Do any of you make or customize your own children's clothes?

[Marne]

Im looking for a new hobby and thought i would have a go at customizing children's clothes/making clothes for the dd's. I was thinking of buying some plain t-shirts and sewing shapes of material on to them (a bit Boden but cheaper). I have bought some fabric and will get dh to find my sewing machine in the loft (and dust it off).

Does anyone else customize clothes for their children or to sell?

Any tips gratefully received .

I make the odd thing here and there, but mostly make home furnishings stuff.

Anyway, my number one tip is to buy some of that iron on applique stuff so you can iron your fabric in place before sewing it - makes applique on stretchy t-shirt fabric much easier!

I don't but would love to! I love Boden children's stuff too but not the price tag. I did do an evening class in dressmaking but it was oversubscribed and I didn't really learn much. Too much to do at the moment but would love to get creative again!

There is some great blogs for inspiration. I stumbled on this yesterday kitschycoo.blogspot.com and I'd also like to try freezer paper stencilling T-shirts for the children.

Sorry, not much help but nice to know there are lots of others out there with similar aspirations!

yes i make quite a lot of DS 2.5 clothes and also make very nice dressess for my neice who is about to turn one.

if you have the time its way cheaper than buying them provided you can source cheap fabrics. also they have unique clothing so no one else is going to turn up wearing the same thing.

At the moment - DS 20 months and DD 4 days - both wear lots of white babygros that have been dyed all sorts of funky colours.
They also have loads of knitted cardigans, hats, socks etc.
Prob will make some clothes as they get older but no time at the moment.

In fact since DD was born I have knitted her 2 hats, a pair of mittens and a pair of socks, very easy to do while BF

ahhidim you must be good at breast feeding as i could barely manage to watch tv while feeding DS let alone have something else in my hands.

I am in awe hedgehog it was all I could to hold DS! What dyes did you use btw as I want to do that same thing with the pile of white sleepsuits I have.

I appliqued some of DS' tiny baby vesty things - am washing them all now in prepn for DC2 who is due end of March - I used Bondaweb and some scraps of quilting cotton which I did running stich round. Some had machined blanket stitch and have fared better in the wash!

(slight hijack)

evremummy - I've googled freezer paper stenciling since reading your post. It looks interesting. Do you know what freezer paper is though? Do we have it in the UK or is it a US thing?

Yes I make clothes with dd, we really enjoy doing it.

Sorry, meant to say in answer to the OP that DH (who is the real sewing person in our family) has made a few things for the DCs, but has been so downhearted by how quickly they outgrow them.

He lined a bought sleeping bag with fleece for when we lived in a cold house. He also made the DCs first ever sleeping bag too - it was sooo cosy.
He made some fleece-lined waterproof salopettes for DS. DS's cousin is wearing them now.
He made matching dresses for DD and her toy Miffy last year for DD's birthday.

moocowme - any idea where to source cheap fabrics, as I have been put off by the price of fabric that I have found and the amount of time children wear their clothes for? I have seen men's shirts used to make dresses and sweatshirts to make baby trousers though so I suppose that is one way of getting round it. I bought a skirt and a t-shirt from a charity shop when I was pregnant and turned it into a maternity skirt. I had lots of positive comments about it as it was actually a designer label skirt. I wish I had made some more but never got round to it .

hollyhobbie - freezer paper is used for quilting I believe. "You can get it from here" & "here" on a roll or buy it by the metre from "here". Hope that helps .

I'm in awe of ahedgehogisdueinMarch too. I knit but can't manage it whilst breastfeeding and now DS has just got to the stage of grabbing everything so trying to knit would be a nightmare (he's just been getting the lead from the laptop whilst I have been trying to post)!

Thanks!

when I was looking for freezer paper, I saw it was available at hobbycraft. I haven't made that trip (don't have one nearby) yet to know if it is regularly available.

There are a few sites that I adore for making your own. I have found that once I find a favourite, each blogger recommends others and I can waste hours looking at amazing stuff.

Here's a few I like:
curly pops
saltwater kids
ruffles and stuff

This place does cute fabric, and does some cut price bundles too. You can also get free samples from Next directory that could be big enough for something small on a t-shirt for practice, not that I'm suggesting that you understand! I ordered curtains from there but used the samples I had ordered before to make some duvets for DD's Sylvanian families!

I've taken up knitting again, and also tie-dyed sleepsuits. Then a friend gave me some t-shirt paints which are also good on vests and sleepsuits. Tried on jeans but somehow I don't think it's going to survive so well.

Our local fancy-dress hire place also sells some really funky fabrics; keep an eye on bargain bins.

Check out www.saintsandpinners.co.uk/ for patterns and fabrics. 'Making children's clothes' by Emma Hardy (£13) also really good because it includes paper patterns andhas clothes for boys.

My mother used to make us dresses and skirts as a hobby - still does infact (I am wearing two of her creations now). I would do so for my dd but she is not interested in being quirky (just wants to be like her friends). DS has a couple of pairs of trousers that I made but I don't think he will wear them for much longer. I refus to make boring clothes that resemble stuff which you can buy in the shops - I am all about the OTT dresses and vintage fabrics (I know that I am starting to sound like a gypsy bride at this stage!)

A good starting point would be to use one of dh's old shirts - the dc would wear it back to front so that it would button up from the back - lob off the sleeves, refashion the neck and get creative with the offcuts and other bits and pieces. they work a lot better than shapeless Tshirts

Yes Marne, I love to customise my DDs' clothes. I often add sequins or studs to their little dresses and jumpers.

Just yesterday I spent the entire afternoon in front of the sewing machine, changing their little green dresses into Peter Pan costumes. They're both taking part in the Peter Pan Week at their schools in a few weeks so thought I'd get a head start on their outfits. I must say I was pretty impressed with how they turned out, except dd (youngest) is desperate to wear hers now, I can see me having to make another one in a few weeks

Amy x