CHRISTEPHI

If you have a daughter between the ages of 8 and 12, you may have noticed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find appropriate clothing for her.  My 8-year-old is most definitely still a little girl.  She is not a small adult.  I would prefer her to dress like a little girl in clothes that provide appropriate coverage and allow for the freedom of movement needed for active play.  Toward that end I spent a weekend sewing up some sweet summer play dresses for Miss M. This is the Flower Hexagon dress from Ottobre 3/2013 (pattern #16).  I made it of some beautiful vintage cotton printed with roses in size 128, but cut the length to 146 because Ottobre dresses tend to run a bit too short for my tastes.  It has hidden pockets in the side seams! The second dress I made is also from Ottobre.  This is 3/2013 #13, the Hollywood Cerise dress.  I didn't have enough of the fun paisley patchwork print to manage the whole dress, so I scr...

This weekend Miss M decided she wanted to sew something.  I was elbow deep in a sewing project of my own, so I told her that if she wanted to sew, she would have to do it all by herself.  I set up my old sewing machine on a little table for her and answered her questions, but otherwise she did all the work herself! First, she picked a project from Sewing School . (affiliate link)   She choose the Get to Work Apron.  It's a cute tool apron that helps you carry your tools or supplies with you while you work.  Then she picked some fabric from my stash.  She cut out the paper pattern and traced it onto her fabric with a piece of chalk.  (We had to have a little talk about placing your pattern near the edge of the fabric and not smack-dab in the middle!) Then she cut out her pieces and pinned them together, right sides facing.  At that point I gave her a piece of plain white printer paper to practice sewing straight lines on. ...