Outfits for Em

You might remember me posting THIS cool shirt Heather from Well Crafted made for Owen, for the Handmade Kids Clothing Swap. I was so honored to be apart of such a cool group of ladies and was thrilled to be Kristin’s secret sewing designer.

I got to write a bit about what I made for Skirt As Top’s daughter, Em, but I wanted to elaborate a little more and show you some close ups in honor of Kids Clothing Week! 🙂

Before we were assigned people to sew for, we all listed our child’s measurements and their likes and dislikes. Kristin said Em loves polka dots, sparkle and twirl. My kind of girl. 😉 Knowing she is also quite the ballerina and after seeing several ballet inspired pins on Kristin’s board I decided to sew this Geranium tunic with a silver polka dot chiffon overlay.

This was my first Geranium in my recent Geranium sewing obsession (which is a fantastic girl’s dress pattern by Made by Rae). I think I was feeling a little bit ambitious to add chiffon layers for my first one. Chiffon is quite slippery, but with a lot of patience and extra time, I was able to wrangle it into something I was happy with.

Even better…Kristin reports that Em loves it, which makes every carefully unpicked and resewn stitch way more than worth it. I was on a mission to make that girl happy, so it makes me ecstatic that I succeeded!

Some of you asked how I added the chiffon overlay. Here are notes on the changes:

– I cut the flutter sleeve from the chiffon and finished the edge by singeing it with a flame, instead of finishing the edge with a zig-zag stitch.

– I cut three bodice pieces, two white linen and one chiffon. I basted the chiffon to one of the layers of white linen and then treated it as the outer bodice piece.

– I cut two skirts, one out of chiffon and one out of white linen. I gathered them and finished the backs of the skirts separately.

I also made the chiffon skirt a little bit longer than the white linen skirt and made the hem for the chiffon a narrow rolled hem. I used my iron on the polyester setting so it was barely hot and tried ironing the hem before sewing. This helped a little bit but the process still took some finagling. I didn’t bother trying to stick pins it in, since the fabric is so thin and fragile. Instead I basically rolled and sewed, stopped, rolled and sewed, stopped,  and repeated…until I made it all the way around.

Phew! 🙂

I then basted the two skirts together and attached them to the bodice as one skirt. If you have more questions, I would be happy to answer them in the comments.

I was going to stop at the chiffon tunic, but then the swap dates got pushed back and we had more time. I decided to take a risk and make another one, off pattern.

I ended up making a tunic with a slight high-low hem and fluttery straps that are lined with elastic to ensure (hopefully) a good fit. I used the bodice widths from the Geranium pattern, because I knew it fit Em well, and drafted new bodice pieces, and skirt and strap pieces.

Sewing off pattern made me extremely nervous about fit, but to my luck, it fits really well! I plan on making a few changes and additions, then possibly making this a pattern. Maybe?

I rounded the outfits out with two pairs of leggings using the Go To Patterns leggings pattern which I have to say is such a great basic pattern to have on hand (and it’s for sizes 12 months to 12 years!)

The teal leggings are a glittery interlock knit from Jo-Ann Fabrics (I found my sparkle!) and went so perfectly with this hair clip my friend Tori made for me a couple years ago. I just had to include it, it matched too perfectly not to.

I have a thing for black, white and yellow together and apparently so does Kristin so I made these black and white leggings from jersey knit from Hobby Lobby (it was in the seasonal section and they are likely out by this time of year – so sorry!).

All in all, as nervous as I was sewing for one of my favorite sewists ever, I also had  a blast secretly sewing for Kristin and her sweet Em! Go HERE to see all these outfits in action on Em!

Oh! and one more thing. The winner of the Southern Fabric Giveaway never claimed her prize. Using random.org a new winner was chosen:

Jennifer who happens to have a really cute blog: Monkey See, Monkey Do!  is our new winner!
Congrats Jennifer. Please respond to the email I’ve already sent you asap.

I wish everyone a better day at the start of a better week than last week. 🙂 And…Happy Earth Day!