deondergangvanmijnouders

A few months ago, I shared some little boy shorts that I made from the spare tropical holiday red cotton fabric … from my Sophia Dress. They were the little Oliver + S Art Museum Trousers , but these gingham ones are my first pair! Felix wore them a few times over summer when the weather wasn’t too hot, but he has officially gone off them… and that happens, so looking at them again here, it might be cause they’re a little small already. Kids grow! That happens too. I just L.O.V.E.D making this pattern, it is spot on in shape, design and has just gorgeous little details! I adore little children in sharp trousers, so I will definitely make them again… but will try a bigger size… this one is a 3 and maybe if I try a winter pair in the size 4 it will be just right for the next 6 months. Perhaps the trousers are a little on the slim shape of sizing, if you’re noticing your child has the bigger bones and the bigger tum… Felix is kind of inbetween that kind of sizing… but considering he was ...

Hello again! Today I have a lovely little boy joining me, wearing some lovely little hand sewn shorts for summer! You've probably seen the photos I featured last month on my blog , but we snuck a few extra in because that random Shanghai scooter in the random Shanghai street... pretty cute, right? Understandably, I've just been so sluggish lately with the 36 degree days in Shanghai. If you’re in a super humid climate, how do you spend the days? I’ve been trying to get up early (doesn’t ever work) to do some things before it gets hot, but it’s hot like RIGHT away… we take Felix to school at 8.30am on the bikes and we’re sweltering on the ride home… it’s only 10 minutes on the pushie but it feels like an hour in the heat. Luckily, these photos were taken right after the Typhoon in July on a super normal summer day, lovely and warm and a little overcast! I’ve never made a Oliver + S pattern before this year, I bought two of the boy patterns a while back, and luckily I have time...

Being in Shanghai, on one income, our family has a modest budget. So I’m welcoming the time to sew & be a pattern tester on the odd occasion for the independent pattern designers around the world. Plus, I’ve always been thrifty! This week, the Daisy Chain Top 06 was launched by Debbie for her Lily Sage & Co pattern collection and last week I finished it up for a play date in the park! It is just WONDERFUL and completely quick to sew up. When sewing kids things, I want a pattern than is super quick but is really good looking and this Daisy Chain top is that kind of style for me. I love the shape and if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember I tried this kind of hemline (with great wearability as I wear it ALL the time) a few years ago. Love it! Debbie describes it as "a loose fitting, swingy, baby doll top that is perfect for Summer days. It has a fully covered, button up back, little sleeve ruffles, a flattering hi-lo bodice, and a gathered midri...

No matter how hard I try to take care sewing my clothes, for now, I’m just sewing like the blazers when it comes to children’s clothing… well for my two year old at least. So today, for you who look for shortcuts, have a squizz at my lazy way to make children’s clothes! I don’t usually do tutorials, or plan on doing them, but it’s nice sometimes to share how easy things are as well. There are usually so many resources online, and rather than compile my own how to do shit here, I usually pin my favourites, on the pinterest… so follow there if you are keen for sewing techniques that are a little more refined than this blog post! These toddler trousers are upcycled from my Husband’s uniqlo t-shirt that was a lovely thick stretch knit that fitted snug and then after a few wears was too snug for him to be comfortable. For the pattern, I used Felix’s old trousers, a pair of stretch knit floppy harem or low crotch style toddler pants… call them whatever… they are just great little trousers ...

This week is Kid's Clothes Week and I've seen So Zo post about it before, so I thought I'd join in... because I'm on a "Joining In!" vibe, and looking for the motivational deadlines for sewing... but I didn't take note of the theme 'Wild Things' because I live in China and I'm working with what I've got at home and usually refashioning for my kids stuff anyways, because #sustainability & #slowfashion where I can.  These trousers could be zebra-esque though? They are refashioned from Husbie's tshirt, a thick top from Uniqlo that became a smidge too tight after a wash, and I followed a pattern from an existing pair of trousers that were hideously stained. This kid can find the dirt! But dirt in China is not hard to find, having said that... it's clean where it needs to be clean here in Shanghai, but where it's dirty it's horrid and perfect for child snooping. So Felix is dirty a LOT and hence why I'm not particularly...

Hi and welcome to my Sewing School Scoop blog post! If you hadn't seen I started my first ever sewing course here in Shanghai, through a gorgeous sewing & design collective called Couture Nomad , set up & run by a wonderful bunch of expat women living through Asia! I got to meet Catherine, the founder, this week as I've joined Teacher Muriel's Wednesday class as it's closer to my house. Only a 10 minute bike ride, instead of a 20 minute taxi ride! YAY! So I thought with my sewing scoop posts, I'll highlight some 'A-ha moments'... because what I'm finding now after 3 classes, it's stuff like "OH THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE"... because for years I've been sewing and cutting and dreaming without techniques to help... so now I'm picking up those finer tuned ideas about sewing. I've found short cuts, neater & tidier ways to create things, already. PLUS, check out that smocking above... did you guys realise how easy as all ...

Ooh, I've almost finished showing you all my December creations! I made 31 things last month, so I'd get a feeling for sewing a lot again and overall I think I've learnt how to sew with scraps (especially in the last few weeks) which helped clean up the sewing room as well. We're away on holidays this week, so have been catching up on blogging my things, and it's another holiday thing: a Toddler Hat. In November I made an Oliver + S sunhat   from the free Reversible Bucket Hat pattern and it's been great, but the interlining that I used to stiffen it out makes the 3 layers of fabric quite thick and hot for my BD. He's a hot boy anyways, so wearing a hat and playing in the sun gets him very warm indeed! So I've used super cool fabric, super cool colours with no interlining and hoping that this will be cool for him in Singapore & Thailand. The fabric is stash fabric again, leftover from a work party where I made heaps of bunting (surprise surprise) an...

Harem shorts just don't really sound right for a child, now that I'm really thinking about it. These are low crutch shorts, poopy pants (don't they call them that on Project Runway?) or drop crotched pants. For Baby Darling I've made these really quickly out of scrap fabric (it was probably 30 cm by 50 cm - two pieces... so kind of two rectangles). If you look at the rectangle with the longest side towards you, I chopped off the top two corners, that became the side seams, then chopped off the bottom two corners just slightly, and they became the leg holes... and the bottom bit of the rectangle became the crotch seam... so it's kinda looking more like a flattened triangle now instead of the rectangle. I'll have to draw it up sometime, let me know if you're desperate for the pattern! Then I sew-ed up the seams, attached the red ribbed waistband (with a low stretched wide elastic inside) and the cuffs. I honestly guessed the measurements (just checked the elas...