Dressmaking help please..

[neverputasockinatoaster]

DD is nearly 6 and has a raft of sensory issues. She is currently being investigated for ASD.
Clothing is a massive issue for us, nothing round the waist, everything must be soft, labels removed, nothing tight.....

Her school uniform is a shirt and tie (why? why a tie for a 6 year old?) and then grey skirt, trousers or pinny.

After a 45 minute battle to get her dressed this morning where upon we all ended up in tears I came up with the flicker of an idea for a dress that looked like a shirt under a pinny but made of soft jersey fabric then the tie sewn on!

I'm wondering if this would be remotely possible? Where might be a good source of fabric?

Cripes, that sounds complex to me, but I'm not much of a dressmaker. I would practise your flat seams first.

yes, it's possible.

you'd need a dress that's basically a shift with a collar.
you can use different fabrics. but maybe make a soft jersey underskirt dress underneath.

actyally, you might not even need a collar if your neck is round, just see on.a collar shape.

the easiest way to do it is make a shift dress in the shirt colour and sew on top of it, in the right places, the skirt fabric and the collar fabric and the tie fabric.

think of it as a 3d collage.

Thank you nickelbabe, that makes sense!

I shall browse patterns and fabrics tomorrow when I should be working!!

I suspect it might be a faff at first but it would be sooooo worth it to stop the morning battles!

phew!

i was trying to google a picture, but google images on my tablet looks really strange and i can't select the picture i want.

actually, i wonder if your school has provision for salwaar kameez? (ie the dress/trouser combos muslim girls wear)
that might be an answer - obviously not the trouser part, but the dress part. (i don't know if your DD can wear tights?)

No to tights.....

It only took 20 minutes this morning to get her dressed rather than the 45 the day before.

One of my friends is a dressmaker and has offered to have a go at something if I draw a picture..........

I have spoken to the HT today and he has said that if she doesn't get any better we can use the summer dress all year. Bonus!

Thanks for all the help and ideas.

good news :)

I hope it works out.
(and yeay to your friend offering to make her something! )

Next sell pretty much what you have described (minus the tie). I am not sure if it is jersey but it might be a useful starting point if only to show your friend what you want.

If you can at all get cotton jersey (after you have mastered the pattern with something cheap) I would go with that as it is much mor comfortable. Cotton fleece (if you can get it! ) for the piny part of the dress would be lovely.

it should be possible, M & S make womens jumpers with collars. A good quality jersey for the pinny and a small 'shirt' bib and sleeve. Hope that helps.

I may have one of the M&S ones somewhere. Dd2 had one. it's a soft t-shirt looking like a blouse under a pinny. I can't look at the moment as I've put my back out, but I'll have a look when I can. If I've got one then you can have it.

DeWe that's really kind of you!

School are currently ignoring her refusal to wear the tie! Things are getting better as they may allow her to wear a polo shirt....... I'm looking at material but I really need a big fabric shop so's I can do the touch test!!!

You can get reasy made ones like this
Unfortunately this one would be too small for you, but at least there's some out there!

OP Next are selling them this year, check out the website. I reckon you could get your friend to add a false tie.

Fantastic - going to order one from Next to see how it feels... wonder if our local Next has them???

I bloody love Mumsnet!

Huge Thank yous!!!