Voila: Kids Clothing Week 2015

This week is Kid's Clothes Week and I've seen So Zo post about it before, so I thought I'd join in... because I'm on a "Joining In!" vibe, and looking for the motivational deadlines for sewing... but I didn't take note of the theme 'Wild Things' because I live in China and I'm working with what I've got at home and usually refashioning for my kids stuff anyways, because #sustainability & #slowfashion where I can.  These trousers could be zebra-esque though?

They are refashioned from Husbie's tshirt, a thick top from Uniqlo that became a smidge too tight after a wash, and I followed a pattern from an existing pair of trousers that were hideously stained. This kid can find the dirt! But dirt in China is not hard to find, having said that... it's clean where it needs to be clean here in Shanghai, but where it's dirty it's horrid and perfect for child snooping. So Felix is dirty a LOT and hence why I'm not particularly fussed what fabric I use for him! I took photos while I made this pair of drop crotch stripey trousers, so might post a 'How To' on them... 

But this week at Sewing School, I also created these trousers... which are the Hanoi Trousers from Couture Nomad's pattern collection (My head teacher of Sewing School creates all the patterns for class, and they're available for pdf online).

They were lovely to sew up, it's a nice light cotton gingham, from my local fabric shop, and I have enough for a gathered skirt or something. The patterns are extremely straight forward for our classes, and they match what we're learning at a good speed... this was helpful for my tracing skills (I forgot the add seam allowance and waist band) and for the casing & elastic that I'd been learning this week. These trousers are a little long, so I've rolled them up for him to wear now... I also adjusted the elastic to fit him too. 

And lastly, I resized one of my tshirts for him as well... A DJ Snorlax original tshirt (from my radio show producing days)... I have no idea why they were made...  I think it had something to do with Alex from the breakfast show needing a DJ name very quickly for an event, and so it was created:

And now refashioned for a two year old DJ Snorlax!

Have you been sewing for children this week? Do you sew for children even if you don't have any? I did a bit before I had Felix... but now I think it's much harder to get the fit right than I realised before... they're all such different shapes!

The Kid's Clothes Week is about sewing one hour every day for your child, but I didn't really stick to it, especially since I had a whole 3 hours on Wednesday at Sewing School that was luxurious to sew. I can't keep structured days at the moment, while I'm not working in Shanghai, our boy does go to a little kindergarten/nursery place only three mornings a week and we have a part time housekeeper so I find we're just very unpredictable with our outings as a family, and what we do in down time, and then all the admin type domestic stuff too... I haven't found a regular rhythm with all that stuff yet... so we just do whatever whenever... and that includes sewing too. Sometimes if my Husbie is home I get to sew while he does reading and sleepy time with our boy... but I love all the unpredictable-ness of our lives right now... everything feels really spontaneous and I love going with the flow!

xoxo

Have a great weekend!