February 1, 2010

dressing for real life

We’ve fielded a lot of Formspring questions over the past few weeks, several of which have asked about how much sewing I do for S and what her wardrobe looks like.

I’m no Supermom, and I don’t even try to set myself the goal of making everything she wears. But we do have fun mixing and matching her wardrobe with things I’ve made and things we’ve purchased or have been given.


This weekend it was pretty cold here in New York, and yesterday we were meeting a friend for brunch. We wanted to wear lots of layers to stay warm on our walk to the restaurant. S chose her tights first, so that’s how her outfit started: with the mid-sized polka dot print. We picked out a long-sleeved thermal shirt for warmth, and layered a kimono-style top over it. (Yes, the Bedtime Story PJ top makes a great shirt, too.)


The floral print in the top was our large-scale print. Then we added the mini polka dot Sailboat skirt and topped it all off with her brown cardigan. There were a lot of patterns happening in this outfit, but we tried to pull it together with a tight color palette (brown and aqua) and a variety of scales in the patterns.

Sometimes it’s fun to do serious mixing and matching like this. Don’t feel limited to mixing only the tops and the bottoms that come together in the pattern envelope.

Labels: ,

Share |

8 Comments:

Vonnie said...

Cute outfit, S! And what a gorgeous girl, Liesl :)

I have to admit it makes me feel slightly better that you don't make all of S's clothes. I'd love to be able to do that for my children but there's just so much to do in so little time. Ah well, baby steps!

February 1st, 2010 at 9:44 am
The Cupcake Goddess said...

Great advice for grown-ups too! I find that many people stick to solid colors too much. Get a little courageous and have a few mixed prints. Perfect style she has. Don't ever let her grow out of that! Darling outfit.

February 1st, 2010 at 11:19 am
Karen said...

She is one hip little chick, Liesl. And so adorably cute. How do you ever tell her no?

February 1st, 2010 at 11:21 am
louise said...

Who said a girl needs to wear pink. I think she looks adorable and very girlie.

http://www.frescocreative.com.au

February 1st, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Jacqui said...

Do you discuss those sorts of principles with her as you're choosing the clothes? I'd love to work with my daughter and get her to understand why this doesn't go with that but it does with that, and how to have fun with your clothes while making sure they're pleasing to the eye at the same time! Mostly she just wants to wear pink, pink and more pink – and then add in a bit more pink just to make sure. Sigh. If you could fix that issue for me so I could dress her in brown as well I'd be eternally grateful! ;)

February 1st, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Aurélie said...

Hello
I like very much your patterns and I ordered the first one, sandbox.

But I have 2 boys, no girls, and I find it's sad that we do not find many pattern for the boys, always for the girls!!

Why no pairs of shorts? Shirts? Sweats?

Please, make something for the moms of boys!
:)
Aurélie (of France)

February 2nd, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Katia said...

My Maja does that too… eventually if she puts on enough layers things start to blend together!

February 15th, 2010 at 10:03 am
Easter Sewing with Oliver + S « Hand-Stitched Life said...

[...] with these techniques all it takes is a little creativity!  Liesl showed on her blog how her daughter wears a version of the pj top in different fabrics for daytime wear also… but on a boy, that might be a [...]

March 31st, 2010 at 9:05 pm

Post a comment