Dr. Seuss Outfit

I am very excited to be participating in the Fat Quarter Shop Dream Big with Dr. Seuss blogger challenge, using their Dr. Seuss ABC's Fat Quarter bundle!  Dr. Seuss's ABC's is a favorite book in our house, so I was very excited about these fabrics, and I kept having phrases from the book pop in my head as I was working with them (it's catchy!).  Fat Quarter Shop put together a video tutorial showing how to make a cute baby quilt with the bundle; I went in a different direction and made a cute toddler outfit.

Esther has nearly outgrown her last set of quick change pants, so I made her some 24 month sized ones to last through the winter. The main fabric for these pants is a lightweight green corduroy that I had on hand, and I used the ABC patchwork print for the bum panel and a patch on the shirt.  Rather than making the pants reversible, they are mostly lined in upcycled flannel (from a sheet) with the yellow polka dot print just on the bottom inside to make a cute cuff.

The alphabet bum is so cute and colorful!  In making the pants, I made the same basic modifications as my last pairs - I narrowed the outside leg seams (making the waist/legs wider) but them added more curve to the inseam to make the legs a bit narrower again.  That way they aren't too much of a squeeze to get on over her diaper bum but have a bit less of a boxy look.

Not that I shy away from unisex clothes, but I thought with the boy-ish style and colors of the pants, it would be good to have a shirt that was more clearly a girls style.  I upcycled a orange shirt to make a long sleeved top with a gathered neckline (my own pattern), with yellow fold-over elastic for the neckband giving a nice contrast color.  I wanted the shirt to tie in with the pants so I put a patch on from the same patchwork ABC fabric.

Originally I cut a patch out of the big alphabet panel to use on this shirt (with the E elephant for Esther) but it was a bigger patch and it was too stiff to work well with the gathers in the neckline.  So I picked it out and made this smaller, lower patch and am saving the E for another shirt!  I am planning to save the rest of the panel to use for applique patches for other kids items in the future - I foresee lots of cute initial T-shirt gifts.

I also made a second pair of pants which turned out even more boy-ish so I think I am going to save them for a future baby gift.

I used the bear fabric for the bum panel on these and the green dot for the contrast cuff lining.  The main fabric for these is upcycled from a chambray shirt of Lawson's, and I actually used the reverse side which was a bit lighter.  I lined these pants in upcycled flannel as well, so both pairs of pants should be nice and warm for the winter.

I usually think of sewing kids clothes with fabric yardage so this was a fun challenge to realize how much I could do with a few fat quarters!

Disclosure: Fat Quarter Shop provided me with the fat quarter bundle of fabric for this challenge, but all opinions expressed are my own.

More Quick Change Baby Pants

Esther got a ton of use out of the first batch of quick change baby pants that I made her, I couldn't resist making her a slew more when she outgrew them.  (Pattern from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book (affiliate link)).  Most of these I kept the print selection simpler and just used two prints, with one for the main pants and the other for the butt panel, then the opposite for the other side.   That way the butt panel and the cuff match for both sides.  I love love love this Heather Ross Briar Rose Strawberry print and it looks so cute on these pants. I can't resist dressing her in these whenever they are clean!

I also love how these bunny pants turned out, I had been saving this Aneela Hoey fabric (from her Posy line) for a special project and decided these pants would be it! These I actually lined with a lavender fabric because I figured the bunnies would be too cute to ever be reversed. The only downside to these pants is that they get dirty really easily so they aren't great for digging in the mud at the park, but they are cute enough to make up for it.

I actually made these elephant pants before Esther was born, when we knew we were having a girl but I still really wanted to make her gender neutral clothes. (The elephant fabric is from Cloud 9's Ed Emberley fabric line). Which obviously is not as high a priority for me now, haha. Not that I don't dress her in plenty of gender neutral things, I just have loosened up and realized that part of the fun of having a little girl is dressing her in adorable strawberry and bunny outfits. I had nearly finished the pants but I went back and took them apart and resewed them with narrower side seams to make them wider in the waist/butt, since the first pair I had made originally were so tight. I love the elephants on these pants and while the other side (with elephants as the main pants print) is super cute she more often wears them on this side since they don't get dirty quite so easily.

Finally, I made her a pair of simpler green leafy pants. She actually was wearing these on St. Patrick's day very fittingly, and totally accidentally - I was at a kids event where all the other children were purposefully dressed in green and I hadn't been thinking about it at all. One time when wearing lots of green paid off! I also modified the pattern a bit more for this pair of pants (and the others, except the elephant pants that I had sewn earlier) - since I was letting out the side seam to make more room in the bum, I also narrowed the leg by adding more of a curve to the inseam, making the legs narrower at the bottom. This changes the shape of the pants a bit but I think it looks better than the extra-wide leg that resulted from the other adjustment I made and it also looks a bit more feminine. I did have to be careful to make the bottom of the leg still straight so that they cuff well.

I have to say, it took some willpower not to make more of these pants - these were all 12 month size and I am trying to hold off on making more until the fall when I see what size she is in then... I'm figuring that as she gets taller this summer she may be able to wear this current set as capri pants for a while too.

Quick Change Baby Pants

To follow up on my kids clothing week sewing posts (here and here), I wanted to share a few more of the clothes that I have sewed for Esther.  I love the Quick Change baby pants pattern from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book, it is such a cute way to showcase favorite quilting cotton prints.  While the instructions say that it require 3/4 yard of each of the main prints for most of the sizes, I found that I could eke it out with 1/2 yard, particularly for prints where the orientation of the fabric didn't matter.  I love that the pants are reversible, so it's like getting two pairs of pants in one!  Plus with the cuff that you can fold down as they grow, they should fit a bit longer than most baby clothes.

This first pair that I sewed for Esther was pretty snug, which could have been because I made them at the height of her deliciously chubby stage, so for the next two pairs that I sewed, I cut out the same size (9 months) but made a smaller seam allowance for the two outer seams (eg the ones at her hips, not the inseam).

That worked great and the next two pairs fit her much better - although they are still a bit of a wiggle to get on and off.  These pants in muted sage green and coral are my absolute fave!

I also made a super fun bright pair of pants for her also in green and pink.  I was tempted to sew tons more but I should probably make them in a larger size!  She is growing so fast, it's already about time to fold down those cuffs...