Do you like to sew for Christmas? I love the holiday season, and I do not always have the opportunity to make special outfits for my daughters each year. I seem to put it off until it is just too late for them to get enough use out of the garment. This year I got started early, though, thanks to Made Whimsy, who sent me the most adorable cotton lycra jersey prints to sew up for my daughters!
I chose quick and easy projects because ever since the school year started, life feels very full. I was able to finish all of these in 2 evenings in the midst of my normally busy life! So, be encouraged that these really are quick and are perfect for those who may be pressed for time but still want to make something special!
The Patterns
I made 6 items in total for my daughters! For my baby and the middle daughter, I made the Greenstyle Laurelette Dress. I made the Made for Mermaids Bonny leggings for my baby. For my oldest daughter, I made the Made for Mermaids Lee Raglan. Finally, I made velvet scrunchies for my two older daughters. Whew! Let’s talk about each of these patterns!
The Greenstyle Laurelette is a cute kids version of the women’s Laurel tunic and dress. It comes in sizes 12-18 months to 14. I made the cowl necked 12-18 month size for my 20 month old. She is still really petite and has not grown out of that size. She seems to just grow taller and not wider! I made her the dress length, and it falls right below her knee.
For my middle daughter, I made size 9-10 and used the regular neckband and dress options in the pattern. The Laurelette comes with optional pockets, but to make it quick, I skipped the pockets.
The cowl neck on this pattern has great shape and is really fun for playing peek-a-boo. I love that it is not tight fitting around the neck.
The leggings I made her are the FREE Bonny Leggings. The fit through the waist, hips, and calves are really good on her, but she doesn’t quite fill them out in the thigh yet. I am glad she has growing room, though, and can fit in these for more than a few months! Leggings with dresses are very necessary for her still because she likes to lift her dress up a lot.
For my oldest daughter, I used a quick, simple raglan pattern by Made for Mermaids. She is right in that tween stage where she is starting to have more curves than children’s patterns but is still very petite for adult patterns. I made her the size 12 in this one based on measurements, and she is happy with how it fits. I think I will go up a size the next time I make it, though, because she is growing so fast right now that it is a bit hard to keep up!
The scrunchies I made are the free Greenstyle scrunchie pattern! They want me to make them a million more, which is crazy to me because I was a kid of the 80s, and it is so funny to see styles from my childhood be popular again!
Fabric
I love sewing with the custom knits from Made Whimsy. The base she prints on has the softest feel and hand to it, and the colors and softness last sooo well!! I have made several items for my kids from it for previous seasons, and I notice that they always grab their clothes made with Made Whimsy fabric before anything else, and I think it has to do with the texture and feel of the fabric. Have you felt Abercrombie and nicer soft cottons in ready to wear clothes? It is kind of like the difference between those and the $5 cotton t shirts you can find at a discount store. It just cannot be compared!!
The fabric I used on my middle daughters dress is a panel with a border print that is printed on both borders of the fabric. This means that the skirt of her dress is cut on the cross grain to capture the image going in the right direction. I was able to get her entire dress out of that one yard panel. I had to get creative and color block the sleeves, but it totally worked!!
Get the Coordinates
The candy stripes and waffle print coordinates are EVERYTHING. They just pull the outfits together and take them from pretty cute to that is so stinking adorable.
For my youngest daughter’s dress I used the Candy Cottage Knit for the sleeves and skirt portion of her dress. I was able to get her dress out of a fat half.
She thought this was the best photo shoot ever when I handed her a big waffle cone to go with her waffle cone leggings, but even though she enjoyed that, she had the most fun throwing the baseball with her brothers when the photoshoot was over. I bring this up because I always have to be mindful of sewing for active children. I try to make garments that they can move and be comfortable in and play like kids should play!
The panel I used for my oldest daughter is the winter unicorn. She is obsessed with unicorns but tends to love navy, mint, purple colors the most so she was sooo excited about this shirt!! She chose the mint solid from Made Whimsy for her sleeves, and I love how well it goes!
The back of her shirt has the coordinate for the winter unicorn. For the scrunchies, I used velvet scraps.
What projects do you have planned for the holidays? Are you more of an elaborate sewist or do you prefer the quick and easy projects? When it comes to sewing for my kids, I notice I gravitate towards the quicker projects that still have all the fun details.
Resources
- Patterns: The Greenstyle Laurelette, Made for Mermaids Lee Raglan, free Made for Mermaids Bonny Leggings, and free Greenstyle Scrunchies pattern.
- Fabric: The fabric panel I used can be found the candy cottage border print in knit. The stripes are a candy stripe knit. The waffle cone is the candy cottage waffle knit. The panel for my oldest is the winter unicorn paired with the winter unicorn coordinate.
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Disclosures
I received this fabric for free to show how it looks sewn up. Also, this post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you purchase via my link. This does not cost you anything, and I genuinely appreciate the support. Any and all opinions expressed are still my own.
XO
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