kids clothes week

You might already know by now that Kids Clothes Week is next week, July 21-27. We welcome Meg here today who is going to tell us all about it and share a project using this season’s optional Kid Art theme.

When most of us start out with Oliver + S, we might begin with a simpler project like the Lazy Days Skirt, for example. (I know that’s what I did.) But not Meg, no she started out with the Fairy Tale Dress, one of the most challenging and time consuming three scissor level projects. And you know what? Her Fairy Tale Dress turned out wonderful, have a look here.

It’s a crazy time for Meg with Kids Clothes Week just about to take off and we appreciate her taking the time to visit us.

Hello, everyone! I am super excited to be posting on the Oliver + S blog! On my blog elsie marley, I write about sewing, cooking, and making things with my kids. I also run a small sewing community called Kid’s Clothes Week. What is Kid’s Clothes Week? I’m so glad you asked! KCW is a sewing challenge where you commit to sewing clothes for your kids one hour a day for seven days.

 

 

Kid’s Clothes Week came about six years ago when I really wanted to sew clothes for my kids, but every night I ended up on the couch rather than in front of my sewing machine. Creativity takes energy, and after a day spent taking care of little kids, I had none. So I issued myself a challenge: sew for one hour every night for a week. If I got into a groove and kept working after the hour was up, great! If I had to slog through every minute, well then I would just stop after an hour. The challenge worked so well I invited my blog readers to join.

 

They loved it too! We did it two times a year and kept it simple: sign up was just a comment on a post, and you shared your stuff on flickr. But after four years, KCW grew to where 500 people were sewing along each week! It got too big for the little flickr group! So I teamed up with Dorie Schwartz from tumbling blocks who I knew was a talented sewist and a talented software developer. She and I built the KCW community site and blog. Right away we added two more seasons. Now there is one KCW challenge per season: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Last spring we added themes for each season. The first them was “Mini Me.” People made adorable matching mom and kid outfits, they made kid clothes out of their own clothes, and I made clothes for my kids based on outfits I wanted to wear.

 

 

That bring us to this season’s theme, “Kid Art.” There are so many fun ways to interpret this theme! The KCW blog contributors all came up with a different take on the theme. You could use fabrics that look like kids painted them; you could look at art through the eyes of your kids; you could use your kid’s drawing to inspire whole outfits; or you could get your kids to make the fabric. I went the simplest of routes and asked my daughter to draw something she’d like on her t-shirt.

 

 

First I made the Oliver + S School Bus T-Shirt. Actually I made two, because it’s such a quick sew! The gray one is for my daughter. It’s got the shorter of the short sleeve options and the thinner neckline. The dark blue one is for my son (you can see how that turned out here).

 

 

My daughter drew this cute LUCKY graphic and I scanned it into the computer. Then I reversed the image, colored it pink (at her request), and printed it out onto iron-on transfer paper. I used Lesley Riley Transfer Artist Paper which works super well. All the details transfer nicely and the image isn’t stiff at all.

 

 

I couldn’t believe how well it worked and how quick it was! She is so proud of the shirt she made. Actually, I’m pretty proud of the shirt too. T-shirts can be tricky, but the School Bus T-shirt pattern taught me some new tricks and it came out super profesh! This morning my daughter told me she’s planning on wearing this shirt to the first day of school! I think that the perfect day to wear your lucky shirt.

 

 

Would you like a lucky shirt too? They come in handy for running races, winning raffles, and especially the first day of school. Go here to print out this image on transfer paper and iron it on your shirt. There are two because: 1. everyone needs a lucky shirt, and 2. the School Bus T-Shirt is so fast and satisfying you are going to want to make two (at least).

 

 

Will you be sewing along for Kids Clothes Week next week? If so, go grab a button.