As I was starting to develop our women’s Girl Friday Culottes pattern last spring it occurred to me that they would also be a great option for girls. Not like that’s any sort of great revelation or anything. In fact, I think that, over the years, quite a few of you have requested culottes or a skort, haven’t you?
Culottes are sort of perfect for girls because they allow freedom of movement while still giving the look and feel of a skirt. Want to hang upside-down on the playground? No problem. Your culottes won’t flip upside-down with you! And since we like our patterns to come as outfits, how about a version of the women’s Bento Tee to go with it? I really like these two styles together, so it seemed perfect to combine them into one style for the kids. So we developed the Lunch Box Tee + Culottes.
The culottes include the same basic shape and details as our women’s culottes except that the Lunch Box Culottes are a pull-on style with elastic at the back waist instead of the fixed waistband and hidden zipper of the Girl Friday Culottes. Otherwise they’re very similar: the inverted box pleats at the front and back camouflage the culottes aspect and help them to look more like a skirt.
Since we included the hidden side pockets on the culottes and the little in-seam pockets on the tee, the Lunch Box pattern is sort of perfect for anyone who love pockets. And who doesn’t? Like the Bento Tee, the Lunch Box Tee gives the same option to choose from: the three-quarter-length sleeves or the short sleeves with cuffs, as well as the basic (un-seamed) tee without pockets or the seamed version with pockets.
The Lunch Box Tee is, of course, extremely easy and quick to sew. As are the culottes, actually. I think both of these styles are great year-round options. Sew the culottes in corduroy or flannel for winter and in sateen, poplin, or voile for summer. And of course they’re darling in all sorts of fun cotton prints! For the tee, look for knits with at least 25% stretch so the neckline can fit over the head easily. Sweatshirt fleece would be great for winter, and jersey is perfect for summer.
Both the culottes and tee styles are super comfortable and easy to wear. S loves hers and is sort of obsessed with the culottes especially.
And it’s sort of fun, every once in a while, to do a matching mother-daughter outfit. But you know me; I never like to veer too close to matchy-matchy outfits, so we restrain ourselves to using the matching sewing patterns without matching the fabrics.
This pattern is now available for purchase in both paper and digital formats. Be sure to check out my Customizing with Oliver + S Pinterest board, where I’ve added a few styling and fabric ideas to inspire you. I hope you have lots and lots of fun with this pattern! You’ll add your photos to the Oliver + S Flickr group when you’re done, right?