[Nicole]

Now, I have noticed a trend among my American co-posters ( is that a word? ) a trend to make a Holiday outfit, such as Christmas Pj’s or an Easter dress or as Sahm suggested 4th of July clothing.

I have not really seen this in Australia. I make my children a new outfit for their Birthday or the new babies Christening . I have never made a themed outfit, I guess I thought it was a lot of effort for one day. That said ,I made all the children silk outfits for a wedding and they only wore those once or twice.

I would love to hear some stories about Holiday Outfits.

[sayiamyou]

It does seem to be something of a tradition, I suppose, for Americans. But, I agree with you…lots of effort for one day. I have never purchased a ‘themed’ piece of clothing because it seems wasteful to me – I like to get maximum usage out of everything! I did fiddle around with fleece and the Sailboat top last December and came out with an embellished tree shirt. That’s the only real ‘themed’ piece of clothing I’ve made for her. While I did love it, I regretted having to pack it up afterwards since there was plenty of life left in the size!!

I made my daughter a Teaparty dress for her birthday (and for 1 yr pictures we had made), but it was a print she could wear until she grew out of the dress. I think this is something I’ll continue until she tells me she doesn’t want them. Oh, what a sad day it’ll be… 😉

[ckcsbella]

Oh, lordy, I obsess over this every year! Well, not for Canada Day, but outfits for Christmas and Easter for sure! I don’t always make them, but I have made quite a few! And I’m already planning next years! I don’t know why I do this, but I do know that when I got new “fancy” clothes when I was a kid, it was for Christmas or Easter. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that that was often when I saw a lot of my family, and it was nice to have a reason to dress up. And I would wear the dresses to church or birthday parties afterwards. Now I have two girls, and the oldest could really care less about dressing up. She refuses to wear skirts or dresses, and it often makes it really difficult to find dressier clothes for her (Liesl, a little help with a girl’s dress pants pattern would be AWESOME). I recently made her the Sunday Brunch jacket, which she quite liked. My little one loves dresses, and it’s fun to make them for her. I’m already plotting her dresses for the next year (I see an apple green dupioni silk birthday party dress with a matching pink shrug in her future…) I’m probably sewing the seeds of obsession in my children, but I can only pick what they wear for so long, I might as well enjoy it while I can. And if I am living vicariously through an apple green Birthday party dress, so be it. I can live with that!

[sayiamyou]

Oh my, you are right! We did always get a new Easter dress growing up. But I wouldn’t call that ‘themed’. It was a dress that could be worn any other Sunday, but it was new for Easter. And I did make my daughter a special new dress to wear Easter day, but it was in butterflies, not bunny themed, so she’s worn it several times since. 🙂

[ckcsbella]

No, mine were never “themed” either. I don’t really remember having “themed” clothes as a kid. Although I am guilty of getting my kids Canada Day t-shirts every year. They love them, and they do wear them after the event. I think if I was going to have something specifically related to a holiday, it would be a pin or something that I could change easily.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I think it is popular in the U.S. to wear themed clothes for holidays. However, I usually stick with a t-shirt from a resale shop or just pick appropriately colored clothes (red, white, and blue) from the items they have. If neither of those work out I just skip it.

When the kids were infants, I did buy the jammies and knit outfits for every holiday. They were growing so quickly that I didn’t mind only using it for a month or two – they’d usually outgrow anything that fast anyway.

I made my kids matching outfits for Christmas just once. I used an adorable penquin flannel print so it was good for all of winter. The fabric was mint green with penquins wearing red and white hats with silver snow flakes around them. I used red rick rack trim and silver buttons. Overalls for the boy and a jumper for the girl each wearing them over red turtlenecks. They made for adorable Christmas pictures.

I also embellished a hot pink t-shirt with rhinestones in the shape of a heart for daughter to wear around Valentines Day. Of course, it’s just a heart so she can wear it anytime. I also made it pretty big so she can wear it for a long time.

The stores are filled with red, white, and blue dresses, shorts, sandals, barrettes, hats, socks … EVERYTHING for 4th of July right now, so I know lots and lots of people must buy these things.