Kids Clothes Week - Autumn 2014: The Results!

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will already know how much I love Kids Clothes Week - I find it's a great opportunity to force myself to sit down and make stuff for fun, just for the love of it (and love of your kids.) And you can really have some fun too. You can see some of the things I have made over the years in these posts: Autumn 2011, Spring 2013,  Summer 2013,  Summer 2014 

Excuses, excuses but my new little daughter really isn't playing ball when it comes to letting Mama have time to sew but a couple of times this week she did actually go to sleep at bedtime and stay down for the night. Woohoo! It felt so good to be back behind the sewing machine again so I'm hoping that I'll be getting a bit more time now. We'll see I guess!

All my sewing this time was for Ferne (sorry Wiss!). Firstly, I decided to alter this beautiful dress I got from a local nearly-new sale. It's actually a Kenzo dress and it's wonderfully made from needlecord, but I don't really see the point of dresses on small babies: they just ride up all the time as you hold them and you spend all your time yanking them down again. So I altered this dress to become a little romper suit instead. I didn't have enough of the fabric to make a gusset though so it was a very basic alteration. I made the skirt into two legs to which I added elastic, then used bias binding to make a strong facing inside the crutch to take the poppers.

It worked really well, even if I do say so myself but unfortunately, Ferne has grown so much that it is already a bit snug on her (and when she's wearing her washable nappies there is no chance it will fit. Such a shame.)

Next I made her a sleepsack using this fab organic jersey from Birch (collection is called Elk Grove) Mine came from great fabric shop Ray Stitch. The arms and binding are upcycled from old t-shirts. I added a good few centimetres to my pattern as Ferne is very long. I really love this fabric and pattern so I'll definitely be using it to make some more clothes for her soon.

And finally I had time to make her this cute little outfit. I used a pattern for Skinny Harem Pants from Brindille & Twig, and the top is just a short version of the sleep sack. I am planning on using fabric paints to stencil 'Boo!' onto the top as it will be Ferne's Halloween outfit, but I thought it was simple enough to also be worn after the event. Both fabrics are from old t-shirts (I like to pick up shirts from charity shops or primark to use in this way.)

So this week wasn't my most productive ever, but it definitely wasn't a wash-out either. I guess I spent a total of 7 hours over 3 nights sewing. It goes to show just how much you can get done in a short space of time. So, did anyone else join in this season? Or has anyone been inspired to start sewing for their child? The next challenge will be for Winter 2014 so keep an eye on the Kids Clothes Week website for more details.

Happy Sewing!

Kids Clothes Week - Autumn 2014

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Kids Clothes Week is an awesome and simple idea. We all spend an hour a day for a week sewing clothes for our kids. There's loads of inspiration, ideas, tutorials & giveaways on the site but basically it's just one hour a day. That's it! Easy, huh?

Wrong! My gorgeous and still very new daughter is not playing ball. She won't let her mama spend any time away from her and she's even decided napping is for other babies so I can't even sneak a bit in while she's sleeping. Grrrrr! Doesn't she know how many cute clothes I've got in mind for her?! So this is how I spent my hour yesterday!

I've readjusted my expectations of this week and have started by altering an existing dress rather than making something from scratch. I'll be posting a round up at the end of the week (hopefully I'll get something finished!)

Are any if you joining in with this seasons Kid Clothes Week? Leave me links below to your blog or tweet me @thisiswiss I'd love to see what you are sewing. If you're able!

Help! It's Summer Kids Clothes Week!

Normally I am up-to-speed on the dates, usually I am prepared, and often I'm counting down the days for Kids Clothes Week. But not this time!

It used to just be twice a year, spring/summer and autumn/winter, but due to the popularity of this sew-along it's gone seasonal. Which means four weeks to join in the fun and get sewing - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Double the fun and double the productivity! I was all organised for Spring, but just like our Great British Summer this year it's sneaked up on me. It's day 2 of the challenge already and I have no idea where I'll be able to find even one hour to sew, however, by coincidence I have been busy making clothes for Wiss over the past two weeks anyway.

I will be posting about the patterns I've been using this time as I'm really pleased with the shorts and t-shirts...and so is Wiss. So much so that they're all in the wash today (ready for our holiday at the weekend). As soon as I get some photos I'll share them with you.

Until then, if you are joining in this season's Kids Clothes Week then let me know! You can follow the fun on Twitter @kidsclothesweek or get inspiration from the gallery on Twitter. Happy Summer Sewing!