kids clothes week challenge

Last week, I happened upon Elsie Marley’s Kids Clothes Week Challenge and decided to join in on the fun. The challenge was to work on children’s clothes for an hour a day each day. I didn’t sew each day, but it definately gave me the spur I needed to work on some of the ideas I’ve had floating around in my head.

I made Esther a pair of summer pajamas out of some “vintage” (a.k.a. old) fabric that I bought at the Senior Citizen’s fabric sale. For the top I used a pattern, Simplicity 4206, for the bottoms I just traced a pair of pj’s that we already had and added an inch all around. Since I hate hemming, I added a little orange ric rac to the bottoms of the legs and the sleeves.

I also made a shirt for Phoebe out of some cute cotton voile fabric we got at the same sale.

To make the shirt I:

Cut 2 peices of fabric – about 24″wide and 22″ long
Sew up the 2 sides to make a tube. I used a french seam. To make a french seam pin fabric wrong sides together and sew a 1/4 inch seam. Trim seam to 1/8 inch. Now, put fabric right sides together, pin and sew the seam again using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
After tube is made, cut a triangle off of each of the top corners- these are the armholes. I measured about 2.5″ in from side and 5.5 inches down from top, then used those marking to to make a straight line to cut.
Make a casing for the elastic across the top. Fold the fabric down 1/2 inch and then again. Sew along the edge.
Cut the elastic – measure across the chest to determine how wide you want the top of the shirt to be.
Insert the elastic and sew it at each end to secure it.
Using bias tape finish the armholes and make ties.
Make elastic waist – measure about 3″ down from each armhole and mark a line on wrong side all the way across (I used a “marks be gone” pen). Then I cut a piece of elastic that was comfy around Phoebe’s waist and sewed that on the line stretching the elastic as I sewed.
Hem the bottom.

I wish I had been able to actually sew everyday, but I feel pretty good about finishing these. Esther still needs a few more pairs of pj’s and Phoebe would like a couple more of these shirts for the summer. Now that I’ve got the ball rolling, I’m going to try to sew at least a couple of days each week for the summer.