Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Made For Mermaids - Charlotte Top and Samantha Skirt

No matter how hard I try, I think I will always be playing catchup with my blog posts. This is an outfit I tested last month for Made for Mermaids. It's the Charlotte Collar Top and Samantha Suspender Skirt. The skirt is the button front option without the buttons or suspenders. Miss Maddie loves this look. She's always had a preference towards classic and clean lines but still girly. 

These two patterns are great because the possibilities are endless. They both go from 1/2 to 14 which means we should still get a couple more years out of them. Maddie is rocking the size 10 here. The top can be made with or without a collar and the skirt has a ton of options as well. 

I have plans for the suspender version for Abby but Maddie asked that I not include them on hers. I learned years ago to take there preferences into account if I ever want them to actually wear what I make for them. ;)
For our outfit I went with a grey plaid for the skirt with light blue and magenta stripes through it. The top is a white and black polka dot with chalkboard fabric as the collar. Why? Why not, right? In reality, all the fabrics I chose were either on red tag clearance at Joann Fabrics or from the remnant big. That's where the chalkboard fabric is from. I could have swore I had some black leather in my stash but all I could find when I was making this was the chalkboard fabric. 

We did try chalkboard markers on it after school one day but I forgot to take pictures. It came right off in the wash so I know we will be adding it to other outfits in the future. 
I'm finding it more and more difficult to find patterns that fit that in-between sizes when they are growing out of the little kid phase and into the tween one.  Patterns like this are awesome to make her feel grown up while still keeping her looking like my little girl. We paired this outfit with knee high magenta socks (yes they are socks, she chooses to pull them well above her knees) and Mary Jane style shoes. 
The skirt is a flat front, elastic back. This is probably the most comfortable and stylish option for most kids. 
 

My Maddie will be 8 soon and I can't believe how fast she is growing. If you are like me and still love sewing for your school-ager, I have created a facebook group called School Age Sewing as a resource to find patterns and get inspired by others who sew for their 'big kids'

Happy Sewing!!