Doing it for the squids – Alice and Geranium

May 29, 2015

Here’s some looooong overdue kids sewing. They both chose fabrics during the Christmas holidays and, well, being summer AND holidays I took my fair time in sewing them up. Fortunately, they got in some good wear before things got chilly and there’s definitely enough growing room in both of these to squeeze in another summer or two.

First up, another Alice Top, made in an XXS (roughly equivalent to a kids AU size 14). R chose our Winking Owls.
Her current love of owls is matched only by her current love of pineapples, but we didn’t have any of the latter so the owls win(k).
Like my previous versions, I decided against interfacing the arm bands and the only other change I made was to the length, giving it a deeper hem to allow for adjustments as she grows.
The second top for E is Made by Rae‘s Geranium Dress. I first tried this pattern in June last year when I made a flowergirl dress for E’s half sister. The pattern is fantastically straightforward but man, that pink tulle caused me ALLLLLLL THE GRIEF so I kinda connected the two in a very unfair way and just put the pattern aside until I’d moved on from that little moment of sewing trauma.
And moved on (six months later) I did. I sewed the kid a straight size 10 and she settled on a length that’s maybe a little bit more tunic than top. The Nani Iro fabric she chose is a beauty – Mountain View Tata Zuma (sold out) – and is unfortunately way blown out in these pics. You can see it better in the bottom photo.

I now totally get why this pattern is so popular – it’s a very sweet and simple sew and perfectly suited across the age range of 12 months-12years sizing that it’s available in. One thing to note if you’re new to sewing the Geranium – it’s designed to have three button closures on the bodice. Unfortunately, the pattern doesn’t include a placket so if you make as per the instructions, you’re creating a sizable fold under the bodice back when you overlap to accommodate the buttons. It’s probably not so much of an issue with the wee sizes, but for the bigger girls you might want to bear that detail in mind. Instead of buttons, I ended up using this vintage zipper which worked perfectly.

Both fabrics are Japanese cottons and – due to my tardy sewing/blogging – sold out, but stay tuned for an exciting new delivery of Nani Iro coming VERY soon!