In the same way that I have an enduring love of the Big Butt Baby Pants Pattern by Made By Rae, and I will make them again and again, until my kids get too old (the same can also be said for the trouser pattern in Growing Up Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee), I have the same strength of love for Kitschycoo‘s Tunic Pattern.

I have made 5 so far.

AND I’M GOING TO KEEP GOING!

The latest one has Heather Ross Far Far Away Part 3 Snow White for the main body and some lovely chicken feet fabric for the sleeves and the yoke.

I’d love to tell you that the matching up on the side was intentional, but to be honest it was a very lucky fluke. Go universe!

Dwarfs!

And yes I wish I had ironed it before I took photos but things are BUSY around here and that wasn’t going to happen.  Next time. (Maybe)

I made another one while I was at the sewing machine, out of some cute japanese needle cord I bought a couple of years ago, covered in ladybirds and four leave clovers. But, as you can see LR wore it yesterday and is super wiggly now that she can walk. But you get the idea.

In other news, there will be a big shop update this week, once everything is dry/labelled/photographed.

Also there is another Waldorf doll to show you. \o/

September rolls around and I start making the clothes needed for autumn and winter. (March is the same when it comes to spring and summer wear.)

This year I took two of my favourite trouser patterns* and made a whole batch of fleece trousers for each child. Up until now I’ve only made fleece trousers when I’ve managed to get one of those large GAP fleece jumpers second hand, but this year I realised that thrifting fleece was a bit silly, given how much I was going to need. So I went to Pennine Outdoor and got myself a job lot in a ton of different colours.

Fleece – it turns out – is great to work with, and the trousers were sewn up really quickly. (No edges to finish, so the number of seams needed was dramatically reduced.) In the end I made 5 (!) pairs per child, and I’ve still enough fleece to make mittens, and possible a pram cozy (if I patchwork bits together.)

They won’t be as muck resistant as wool would be, but they’ll wash well and dry quickly and keep my children warm when it gets cold.

* The basic trouser pattern from Growing Up Sew Liberated (which I have messed about with, taking out the hip pockets and putting patch pockets in instead.) And the Big Butt Baby Pattern which I’m going to keep using it until all my babies are out of nappies.

(New [to us] garden furniture – definately worth the wait.)

and then FB and his daddy went to look at bike seats (and watch Stage 2 of The Tour de France at the shop, and have a sneaky snooze!) and I made…

Hello patchwork! Why did I wait so long?

Have I mentioned that I’m a sucker for a raglan tee? I think I have!

So when I saw this tutorial at Craftiness is Not Optional, I had to have a go. I have plenty of small jersey pieces – or rather I have lots of large adult tee shirts with trouser leg hole shapes in the body. But often there is enough left over to make the body of a baby tee shirt. (I’m planning to squeeze some knickers out of them too – oh yes I am!)

I had some ribbing which I bought last year, for my last (unsuccessful) attempt at making tee shirts, so I made the sleeve from that.

(The shorts are yet another Big Butt Baby Pants made 3/4 length, and with added patch pockets. I’ve made four (!) pairs of these for FB so far this year, and they are his basic summer staple. I’ll post about these as soon as I can get them photographed.)

(She is leaning, not standing. But we’re not far off.)

The ribbing means that I didn’t have to make the neckholes extra big, and yet my children could get their heads through. (I was a bit nervous about this, and was tempted to wake them up when I finished the tee shirts so that they could try them on. And then I remember that that was madness and waiting till morning. ;)

Now I’ve made tee shirts for the children I’m excited to make some for W too! It’s really hard at the moment to find raglan tee shirts for men, and he looks great in them. Hopefully all this making tops will give me the confidence to make some tops for myself too, since my collection is pretty small at the moment, and I feel the need up update things.

My very lovely friend Debbie runs a great kid’s clothing online shop Monkey and Bo, where she stocks (along side great European and British kid’s clothing) limited editions by indie crafters. (Currently Sophie4sophie‘s apron dresses and the tunic dresses I’m about to go on about from Kitchycoo.)

Anyway that’s where I first saw the Kitchycoo‘s Tunic Dress.

Luckily for us people who are compelled to make things,  the pattern is available and it’s become a firm favourite in our house. So much that I’ve made three (!) so far, and I’ve the fabric set aside for at least two long sleeve pin cord ones this autumn.

They are great because the garments themselves last and last, first as a dress and later as a tunic top. The idea is to get about two years wear out of each piece. So, when you sew it yourself you can use fabric you love and get to see it over an extended period of time. (I LOVE THIS!)

Plus as the mother of large headed babies, it’s also great because the neckline is by it’s very nature super stretchy and very forgiving on little ears. On top of all that, it’s a raglan, and I’m a sucker for a raglan.

Anyway this wasn’t meant to be a pattern review particularly. I just wanted to show what I’ve been making. ;)

They have had a TON of wear over the last few months – they look great with trousers, which is how LR wears them right now. And they dressy and girly, but not too dressy and not too girly. Yay!

(The third one is in the wash thanks to some cherry tomatoes yesterday, but you can see the fabric I made it from here.)

We have a MAJOR family wedding to go to next year and I’m thinking that this dress, with a wide ribbon sash would be wonderful. (Did I mention that the pattern goes up to up to 4 years old? Great isn’t it?)

(ps. all the opinions here really are my own, and I didn’t make a bean in money or stuff writing this.)