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Feb
8
You can still enter our active giveaways.
The winner of this giveaway is commenter 16, Bethany, who wrote:
I had a shirt with a shopping theme. There was a picture of a girl holding a clear plastic shopping bag. Sandwiched inside the plastic were little plastic clothing items. I loved it.
In Sewn with Love: Classic Patterns for Children’s Clothes and Accessories by Fiona Bell, the focus is on classic style and vintage details.
The book contains instructions to make 24 projects for babies and kids, boys and girls. Full-sized printable patterns are included on an enclosed CD. Instructions for classic children’s games and tasty recipes appear here and there, and add to the charm of the book.
My mother and I flipped through the book together, oohing and ahhing and sighing at each beautiful design. The proprotions, the details, the styling, even the fabric choices in her examples, are all spot on. These are the clothes that will never go out of style.
Though I have not sewn of the projects in the book, the instructions seem clear and easy to follow. There are plenty of illustrations to accompany the steps.
The one complaint I had was that you had to look hard in order to find out the size ranges for the garment patterns. It turns out that this information is included in a sizing chart in the back of the book, but I didn’t find it until after I had opened up the enclosed CD to find the information on the patterns themselves. I would have preferred this information as a short notation at the beginning of each project.
And in case you’re now wondering, patterns for baby clothes come in sizes 0-3 months through12-18 months. The patterns for the children’s clothes are in sizes 12-18 months through 7-8 years.
There wasn’t a single one of the projects in the book that I didn’t love, but I’ll show you a couple of my favorites below.
My love for the Button-Through Dress (girl sizes) is a bit selfish I guess, since it would be soooo fabulous for my daughter! The loose dress is gathered on to a yoke and can be worn on its own, or layered over jeans and/or a long-sleeved shirt.
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It’s been a while since I’ve had a baby around the house, but that doesn’t stop me from drooling over the Playsuit (baby sizes). It’s awesome in the chambray used in the example photo. Check out the little bows on each of the pockets!
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For boys, you can’t beat the Classic Shirt (boy sizes). The long-sleeved shirt would look good in just about any fabric, and can go dressy or casual. I can see this being a go-to style when sewing for boys.
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And the Handkerchief-Sleeve Dress (girl sizes). Another one I want to make for my daughter! The square sleeves hang beautifully, and the gathers in the front of the dress are so pretty!
I realize that all of my “faves” are garments, but there are plenty of non-clothing projects in this book as well. For example, you can find detailed instructions for making a beanbag frog, a laundry/toy bag, a vintage-style quilt, a notice board, a duvet set, and a tooth fairy pillow.
You can see more excerpts from the book at Interweave.
So now that you’ve read all about this book, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve got a copy to give to one lucky Craft Gossip reader. To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me about your favorite article of clothing from when you were a child. I’ll choose one commenter at random to receive the book.
Deadline is midnight EST on February 22, 2010.
[photos from Sewn with Love]
- Winner of Sewn With Love by Fiona Bell
- Free pattern: Crossover back A-line baby doll dress
- Free pattern: Dutch Baby A-line Dress
- Colette Patterns launches with sewing patterns for the indie fashion-lover
- Free pattern: Child’s fleece pants
Comments
124 Comments so far
[...] Go there now to read the review and enter the giveaway. You may also like… [...]
My favorite clothing as a child was an ugly black and neon green two piece spandex outfit, like bike shorts and a sports bra, but I was like, 5! I have no idea where I got them, or why they made such clothing for a 5 year old, but whatever. There are several pictures of my as a child wearing that outfit.
I make clothing for my kids to save them from having to look back on such horrors!
I had a beautiful gypsy skirt that my grandmother made for me! I loved it and it really twirled.
My favorite thing to wear when I was a kid, were these rainbow overalls…. looking back they were awful!!
My favourite item of clothing as a child is a peter pan collar dress with puffed sleeves!
My favorite clothing from when I was a child were these white pants with different color of pastel pinstripes. I cannot remember anything else.. it was a LONG time ago!
My favorite thing to wear were my HEE HAW overalls. I think I wore them until they fell apart.
I had a dress that would twirl almost up to my head (you had to make sure to wear shorts underneath!). I loved that thing for three solid years, and have the school pictures to prove it.
My favorite clothing when I was a child overalls. My mother couldn’t get me out of them.
Back in the 1950′s my mother couldn’t get me out of a pair of bright pink ‘bib & brace’ overalls – I loved them – and wore them – to pieces!
My favorite item of clothing as a little burrito was a large-scale plaid wool jacket my mother had made for my older sister and gotten passed down to me. It was rather girly — mint green, pink, white and black plaid with oversized pink buttons — but it was such a joy to button and unbutton all by myself when I was preschool-aged.
