KANA'S STANDARD for kids - Ruffle Top and Pants.

 I said on Instagram that I wasn't going to blog this, but together with a few encouragements, I also realized there was quite a lot of information I wanted to give about this book and outfit that was better suited for a blog post than an Instagram post.

The patterns are from the Japanese Sewing book KANA'S STANDARD for kids. It's definitely not my first time sewing Japanese sewing patterns but it was my first time sewing Kana's patterns. And almost by coincidence, I found a HUGE surprise.

Coffee + Thread Tour

Yaaaaay, it's time for the Coffee + Thread Tour!

We could use whichever of Olga's patterns we wanted. In this post I used four patterns. All hacked one way or the other. Some quite a lot and some just a little.

A Year of Sew Japan with Mie.

A year ago my dear friend Celina asked me if I wanted to be on her Petit a Petit + Family blog team. I could do whatever I wanted. And together we talked about how fun it could be to sew a Japanese pattern (or two) every month during 2016. Sew Japan with Mie was born!

I almost made it though the year but ran out of steam in the last two months. BUT let's focus on the 10 months I did make something instead of the 2 I didn't. Yup, good plan, Batman!

There is not going to be a lot of talk in this post because I have done all of that in the different posts and I'm linking to them all from this post. But I just wanted to make one finishing post here on my own blog that brought it all together. It was definitely fun for me to scroll through it all and I hope you will think so too.

JANUARY

Culottes and a cardigan.

See the full post HERE.

FEBRUARY

Knit dresses.

See the full post HERE.

MARCH

Suspender skirt and a tee with a lace collar.

See the full post HERE.

APRIL

Dress with knit top and woven skirt.

See the full post HERE.

MAY

Woven dress with back tie detail.

See the full post HERE.

JUNE

Oversized shirt.

See the full post HERE.

JULY

Shirt plus culottes with faux wrap skirt detail.

See the full post HERE.

AUGUST

Pinafore with lace overlay.

See the full post HERE.

SEPTEMBER

One top three ways and in three different materials.

See the full post HERE.

OCTOBER 

Fall jacket/cardigan in sweatshirt fleece.

See the full post HERE.

***

Lastly I want to thank all of you who sewed with me month after month and linked up your Japanese goodies in the link parties. The parties are closed now but the links to all your posts can still be seen (and clicked on) in the end of each monthly Sew Japan with Mie post. 

THANK YOU!

I think I'll take a little break with Japanese sewing patterns and instead try to sew a capsule wardrobe with Celina's Project Sew It Facebook group (just search: Project Sew it on Facebook). All you have to do is ask to join. Every month has a theme and in January we are sewing sweaters and cardigans. You can sew for yourself, your kids, your husband and choose whatever pattern you want. Only rule is to have fun! I have already made my first cardigan of 2017 and I'm hoping to get a quick post done this week.  

Who is with me?!

Petit a Petit Patterns Block Party.

Welcome welcome welcome....

Hmmm, do you know what we should do?

Safari Raglan Tee and Dress, Original Version.

So are you ready for my personal Safari Raglan Tee and Dress Week?

It might sound a bit over the top for a raglan tee and dress pattern - even a very very good one - but I ended up with three different garments (well, four but two are the same) and it would just be a big mess to put them all in the same post SO here we are...three days, three versions and three posts, yay!

The Fishtail Kimono by Chalk and Notch.

Today I have 3 versions of the same pattern so prepare yourself for a bit of photo overload but at least with different colors, textures and details to look at, ha.

The pattern is The Fishtail Kimono by Chalk and Notch.

As you can probably imagine if you are a regular reader of this blog and know my honest review promise and my super annoying (even to myself) critical eye, it is not very often that I open a pattern and actually start cheering. But I did when I opened the file to The Fishtail Kimono. 

It's not perfect but it is darn close! (and yeah I know perfection is very very subjective so I'm of course talking from my personal perspective!) More details to come along this post....

Let's start with the version that is the most close to the original. 

The pattern can be made both with knits and wovens which so rarely works but in this case totally makes sense because of the loose style and fit.

