I stumbled across today's guest courtesy of Pinterest, and have been a follower ever since. Celina Bailey is the author of the children's style blog Petit a Petit, a writer for La Petite Magazine, the Mother of 2 precious little ones, and most recently started a new blog where she showcases her own clothing designs and tutorials called Let's Do Sew.
Did I mention she also has her own clothing line at Mini Bulles...
Seriously, this woman is amazing! So be sure to hop on over to her brand new blog Let's Do Sew and start following along.
Now, let's see what her children have designed for KIDS...
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Hello everyone! I'm Celina and I blog over at Petit a Petit and family and just recently at Let's Do Sew. I used to be a childrenswear designer and even owned a little boutique, I had my own label where I used to make kids clothes from recycled fabrics, but since having kids I've had to get a full time job. So now, I blog and sew for my kids in my spare time, which I love doing. I am so excited and extremely honored to be here today, I can't thank Jessica enough for the invitation, this is my first sewing series and what a great one to start with!
When I first asked my son Mathis, who just turned 5, to draw an outfit he would want me to make him, I think he was a little confused, it didn't help that it was just before Halloween! At first he told me he wanted to draw Elvis ( that was this years Halloween costume which he chose and I made for him), then it was a cougar and then a Super Hero. So I sat down with him and I asked him to think about what he would want to wear to his Birthday Party and narrowed it down a little by asking him if he wanted a long sleeve or a short sleeve t-shirt or perhaps a button down shirt. He choose a short sleeve tee and he wanted it to be green. So I grabbed his best fitting t-shirt and traced it with a green marker on a large piece of paper. I then left him alone and he drew inside the life size tee, he was cute he didn't want me to see it until he was finished. He had so much fun he asked me if he could do a few more and that's when I added the pants.
Here's what he came up with...
This weekend, I pulled out the drawings and asked him to choose which he wanted me to make, he stuck to his first T-shirt and the first pair of pants he drew as well. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to reproduce his drawings, all I knew is that I wanted it to be as close to his original sketch as possible. Since his drawing was actual size, I grabbed some freezer paper and traced the drawing out and I knew I wanted to add a little texture so I grabbed some felt and cut out the planes. First I sewed the planes on, then I ironed my freezer paper to my t-shirt. I had to sew the front and back, as well as the sleeves first, since the design spread out onto the sleeves, leaving the side unstitched to make my life a little easier. I doubled my thread and sewed over the freezer paper to reproduce the illustration exactly, well almost! I have all the details over at Let's do sew, if you'd like to know more!
As for the jogging pants, I just used some fabric maker and tried to reproduce his drawing the best I could.
Now, I know he loved it when he asked me if he could wear the outfit to school.
I couldn't make my son something without my daughter being a little jealous, so I got Elsie, my 3 year old involved too. She is too little to really draw, so I guided her along the way. I drew up the outline of a t-shirt and some leggings. I asked if she could make some dots on the t-shirt, and with all the colors she stabbed that maker away. For the leggings, I showed her how to draw straight lines and then asked to do the same on her pant outline.
Here's what she drew...
At first I was going to paint the dots and stripes and then I remembered I had just bought some sequins at the dollar store from the craft section, they were perfect and came in multiple colors. I sewed up the t-shirt and then with the help of the kids ( they handed me the sequins), I sewed on, by hand, every little dot. As for the leggings, I cut up my fabric and with some fabric makers I drew some random lines across the leg, I love how uneven they are.
My daughter was so excited, she can't wait to wear her t-shirt for the year end party at her daycare. As for the leggings, she hasn't wanted to take those off yet!!! I might have to make a few to avoid any tantrums in the mornings.
My kids have always been part of the design process in our house, from what color fabric they want, to the choice of prints, they always choose their own Halloween costumes, but never have they been the sole designers of any project. I loved this idea so much, I think the kids will be designing their own stuff a lot more arround here! Thanks again Jessica for all the inspiration.
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Celina - those are so inspiring, and exactly what I was thinking we would get a whole lot more of for KIDS. You put so much time and work into creating each piece, your children must be thrilled to see their creations come to life! I love both outfits, so inspiring!!! Thank you again so much for being here!
You can find Celina Bailey hanging out at:
{Petit a Petit} {Let's Do Sew} {Pinterest} {twitter} {facebook} {tumblr} {instagram}
Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time...
Happy Sewing!