A Little Boy's Easter Outfit

Another challenge for long distance fitting is little boy outfits. I also smocked and stitched an outfit for our grandson for Easter. So when I requested measurements for the granddaughters I also asked for his. I knew I was short of time so I surmised an uncomplicated outfit for him would be best. Something that buttoned at the shoulder, like an overall, that he could wear with or without a shirt or t-shirt. And he's old enough not to need a snap crotch style. So the most important measurement for him was from the center of his shoulder, down and through the crotch and back up to meet the tape measure at the same shoulder. Basically one big elongated circle measurement. I certainly didn't want to put all the work into the outfit and not have enough length for him to wear it for awhile! The rest of the measurements were easy since he's lean, and not too tall just yet. I used another Children's Corner pattern which is out of print now ("Jeffery") which buttons at the shoulders and has a smocked insert across the front. The old pattern comes with two tabs that can be sewn onto the sides to pull the waist area in a little, but I didn't put those on. The shirt (not included in the pattern) was a basic boys shirt with a round piped collar and piped short sleeves that buttons down the back: dressy enough for special occasions.

I had a wonderful small plaid cotton/poly blend fabric in black, royal blue and kelly green that was perfect for the outfit, and I used a white cotton/poly for the shirt. The shirt pattern is from the out-of-print book Heirloom Sewing for Jack and Jill by Martha Pullen. I made piping out of the plaid for the shirt, and also used some of it on the suit. When choosing a smocking design I kept in mind that he loves cars and trucks right now, so of course, the design had to have cars on it.  I found the perfect design in a Sew Beautiful Magazine (Issue 131, 2010) by Michie Mooney called "Traffic Jam". It featured all red cars on denim blue so I changed the colors to work with my chosen fabric. Our grandson is learning his colors so I decided to use primary colors for the cars: red, blue, green, yellow and gray so he can point them out on his outfit. Here is the result, and he looks mighty happy:

Love those cowboy boots!!!

And here's a photo of all the grand children in their Easter outfits:

Three happy children in clothing that they can wear for a while because of good long distance measuring, fine fabrics and trims and a lot of love!

An Easter Dress Two

Easter sewing is so much fun....beautiful spring pastels after a long, cold, snowy winter, light fabrics (not heavy wintery ones) and faster stitching techniques because of lighter weight cottons, linens and silks.  I adore working on natural fibers.  So many of the light weight cottons (like the Jacquard on this dress or lawn, batiste, pique) are easy to sew, press up well and are so comfortable to wear.  And they're very washable, a must for active young children.

This Easter dress is no exception.  It's washable and only needs pressing when it comes out of the dryer. A little spray starch wouldn't hurt, either, to make it look just like it came out of the sewing room. The smocked collar will press up very nicely to give it that full, lighter-than-air feeling because the fabric is a Swiss batiste called Bearissima II from Bear Threads Ltd.  As I mentioned in the last post "An Easter Dress" I would supply the smocking design. And here it is with the instructions below.  Enjoy!

 This design can be adjusted to fit any size of Bishop, Basic Yoke or smocked collar by adding or subtracting the number of 5-step trellis rows. For this design on a girl's size 8 dress pleat 9 rows, with Rows 1 and 9 as holding rows.  Row 2 of pleating is Row 1 of smocking design. All smocking is done with three strands of stranded cotton embroidery floss. Only two colors are used in the design in addition to one to match the collar fabric.

1. Find center 2 pleats and mark.  Backsmock (cable) Row 1 with 2 strands of embroidery floss to match the collar fabric.
2. Row 1: Start with an up cable on center and cable across row in color #1. Turn fabric upside down and cable across to complete the other side. Change to color #2 and stack cables across right next to the previous cable row with an up cable next to the down cable of the previous cable row. Change back to color #1 for Rows 2-7.
3. Row 1-2: Starting at design center, complete a down cable at Row 2 and a baby wave up to the down cable of color #2. Complete three cables (up, down, up), then baby wave down to Row 2 and complete a down cable, continuing in this manner across the row. Turn fabric upside down and complete the same series of stitches from center to the other side of the fabric.
4. Row 2-3: Starting at design center using color #1, complete a down cable at Row 3 and a 5-step trellis up to Row 2. Complete one up cable and a 5-step trellis back down to Row 3 and one down cable. Continue the cable, 5-step trellis and cable sequence across the row.  Turn fabric upside down and complete the same pattern from design center to the other side of the fabric.
5. Rows 3-4: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable across between Rows 3 and 4.
6. Rows 4-5: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable across between Rows 4 and 5.
7. Rows 5-6: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable across between Rows 5 and 6.
8. Rows 6-7: Complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable across between Rows 6 and 7.
9. Row 7:  Change to color #2 and complete cable, 5-step trellis, cable right next to the completed one in color #1. Change back to color #1 and complete the cable, 5-step trellis, cable right next to the previous one in color #2.

The added benefit of this design is the ease with which it's completed: it's fast and required only the three stitches. This versatile design can be "dressed up or dressed down" by using flowerets in some of the diamonds formed by the 5-step trellis. Cast-on flowers could also be sued, along with small buttons. Turn this into a basic yoke design and fill it out with the decorative stitches and ideas mentioned. It's really an open diamond design just waiting for your beautiful ideas!

An Easter Dress

I love to make clothing for my grandchildren for special occasions, especially with smocking somewhere on the garment. I was recently asked to make a garment for Bear Threads Ltd. for their monthly newsletter (March 2015 to be exact) that goes out to their retail customers. Bear Threads is a wholesale provider of exquisite fabrics, laces, Swiss trims, mother of pearl buttons, etc. It was a good way to get me started on the Easter parade of grandchildren clothing...nothing like a deadline to get me motivated. 

I decided to make a dress for my oldest grand daughter who is tall and thin for her age. I selected a beautiful pink cotton Pique Jacquard Floral (made in Switzerland). I also used Bearissima II Swiss Batiste (also all cotton) for the smocked collar, and some gorgeous French Valencienne Lace to add to it.

I had her measurements and double checked the Children's Corner "Emily" pattern measurements: I could use the size 8 pattern and just lengthen it a little. I added one inch to the yoke bodice, and one inch to the dress skirt. Easy enough. But I was adding a regular collar to the dress which was made for a lowered neckline. A slight adjustment was needed to make the smocked collar work. So I took the Children's Corner "Lee pattern" regular neckline and laid it under my "Emily" neckline (after adding a bit of tissue paper to the "Emily"). I drew the "Lee" neckline onto the tissue paper after aligning the shoulder seams and center fronts.  Easy as pie...or should I say as easy as jelly beans. So the smocked collar, made for a regular neckline, would fit the now-altered dress neckline perfectly!

Beautiful white piping sets off the collar on the finished dress, a detail that I decided to add to make sure the collar laid down well on the garment.  It ties in with the white piping on the bottom of the cap sleeves. The ties in back, which you can't see in the photo, add extra fit to the dress.

The smocking design is my original that I developed for my daughter, now in her mid-thirties. But the design is another story...and another post that will include the smocking plate and instructions for you to enjoy!