Hacking WWD Staple Skirt

I love the finishing of the Winter Wear Designs Staple Skirt for kids. It's got all the bells and whistles of a proper woven zippered skirt. Everything in the instructions is wonderful and I have always gotten great results using it. 

See how pretty the finishing of the zipper is! 

The only thing is, whether it is the A line option or the pencil skirt version, my girl only wears those on special occasions because it limits her movement and she is, after all, still a toddler! 

We own one pass me down retail wear skirt that had an A-line shape till where the hips are then it ended off with a pleated flounce. Kind of like a tennis skirt or a drop waist pleated flounce skirt. And she loved that skirt. It was made with denim and has plenty of movement and was also very very cute! Unfortunately she was outgrowing the skirt and it's becoming too mini for my liking. Hence, I had always wanted to hack the staple skirt into a similar one and I finally did it! With the help of Apostrophe Pattern's latest pattern generator: Gathered Skirt generator!  

Since I have made Staple Skirt a couple of times before, I knew roughly where I would like the flounce of the skirt to start - for reference, I used the lengthen/shorten lines and simply cut the skirt pieces there. 

I kept the pockets etc so after following the instructions, you will get a shortened skirt with the pockets sticking out. Then, I measured the diameter of the bottom of this shortened skirt and entered into the generator following the instructions. I selected the length of the skirt to be 13 cm, and hem to be 2cm. 

The great thing about the generator is, you can suggest a pleat length and if the math don't work out, it will automatically change to the closest length that will work. Yay! (e.g. when i selected 5cm, it was okay, but when I selected 6cm, it automatically switched to 6.1cm) 

Another great thing about it is, for projector users, it comes with markings so that you can actually mark it on your fabric and fold accordingly - very beginner friendly. 

After pleating and attaching, my girl's pleated skirt was all done! Isn't it adorable?

The fabric i used was a stretch twill in bright yellow and I used a cute strawberry snap button for a pop of color and also cos jean buttons are still difficult for her to put on herself. 

And here is the skirt worn! (the top is rtw, i think that slogan is cheeky =p Also, rtw in this home are all hand me downs from friends cos I have not bought any clothes for my kids from retail shop in a really long time!)

Look at the great range of movement this skirt has. No wonder she loves skirts like this.

Thank you for visiting! Hope to see you again soon! 💗

Rain City Pearson Pullover

It had been raining incessantly again recently. Flash floods and everything too. 

The weather turned cold and perfect for light layering and so I thought it was perfect time to make myself a Pearson Pullover. I love the drafting of Rain City Pattern Co. I love how everything i made for my kids fit so far. And this is the second adult pattern I made from RCPC and this one fits beautifully too.  

Can I just say that that sleeve is just beautiful? I really loved the shape. I picked the band for the long sleeves as well so I don't have to deal with elastic casing. And I enjoy how quick it all came together especially with the projector. I didn't want it too short so I used the band for the pullover instead of the elastic option.  

So COMFY!

This fabric is waffle knit with elastane. It's 4 way stretch and really soft. The vertical stretch isn't as much as the horizontal one but that's okay with this pattern. 

Candy Castle Box of Chocolate and Jawbreaker Joggers

Every month, as Candy Castle's brand ambassador, I get to sew up one of their patterns and this month's pattern is the unisex Jawbreaker Jogger pattern. I find that Candy Castle Pattern's drafting block is well suited for slimmer children (u will need to grade/blend between sizes for children who fit in different sizes) 

My girl has many Candy Castle dresses that I made and she's average size though much smaller than her age (She's almost 4 years old but still in the 2 year old size!), my boy doesn't have many candy castle outfits but so far the outfits that I made for him fits him beautifully. This time round, since the pattern of the month is unisex, I really wanted to make him an outfit this time, so i did!

In the photo above, you can see 2 of Candy Castle's patterns: The top is Box of Chocolate in top length with the sleeves lengthened by about 2 inches (The original sleeves were shorter and he preferred longer short sleeves - this is an easy hack!)

The bottoms are Jawbreaker joggers (which is this month's pattern of the month!). This jogger pattern has many many options included in the pattern and I selected the in set pockets - his preferred type of pockets and for a fun detail, i chose to follow the tutorial instructions on how to add a 'reverse applique' where i added a cute spaceman onto the insides of the joggers then cut away the main fabric to reveal the spaceman applique. So fun and easy! 

Doesn't it look cute? To be honest, i was a little scared when i started cutting the fabric away to reveal the spaceman. But I'm glad I tried this cos it elevated the otherwise boring black pair of joggers! 

There's also instructions on how to make knee patches (moto-style), slashed pants, contrast patch pockets etc etc. And Candy Castle instructions are always so so thorough so any beginner will be a great hands!. 

This boy is pretty proud of his new set of spaceman outing wear =)