Girlify

One of the advantages of having two boys is that I have a stash of clothes for the Kinderboy to grow into. Having said that, at the rate he's growing, they will be wearing the same clothes by the end of the year.

What to do then, with the Newbie?  There are heaps more girls clothes out there in retail-land than boys clothes, but why discard what you can re-use?  Also, 95% of what's available for girls is heavily loaded with pink and mauve.  Not my cup of tea.  I've been through the pile of clothes that the Kinderboy's grown out of, and sorted between 'bin', 'op shop' and 'girlify'.  Hopefully over the coming months/years I'll be able to salvage some hand-me-downs without making my little one look like too much of a tomboy.

Here's the first cab of the rank:

A cute little onesie that's pretty simple, but I thought that the blue might need a little dilution to appease those who think that all little girls should be decked out in head-to-toe pink.

These pins gave me inspiration:

Source: craftinessisnotoptional.com via Jackie on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Jackie on Pinterest

I used the Martha Stewart version, but with six petals of deep red felt, with a mid-blue circle beneath the button.  Because I wasn't sure how it'd wash I attached it to the onesie by press-stud so I could remove it to wash the rest:

Hmmm.  I've decided that its too big and dark.  I made it this size as I needed to cover both the teddy bear and the writing, and although it doesn't look so dark and imposing in real life, I think a lighter colour would have been better.  I nearly didn't post this as a result, but in the interests of transparency...

I have another project on the go, so hopefully it'll be more successful!

Vintage bargains

The Schoolboy and I called into our local op shop yesterday on the pretext of donating some stuff.

It didn't take much coaxing on his part to have me having a 'bit of a look' to kill the time before kinder pick-up.  I'm so glad I did, and that they weren't open the day before when I first tried to drop off my boxes.  A collection of vintage patterns had just been donated, and they were still trying to work out whether to charge 10c or 20c each for them (?!?).  I ended up with a selection of kids patterns for my loose change (the lady insisted on giving back the gold coins I tried to give her).  I love them as much for the illustrations as for the patterns they contain:

The Style pattern dates from 1972, and I can remember wearing similar as a girl.  One of the Vogue patterns is dated 1953, meaning that my mum could well have worn similar dresses made by my grandmother.  Whilst the illustrations look quaint (and I can see myself framing them), I can see a lot of similarities between the style of some of these patterns and little girl patterns that are still available.  I guess time will tell if I dare use them!

I'm off to gloat over here and here.  If you're in the area and want to see what's left I got the patterns from the Childrens' Protection Society op shop in Rosanna, and when I left there were still a number of kids patterns as well as some ladies ones of same vintage (plus newer patterns as well).

Pillowcase Dress #2: Simplicity 4243 (yet again)

I've completed my second pillowcase dress (although I realise now that I should have ironed it before taking photos!), and am hoping that I'm meeting my aims despite the fact that I've used the same pattern as I did for Dress 1!  It had been my plan to invert the pleats at least, only I didn't think through the implications of that around the neckline, and it wouldn't work (I am planning one final version of this pattern, with the pleats on the outside, and I'll show you what I mean and how to adjust the pattern as part of that post).  This is View E in Size S, and should fit the Newbie soonish.

I saved time and made a floral version in Size M at the same time - hopefully it'll fit next summer.

I'm loving the decorations - the little white flowers came from my Grandma's stash, and I suspect they date from when my sister and I were little.  The buttons on the floral dress have been in my sewing kit since high school, so it also feels good to give them a nice home!