This one is made with a aqua cotton knit with silver spots from Fabric Depot.

My Janome cover stitch was again hard at work. You obviously do not need a cover stitch to make this style but it was very helpful for hemming, the back seam above the gathering (to stitch it down so it lies flat) and for the neckline and front opening rib.

So this is a near-perfect pattern to me I said, yes I did.

It is just SO full of information and not only information but the relevant kind of information.

Gabriela the designer has worked as a pattern maker before and that shows. The pattern pieces itself also have lots of information on them (e.g. hem SA info) which I absolutely love. Every time I don't have to look in the tutorial for info that I need to know to make the garment makes me a happy bunny.

I also loved the techniques she is suggesting in her tutorial, the use of fusible interfacing, the important notches are there and it is seriously just a pleasure to see such a simple style (nothing wrong with that just to be clear - they can be the hardest to design) be treated with this type of attention to detail!

The only time I was confused was when I tried to figure out the difference between neckband version 1 and 2. That information is in the tutorial but I had to look more for it than expected. Then when I realized that the difference basically was a matter of a button loop (but that very correctly does make a difference to how to cut and sew the neckline) I also understood why that information didn't have a more visible place in the tutorial. In other words this is a tiny detail but I thought I would mention it to avoid you coming in the same situation.

Let's move on to the version with a little twist.

 (Yes, the next version has a bigger twist.)

This one is made from this very soft and stretchy French terry and then with this beautiful neon coral crochet stretch lace from Mood Fabrics on the gathered lower back piece. And I know you are wondering why in the world I choose to put a similar color dress under this lace and make it so much harder to see....and I totally ask myself the same haha. 

I will say to my defense thought that the contrast between the neon lace and the red dress in real life was way more visible than on the photos, gah. But I have done what I could during the editing of these photos and I hope you get an idea of what it looks like!

Just a quick note about the red dress that is in fact handmade too but for unknown reason never blogged. It is the Celestial Tee by Figgy's extended to a dress.

For this version I didn't use my serger at all, only my sewing machine and my cover stitch. The reason for that was the lace. Since the lace is see through I would prefer to have the seams stitched 'away' from the lace so there is no chance of it being visible through the lace. So as you can see on the photo above, the seam above the gathered back piece is stitched up on the top back grey knit piece. And the side seam is stitched towards the front bodice. This is just me being very very detail orientated and you should not hold back making a lace version if you don't have a cover stitch machine, ok! You could just serge the seam and then use your sewing machine to stitch afterwards.

Okay, the last version and I'm literally giddy to show you......

Because it has faux shirt sleeves!!!!

I know you are suppose to be a bit more down to earth about your own genius ideas, bahaha but man I love this detail and one day I WILL make one for myself!

The smoky blue knit is a stretchy Rayon Bamboo French Terry from fabric.com (the same quality as the red dress in the previous outfit) and the stripy woven cotton voile is from Mood Fabrics. This blue color looks like it is sold out but HERE is a link to the other colors. The quality is beautiful!

I knew very early on that I wanted to make a version that mixed knit and woven shirt fabric but it was only during cutting, when I realized that I didn't have quite enough of the blue French terry and had to cut the sleeves shorter, that the idea about adding faux shirt sleeves came.

The pattern drafting is very very simple because you only need two measurements. The width of the kimono's sleeve by the hem (which you measure on the paper pattern) and then the length of the faux sleeve extension. Make a rectangle with those measurements, cut two of those and you are in business.

I thought it would look the best if I sewed the faux sleeve to the kimono sleeve by the hem stitch and not at the very bottom of the kimono sleeve. So if you look at the photo above you can see those 2 cm of the very bottom hem of the knit kimono sleeve is not attached to the woven sleeve. Okay, this is super hard to explain but I think you understand, right!

I finished the woven sleeve with a bias covered slit and a bias tape tie band. 

For the front I used a knit rib that I cut a few centimeters shorter than the pattern piece (since the pattern piece is not originally drafted for a rib) and I knew the rib would stretch. Sewn on with my sewing machine and then stitched with the cover stitch.

