnn’s many moons ago) definitely helped make these more manageable.   He seems to have no problem in them.  

Both pairs of jeans survived a day at daycare, complete with grass stains.

You might notice their cuffs turned up in the pictures – it seems my boys both have shorter legs (this shouldn’t surprise me as they’re both built like their daddy with broad shoulders and a long torso).  That just means they’ll be able to wear their jeans longer.  

And, I love my labels.  I added size/info labels on the inside and a “brand” label on the outside.  They are just printed on white cotton with my home printer and heat set with the iron.  Sam’s outer label is too big for his waistband, and the elastic doesn’t help the look.  Will’s is better, as it’s located on the pocket.  I may be a nobody, but you never know if you might want to donate or yard sale the clothes later on or if someone will see the kids wearing their clothes and ask where they got them.  People like labels.

My newest problem (aside from one goofy model and another uncooperative model) is finding more shirts to coordinate with Will’s jeans. 

Will’s Easter Romper

This is my other finish of the week.  I made Simplicity 3852 View B (the baby romper) in the medium/12 month size.  The pattern is out of print but has been in my stash for several years.  I used a thrifted men’s button-down for the fabric, having plenty of material for the outfit.  Because I’m a ninny, I threw away the extra fabric and forgot to take the buttons off the shirt.  Luckily, I have buttons from several other shirts saved in my button drawer.  

This was a pretty straightforward sew, except for the front plackets.  I don’t know if it was my error or the fabric or what, but I spent half an hour trying to understand the directions and get the bottom of the front where the plackets meet to lay flat and proper.  It’s still not perfect, but it’s acceptable for a bubble-type romper.  

The romper fits overall; however, if Will gets too active, the bottom snaps pop open.  So as usual with the big company patterns, the sizing seems to be for a short, fat baby rather than my long torso, more slender babies.  Also, the use of snap tape probably doesn’t help – it seems to pop open more than other snaps of my experience.  Next time I’ll cut the 12m width and the 18m length and cut additional facings for the crotch areas so I can use diaper snaps rather than snap tape.  For Easter, I’m going to make up a teeny little extender tab to give him that extra bit of room.  

I found the bunny embroidery at a vintage embroidery website.  It is subtle but adds a touch of whimsy and heirloom to the romper.  I was a bit worried when I finished the pocket by itself, but it looks fine on the finished product.  Next time – assemble the pocket before embroidering.  If you look with a magnifying glass, you can see where I sewed the pocket over the embroidery (but my busy fabric helps hide it – thank goodness!).  

So that’s all I finished during Kids Clothes Week.  That romper took me longer than expected, and then I was slightly burnt out and had the taxes and some outdoor weeding and pruning to contend with. Oh well, that's life!