It was a pair of pink pinstriped capris. Love them babies.
twelve30@gmail.com
Most favorite was the dress my mother made for my baptism. I felt like a princess in it.
My favorite was a green plaid dress with ruffled sleeves. I loved the dress!
I had a purple romper with little flowers on it. My grandma got it for me, I think at Sears. It was my absolute, absolute favorite. I love those rompers!!!
I had a shirt with a shopping theme. There was a picture of a girl holding a clear plastic shopping bag. Sandwiched inside the plastic were little plastic clothing items. I loved it.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by CraftGossip, Maggie Greene. Maggie Greene said: Review & Giveaway: Sewn with Love by Fiona Bell · Sewing …: In Sewn with Love: Classic Patterns for Children's… http://bit.ly/epqK0o [...]
A neon green shirt with black pants with neon green cuffs. I liked being loud as a kid.
My favorite clothing from childhood is a 3-way tie between my jellies (shoes), stirrup pants, or my hair scrunchies. So, maybe those are accessories, but the whole look was to die for.
Sailor dresses (all from my grandmother, she thought they were darling – and they were!), my Iowa Hawkeye cheerleader “uniform”, and the Jasmine pajamas that got taken away when I misbehaved
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My favorite piece of clothing was a dress that my grandmother made me.
I had a hot pink terry cloth summer tank and bloomers that I wore all the time (or as much as a 2 year old’s mother would let her)…My mother finally took them away when the tank became a belly-shirt and the bloomers became indecent. I wish my mom would have kept them for my daughter – with her long legs, Im sure she would be summer ready in no time!
TAP-SHOES!!!! I LOVED my tap-shoes and lived in them. I only took one class a week from when I was 7 but EVERY day after school, I put on my trusty old tapshoes and danced on the concrete floor of my dad’s workshed.
I had this baby doll dress that had itty bitty pockets in the front that I used to put sparkly pieces of gravel I found in the driveway in. Plus when I twirled the skirt parachuted out and made me feel fancy.
My red polka dot bikini was my favourite item. How I wish I could fit into a bikini today.
My pair of corduroy overalls! I wore them until they fell apart. My mom had to attach more material to the bottom of the legholes, and to the straps so I would be able to wear them longer!
I don’t knows about favorite but I was just thinking about a light somewhat frilly short nightdress I had as a girl – how I wish I had one like it now and how I should make some for my girls!
I loved all of my jumpers!!
its hard to choose one item. i just loved clothes and started sewing when i was 8. In Jr high i had a Swatch sweatshirt- it was so cool and i was very happy to have something from the new cool watch brand
I’m giving away my age, but my favorite childhood outfit was a t-shirt that said Jeans Jeans Jeans with a belt that said Jeans all the way around. Don’t let me throw on my jean vest. Loved it!
One of the few outfits I remember was a Halloween costume that had a big blue and red ruffled skirt. The skirt stuck out like a traditional tutu skirt would, though I don’t recall it being made of stiff tulle. I wore it a lot, even when it wasn’t Halloween, and even when it got very tight and very short. I’m sure my mom shook her head over that one.
I had a worn out t-shirt that had a picture of a puppy on it when I was around 7 or 8. It was nothing special, but I wore it ALL the time. My mom could barely get it away to wash it!
My favorite piece of clothing was a red corduroy vest which buttoned on the sides and which I seem to remember wearing for years and years in the early grades. My mother and grandmother called it a “jerkin”, which sounded very literary and made it perfect for playing “Robin Hood”. I would love to make that handkerchief dress for my grandaughter!
I had a pair of flannel p.j that I loved. My mum had made them for me.
My mum made lots of my clothes, a talent I have yet to master, and my favourite item was a dress; cornflower blue with tiny white spots. It had wide shoulder straps and a yoke, and flared out into a frill edged skirt which whirled around me when I used to prance round the garden. Looking back, it was pure frippery, especially when compared to grown-up clothes. But it always made me feel great; as it was unique, homemade and gorgeous.
Oh how I loved the flannel nighties my grandmother made for me. I got a new one every Christmas. They had big sleeves that were gathered at the wrist. The gathered skirt had a huge ruffle at the hem. I was a princess in my gown!
My favorite piece of clothing would have to be this pair of shorts that my mom had hand painted a giraffe on. Lod did I love those shorts. I think the main reason was because she made them just for me!
I had white cheesecloth peasant top with daisies embroidered on it and a matching yellow cheesecloth skirt with a white underskirt – loved it to death! I remember seeing it in a bag of clothes for goodwill – I cried and tried to fit my much larger body into it before admitting defeat!
