When I posted about my daughter's lackluster love of my homemade clothing for her, many of you gave suggestions to help solve this problem. I took that advice and let her pick out the fabric and the pattern. That was easy - why didn't I think of it before? She chose this cute fabric by Anna Griffin with bunnies. I even gave her a choice of a few dresses and she chose this easy McCall's pattern 5613 (view C). I made her the size 4 because she is a tall 3 year old, but it turned out quite a bit too big. So, I made a casing in the back top seam and added elastic to it which helped a lot. It is still a bit too big, but she can wear it. Before the elastic casing, it was so big that I don't know when it would fit her. She even tried it on and it's so full that she loved spinning around in it. It will look cute with her turquoise leggings. I think I am going to have more of a say a lot more often.
Traci, that is too cute! Your girl has good taste. I love that fabric!
ReplyDeleteIt is darling! I am sure your little princess will look perfect in it. How fun that she feels like she was part of it and know that you spent the time making it for her.
ReplyDeleteI bet she's getting so tall now. Wishing we could have a little play date with the kiddos and I could just sit and catch up with YOU!
I called last week and talked with Mr. B. He was so grown up on the phone. You were at girls camp. I am calling you this week. It's been too long!
That is super-dooper cute!!! I love it! My daughter is 2 and thankfully she loves wearing the clothes I make her (for now!) but I'm sure picking out the fabric really helps when they start to not want to wear what mama makes. If this happens with my daughter, she'll only own pink clothes!!!
ReplyDeleteLove the dress...especially that your daughter got to pick out the details. Fun.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad the advice worked for you. I was having the same problem with my daughter and tried the same thing--it didn't work. However, she does seem to always like the p.j.'s I make and I've resigned myself to that. She has started wearing a few things I made a year or so ago more often, so maybe she will start wearing more of it soon!
ReplyDeleteThe dress is darling!
Patterns from the "Big 4" (Simplicity, McCall's, Butterick, and Vogue) tend to have an absolutely ridiculous amount of ease in their kids patterns. They are almost always too big. I think the designers want some "growing in" room or something.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I always make a point of measuring the pattern pieces against my daughter before I choose a size.
She's 5 years old, sometimes wears up to an 8 in RTW tops and dresses, but I can sew her a 5 pattern size and it is just fine.
You can always add length easily to the pattern before cutting your fabric, but it's harder to take in the sides. That's my fitting rule - fit the chest/waist/hip circumference, then adjust length as needed.
I also made a mccalls pattern one size to big because well my daughter is 7 but it was so big and huge of a dress by the time I got done. So much gathering..I think I'm going to stick to simple sewing blogs now that don't call for 3 yards of fabric..
ReplyDeleteHi-just stumbled across your blog. Your daughter is adorable. When I was little, all of my clothes were sewn. To make it fun for me, my mom would sometimes make a cute doll with leftover fabric so I would have a doll to go with each dress. She would make the little doll first (nothing elaborate) and she would let me hold it while I stood completely still for the hem thing. She would only let me hold it if I stood still so she could get her business done. When I grew out of the dress, I still had the doll!! How cool!
ReplyDeleteShe sewed all my clothes until I was maybe mid teens, and these are some of my fondest memories of her. As an adult, knowing how much time (OMG, hand smocking!!) it took, really helps me appreciate her even more.
By all means, include her when you can. She will develop a life-long love of all things hand made and crafted. This was the greatest gift from my mom. Thanks for letting me share.