One day last week, I got a wild hair and went up in the attic. I got down all my fabric scraps and found that they entertained the kids for HOURS. While they were thus occupied, did I catch up on chores? Did I do something pressing and necessary? Nope.
I made Bea a dress and pinafore.
Kids need play clothes afterall and she's pretty much outgrown last year's shorts, omg they're tiny! I prefer to avoid normal kids clothes as they are covered with characters and logos. Ugh. So I can go to Buy Buy Baby where they sell adorable gender neutral clothes (see Bea model them here, here and here) for really not that much dollars. But still a lot compared to yard sale prices which are pretty much my speed.
Or, or. Or I can make them Fraulein Maria style from old drapes and bedsheets and requisitioned garments. As I do occasionally for myownself.
So I made the pattern for the bodice out of muslin and fitted it to her with room to grow. A dress and pinafore are perfect for a little kid like Bea. She can play hard and not worry about messing anything up because the pinafore protects the dress and said pinafore is of a patterned fabric. Try getting a stain to show up on it! It's a lot cuter than standard kids' clothes and relates to the book characters she's grown up with from those of Beatrix Potter to Laura Ingalls Wilder to more recently George MacDonald.