Malaysia is such a hot country, thus my mom sewn the pillow case dresses a lot and made us wear almost everyday. And I like that dress, however. Airy and comfortable. And girlish too.
This looks so precious and is hitting my list of book must haves.
Oh, it was a brown cordury pinafore dress with little yellow and orange flowers on it…I used to wear it with thick woolly red tights!!
I had a leopard print robe that I LOVED! It was so cozy, don’t know what kind of fabric it was (was there fleece in the early 1950s?), but I remember it was soooo soft.
I had an embroydered peasant blouse my grandmother brought back from Hungary that I loved!
My mom had made me a two piece outfit, pants with a top made from a towel of yellow and orange, it’s design was loud and the colors were louder, but I was about 2 years old, with blonde hair and I loved it!!!!
My favorite outfit was a plaid dress with can can’s underneath with a large white collar and oxford shoes long time ago.
My favorite piece of clothing from my childhood was this pair of knock-off Chuck Taylor high tops with a Hawaiian style print on them. They had toucans and palm trees on a bright blue background and I always felt like I matched when I wore them with a blue tank top and Hawaiian print shorts. I’m sure I clashed like crazy, but I felt so cool!
Oh, this would be awesome!
I am a red head and my favorite article of clothing was a blue gingham dress with a white apron that I had dressed up in for halloween as Raggedy Ann . After Halloween was over i proudly wore the dress to school stepping high and proud! I loved that dress! I wish I still had it to pass on to my little girls!
I’d love to win this book!!
My favorite outfit as a child was a light pink terrycloth romper. It was shorts and had ties at the shoulders. I was definitely a child of the 80′s
My mother made all of the clothes I wore as a child. She continued to make special clothes for me even when I was in college. The outfit I remember most was a beautiful golden tan corduroy jumper. It was buttoned on the side.
I owe so much to my Dear Mother. I made my formal wedding dress.
My favorite article was a dress my mother made, that had poof sleeves and my favorite part was the rick rack edging on the sleeves.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED those “clown” outfits… They were usually some floral print with puffy sleeves…. my mom hated them but gave in. They really only look cute on a baby… cant understand why we were trying to wear them when we were 5-10ish.
I’m trying to remember back to my childhood…
Probably my favorite is a pair of jeans that had vertical stripes in mardi-gras-like colors. That is at least the one that stood out most in my mind.
My favorite thing when I was a child would have to be my pink polyester quilted bathrobe. I think I liked it had puffy shoulders.
My favorite article of clothing as a kid was a red and white polka dot skirt and top that I used to play dress-up in at my grandma’s house.
My favorite item was a fuzzy pink and white vest.
When I was a child (many moons ago) my mother would dress my sister and I up as twins (even though we were a year apart). We thought we were so special! My favorite outfit was a pink felt “poodle skirt” with a pink top. The skirt was really full and twirled so good.
Love the giveaway.
nettiecrain@live.com
I still have a pair of overalls that my aunt covered in patches and bedazzled. They are fantastic!
I had a plaid white, green, and black pleated skirt that I loved to wear. Who knows why, but I felt special in it.
My favorite article of clothing as a child was a light blue cotton shirtwaist dress.
My favorite article of clothing as a child was my swimming suit. I was constantly in the pool indoor and outdoor all season long.
My favorite clothing was a dress my mom cut off to alllow the top to be a blouse and the bottom part she cut off she split my fav. jeans at the outside seam at the bottom leg and sewed in a big triangle of that fabric to match the blouse. My “elephant” flare jeans and blouse were the bomb!
I had a Wonder Woman nightgown that I wore until there was almost nothing left of it.
My favorite article of clothing was probably my wonder woman underoos. Must be genetic because my son has to wear superhero garb under every outfit! Love this book giveaway too!
This book looks and sounds great! I’d love to win!
As a child, my favorite piece of clothing??? LOL This is corny but it would have to be the Wonder Woman under-roos I got for my 7th birthday (along with the roller skates I got for that birthday too.) My parents have pictures of me at age 7 rollerskating in the kitchen wearing Wonder Woman Under-roos & roller skates. Heck, I thought I was cool!
My favorite outfit was a upcycle Oshkost overalls with patches everywhere
I came from a family of 4 girls. My Dad and Mom bought us all long skirts that reached to the ground it was in the 70′s pheasent looking with white tops. We loved those skirts each one of us. We ranger from age 2 to 8. I wanting to wear that skirt to school so bad but my Mom wouldn’t let me. I got to wear it on Sundays. I wore it till it looked like a flood was coming. Loved that skirt and love that style is back in.
