Fab Fall Outfit Making for Smalls

With a busy season of running my shop, homeschooling & family appointments for everything under the sun, fall sewing has been minimal this year.  Cue the wah-wah sound effect for me & my fellow sewing fanatics.  The good news is that I was able to eek out the fun two piece outfit above for my littlest lady.  So if you're like me and struggling to fit something in, there's hope!

I'd fallen in love with this vibrant autumn print panel by Katschinka, a European fabric maker.  The rich colors and sweet leaf & little girl design were so darn cute!  Most things in stores this season (and the last few falls for the that matter) were super bland, so this was the perfect antidote to that.

The back is just as charming as the front (and is a slightly different design too):

I used coordinating two Euro knit French terry fabric rapports to make it from Jumping June Textiles (these exact ones aren't available anymore, but there are other cute designs).  I'd bought them a few autumns ago but hadn't had time to do anything with them until now.  As I shared in a previous post here, rapports are fabric panels printed with multiple sections.  It's a single cut that has a repeat design section and usually one or more "panel" sections, all printed as one piece.  

They usually have a 4-way stretch which means you can turn them in different directions to suit your project.  I was able to turn the panel sideways to be able to use the entire scene for both the front & back and have enough to do the sleeves too.

To make the leggings I used the free girl's leggings pattern from Life Sew Savory.  It's a great pattern (covers sizes 18mos-12yrs) and the fit is ideal.  I literally had just enough of the solid side of my rapport fabric to make a pair for my 2T daughter.

For the dress I used my trusty raglan top pattern from the book Kwik Sew for Toddlers.  It's easiest to find used on eBay or Alibris these days, but is well worth grabbing (just ignore the horribly dated photos).  This has been one of my all-time favorite patterns for my smalls - I've used it for the top half of my recent sheep costume:

To easily pair up plush fabrics with applique:

and make comfy everyday wear:

Using a small amount of rib knit for the neckband and cuffs means it's an easy sew, with no real fiddly bits, which is key for me since sewing time is minimal.  I didn't want to waste any of the beautiful design, so I used a yard stick to lengthen my pattern and make it an extended A-line shape to turn it into a full dress:

I sew all my knits on a regular sewing machine using a triple stitch and stretch needle.  For finishing the hems I use paper backed fusible tape.  Just iron on, peel off the paper, fold hem up and press again and the hem is perfectly uniform.

 

I use a twin needle to topstitch so it looks professional, but is still super easy:

And both pieces have some growth room so I'm pretty sure I can add some rib knit to the legging cuffs if needed and then it'll be more of a tunic & bottoms ensemble for next year, so we can get maximum wear of of them.  I'm probably going to make more pairings like this for winter since they can be done in an afternoon.  My daughter couldn't wait to put these on and the fabric can withstand all the running & climbing she can throw at it.  It's a small bit of fall sewing, but it's been worth squeezing in!

 

Mommy & Me Leggings, a Free Pattern Find & DIY Matching Top

This winter I'm getting totally into making & wearing fun prints.  Nothing helps get rid of the dullness of the cold & clouds like putting on something that makes you feel good inside and out.  It's even better when you can do it together!

I think this may even be the first "Mommy & me" outfits I've ever made.  My daughter really likes the idea of us wearing matching things, so making them was a lot of fun and pretty quick since leggings are a simple sew.

And with a DIY'd matching top we've got a complete look going on:

I'd bought a yard and a half of this awesome reindeer cotton lycra knit when it first was released (it's Golden Dreams by Sahara Fabrics BTW).  I'd planned to make a shirt with it, but making leggings for both of us ended up being a better idea.  The combination of gold, yellow, black and white in the print means we can wear them with lots of different wintery tops and sweaters too.

To make my pair I used McCalls 6173.  They were quick to make and fit pretty well.  I just lowered the rise about 5/8 inches out of personal preference.    

Ready for the FREE pattern part?  This is where I share details on a free pattern I've found and add my experience trying it out. 

For my daughter's pair I used the Classic Leggings Pattern from Naptime Creations.  It covers sizes 18 months - 12 yrs and is super easy to use.  I've tried and bought a number of girl's legging patterns, but none was just right.  This one is ideal for the rise, fit, waistband width and, most importantly, the leg holes.  Big gold star.  I was just a couple of inches short to make hers full length, so I ended up using some of the scrap fabric to make cuffs that gave us just the right amount of length and with the busy print you can't even tell. 



At the last minute I decided a wanted to upscale the basic black long sleeved t-shirt I had for my daughter.  I searched for reindeer embroidery files and found this pretty one (it's called Inky Christmas Reindeer) that was pretty close in style to the fabric design. It stitched beautifully thanks to my new best friend, my Brother PE-770 embroidery machine.  I used gold embroidery thread to really make it really pop: 



Throw in the felt hippy hat we got her for Christmas and my little miss has a total wintertime chic look going on:

The shirt & leggings look so nice together - like an outfit I'd bought in a boutique instead of something I made myself for a lot less.  The shirt alone was only about $5 total, which makes my thrifty self proud.  I feel a DIY leggings & top addiction coming on for 2017.  And I'm planning to share all my machine embroidery know-how in a series of upcoming posts so you can do 'em too and get in on the fun!