Make for Mom Series
May 14, 2013 by | 8 Comments
Hi everyone! I’m hanging out with the lovely Shaffer Sisters today for some “mommy sewing”. Woo!!! Stop by and say, “Hi!”.
Tag Archives: Design
Bringing the Flash Back! (A Knock Off!)
May 8, 2013 by | 42 Comments
My favorite part of creating patterns for kids has to be the research. I love looking at clothes from the past up to the present and trying to figure out how I can twist them up to add a bit of today or yesteryear to them. Today I’m thrilled to be participating in Heidi’s Knock It Off series again. Last time I created a “mirror” knock off of Axel and Fore’s adorable polo shirt, but this time around I thought it might be fun to play around with the knock off a bit. When I saw these coveralls from Blu Pony Vintage, I knew I’d found my blank canvas.
Blue Pony Vintage’s clothing for kids has a very soft, 20s – 40s kind of feel to me (Their last season and current one.) I thought it would be fun to change the silhouette, fabric, and details just enough to make this knock off fit the personality of my 7-year-old: Fun, energetic, and super “cool” with lots of personality. Ha! Ha! Sounds like the 70s to me. 
I started off by redrawing the coveralls, trimming the silhouette to give it more structure.
I went back and forth on the fabric. The original design is in a lightweight denim. I decided to forgo the denim and opted for a medium weight, sturdy cotton. It gave more “body” to the design and made the lines more crisp.
While I kept a lot of the design elements the same like the pockets, collar, and waistband, I did add the following:
- Shortened the sleeves and added tabs
- Changed out the buttons from contrasting to neutral to “dress up” the look
- Slimmed the silhouette
- Added a functional hidden button fly
Both the coveralls “jumpsuit” and the hat were self-drafted. The original design is $156. I used fabric from my stash and had everything else on hand, so $0. Yay! My favorite kind of knock off! My son loved it. Now my littlest one wants one in green.
Thank you for stopping by today! I love the Knock it Off series. Want to do your own knock off? Join the Knock It Off Flickr group and share your work.
My free newsletter sign-up is now available. Subscribers receive free patterns, special discounts for my pdf patterns, giveaways and more. (Just click the box below)
Happy Day!
Keep doin’ what you love!
Shannon
Project Run & Play Auditions
December 7, 2012 by | 22 Comments
(Looking for the Vintage Booklet Giveaway Winner? Click here.)
Hi Everyone!
I learned this morning that I’m one of 5 finalists in the Project Run & Play designer selection (Yay!). If you’re not familiar with Project Run & Play, it’s the online version of Project Runway, except it’s for kids clothing, the competitors are a lot nicer , and you can design at home along with the designers and win prizes, too. They are looking for their last two designers and are asking for your vote.
Voting begins today, Friday, December 7th and ends this Sunday, December 9th. So, go and vote for your favorite (The voting bar is in the top left column of the website). If you sew, don’t forget to participate in the sew-a-along group in January when the competition starts. I’d love to know if you voted. Leave a comment here or send me an email: littlekidsgrow (at) gmail (dot) com.
Have an awesome weekend!
Keep doin’ what you love!
Shannon
Knock It Off Series!
October 29, 2012 by | 9 Comments
Hi All,
I just wanted to make a quick announcement today to let you all know about the Knock It Off Series that a good bloggy friend of mine (Heidi from Elegance and Elephants) will be hosting in the month of November. Heidi just won second place in this season’s Project Run & Play, so believe me when I say that her Knock It Off series is sure to be AMAZING!
Here’s a a piece of her description:
Have you ever seen an awesome shirt, dress, pants, etc in a store or online for the little one(s) you sew for, and wished you could figure out how to make it yourself? Save some money and make it your own? Or maybe it’s something one of your favourite fashion icon (or their kid) has worn? Well, all next month, an amazingly talented line up of designer moms are going to do just that: knock off a look, garment, or accessory, and show how they did it! How cool is that?! All childrenswear…all knock offs…all November!
She’s also created a Flickr group for everyone to join. (I Loovvveeeee it!)
I’m super thrilled to be one of the featured designers in the series along with an amazing group of talented designers that I’ve admired from afar:
Nov 2 – Elegance & Elephants
Nov 5 - a girl and a glue gun
Nov 6 - Running With Scissors
Nov 7 - nest full of eggs
Nov 8 - The Mother Huddle
Nov 9 - Caila Made
Nov 12 - Naptime Crafters
Nov 13 - Elegance & Elephants
Nov 14 - Little Kids Grow (ME!)
Nov 15 - Daisy Chain Creations
Nov 16 - My Handmade Home
Nov 19 - Simple Simon & Co
Nov 20 - Sew Country Chick
Nov 21 - you & mie
Nov 22 - Winter Wonderings, Wanderings, & Whatnot
Nov 23 - Sewing Like Mad
Nov 26 - Delia Creates
Nov 27 - Let’s Do Sew/Petit à Petit & family
Nov 28 - Frances Suzanne
Nov 29 - Melly Sews
Nov 30 - The Train to Crazy
Hop on over to her blog and grab a button to show your support. (You know you need to stretch those sewing skills, right? I’ll be right here supporting you all the way!)
Keep doin’ what you love!
Shannon
Men to Boys (Pants! Pants!Pants!)
October 10, 2012 by | 0 comments
A lot of my fabric stash looks like this. Bunches of men’s pants that I’ve either thrifted or gotten from my husband. I have the hardest time finding durable fabric that can take on the rough and tumble of my boys. I’ve tried varies bottom weights at my local fabric store, but they’re just not the same. Plus, I can thrift a pair of men’s pants for $1 or $2 or for free. I actually prefer using store bought pants for something quick and easy because I can use the existing seams, hems, AND pockets.
Since my boys really needed pants, that’s what I’ve been working on for my second
KCWC project. The grey pair on the right was one that I made a couple of weeks ago to test out my single pattern. I did the creme colored pair not too long after that for my 5-year-old , but didn’t realize he’d grown so much, so today I added a cuff to lengthen them. The only complete pair that I worked on today is the green pair (left). They’re nothing fancy, but they are durable and great for playing, running, jumping, spinning, kicking, and wrestling .
My boys like them, and apparently, Thomas the Train likes them too!
Thanks for stopping by.
Keep doin’ what you love!
Shannon