Customising the Kids Clothes
Corduroy Dresses from Cat Kidston
I have two girls and they are two very girly girls they love their clothes and putting together an outfit everyday, they are still young enough where they don’t mind wearing the same matching outfits everyday. Which I love but it also means that we can’t do hand me downs. When they grow out of an item of clothing, I usually pass it to my sister’s kids or donate to charity.
Recently we had a clear out after feeling overwhelmed at the sight of their messy wardrobe. I found two very pretty dresses from Cat Kidston that had gone too small for them. A beautiful Cat Kidston print on a soft corduroy fabric, soft velvety ribs with woven heart detailed pockets, just the sweetest design. I didn’t want to throw them away or give them away so i decided to customise them in to skirts so they can get longer wear out of them.
I started of by trimming the top half of the dress off with my fabric scissors leaving a hem of 1 inch for me to sew to the inside of the skirts. Normally I would hem the frayed edge or overlock it before stitching the open edges down but this is just a quick job for me I don’t want to spend too much of my time on these skirts given that they probably will only get another years wear out of them at the most. Once the hems were stitched down I decided to make elasticated hairbands with the leftover shoulder straps from the dresses. I took some elastic from my haberdashery, measured their heads and sewed them on with the machine.
Sewing is a skill and is something I picked up from my mum growing up who was a seamstress but it isn’t something I enjoy. I love the idea of customising clothes and transforming items but it does sometimes feel like a chore. Aside this I was extremely happy with the skirts and more importantly so where the girls. They wore the skirts out with white t-shirts which was a great combo. In the winter these can be worn with pink sweatshirts or chunky knit cardigans and tights.
Mummy, Nara and Waimea
Nara and Waimea in their customised outfits
