Who we are and Why we are here

     Sew Cool for the tween scene is curated by ** update** three (in August 2015 Stacy joined the team) ladies who have rediscovered sewing in order to provide stylish and well-fitting clothes for their girls.  But our girls have not stayed little.  They are growing up into young ladies.  But, they are not yet physically ready or mature enough for adult clothes, and thus adult patterns.  We have found there is a missing link in the pattern industry; both in the big name patterns and Indie patterns that we love.  

 Thus, we have decided to start this blog together to spotlight designers that are creating patterns for tweens.  Our hope is that we make it easier for you to find age-appropriate patterns for you sons and daughters and send some love to those designers stepping out into tween pattern making. 

Want to send us a note?  Here is our EMAIL!

Major Moma:  It was early summer in 2012 and I went into a store to buy a summer wardrobe for my then 8 year old daughter.  But I had a hard time finding anything suitable for her.  Virtually all the clothes in her size range were either highly commercialized (characters and cartoons) or showed entirely too much skin.  And I am not really a prude about such things.  By the time I was done searching the racks and coming up with no options, I was frustrated and frankly a bit angry.  Why were there no clothes appropriate for an energetic, fun loving, eight year old?  Then it dawned on me.  I sew.  I can make her summer wardrobe.

Before this moment, my sewing of children’s clothes supplemented their wardrobe, not provided their wardrobe.  So this was actually a pretty ambitious task.  But I discovered it really was doable.  I am not a stay-at-home mom and yet, by using my evenings and weekends wisely, I could put together a pretty good selection of summer clothes for her.  And guess what?  It was FUN.

Within a few months I was sewing 90% of her clothing and a lot of her sibling’s too.  But, she was quickly outgrowing the selection of patterns that are available.  Most of the good patterns stop at size 8.  And my girl is now a size 12, so I have been on the search for patterns for pre-teens.

Sally:  I picked up sewing again when my first daughter was born (I do have 2 older boys, ages 14 and 12).  Even though she came out a whopping 8lbs 12 oz., she soon settled in the very petite range and has since stayed about 2 sizes behind her age.  At age ten 10, she still easily fits into an 8.  However, as we hit the different mile stones of moving from toddler to pre-school age, pre-school age to school age and now to pre-teen from little school girl, I noticed that her clothes didn't match her age. What a 2 year old looks cute in doesn't always go for a 4 year old. Same with a 6/7 year old (she honestly was wearing 4T in 2nd grade) and what a 4 year old would wear. Do you get my picture?  

And sewing from patterns did not always solve the problem.  You can have a gape in the armhole or neck line with on a 5 year old but it is not appropriate for an 8 or 9 year old.  I found I was altering patterns to get around the gape issue and then I moved on to drafting them myself. It all really hit home when I tested a recent pattern.  My daughter still fit in the 8, but it did not work at all for an older girl in my opinion. What made it easy to get on and off and comfortable for a toddler or pre-schooler, really made it somewhat immodest for a 10 year old.

We  act as curators for pre-teen patterns.  We will go in search of them, sew them, and write reviews.  Also, we will highlight different tutorials that will help you alter and embellish patterns so that they fit the pre-teen lifestyle.

This way, others, moms and pre-teens, that are in search of tween patterns will benefit from our searches.  We want this blog to be a place where we can share ideas and resources to sew cool for the tween scene.

We are hoping this encourages those that are designing for the younger set, to add tween patterns to their lines.  And by tween patterns we just don’t mean bigger sizes but really design clothes that girls and boys that are not so little anymore can play and feel confident in.

Do any of our challenges sound familiar?  Do you have patterns you would like to have reviewed?  Or is there something you are specifically looking for?  Hopefully we can be of assistance.