My daughter who is 6 and my son, who is 2 both thing that clothing I make them is the best, so I am taking advantage of that this summer and making then clothing. I have made my daughter:
a rainbow circle skirt
a blue gingham sundress with matching shorts
a hot pink 60s style floral print square skirt with matching halter with lime green edging
a blue plaid button up shirt (in progress)
I have made my son:
a pair of yellow print cotton shorts
a blue plaid button up shirt and matching shorts (in progress)
a Hawaiian print button up shirt and matching shorts
I am making my own patterns.
Does any one have suggestions for boys tops made of woven cotton that are not button up shirts? I am sick of making collars and dread more button holes.
I have two girls and make them lots of things, but I like patterns. The Internet and blogs have been great for individuals designing their own patterns and putting them out on the market, so there’s a lot of fun stuff out there right now.
Mostly I make skirts, dresses, and shorts. Oh, and jammies/nightgowns. One project I want to do soon is this girly gored skirt. And I want to dive back in to the Japanese sewing book I got last year–I made a really cute double-layered skirt from that.
I’m not good at boys’ clothes, since I don’t have boys. You might look around the crafty blogs or at pattern books for ideas. Have you thought about sewing with knits? Sew U Knits is a fun book of ideas (though I think all for women’s clothes).
I have a serger, and the sewing with knits is a good idea, especially the raglan sleeve suggestion. I just have so much cotton woven cloth, that I would like to use that. I do think I will work on a couple of knit shirts out of the remnants I bought recently. I have blue, yellow, and white cotton jersey.
That gored skirt is really cute. I have some material that I bought to use together like that in some style of patchwork. I had been thinking patchwork ruffled skirt, but I’ll as my daughter what she thinks of that one.
Oh let’s see.
-I made some shipping boots (those are covers you wrap around their lower legs when traveling in a trailer) out of 1200D nylon fully lined in fleece, extra-wide velcro closures and nylon web edging for extra durability. I get compliments on them all the time! (kind of like these, but mine are nicer)
-I made a polarfleece cooler. Keeps the horse from getting chilled when they’re sweaty, like this. That was no big whoop - decorative blanket stitching around the edge in contrasting yarn took longer than zapping 2 pieces of polarfleece together! The hard part was finding a polarfleece in a heavyweight quality for a price I was willing to pay. I ended up finding some in a NYC specialty fabric store, in the bargain bin - $20 for enough to make the whole thing!
-This is kind of embarassing but I once made a “horse blanket” for one of my Breyer plastic horses. I took a foot square piece of plaid fabric, cut to shape, edged in the eensiest edging tape I could find, and applied eensy velcro closures. It looks sharp! Let’s not talk about the eensy halters I made from embroidery thread knitted just so.
I also make simple clothes for me (cotton skirts mainly) but in my current apartment I have no place to cut fabric, so not lately. I am sooo jealous of your serger! Not that I’d have any place to use it!
Oh, how cute! I’m going to make one of those today, I think. (No pattern needed, it’s just some trapezoids and an elastic waist.) I also really love this trendy new skirt style which I also don’t have a pattern for, and I don’t know the name of it to find one. I call it “The J skirt” because each panel curves quite precipitously to make a letter J (almost a letter U). The panels are sewn with each curve nested into the last, giving it an unbelievable “twirlability” without very much bulk at the waist. The bottom is waved, and serged instead of hemmed.
Let’s see…boys woven without buttons… how about a dashiki? Traditionally, they are many bright colors with embroidery accents, but the basic shape is an oversized t-shirt with a large neck opening (since the fabric won’t stretch over the head like knits will) or a notch or v descending from the neck. Think hospital scrubs.
Right, I meant using the regular cotton cloth. The end result would look alot like a “hospital scrubs” top. Although, on observation, it appears traditional scrubs use an inset sleeve.
Just saw WhyNot’s post - great minds think alike! (or is it that fools seldom differ…?)
See, there ARE home sewers out there! (on another thread I bemoaned the dearth of fabric stores). I made a denim coat for my daughter when she was around 8 - no lining, but trimmed with gold ribbon and had gold moon/sun/stars buttons. It was adorable and got lots of attention from everyone. I made Halloween costumes from polar fleece - pink bunny, lavendar kitty; from felt and cardboard, a playing card (Queen of Hearts) from a pattern, and a bag of Peanut M&Ms (no pattern!). For this one, I fashioned a tiara from a headband and twisted empty M&M packets onto it…
When she went to college I made her a quilt from denim and squares of material that I sewed on pictures from her old favorite T-shirts. But the crowning achievement was a jacket/kimono of red and black brocade silk with a big black satin sash, and it took forever and was very, very difficult to sew. I had to enclose each and every seam with fabric tape because the material unravelled so. But it was spectacular! I’ll see if I can get someone to find a picture to put it on here to show you.
I miss having little kids to sew for, and since I’m not liable to have grandchildren anytime soon, I’m going through withdrawal reading this thread! I occasionally make sundresses for my coworker’s daughter, and sometimes shorts with matching t-shirts…though I usually buy a t-shirt and embellish it with fabric from the shorts. I still make the occasional dress for my daughter, but she’s 27 now, so it’s a lot more work!
Well, as far as room to use the serger, I have an end table 19 inches tall, and about 20 inches square and the chair at my computer desk is just the right height to sew using either my serger or my Singer Touch & Sew 758. I switch them back and forth as needed and when I am not sewing, both machines get stowed.
As far as cutting out material, I do that on the dining room table and I am luck that if I need a larger space, I can clear a goodly sized floor area to do so. I have known of people who keep a plywood sheet with finished edges on their bed as a cutting surface and stow it under the bed when not in use.
You can get patterns off the 99cent rack at Walmart or anyplace with even the most cursory pattern selection. I pass an art supply store with one spinning rack of patterns - they have the scrubs pattern! It’s obviously very popular.
In my apartment, there is literally no space for my 3’x5’ kitchen table, except against a wall. I don’t believe there is 4x8’+ of open space anywhere in it! We’re talking SMALL NYC apartment.
Ok, I finished the first button up shirt and matching shorts set. KellyM used a plug cutter to cut small disks out of a coconut shell and I fashioned those into buttons. She found my buttonholer with the nice cams, and I used that rather than the built in one. I think they look better. I just am not up to that many button holes by hand.
The dashiki looks to be an excellent idea. Hubby wants one too.
I love sewing for my kids. I tend to make more for my girls than my boys though. Girls wear dresses, and I adore making dresses. Last summer I sewed half my youngest daughter’s summer wardrobe, shorts, skorts, sundresses, t-shirts. Luckily it all still fits. She loves her skorts.
I also recently sewed a little dress for a friend’s daughter out of a vintage pillowcase. that was fun. It wasn’t a pillowcase dress, though. It was a dress with puff sleeves, bodice, and gathered skirt. The little girl looks adorable in it.
What about a baseball-style shirt for your son. That would eliminate the collar. As for the button holes, you could use velcro closures (and at your son’s age, he would likely be proud to be able to do up his own shirt and dress himself with no help from Mama or Daddy) with buttons sewn on simply as decorative elements.
I am over my fear of button holes. The buttonholer is working like a champ. I do avoid velcro because my husband washes it with things that get all snagged.
I ordered some assorted buttons that look fun, and have been working on making more coconut shell buttons. Anyone else ever make buttons for shirts?
She loves her skorts.
