Stretching things further

So as I said Miss M needs new clothes, she was wearing a dress the other day which has suddenly become very short on her!

(I can see her knees!)

As the bodice is ok at the moment, although not for much longer, I decided to add to the length.  The fabric is a linen mix so I got some scarlet linen mix and added a ruffle. 

(Before and After)

(Very cute!)

(Perfect for twirling)

What do you think?

Autumn SWAP for kids

My girls need a autumn/winter wardrobe, especially Miss M, Miss C gets all the hand-me-downs so her wardrobe is stuffed.  I’ve been looking around for suitable patterns for a soon to be 9 year old but haven’t had much luck finding commercial patterns for that age group. She’s going on 9 and I find some of the clothes in the shops inappropriate for her age so I like to make things for her, but not enough!   So I’ve been collecting ideas from all the millions of blogs I follow and now I hope to devise a SWAP for the girls based mainly on skirt or dresses, t-shirts are the best things for kids and cheap enough and easy enough to come by not to bother sewing. 

• I made her some skorts in the past which Miss M loves and she asked for some more, with winter coming I thought I would make them a bit longer to cover the legs.  Miss C wants some as well.  These will be made with pink jersey leggings and the assortment of floral fabrics I have in my stash.

(previous version which has been worn to death!)

• I want to make Miss M some dresses that I’ve drafted myself, I intend to try our Lorraine's Drafting For Kids series and end up with a basic sloper that I can adjust to produce a variety of dresses (Hell I want to do that for myself as well!).  I kind of fancy a shirt dress for Miss M.  Source
• a pleated skirt

Source

probably in a pink tartan I already have

• If I’m feeling brave enough I might attempt a pair of trousers (eek!) although Miss M has a tummy bulge so I’m not sure of the best style to accommodate/flatter that.

The problem I have with lots of the inspiration I find is that it all seems great spring and summer ideas but not so much on the winter clothing.  The last two winters in the UK have been unusually harsh so I’m wondering if this winter will be the same and we need lots of cold weather clothes or whether we’ll have a mild wet one.

I think is time to take some measurements and get the ball rolling, the kids go back to school on Monday so I’ll have some time to get my head around the drafting and get something achieved!