Swimwear Round up

I hope the last few posts about sewing swimwear motivated you.  There are really great options and ways to get creative in sewing your tween boy or girl new swim suits.  And as we all know sewing a custom item for your tween is not always less expensive than ready-to-wear (RTW).  But, it is usually the case for swimwear as they use so little fabric and swimsuits can be so expensive.

 Are you ready to go?  Well in addition to the great Peek-a-boo patterns we shared  on our previous post (HERE), there are lots of great options from both big pattern companies and indies. 

M6548

McCalls M6548 is not advertised as a swim suit pattern, but I think it easily could be sewn up as one.  The only adaption would be to sew in a liner in the shorts and reduce the ease in the shirt.  It comes in sizes up to 14, so it is a great option for the bigger kids.

Kwik Sew has a few different options in their swim/dancewear section. I really like the skirts and the mixing and matching you could do with these styles.  (links in the captions)

K3774

K3605

K3998

 And Jalie patterns has a wonderful one-piece suit that would be great for a gal who is starting to develop a figure.  It is a modest and stylish for the older girl.

Jalie 3350

Peek-a-boo pattern shop (affiliate link) has a ton of great suits and we had the pleasure of interviewing the designer behind those great suits .   You should definitely click on over and meet Amy and see why she designs such great suits for boys and girls.  Yes, you heard me, she has wonderful suits for boys too!  And many of them come in sizes up to 12.

Surfs up board shorts

Aloha Burn Blocker

Thinking Spring--Looking Ahead to the Trends

If you think it, it will come right?! With the hopes of warmer weather, how about a little looking ahead to Spring-y fashion for tweens, with some suggested patterns as well so that you can achieve these looks. 

First up here are some looks. Sorry, they are all girls. It just seems that boys fashion doesn't change all that much, except maybe for the bagginess of the pants...but I'll keep looking.
Also, all but Bardot are Scandinavian designers. Bardot is Australian. I think the simple designs that rely on the lines of the garment and fabric choices, so common in Scandinavian design, lends itself to being tween friendly. Most tweens don't want all the frills and ruffles anyway.

I tried to pick things that represented current trends, but also would be easy to replicate.  Here's what I came up with. I'll give you the designs first and highlight some of the trends and then at the end give you the patterns as suggestions to get that look.

Check out this exclusively tween fashion line called Frosk. I love the bold but simple patterns, the simplicity of the designs themselves and the fact that they are tween friendly (ie No belly buttons showing and appropriate length)

Trends to take note: Bold, geometric prints paired with white as well as other prints; straight lines of the dresses and skirts; wide sleeves

Pale Cloud is another line that I have fallen in love with. They are a little less edgier and a little more elegant/romantic looking, with softer edges and more pastels. Just trying to find something for everyone here.

Trends to take note: Jumpsuits/one piece outfits; baggy up top pants ; yellow, wide sleeves

  

 Peit by Sofies Schonoor is definitely edgier, but certainly right on trend

Trends to take note: Jumpsuit/One piece, whether it's pants or shorts; Bold patterns; animal prints; black and white; baggy up top pants

  

Bardot is the Australian design line I stumbled across. 

Trends to take note: Jumpsuit/one piece; animal prints; geometrical prints; baggy on top pants

 

The nice thing about all of these looks, is that they are all totally do-able for you to make on your own. Here's a couple of suggestions to help you on your way:

From Burda Style you can get the simple lines and wide sleeves...the pattern is free, but only goes up to about a size 9. This one wouldn't be hard to add some inches for width at the shoulders and waist if needed as well as length. You could also use this as a spring board for making a wide sleeved jumpsuit, by combining it with a gathered waist pants pattern. Speaking of jumpsuits...

Jumpsuit tutorial from Simple Simon and Co...they are always ahead of the trends over there. It's even in yellow too, which seems to be a hot color for this season, as well as the neon...I keep seeing that in all of the stores (not necessarily in the design lines though).
And Peek-a-Boo patterns just came out with a jumpsuit pattern as well.

There are so many options when it comes to jumpsuits...

This dress pattern is similar to the one in the Frosk picture and we reviewed it here.

The Go to Patterns Anywhere dress has some great simple lines that would work well with the current style and you could pair it with a bold print or even an animal print...or how about an animal stenciled strategically on someplace. I'm thinking at the hem or on the side vs. in the middle.

And here are a couple of shirt ideas...just click on the shirt to find the pattern.

