Here are two more of the little outfits that I made for my children when they were little, along with some other cute outfits made by loving grandmothers…
The shorts and shirt set Tim is wearing here I made from two different blue print cottons; one striped and one spotted and with red contrasting cotton sections as well. The little dress and matching bloomers that Cassie is wearing was made by my mother, and I made my own shirt and shorts I am wearing here (first seen here)
In this second picture, Cassie is wearing a little dress I made for her, of two different floral fabrics. The skirt had sections of both floral fabrics, and the bodice was of one, and the sleeves, collar and button band were of the second fabric. The shorts, and the screen-printed and appliqued Christmas snowman Tshirt that Tim is wearing here were made by Craig’s mother. (yes, dressmaking for oneself and one’s family runs very deep in both our families!)
There is a kind of funny story behind the second picture…. Craig had brought home from work a couple of big bags of shredded paper, for me to play paper mache with the children one day. Before that day could come, they discovered it in the wardrobe and I walked in to this exact scene, shredded paper all over my children, all over the carpet, and in fact all over every available surface in the room! Of course, I couldn’t be cross because they were having so much fun, and were so happy and giggly I had to laugh too, and raced to get the camera. Hilarious! After they had extracted maximum fun from the shredded paper in that state, it took me about forty solid minutes to tidy up and vacuum the room afterward, all those tiny crinkly little miniature shreds stuck in the carpet!, but it was worth it as so much fun had been had. Not the paper mache fun that I had originally planned, but a different but equally good kind of fun!
Is the colourful dress your daughter is wearing in the first picture a Topkids One? I made one similar quite a few years back now. Your daughter looks very proud of herself in the second picture.
I used to love making my childrens clothes even though at the time it was as much out of necessity as creativity. I would have a new wardrobe made well before the new season began.
Just to specify: the outfits I made are both from TopKids patterns. Cassie's outfit in the first picture, that Mum made was I think a Simplicity pattern, and Tim's outfit in the second picture, that Craig's Mum made, was probably either drafted by her, or came in one of those stretch sewing instruction books that came equipped with some basic patterns, back in the 90's.
These old pictures are always so cute!
Those little outfits are really cute, I love the little dresses… The second pic reminds me of one of me at about that age, sitting in front of my dad's mixed-tape shelf, happily tugging the tape out of the cassettes. I don't think my dad was very happy about that the first time, but I got a shelf with old tapes all for myself after that… 😉
What a fun memory! Good thing it wasn't baby powder all over the room!
Oh what cute outfits! The story about shredded paper reminds me of a huge cardboard box full of packing peanuts that our kitties found some time ago. They sure had fun.
Oh my – I looked at the pictures, read your blog and saw "shredded paper." What shredded paper, I asked, I only see carpet. Oh no – it's shredded paper, and so much of it! Wow. How amazing that you managed to make clothes for yourself and the kids while raising them, too. There is hope!