And who knew 'mother lode' was spelt 'mother lode' and not 'mother load'?! Not me until I did a spot of googling just then. Anyways... I am one lucky baby-mama because I have recently received not one, not two but THREE packages of baby/toddler sewing stuff from super lovely sewing bloggers. Up until now, I have mainly dressed her in secondhand and hand-me-down things because she's been growing too damn fast. But I plan to make more of her clothing myself as she gets bigger, with a dose charity shop scores and hand-me-downs for the difficult or boring to make things, and nana-knits for her knitwear. Which is just how I approach my own wardrobe I guess, save for the nana-knits.
So let me show you the awesomeness that I now have to work with! The top image is a whole of beautiful vintage sewing patterns that were sent to me by lovely Adey from The Sew Convert. Can you see that two of them have a nautical theme?! Amazing! She also sent me the four patterns in the bottom row of the image above (one of which I have just finished using, blog post on it's way...).
The top row of pattern in the image above were sent to me by fabulous Jenna from Just Sew Jenna. As you know, I have already used the romper pattern, and I can't wait to get stuck in to the others. She also sent me the fabric on the top row of the image below to incorporate into my makes.
The middle row of patterns were sent to me by wonderful Catherine from Clothes and Sewing, including a super cute dolly sewing pattern that I eyed up on the front of a sewing magazine but couldn't justify shelling out for. Catherine has kindly sent me several packages and parcels of sewing-related items since my baby was born, as well as getting me hooked on the Ottobre design children's sewing magazines.
All three women sent me these patterns because their own children have grown out of the largest size. I aim to honour their kindness by using each pattern at least once and then to pass these on to other worthy sewing-mamas when I am done.
The wonderful printed fabric pieces in the bottom row of the image above are all big enough for whole garments. They were given to me by a newly made IRL friend who bought them to make stuff for her own baby girl but can't really be bothered. The deal is, I get to make them into lovely clothes for Dolores, and then pass on the garments to her daughter (who is five months younger) when she's grown out of them. DEAL!
So with the awesome sewing patterns pictured above, along with my own modest stash of baby/toddler patterns scored from charity shops and flea markets AND my five copies of Ottobre design AND a couple of Burda magazines AND the patterns from the Perfect Pattern Parcel #2, I think I'm set for Dolores-sewing for some time. Thanks again to those lovely, generous ladies, I'm so grateful.
So tell me, what garments have you enjoyed making for your children/other people's children? Which patterns have you used again and again?
14 comments:
I always love using my Ottobre patterns. For my girls I am addicted to Farbenmix and Abacadabra patterns, plus I've sewn a couple things from the magazine Bizz Kids. The best sewing book for girls imho is Sewing Clothes Kids Love by Nancy Langdon. I've done several garments from there.
I think my favorite 2 dresses that I've made for others would have to be the Feliz dress (in the SCKL book) and the Sasha pinafore dress by Farbenmix. Here's a link to the blog post about the Sasha dress: http://mommymadebyjen.blogspot.com/2011/09/dress-for-miss-beans.html
and the one about the Feliz dress: http://mommymadebyjen.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-patisserie-dress.html
One of the favorites I made for my girls was the Destina dress by Farbenmix: http://mommymadebyjen.blogspot.com/2010/08/destina-tion-delft.html
I use the pajama patterns from the 6/2009 issue of Ottobre all the time for my older son and younger daughter. Right now I'm making a sleeper for the baby from an Ottobre pattern and a new gym bag for my younger daughter using the El Porto pattern by Studio Tantrum (Nancy Langdon).
Wow, that truly is the mother 'lode'! Looking forward to seeing what you make with it all, Dolores is going to be dressed so well! Please use the toadstall fabric soon, so I can see what that looks like ;-)
Toadstools, squee!!
Looks like you're going to be busy!
When my two girls were tiny I was in a prolonged 'not sewing' phase - I might not even have had a machine at that point - and I sort of regret it now.
These days I find making baby clothes for other people a good way to use some charming fabric and not overfill my own wardrobe or those of my daughters who now have their own ideas of course!
Lucky Delores!
My little Mr has lots of home made trousers originally traced from rtw and slowly upsized with him by adding an extra cm here and there.
I love the Oliver+S patterns. They seem really well drafted (my shirt collar has fit perfectly both times, I thought it might just be beginners luck)
I'm thinking an ottobre subscription might come in handy for inspiration. There isnt much boy sewing out there...
Oh please may I congratulate you on bothering to seek out the correct spelling of 'mother lode' - from mining, if I am correct? What a great haul of patterns. One of the joys of sewing for teeny people is the small amount of fabric you can use to make something awesome!
I agree with Ellen's comment - that there isn't a lot of choice for little boy's sewing. I've made up the Rohan hoodie - a free pattern from The Crafty Kitty for my nephew. It's very cute & suitable for both boys and girls :)
Thank you for this post, Zoe! I've got a 2 month old boy and so far I love sewing from Ottobre (as previous posters mentioned) and I've hand-knitted a Baby Surprise Jacket. I've also self-drafted some cloth diaper inserts for when we're hanging out at home, and tried my hand at cloth diaper covers (from the nappy network), but that didn't go too well since my KAM snaps were too tough take apart. Also, I found some quick makes across the web including super quick leggings from running-w-scissors blog.
Loving the spelling tip! Can't wait to see what you make.
Those nautical outfits!!! I am really looking forward to seeing what you make next, but remember to make stuff for you too! The pattern I have used the most is the Skater Dress. It is so easy to make, wear, wash etc.
Jealous!! Dolores is going to be well kitted out 😀 I love the Terra's Treasures Long Beach Board Shorts - brilliant for both boys and girls. I've made six pairs in the last couple of months!
How sweet and thoughtful!
I'd recommend the Sewing for Boys book, Ellen. Even though I have girls, I think it is a great book as the patterns can be interpreted in a pretty unisex way.
As for girls' patterns, NewLook 6016 remains our favourite go to as simple A line dress with yolk that buttons shut. My 7 year old still asks me to make it for her (which I love, as shop bought girls clothes go depressingly grown up from aged 5 size on).
I absolutely love making knit dresses, knit tunics and leggings for my almost four year old. She basically lives in leggings (or capris) and knit dresses are cute but don't restrict her urge to move. Plus they sew up in no time on my serger. I have alot of ottobre issues (subscribed when i became pregnant in 2010) but I also discovered indie-pdf-patterns about a year ago and got hooked to KitschyCoo. The skaterdress is so adorable on my girl - she has 3 of them and they are in constant rotation. For leggings i use the Go-to-patterns "Go-To-Leggings" - they have a great fit and since I lengthen them quite a bit they last a long time plus they only take up 30 min of my time - I would never be able to buy leggings in 30 min.
I absolutely love how some garments sort of grow with the child - she still wears a tunic that I made three years ago from an ottobre pattern. It grew into a very cute tee of course but it still fits and doesn't look weird. I always try to add some room to grow - since my girl is mainly growing in length I try to add that to the patterns - eg I lengthen the leggings legs or i make sleeves of longsleeve tees and dresses slightly longer and I lengthen the bodice of tees.
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