sewing: dainty delicates


I guess delicates isn’t exactly the right term here.  But calling them jammies would give off the wrong vibe.
Mostly, I wanted to sew a pajama set that was soft and girly for my dainty Lucy girl, who’s tiny body is so full of energy it’s often bouncing off the walls.

And Kid’s Clothes Week seemed like the perfect time.  In fact, I love it when KCW rolls around because I just have fun free-sewing—without thinking about making a tutorial and documenting each little step (though I do think this would make a darling pattern.  hmmm…..)

If you’re new to Kid’s Clothes Week (organized by Elsie Marley), it’s a week dedicated to well, sewing for kids!  But you only have to do it a bit at time, one hour a day.  It’s that simple motivation you need to just do it.   And when hundreds of other sewers are doing it too (and sharing cool creations in the group here and here) you just want to sew more.

So the other day when the kids were home from school for a snow day, I whipped something up.  Shorts and snow.  They totally go together.   And so does Fold Over Elastic (FOE) right?

I pulled out some of my most lightweight cottons from the stash and a grabbed whatever fun trims I’d accumulated over the years.  Btw, I fully believe that when you see a trim you love, even if you’re not sure what you’re going to do with it, you should buy it.  You’ll use it one day.  And today I grabbed the turquoise FOE and the large spool of blue elastic purchased at the FIDM scholarship store 2 years ago, and turned them into Lucyisms.


For the shirt I drafted a quick peasant top pattern so it would be roomy and comfy for sleeping, with slightly larger armholes.

I serged the sleeve edges with a dainty rolled hem and sewed the elastic exposed on the neckline, leaving extra length at the neck to tie it in a bow. Then I sewed the whole thing up in about an hour.  And it totally turned out how I pictured in my head—I love those kind of projects.  Lucy loved it too.


For the shorts I used the KID Shorts Pattern and made some slight adjustments.   I flared the bottom of the legs out a bit to make them extra roomy but I think that the look would have worked better with a silky/satin fabric.  I trimmed extra length from the legs to make them extra short (within reason and taste of course).  Then I trimmed a good 1.5 inches from the waist so I could bind the edge with Fold Over Elastic for the waistband, instead of sewing a casing and stringing elastic through.  I’m still playing with this and will have to share a tutorial another time when I work out the kinks.

But overall they turned out really cute and look more like “delicates” than playtime shorts.

And I’m always amazed at how a little hemming and elastic can turn this crazy mess,

into this.

Sewing impresses me every time!  Even when you’ve been doing it for years.

So there you go.
A simple set of dainties for my dainty.
I’m sure I’ll be making more.
Because the other good news is….if you wake up late for school, just throw on your jeans and call it a Pajama day!

Sweet dreams, sweet girl.

  1. Adorable top! I love making peasant dresses for my girl and I love your take for making it into a top. Cute shorts as well, I think I would like to make myself some of those. 🙂

  2. 3) Abby S

    A FOE tute PLEEEEASE! Love the look of it in place or regular elastic but can’t for the life of me figure out how to properly attach it. Stretch? Don’t stretch? Ahh! Waiting anxiously for your tips!

  3. I LOVE that top!! It doesn’t even look like a sleeping top to me, totally cute for school or whatever. So adorable!!

  4. 5) Nina Doyle

    A tutorial on that top would be awesome. I love your creativity and design. I am always impressed with your skills.

  5. oh very very cute! i love the fabric combo and i think Em would love something like these (she has that lanky dancer body type too, ya know). maybe once it heats up a bit though. 😉

  6. VERY cute! And dainty 🙂 I need to invest in FOE, its many uses are starting to win me over! Especially now since cute colors are so easy to find.

  7. 10) Melody

    Waaiitt….snow day in Austin :)??

    • 11) Jen

      I know right?!?!?! We are on snow 112 here MI. Actually our school has called about 5, but it feels like 112!

  8. Love it 🙂 but it looks fabulous with the jeans too 😀 Well done, shows that you don’t have to always buy clothes for the kids at the shops!

  9. 13) Anie

    I love it. A tutorial would be awesome, my girls and niece would adore sleeping in that outfit!!

  10. So pretty! I love the trims! And I think I have some of that floral fabric in my stash–what a great use! Oh, and I think “dainties” is a great term–let’s bring it back. 🙂

  11. 15) Mary Kay Wilburn

    Dana – I would love to learn how to use that fold over elastic – never used it and making some delicates to sleep in would be awesome for my daughter!

  12. That top is very cute. It looks great on her! 🙂

  13. This is so darling, as is Lucy! I can’t wait to use my blue lace trim now! 🙂

  14. 18) Wanda Bray

    Absolutely perfect peasant top. Are you coming to do a tutorial?
    I can’t draft a pattern to save my life!!

  15. çocuk giysileri çok şirin oluyor,dikmesi de kolay 🙂
    sevgiler

  16. 21) Eli

    Would love a pattern for the top to make it into a nightgown for my little girl! And how to work with the FOE would be great too!

  17. Love this top! Can’t wait for it to warm up a little to make some peasant tops for my little lady.

  18. 23) Carrie

    So unbelieveably adorable! I have never tried FOE; please, please, please do a tutorial! The top is so cute too! For those of us who are foreign to the idea of drafting our own patterns, could you recommend a good peasant top pattern?

  19. 24) meghan

    OMG that blue elastic!

  20. 25) Abi

    I love the dainty AND that gorgeous blanket. Where oh where did you find it?

  21. Beautiful projects, beautiful cute model, beautiful clicks. Thanks for sharing. This was my first time in KCW and enjoyed sewing and being part of this sewing community. Thanks,Preethi.

    • 27) Dana

      it’s a thrift store find :(. Sorry that doesn’t help you. But I LOVE that color!

  22. 28) Speattle

    I agree with the above comments about a tutorial and pattern for the cute top please! Thanks ☺

  23. 29) Olaitan ajisope

    Pls i would love to learn how to draw the patterns by myself.please reply to my email

  24. 30) Camilla

    Hi there
    Do you have a link to the pattern for the top?
    Many thanks
    C

  25. 31) Sonali

    Where will I get this top pattern .it’s fabulous.

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