Serephic Raglan by Figgy's

Skipper Top by Sew Much Ado

Burda Style free pattern

  As for the pants, I couldn't find any one pattern that fit the bill, but if it were me I would take a pajamas pants pattern and make them draw string, instead of elastic. Then I would play with the width of the legs, till they were a little more fitted and straight legged. Once again the lovely ladies over at Simple Simon and Co have a great tutorial about drafting your own.

So there you have some Spring inspiration for your sewing!

Accessory round up

Hello there!!!  Well, the holidays are over and I (Major Moma) thought I would throw out some smaller project ideas since many of us are a bit tired from all the celebrating during the holiday season.  Clothes are not the only item in a tween's wardrobe and certainly not the only thing you can sew for your tween.

Accessories are an excellent project to make a hand-made outfit look custom.  They are also a great idea for beginner sewers because you don't have to worry about fitting issues.

Simplicity notebook cover and carrier

My daughter reads many books on her kindle and here is a cute pattern to make a cover or case.

Violet Fields Threads' Felicity hair flower

Violet Fields Threads' Delilah necklace

Aeroplane bag

Cadet Cap

Burda Shoulder bag

Burda cap

Burda Soft Satchel

 And I just love this rose necklace from Violet fields.
















And several pattern makers have a wide variety of bags and backpacks that you can customize to fit the needs and fashion sense of your tween.




















And what about accessory tutorials?  There are a million free tutorials out there with some great ideas for accessories.  Simplicity has several HERE, and I thought THIS recent post on Sew Country Chic could easily be translated for a tween.

Do you sew accessories?  What do you think of these as beginner projects?

Pajama Round up

In the pattern world, there is not a shortage of pajamas.  In fact, one of my greatest frustrations with the big American pattern makers is that a great percentage of their patterns are PJs or lounge wear.  That being said, it is rather traditional to make the family pajamas for the holidays and they are so practical.  Below I tried to pick out patterns that are more than a standard PJ pant and t-shirt.  Each of these have a little something special about them.

B5586

M6596

sweet dreams

S1505

S1504

S2481

Sally here to add my 2 cents about pajamas.  Around here we are pretty casual and I don't really see the point of paying a ton of money for pjs when so many things work so well. My kids usually get a pair at Christmas time (hand-made for my girls still, but my boys are so big now that the yardage to make flannel pj pants cost more than a good deal at a retail store). Other than that they use t-shirts that don't make the 'wear-in-public' cut. 

As you can see there are plenty of options if you are a go-by-the-pattern kind of person...especially if you want the top or the nightgowns. But for pants, drafting your own really isn't that hard.  I was going to do a nice little post with pictures and everything  you need on how to draft some, but realized I would really be reinventing the wheel. There are a TON out there, a lot of them very similar, but some add some unique things as well.  Here are just a couple that I found:

Simple Simon and Company

The Sewing Loft Blog

The Mother Huddle

Basic Grey

Seriously, just type in "draft your own pajama bottoms" and there are a ton of tutorials out there. Now you don't have to worry if you decide last minute to make pjs for your kids for Christmas and you don't have a pattern.

Outerwear Round up

Well, though it is still fall in the northern hemisphere, we had a significant spurt of winter weather this week.  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your travel was not too stressful with the storms that just crossed the US.

All that snow got me thinking, do you sew your tween coats?  I have sewn several jackets, but for weather below freezing, I always just purchase rtw.  There are actually several coats on the market that would be lovely in either boiled wool or high tech fabrics.  Below are a few that I thought would be especially versitile.

kwik sew coat

Alpine Wonderland

Happy Camper

S2534

So, let us know... Do you make coats?  Where do you buy your outer wear fabric? 

Holiday Wear Round-up

One of my (Major Moma) favorite things to sew are special outfits for the holidays.  I especially like making coordinating outfits for the family.  I don't know how I became one of "those moms," because mine certainly never was, but it happened.

But you have to be so much more careful when doing that with tweens.  And a big puffy dress that spins or a cute tie is probably not going to appeal to your pre-teen boy or girl.  But there are several wonderful options of varying formality for tween holiday wear.  We have created this round up of some for both boys and girls.  Some of the pictures have younger children as models, but all of the patterns have a tween size range.

   

M6830

Phoebe Dress

Cosette Maxi Dress

Trousers and Waistcoat

Knit Jacket

jacket

 

lace bodice dress

long fringe jacket

embroidered dress

long sleeve bohemian dress

Elaina Pintuck Party Dress

 

Little Gentlemen suit jacket AND vest and pants

classic Chinos

Nora dress

Each caption has the link to where you can purchase the pattern, so shopping is easy.  (We currently are not affiliated with any company, but just believe in helping each other out.)

We hope you liked some of these and if you make one, please let us know how it went!