 And can you believe that these denim Ash pants that I blogged about in June are already too short. Argh, kids stop growing!

Okay, so there you have it.....my three versions of the Fishtail Kimono. And I kind of feel like I want to make more. It is a fast (depending on details, ha) and fun sew and you are in very very good hands throughout the process.

Get your own version of The Fishtail Kimono HERE.

Thank you!

All You Need Jammies - Christmas pajamas 2015

Two christmases ago I made these ladies their first christmas dresses and this year I took the plunge and made them their first christmas pajamas.

It's not a tradition I grew up with - probably because Christmas Eve is the big event in Denmark with christmas dinner, dancing around the christmas tree and then finally presents. In other words there are no specific morning traditions.

I love love love the American/British way with presents in the morning and this year it will finally happen in mommy mades. 

The pattern is All You Need Jammies from Heidi & Finn.

And the name of the pattern is to be taken literally.

From this pattern you can make 5 different garments. Gathered and regular tee, leggings and lounge pants plus a gathered nightgown. 

That's impressively generous for little over $8 if you ask me!

And even better the pattern has an easy overview to which pages to print depending on what you need. I love patterns that do that. 

But before I talk more about the pattern, let's talk about this fabric!

There isn't a ton of cotton based knit fabric out there and even less with prints in my taste so I practically jumped when I found this Boxer Reindeer Jersey Knit at the peek-a-boo pattern shop that-now-also-sells-fabric. 

I asked Amy the owner if this would work for pajamas and I LOVE that she was honest and said, "It can be done but personally I think it is a bit too thin for the pants. What about using this great red knit, it would be perfect for pants." I had not even thought of that and I honestly think this is a much better result than the whole outfit in the reindeer print. Thank you SO much for perfect customer service and lightning fast shipping!

The Reindeer print does not have a whole lot of stretch either so the gathered top in this pattern package was oh so perfect.

I feel like these photos are a bit unfair to the fabric. They are taken in the afternoon after the kids had been wearing them since the morning and I don't think you can find much knit that would not have 'knees' in them at that point. We had even been trampoline jumping at this point, haha. It really is great for leggings, promise!

Okay, let's get back to the pattern.

Sizewise the pattern is big - which is not meant as a complaint but just a reminder that you in this case REALLY have to measure your child or do what I did, used an already fitting pajamas to compare the pattern to get an idea of what size to make.

The clear indicator I got that the pattern runs big was when I realized that my tall (90 percentile) almost 6 year old could fit the size 5 (also in length) in the leggings and top. Again, not a problem as long as you remember to measure.

What I do not recommend you to do though is to use a top with lots of stretch to determine size and then afterwards realize that the fabric you are using has little stretch, DUH! 

I had already cut out my size 5 top pattern and went totally rogue and sort of graded it up while cutting...sooooo if you noticed a little center front and back pleat on little sister's neckline you should know that is me fixing my own problems and not a problem with the pattern, ha.

When it was big sister's turn (almost 8 years old with average height and weight) I had (kind of) learned my lesson and made her the size 9/10 in the top (because of limited-stretch fabric) and ahem, then I might have used the size 5 leggings patterns and added a bit of width and length while cutting (at least this time it totally worked....seriously, sometimes 15 years of sewing experience have to pay off, right!?) 

I had a few problems with/comment to the patterns.

You know I from time to time measure my paper patterns before I even start cutting and I found that the sleeve is a bit too small for the armscye. It's not something you would notice when you are sewing it because the fabric stretch and you might not even notice it when it is sewn in unless you have a trained eye (or you saw a comparison between a sleeve that fit and one that is too small) but the feel from the wearer will for sure improve and so will the look if the sleeve fit.

An easy fix is to simply add a bit of width to the sleeve seam and maybe also raise the sleeve cap a tiny bit depending on how much you know about pattern drafting. Or maybe using a sleeve size bigger than your bodice would actually do the trick if you don't feel like doing any changes to the pattern.

