In working through my stash for 2019 I’ve spent the last few weeks sewing through fabrics for Summer, and the first up with was New Look 6444.
Girls’ easy to sew dress and jumpsuit pattern features high low or maxi dress, and short romper or long jumpsuit with elastic at ankles. All have elastic waist with tie. New Look sewing pattern
Simplicity.com
The fabric is a poly that was brought back from Australia at least a year ago by my friend Liz. It’s a pretty design, but a beast of a thing. Shifty, hard to cut, and frays like a fraying thing on Fray Friday!
I also only had a metre, so it had to be the short jumpsuit or the short dress. We decided that the jumpsuit would be more fun.
To make it more comfortable, I interlined the bodice and shorts with some white cotton muslin, and overlocked all the pieces before starting to sew, in an attempt to prevent them fraying away to nothing before I’d completed the garment!
As the pattern rightly states this is an easy sew, and the only thing that slowed me down was the fabric.
However, it was worth it as Summer loves it and it’s a cute look that doesn’t teeter into inappropriate. Especially as she prefers to wear the neckline up on her shoulders rather than on her arms! Dave is thrilled that modesty is still an option…although we’re slowly creeping into midriff territory as you’ll see in an upcoming post!
It’s really hard to find clothes for 11 years old girls that are ‘cool’ enough to satisfy her, but modest enough for us to be happy with them. A mid thigh RTW denim skirt has proved a big hit with her and is tolerated by the menfolk in the family. Dave and I find a lot of RTW for her age group to be inappropriately short or revealing, tacky, or just really cheap looking.
The beautiful stuff that we like is often out of the price bracket I’m comfortable paying for growing kids.
So I can see I’m going to have to work hard on this as I’d like to keep making her stuff but it has to pass the ‘cool’ test! And I don’t think it’s going to get any easier once she starts secondary school!
Thankfully I’ve made her 4 things so far and she likes them all. Phew.
So, this pattern will be made again. I think I’ll add a centimetre length to the bodice and the shorts at the waistline for the next one. And she’d like the maxi dress too!
I’m counting this as a win for both tween and parents!
It’s difficult isn’t it? I wasn’t really in my committed dressmaking phase when my girls were that age and, now they’re in their 20s, one makes her own clothes and the other one isn’t much bothered about fashion. However, I can well imagine how difficult it will be to pass the ‘cool test’ as there are usually unwritten rules, invisible to the parental eye. Just as long as she has input into which fabrics and patterns you use I’m sure she’ll keep wanting you to make for her but, equally, you’ll probably be left in no doubt if she doesn’t.
You’ve got my girl sussed! 😉
She’s got very strong opinions and starts secondary school in September so they will only get more so!
I think she’ll reach a point where only RTW will do, and then, hopefully, at some point come back to handmade.
I’ve just made this pattern for my 10 year old and yes, she likes the bared shoulder version (and insisted that the shorts were made shorter). It’s a lovely pattern.
I got away with the shorter shorts this time…I may not for the next one! 😉
It is a super pattern.
She looks lovely! It must be so much harder now than when my girls were that age twenty years ago. Secondary school will be a challenge indeed. I remember that during the first years they mostly wanted to blend in, and later they started looking for one of a kind garments. I often went snoop shopping at H&M to see what was trending for their age bracket and then made similar items in nicer fabrics. Prepare Dave for some tough sartorial years. My dead still gets a headache when he thinks about my hotpants phase in 1969 :))
Dave is dreading it! I do think it’s a dad thing. Although I would still have her in patent Mary Janes and French style dresses given a chance!
This might be the least of our problems for the next couple of years. She’s got a mind of her own and puberty is looming! Eep!
This looks great, and well done getting young lady approved. I remember just how difficult that was ?
It’s a nightmare! And surely not going to get any easier. Sigh!