It would have been a WHITE dress
My favorite was a deep purple velvet dress with 3/4 puffed sleeves, lace along the neckline and a silouette brooch at the neck. I felt SO grown up in it. I remember wearing it when my parents took us to Phantom of the Opera when I was about 9 or 10. Made by my mother:)
One Christmas my eldest sister game me a silk oriental top with embroidery – it was beautiful and breathtaking!1
When I was little we had 2 dresses,one for school and one for church,my favorite dress was one of my older sisters dresses I envied her sooo much because I thought it was the most beautiful dress in the world! The dress was green and had shiny buttons,I wanted that dress so bad.
This book is on my Amazon wishlist!!!! How I would love to win it now rather than wait for Mother’s Day to hint to my husband that I would like it!
I loved footie pajamas!
This looks like a great book! I have a weakness for little girl dresses!
Oh gosh, I LOVED to wear jumpsuits, especially the button-on-the-shoulder kind. They were so roomy, and I HATED anything touching me. Thanks for the opportunity to win!
I have 2 young nieces I would love to make cute clothes for and this book would really help.
My mother made most of the clothing I wore as a child and always my nightgowns. One especially stands out, and I still have it in my cedar chest. She had bought a beautiful white flannel with small pink flowers and a printed scalloped border of pink. She used the borders for the sleeve and hem edges as well as for the yoke edge where the buttons were. It made me feel like a princess to wear it during The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights. Now I make memories for others.
Cool book! I loved dresses- especially dresses with ruffles and/or were great for twirling. I remember my mom made a rule that I couldn’t wear a dress to school every day. ha.
My favorite item of clothing was a blouse my mother make for me she put the vowels on the cuffs and collar to help me remember them.
I had a shirt that my Grandmother made for me. My mom had to make me take it off so she could wash it and right back on it went till I got to big for it.
we lived on a farm and my mom was a single mother, so needless to say make do, reuse, renew was a daily thing for us! My favorite outfits were the overalls when i would outgrow them, mom would revamp them into overall dresses, then maybe the following summer another colorful fun layer would be added again to the bottom! They were fun , colorful, very girly and paired with a plain t wonderful!
When I was little any skirt that twirled was perfect!
I always loved a good pair of comfy pants. I suppose I still do!
these are so adorable! I had this blue/yellow floral skirt and top that were over the top girly – almost looked like a dolls outfit – I would’ve worn it everyday if it wasn’t for my mother having some common sense…
When I was little, I grew up more than out. So Mum kept adding to the bottom of jeans. I remember one pair “extended” with red gingham and ric rac. Groovy!
My mom made be a Belle costume for Halloween one year, I wore it all the time
I loved a skirt in blue with mango print that my auntie made for me in exchange for babysitting her 3 babies. Quite a deal!
My favorite was a pink party dress that twirled & I wore a crinoline under it to make it stand way out! I spent a lot of time twirling around in this dress & wanted to wear it everywhere!
I remember getting my first pair of jeans in the fourth grade, and being so proud of them. Before that, I had those nasty polyester pants…yes, this was in the 70′s!
our mom bought me and my sister matching frocks to wear for a wedding. they were sky-blue with lots of ruffles and stuff. we both loved them soo much, i think i wore that dress for two years, eagerly waiting for the next occasion to wear the “pretty” dress.
love the book, so many of the styles look like things we wore “back then”. i’d love to dress my kids in styles like that!
One of my favourite outfits was a white wool kilt, pink mohair sweater and matching beret. and yes my younger sister wore the same matching outfit.
My favorite clothe was a red jumper with a pocket on front, late 70′s style
maomaocrafts.blogspot.com
I love making clothes, particularly now for my Grand Children. I’m always looking for new ideas. Thanks for giving me the chance to win it.
My favorite piece of clothing was a yellow and white seresucker dress with lots of pleats. I would wear it at least once a week and my mother would sigh everytime she had to iron all those pleats. I just loved that dress!!
What a great idea for a book! My favorite childhood clothing was this jumper that my mom had made for me by our neighbor. It was in a really tacky parrot print (lol, the 80s), but I wore it probably every week!
The only thing I can think of is a salmon-colored sweatshirt. My mom cross-stitched a bunny onto the front when I was maybe around 7. She didn’t sew or knit, but my mom went through a major cross-stitch phase when I was a kid : ).