Another small thing was the gathered pattern piece (the lower part of the bodice of the tee). It is shaped like a half trapeze shape which means when the side seams are sewn together it creates a pointy side seam. I know I'm anal here and most would just cut it off and make a straight line at the hem but I can't help thinking that if only the pattern piece had been made from a rectangle piece and then using the cut and slash method which keeps the corners in their correct 90 degrees state then no correction would be needed.

I did my little trick and raised/curved the top and hem seam gradually to about 1 cm / 3/8" towards the side seam and created those pesky 90 degrees corners that creates straight lines when you sew them together.

A third thing is the fit of the leggings on the front of especially my youngest (who wear the true size 5 pattern) but I must admit I didn't spend any time looking into possible fixes because hey, this is pajamas that they will sleep in under a duvet, ha.

My Janome Coverstitch was again hard at work and I used it both at the neckline rib, above the chest gathers and to hem the bodice and sleeves. 

And here is a closer look at that silly reindeer.

This photo might be a bit blurred but how could I not use that!? It's funny how photos (or looks on photos) can deceive because they they were craaazy during this first attempt of getting photos hence why we ended up jumping trampoline and only try again outside way later in the day but hey it all worked out in the end.

Get your own version of All You Need Jammies pattern HERE.

Thank you and happy holidays!

The Tip Top and Morocco Pants by Petit à Petit Patterns.

I have been SO looking forward to post this....even though you wouldn't think so considering that I took these photos over 3 weeks ago. Phew, time flies!

It's Celina from Petit à Petit Patterns two recent patterns The Tip Top (which also comes as dress) and The Morocco Pants.

Let me just make it clear from the start both patterns are AMAZING!

It's funny because the top looks like a lot with the extravagant sleeves and yet it is a super fast and simple sew. 

And the pants look pretty straight forward but they are not a one hour project (okay, nothing is a one hour project for a slow-sewer like me but you know what I mean, ha). As with all Celina's patterns they have a million options so you can make them more or less advanced. I have made a pair (not blogged) with all the bells and whistles (see them HERE) so the pair I'm showing you today is one of the more simple options with elastic waist, faux zip fly and faux back pocket flaps.

 Okay, I'll tell you more later on. I want to talk about the top first.

I'm obsessed over this top! 

I have said it before but managing to make loose and 'oversize' styles look flattering is an art form and Celina has done exactly that with this pattern.

Those sleeves are just incredible and the option with a double layer is just gorgeous and opens up for a lot of fun fabric pairing ideas. The option of hemming with bias tape adds another dimension.

The patterns has lots of options.

Gathered or pleated neckline, elastic or fixed neckline, dress or tunic, welt pockets, side panels etc etc.

I'm dying to make a dress with welt pockets from this pattern but for now I have forbidden myself to sew more for my kids. Mommy needs new clothes now! 

Both fabrics are cotton voile and the rusty red was so thin and sheer that I cut the center front and back pieces double but simply treated them as one layer. That worked great and didn't cause me any problems.

The sewing step you will spend most time on is hemming the sleeves - especially if you choose the double sleeves (obviously) but again do not fret. The patterns has several options for you depending on your sewing level or temper, ha.

I choose the gathered/elastic neckline. I made my own bias tape and for extra effect sewed it on so it's visible from the front side. The bias tape also works as a casing for the elastic.

Super simple and super smart!

Let's move on to the pants!

Oh gosh, another favorite!

This pattern is a $10 sewing lesson in classical dress pants. Really!

Zip fly (regular or faux), waistband (3 different kinds), belt loops, front side pockets and back welt pockets (regular or faux) all done the classical way with facings and beautiful finishes and illustrated in the pattern's tutorial. Excellent!

Seriously, you will learn so much sewing these. Or if you already know these things it will be such a lovely and relaxing sewing experience.

Nothing in this pattern is really difficult but like I already mentioned I would be lying if I said it is a quick sew...at least if you want a nice result. So take your time, check your work after every step and you will end up with a result that might even surprise yourself, ha. A pair of beautiful and pro looking pants.

I absolutely love the tuxedo stripe option but the pattern also comes with a fully classical pants version without the stripe. And the best thing is that you can easy print which option you need without having to print the whole thing.

