thesoutherninstitute.com

Hi, everyone! It feels like forever since I sat at this keyboard and typed a post. I guess it has been over a week, which is a long time for me to go without sharing something with you. May is a super busy month for our family, as it is for a lot of families with school-aged kids, and time to blog is pretty limited. I need to show you what I made for the kids lately though!

Awhile back Joann Fabric and Crafts shared some great fabrics with me and asked if I would play around with them. Of course I said that I would love to! I was allowed to choose some fabrics from the Doodles Fabric Collection for kids, which is full of bright, fun designs that are made just for kids (although, you’ll see that one that I chose is beautiful and totally appropriate for an adult). Originally I was going to use these for Kids’ Clothing Week, but that was the week before my daughter’s school musical, and as a “costume mom” I was called upon to help with the costumes, leaving little time for KCW sewing. Things just snowballed from there (busy busy busy!), but I’ve been able to get a couple of things sewn for Abby and Luke.

The first piece that I finished was this Ice Cream Dress for Abby. The pattern is from Oliver + S, and I’ve used it once before. It’s the only O+S pattern I’ve ever sewn… I don’t know why I don’t have more of these patterns! They are amazing! If you have never sewn one you should try, and don’t be intimidated. These patterns are so well written that you will be amazed at how well you can sew when you are done with one! What I love about the Ice Cream Dress: the classic lines, the pockets, and the variations that are available as far as fabric combinations go, as well as the pattern variations go. This can be made as a shirt or as a dress without pockets. I chose Spring Twill Butterfly Taupe fabric from the Doodles Fabric Collection for the main fabric. The contrast fabric is another twill that Joanns sent me to pair with it, but it has a little bit of stretch to it. Now that I’ve sewn with the stretch twill, I probably wouldn’t recommend that type of fabric for the dress. It’s a bit heavy and stiff, and not quite as comfy as Abby would like. I would go with a lighter weight 100% cotton fabric , like the Spring Twill Butterfly, which is absolutely lovely! I love the two paired together though. The dress is bright and fun and it gets a lot of compliments. She looked so pretty in it at her spring violin recital!

The second piece that I got done was a pair of shorts for Levi, using the Lizard Camo Spring Twill from the Doodles Fabric Collection as well. I can’t find it online now, but I recently saw it in the store, so I think that they still have it. It’s such a fun print! I had been searching for the right shorts patterns for it, and I found it in the Little Long Board Shorts Pattern from Make It Perfect. This was exactly the pattern that I was looking for! It’s casual and fun and perfect for the playground, the beach, or anywhere that your boy might get down and dirty.

First of all I love this fabric so much! I just think it’s perfectly suited for these shorts and for a host of other boy projects. The colors are great and since it’s a 100% cotton lightweight twill, it’s sturdy without being too heavy, which is very boy-friendly, in my book. Second, I love this pattern! I’ll be making this one again for sure. Pockets are a must if you ask me, and this pattern has ‘em. You can’t see it very well in the photo because of the print, but the knees have patches to reinforce them, and that always adds a fun stylish element. The drawstring is optional because of the elastic waistband, but I think board shorts require one, don’t you? The knit fabric at the waistband is so comfy, and paired with the elastic makes the shorts easy to pull on and off. Levi really loves these. Honestly, I think the reason I love these so much is because they remind me of my favorite Mini Boden Board Shorts so much!

Both the dress and the shorts are going to get a lot of wear this summer. Many thanks to Joann Fabrics for supplying the fabric for my sewing endeavors! Stay tuned for more pattern reviews coming up over the next several weeks. I’ll be sewing up a couple of dresses and a another kid’s pattern to share with you all, and I’m excited about all of them. Sewing it what I enjoy the most and I plan on doing more of it over the summer.