Today is the first day of the Kid's Clothing Week Challenge (KCWC) that Elsie Marley holds twice a year.
It's fun stuff, exhausting, but fun, and at the end...you have all these awesome new clothes for the kiddos!
What's the challenge? Set aside at least an hour each day for the week and work on sewing kid's clothes. Last fall was the first time I participated...well, I sort of participated, I sewed a couple of things (I'll show you down further...). In the spring I got much more into it and planned ahead, cut patterns ahead of time and got a lot done, YAY! Here's what I did in the Spring.
Day one, Day two, Day three, Day four, Day five, Day six, Day seven
I remember being so tired (of sewing) by the end of that week that I think I took a sewing break for over a week...but then, I think, that if I didn't do it...then we wouldn't have some many awesome clothes to wear! Between Henry's shorts from that week and his Beachcomber shorts...he was set for the summer!
Anyway...so I'm doing it again...because the end really does justify all of the fatigue. Last week and over the weekend I prepared patterns, washed fabric, cut fabric out and picked seems...Picked seems? Yes, well, that's where I decided I would start...Getting all of those clothes that I made last fall, last spring or a couple of years ago to fit again. It's the darndest thing isn't it?...Kids growing! Shame on them ;) Here's what used to fit...
I had always intended on letting the hems out of the pants that I made for Henry (one, two, three), so, as tedious as it was...I picked out the hems and redid them. I also loosened the elastic. As I was doing it, I wondered if it was all worth it really, but then when he put his first pair of Treasure Pocket pants on after they had been adjusted I was glad I did. They still fit him so well! So what if the bottoms have a little fade line from the previous hem.
(Oh, by the way, the owl shirt is one of my DIY appliques you can find it here in my etsy shop if you are interested.)
His Easter pants had already gotten too short too!
And another pair got a tear in the knee, of course next to the patch that I put in initially...so I added a kitty cat patch as well as fixing the hem and waistband...
Violet has been wearing a skirt from her third birthday for forever but it's finally gotten too short and too tight, so I added a strip of coordinating flannel to the bottom and loosened the elastic. (Unfortunately I don't think the pictures are doing the skirt justice)
I am in LOVE with this new version!!!
And, just the other day Violet put this shirt on and we realized it was way too short
so I added a strip of pink linen (the same as in her croquet dress) to the bottom and now it's more like a tunic...
So all in all, it was a pretty successful day, I'd say. No new clothes, but new/old clothes...which is almost just as good, no waste, and who doesn't love hanging on to clothes a little bit longer. Truthfully if I thought I'd be passing clothes along I probably wouldn't have done it, but it is unlikely that there will be any more little boys or girls running around here, so might as well hang on to wearing those mama mades as long as possible!