You know my obsession with this gold elastic from Dritz (and I just saw they made it in silver too - woohoo) so even though the pattern already offers 3 waistband options I decided to make a fourth (because that's what make sewing fun, right!). That worked pretty well. The way I make it (yeah, I still haven't made the tutorial but it's on it's way, promise!) hides the seam but it also means it's double folded and that became a bit bulky because of the front pocket and my medium weight fabric. But the result was good enough for me to keep. And my daughter totally loves her gold elastic waist pants and these are no exception.

The floral fabric is a printed denim from Hancock Fabrics (It seems to be sold out online) and I think I bought the blue solid denim at Michael Levine. Both fabrics has a bit of stretch.

I sized these pants up a lot compared to the previous classical pair I made (that kind of became too small the week after they were finished, wah) so these are a size 8. That explains the baggier overall fit but I love them on her and I love that they will definitely fit until next summer...and maybe next fall too, who knows!? 

I emphasized the bagginess by hemming the pants with elastic. Not super tight, just a bit of gathering. I used my Cover Stitch and it was soooo easy that way but you can of course do this with a sewing machine too.

And yeah they are a bit long at this point...I don't have to mention kids grow like weeds, right ha!

Here are the faux back flaps. And I promise I sewed them on symmetrically, ha. She is just twisting in this photos so it looks like one is placed higher than the other. 

Everything is faux about these. I even just sewed the buttons on afterwards. No pesky button holes to fight with.

That's it.....my favorite outfit I have made in a long long long time.

Get your own Morocco Pants Pattern HERE and your Tip Top and Dress HERE.

Thank you!!

Sewing for Kindergarten 2015

Since I also have a kindergartner this year and therefor is participating in the series myself, I decided to split up my participating post from the introduction post (which you can find HERE). I hope that makes sense.

So this year it was littlesister E's turn to start Kindergarten and she was very excited for this new adventure because whatever big sister is doing she naturally wants to do too. 

She started in preschool 2 times a week when she was 18 months old and the last year she went in 5 days a week from 9-1pm. Her preschool did a great job preparing her for what to come in Kindergarten so I didn't feel like this was a GIANT change for her, but a change for sure! Her school day certainly got a whole lot longer (school starts at 7:40 am (zzzz) and ends at 2:50 pm. Homework was another change. And bigger expectations over all. One of the best changes was of course the fact that both our girls are now in the same school. Everyone - especially the driver (me!) - loves to only have one destination and one carpool to sit in each morning and afternoon.

All participants will answer these questions in their post and here are my answers.

- Is this your first time sending a child to Kindergarten? If not what number child is this?

Nope, my second and last. Big sister W started 2 years ago and is now in 2nd grade.

- Do you feel like crying or celebrating?

- And what about your child?

Celebrating! She was excited which made me excited. The school urged us to use the carpool from day one and she jumped out without even saying goodbye, ha.

We are in a year-round calendar school so the year started in mid July and we are one week away from our first 3 week track out and reality has certainly hit now. She still jumps out happy from the car but I get lots of hugs and kisses first and she has definitely tried to pretend to be ill a few times to be able to sleep a bit longer in the morning (and then of course waking up super early on the weekends where she could sleep in, gah).

- What kind of school does your child attend? (public, charter, private, homeschool)

We have changed from public to private school this year. We were not unhappy with our previous school but we are very very happy with the new one.

- Question to your kindergartner: What has been the best and worst part so far?
E: Best part: recess. Worst part: homework.
(Hehe, surprise surprise.)

Our school has a dresscode and I have a permanent bookmark to that page on my computer, haha. I have always loooved sewing school clothes for my kids because stylish but comfortable and practical everyday clothes is my favorite thing to make. So I decided to grab the challenge, embrace the restrictions and get the best out of the new situation. I have been sewing school clothes on and off since June, some I have shown you on FB and IG and some I have saved for this post.