I had a royal blue cardigan sweater with a tartan plaid ribbon trim. Plus I had the matching tartan skirt! Oh…it had a big kilt pin on it too
a rainbow elastic belt that had the word Jeans repeated all the way around
I had a yellow sweater with 3 owls on a branch, the middle owl was upside down it read”nobody’s perfect”….fantastic..thanks for the giveaway!
i had a pair of overalls that i loved…
My favorite piece of clothing as a child was a skirt from Mexico that a great aunt gave me. It was cream colored cotton with these brightly colored ribbon-like pieces sewn around the skirt at each layer. I remember that it had a lot of swing and I would twirl around for hours in that.
my fav dress was a blk velvet flouncy dress grandma made me for christmas when i was 7!
loved my leggings with big shirt
One of my favorite articles of clothing was a snoppy t-shirt that said “I’m the boss”
I suppose it suited me, i hear i was a bit bossy back then, lol.
My mom didn’t let me have very many girly clothes, but I had this skirt that went down to my ankles. I loved to twirl in it. I was so disappointed when I grew out of it.
As a girl, I had a dainty white handkerchief linen shirt that had embroidered flowers on the collar! I loved that shirt!
sazzyfrazz at gmail dot com
My favorite clothing item as a child was a red dress my mom sewed me with pretty ruffled petticoats under the skirt to make it super fun to dance in. She still has it tucked away at her home, so I guess it was her favorite, too. Thanks for this giveaway!
mrs_apple_juice (at) hotmail (dot) com
my favorite article of clothing was a jean overall dress.
It’s a tragic story. When I was five, I sewed my first garment. A halter top. It was 1971 and a halter top was the height of fashion. I was wearing it one day when I was at my Grandpa’s farm. His hired man had a pet raccoon. It was my turn to hold the raccoon when the animal let loose with the most foul smelling poop ever! My prized halter was ruined.
When I was a kid I had this awkward pair of tight cotton black shorts that I LOVED! I would sneak and wear them under the skirts and dress that my mom would make me wear to school so that I could still play on the playground at recess (and hang upside down on the monkey bars, of course). One day I was doing cartwheels on the playground in my dress (and my secret favorite shorts) and one of the other kids pointed out that the shorts had holes in the back! I was so embarrassed I never wore them again. Pretty sad for a 7 year old! Now I stick to comfy sweat pants
my favorite article of clothing was a denim jumper with a panda applique
When I was a kid, I had a lovely satin windbreaker with Shaun Cassidy on it…I loved it!!
I think that I was five or six. 
I remember a flowered dress I had when I was 6 ot 7 years old. It had a scratchy “pettycoat”" underneath that was itchy, but I loved how “girly” the dress was.
I don’t remember a particular clothing item that I wore but I have a dress that was given to me for my first birthday from 3 ladies who had the same first and middle name as me. I never wore it because I was in a body cast for several months.
An easy one… the pink and white striped ruffle skirt my mum made. I remember thinking how cool I looked in it!
My daughter has 5 children and sews for all of them. This would be great for her and even I would love to sew for all my grandchildren. Thanks for this opportunity to win!!!
Mine was a green winter coat with a light colored fur rimmed hood. I loved it because it was the first piece of brand new clothing that I had gotten. Hand me downs were more of what we had. I treasured that thing.
Just finished the bodice on Full-Circle Dress (pp 76-80) and found a glaring error in the pattern PDFs: there isn’t a pattern for THIRD SKIRT PANEL out of four. Is it just really late at night for me, or is the CD that accompanies the book really missing some key bits there? Where are the errata for this book (not in InterweaveStore.com, I can tell you.)
I’ll give this for the Oliver + S patterns: they publish corrections for such mistakes.
Overall, I like the look of the dress, and I _think_ I can figure out how the third panel should be, but wouldn’t one think that’s a bit of a big mistake for something that’s on the cover of the book?
I had this crazy blue print quilted-fabric jumpsuit that went on every day after school. Now I have a grandson to sew for so the book would be great.
My mom used to make me dresses. The kind you can twirl in and the skirt flies up just a little. So much fun. Now I am teaching myself to sew, maybe I’ll make dressed for my granddaughters.
Anna, After reading your comment, I checked out the pattern CD and was also confused. I had just about determined that there was indeed no pattern for the third panel when I saw the small print on the pattern for the fourth panel that had the cutting instructions for the third panel. For example, on the fourth panel for the 18-24 month size it says, “third skirt panel – cut 5. fourth skirt panel – cut 8″. This is information is easy to miss, but it is there.
–Anne
Thanks for sharing those photos above…i am so torn between this book and Mary Abreu’s Little Girls, big Style!
[...] you for all of your comments entering the Sewn With Love giveaway! I enjoyed reading about all of the different garments that you remember from your [...]
My favorite outfits as a child were the many beautiful dresses that my mom & granny made for me!!! Haven’t sewed for anyone in awhile…but I might start back!