She Who Sews

My little girl has been doing gymnastics since she was just 18 months old. She started in a Mummy and Toddler stay and play session, and quickly progressed to drop and leave pre-school sessions, then into the relevant age groups. She was just 4 when she was selected for a rising stars development group, and her skills went on from there.



It wasn't until a couple of years ago, that the love of gymnastics grew strong, and with it, a love of all things shiny and stretchy... I'm talking of course, about leotards. I've made a couple, they weren't worth photographing! And I've bought her a couple, but we're not a collector of brands. She is growing out of her current ones though, so I might have to try again for her. Here she is on her birthday last summer, in a beautiful custom leotard, made for her by my friend over at Rose Gymwear.



Being in the mini squad groups meant she trained with older girls, who wore crop top and shorts set. So she's been asking for a similar set for well over two years.



I've refused, the same as I have for a bikini. She's just a little girl and I don't think it's quite right.

But that all changed a couple of weeks ago, when BOO! Designs released their free Bralette pattern, for girls from age 2 right the way up to 14. It's essentially a racer back crop top, and even better, it was free! I downloaded it straight away and felt pretty daunted by what seemed to me, pretty technical knit processes involving elastic, binding and the such. Anyway, I gave it a go, and followed the instructions to a tee, and produced a tiny crop top of an evening.



To say Layla was happy when she saw it was an understatement. She has literally worn it for a week (apart from sleeping and gym practice, and her big competition last weekend). I really need to wash it... eek!



I made a pair of MBJM (Made by Jack's Mum) harem pants in short length to go with it. I totally mashed sizes, with a 5 width and 8 length, and was super dubious they wouldn't fit, but they did. I intended them to be knee length, and they are just a smidge longer than that. I need to take some stitches out of the yoga waistband and add elastic. I've never had any luck with yoga waistbands, they always fall down on my girl. I think she is just so slight, she needs the extra elastic in them.



Both items were made in poly knit fabric (I think it was called Aeolian Ripples? by Avoca) from Fabworks. I bought it several years ago with the intention of selling leggings and floaty summer woven tops in my shop. It never worked out, so I still have a good few metres of this fabric left. It makes perfect gym wear!!



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Back at the start of the summer my sister came to visit us, looking decidedly unwell. It turns out, she was three months pregnant and suffering tremendously with sickness, the poor girl. But it was the greatest news, there would be a new baby in the family, and it meant my children would become cousins and I would be an Aunty!

Of course, my mind was buzzing with the potential for cute clothes and then a realisation that baby clothes, although cute, have to be functional and soft, and those two things mean poppers/snaps and knit fabrics. These are not my strong point.



So I went online fabric shopping, not knowing the gender of the baby meant that my pink cat or pink fox jersey would potentially not be suitable! It just so happens that around the same time as the happy announcement from my sister, Fabworks took a delivery of super soft organic cotton interlock jersey in some really super gender neutral prints. Perfect! I couldn't believe how soft and thick this jersey was when it arrived. Layla has already claimed some of the cat fabric for pyjamas for herself... now if only I could find the time for all these projects...



I could have gone crazy with the ordering, well, I did a little, but chose to limit myself to just 3 prints/colours. A green elephants marching print, with coordinating plain green. A badgers in cravats with coordinating mustard yellow stripes. And finally, a purple cats with coordinating plain purple. And the best of all, a super soft, super snuggly cotton sherpa. (I must admit to have been searching for a long time for cotton sherpa. I am aiming to cut down on manmade fibres, so have not bought any of the poly sherpa. I was lucky enough last year to get gifted some cotton sherpa to make Trailblazer vests, (read here) but ordering this in from America is ridiculously costly.) I personally would have dressed my baby (whatever the gender) in any of these prints, but after ordering them I had real doubts about my decision and started second guessing what my sister would or wouldn't like.



Then I needed to go baby pattern shopping too. I didn't sew for my own two children when they were babies. A mixture of exhaustion, zero time and not really having taken it up again at that time. Most of my patterns go down to age 18 months or two years, not suitable for a newborn babe! I asked around some of the pattern groups, and UK sewing groups for suggestions for beginner baby patterns, or patterns that were fool proof for someone with limited skills with knits. I was directed to Made by Jack's Mum (MBJM) by many people, so decided to bite the bullet and buy a baby bundle that would give me many different variations of clothing to make. My fallback was also Twig + Tale, many of their patterns are available in baby sizes too.

I printed out a few newborn patterns, and marvelled at their tiny size. Sewing for big kids is beginning to require a lot of paper for the patterns, and a lot of material for the clothes that are made. Sewing for a teeny baby was going to be a novelty. The whole romper pattern was smaller than the bodice for a dress for Layla! I have to admit, I then left everything for a good few weeks, maybe even months. For whatever reason, the thought of making a mess of these tiny clothes just put me off entirely. And snap crotches scared me :O



I eventually pulled my finger out, and got on with it. I cut out the badgers in the cravats first. A MBJM harem romper, a Twig & Tale hooded Pathfinder vest and Barefoot romper. The first pattern I made was the harem footed romper by MBJM, and it was the cutest thing ever. Quickly followed by the Pathfinder, lined in the snuggliest cotton sherpa. And then the Barefoot romper. This pattern is daunting, there are a gazillion options, but if you read the instructions carefully, every single step is laid out neatly to produce the romper you want.



Boosted by the success of this first batch of clothes, I then cut out the purple cat fabric. A pair of MBJM harem pants, envelope neck sleep shirt, and coordinating envelope neck long sleeved bodysuit in plain purple. This whole set is just too cute and made me get on with the last set.



The last set is in the marching elephants. As I'd made the other sets in newborn/preemie size, I figured this one should be in 0-3 months, then I'd covered all bases. I made up another pair of harem pants, this time with the faux pocket, a plain green envelope neck bodysuit, and to top the set off, a Pixie hat that I scaled down to 0-3 month size, lined in snuggly cotton sherpa.



Honestly, I don't know why I was worried to hand over these sets of clothes, everyone around me that I had shown them to fell in love with them. So as handover arrived, I nervously presented them to the parents to be, and was met with the same ahh's and instant love for them. Phew!



I can't wait (and nor can the parents to be) for the new arrival. I will gladly wait for pictures of it modelling my little clothes, and no doubt produce my own ahh's and how sweet's. For the time being, the doll I made my son has modelled a couple of the items, and I think he looks pretty damn cute in them ;)



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*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*