The general gist about our dresscode is this:

Dress pants and shorts, knee length skirts and jumpers (sleeve- and collar-less dress). Woven materials only. Solid colors in navy or khaki. Which in my world means just navy, ahem. I'm sorry I'm just not a khaki fan unless we are talking a Burberry Trenchcoat, bahaha.

Polostyle shirts and dresses only. Cardigans, fleeces and sweatshirts. No hoodies. Solid colors red, navy or light blue.

There are of course more details but these are the things I can sew and I feel like I have quite a lot of possibilities. 

Finding fabric have been the most fun. When you are forced to sew only with solid colors then texture, quality and drape matters extra much and I have found some great apparel fabrics I would otherwise never have ordered. I will tell you more about them during the post under each item.

Here we are with the first outfit. A store-bought polo (they are required under jumpers) and a navy jumper. This is pattern 'm' from the Japanese sewing book Girly Style Wardrobe by Yoshiko Tsukiori. The sleeve 'wings' are a very popular details with this little lady and has already been worn twice this last week after the dress made it into her closet.

The fabric is me re-discovering cotton gauze. Double gauze gets all the attention these days but if you are looking for some more drape, gauze is your friend. Yes, it is a tiny bit see-through but since she will always have a polo plus knit play shorts or tights under it is not a problem. It's really perfect for garments with lots of gathers. 

The yoke with the square neckline is made with what I think is Belvedere Cotton. 
The reason why I'm not sure is simply because I have ordered so much different navy fabric and yes, I did save the order summeries BUT it was only after awhile that I realized that it would have been smart to cut out tiny samples and attach to the order so re-ordering favorites (like this one) was easier. Now I have a list of 10 navy fabrics to choose from, gah. I can of course exclude some that I know is not this one but yeah, I'm fairly sure this is Belvedere cotton. It looks like sateen but with a shirt fabric's weight and drape. I also made THIS school jumper dress for big sister in this fabric.

I made my yoke double layered instead of following the pattern's suggestion with a neckline facing on the inside. It makes cutting easier and it certainly makes the inside much more beautiful with hidden seams all over.

The next jumper is a remix of The Antalya Dress by Coffee & Threads Patterns.
I didn't do massive changes. I curved the neckline more so there was room for the polo shirts' collar under and then I cut away the cap sleeves to make it sleeveless. Boom, you got a jumper.

I added seam allowance to the back bodice piece and put in an invisible zipper in as opening.  The fabric is Cambridge Cotton Lawn from Kaufman. The quality is amazing like any other Kaufman fabrics although an overall ironing before the photo shoot would probably have been beneficial to the overall look, haha.

Big sister was a helper on this shoot and she was standing behind me suggesting poses to her. I'm guessing this is one of them, haha.

And a quick tip for drafting sleeveless dresses. Remember to make the sleeve opening a tad deeper than you normally would if you plan on it being worn with shirts or tees under it. I know that is super logic but I thought I would mention it anyway.

Oh, and I also drafted a full facing to finish neckline and armscye.

If you want to see my version of the original dress and read the review THIS is the post for you. (It's a good one, you really should.)

Next up is a 3 piece all handmade outfit.
The Goodall Cardigan which is a free* and brand new slouchy cardigan pattern from Petit a Petit Patterns. 
*Join Celina's FB pattern group to receive it for free.
The Rowan Tee turned polo from Titchy Threads. 
And a skirt with big pleats and an elastic waist (pattern #19) from the Japanese book A Sunny Spot - Girl's Simple Clothes.

I have always said that there was no way I was ever sewing polos - especially because you can buy them in okay qualities for not a lot of money....so honestly I'm not quite sure why I decided to do it anyway. I guess it was the pressure of my own sewing series or something, hehe.

I decided to start with my favorite kids tee pattern The Rowan Tee because then I knew I didn't have to worry about getting the fit right too. Since The Rowan Tee is drafted for a hoodie or knit rib in the neck opening I knew I had to make the neck opening smaller for my collar and a classic polo look. I added 1 cm / 3/8" all around the neck opening and that was it. I drafted the collar and added a classic button placket...which I got the math wrong on and cut the slit too deep and a landslide of problems happened. BUT I do have a tutorial for one with the right math...maybe I should have consulted it too, haha. Find it HERE.

