Sewing Goals 2010: Summer of the Teen

When I was designing children’s clothing, my initial goal was to create clothing for tweens that was clean, modern, and classic–no low-rise or trashy text. I got pretty side-tracked, simply because I happened on a market where the demand for clothing for smaller kids (babies through age 7) was much higher. As a result, middle child M (age 3) got plenty more clothes from Mommy than eldest E (age 14).

Last summer, she begged me to change that. And I promised I would.

Technically, it’s still summer until Labor Day, right??  But maybe not at New Year’s?  So as Summer of the Teen became Winter of the Teen which melted into Spring of the Teen, I became Loser Mommy, who has so much on her plate that she can’t get it together to make a stinkin’ shirt for her eldest child.  Ack, the guilt!  Now that it’s summer again, I’m feeling a chance to redeem myself.  Let’s knock out some birthday outfits plus vacation clothes AND a little back-to-school preview all at once, and THEN who’s the Boss?  That’s right.  ME.

Two of the goals most stated for our 2010 Sewing Goals were that we (1) tackle more clothing, and (2) sew more for our families.  This assignment tackles both of those at the same time!

Today, let’s just review some of the patterns she’s selected as her idea of What Her Wardrobe Needs.

The vests: her total fixation at the moment.  She’s already making outfits to go with them.

The shorts: even she sees that she needs a pile more shorts.  NOTHING in the stores is even remotely acceptable, and we’ll have none of this juicy-barely-covers-your-tush action in my house, thankyouverymuch.

I made some suggestions, too, which were surprisingly well-received, actually.  Looks like this project might be kinda fun!

The jumpers and dresses: because every time we have out-of-town company, there’s a last-minute rush to the store to make sure she has Something Suitable.  And I’m kinda over that.

The tops: to go under the 65 million vests.  And to mix-and-match with the shorts.  And because, truly, she doesn’t own a single top that isn’t a t-shirt.

There were a few styles she really liked, but I pointed out that liking the style and liking the garment are not the same thing.  One of the hardest lessons in sewing is that your body and the body on the sketch are not the same body, and having a well-developed sense of self-awareness when it comes to your figure and what will flatter it is a huge portion of sewing success. In her case, there’s also a school dress code to consider on top of that, so it was even more frustrating for her.  We culled her pile of 40+ patterns and got it down to the ones you see here.

Sewing commences….NOW.  Wish me luck.