I also learned someting else while making this. I wanted to cover the seam where the collar is sewn to the neck opening and I thought I had seen it done with narrow grosgrain ribbon sooooo that's what I did. Except it didn't work because the neckline was too curved and the grosgrain ribbon obviously does not stretch. So I had to rip that out and put in bias tape. Lesson learned! And I'm sorry I didn't think of taking any photos of it for you but you can just spot a hint of neon orange in the neck opening.

The fabric is another from Kaufman. A cotton denim jersey knit Indigo. It is not very stretchy which makes it quite perfect for all the stitching you have to do when you make a polo (collar and button placket can obviously only be sewn on your sewing machine not the serger.) The original type of fabric for polos is called pique. Apparently it comes in all types of textures but THIS one is the one I would consider 'classic' polo pique.

HERE is the link to my post about the original Rowan Tee.

The cardigan has the most amazing slouchy look and it is such a fun and easy project...made even more fun with my Janome cover stitch, whoop. I was helping with the testing of the pattern and we realized during the process (but after I made this one) that if you use knit with stretch (and this fabric has quite a lot) you should size down. I made size 5 and it is big but not so she can't use it right away. I kind of love it like this but now you know if you like cardigans to be a bit more 'fitted'. 

It is made with my new favorite type of fabric. It is French terry made from bamboo rayon and cotton, it is thinner than normal French terry, stretchy, has amazing drape and it comes in a lot of great colors. How is that for a winner fabric! 

And regarding colors I have a little epilogue to the faith of this cardigan because as you know my kids are not allowed to wear the clothes I have made them before it has been photographed (if I'm choosing to blog it...which I usually am) SO big sister W wore it to school a few days after this photo shoot (it kind of fits her as a 3/4 sleeve length summer cardigan, ha) and was told that the color red was not the school appropriate one (it's too light)- waaaah. And the most stupid thing is that this fabric also comes in the perfect red, I even bought that too (it's sold out now) but I just choose this lighter red because I liked it better, ugh. That will teach me to try to bend the rules for fashion, haha.

SO I have bought some fabric color and see if I can get it darkened up at bit. That should work.

The skirt is one of those example why I love Japanese patterns so much. Simple and yet with a perfect detail. At first glance it might look just like an elastic waist skirt but it actually have big pleats. And I learned something new - something very very logic but never the less would I not have thought of it myself I think. They placed the pleats with a little distance so that when I pulled the elastic through and gathered the waist the pleats got pushed together and are now placed right next to each other. Genius!

The fabric is a linen and cotton blend which I'm slowly warming up to. I have never really been a linen fan but I must admit that it is quite perfect for this type of school clothes. It's Kaufman again again.... Essex Linen Blend. It comes in 46 colors and prints and I'm linking to the full collection.

And last but not least a more structured jumper. The pattern is the not yet released Miss Polly Pinafore pattern from Sewpony.
When I saw the preview of the pattern I just knew it would be perfect for school so Suz was generous enough to send it to me so I could sew it for this post even though it's not done yet. Thank you so much Suz!

I'm sad that the dress looks so big on E in these photos because it really looks good in real life. I made it a little bit big so there is room for the growing kindergartner but it's not too big.
Another thing that makes it look bigger than it is, is my fabric choice. It's made with a cotton twill which is a rather stiff fabric type.

I almost skipped the piping because I feel like I have had nothing but trouble with piping lately. But I decided to give piping another chance and I'm glad I did because the sewing went so well and I actually sewed the whole thing in one go. It's rare that I start and finish a garment in one go, so that is a compliment to Suz's pattern pieces since everything went together perfectly.

I love those shoulder flap details. I obviously had to make this in solid navy blue but I'm dying to have fun with some color blocking and/or prints. This pattern is screaming for it. But first I have to make another navy blue one because big sister has asked for one too.

Okay, we made it through. That was a lot of school clothes.

I hope you are inspired.

Dont forget to check out the other participant today Carla from Small & Friendly HERE. 

Thank you!