It’s March, it’s spring, and I’ve got a newish project hot-ish off my machine (Ok I finished this March 6th and today is March 21st)! It’s the first garment I’ve made for someone else and it’s for my preschooler. Here are the details:
- Pattern: McCall’s 2566, size 6
- Fabric: A cotton by Cloud9 Fabrics: The Easy Life–Sing Me A Song
- Buttons: Thrifted vintage pearl buttons
- Thread: Cotton Aurifil, unknown light blue from SR Harris
Mods: The only modification I made to the pattern is instead of hand sewing the hem like the instructions state, I decided I didn’t mind having visible stitching so I sewed up the hem with my machine using a navy thread.
I’ve just begun dipping my toe in garment sewing and knew sewing something for my daughter to wear was on the horizon. There are so many cute kid clothes patterns, I only wish she were younger so I could sew whatever I want for her haha. Sewing for a kid her age is risky. She has way more autonomy now and a whole lot more opinions on the style and color of her clothes. She’s also prone to change her mind so it’s hard knowing if what she likes today she’ll continue to like tomorrow.
The Fabric
With all that being said, I had her pick out the fabric. She surprised me with her choice of fabric considering the dominant color is blue and she is more of a pink and purple gal. I asked several times if she was SURE but she’s 5 and was sure…that she wanted to be done looking. Fair enough. It was $14/yrd and I bought 2 yards. It’s also a quilting cotton which I was a little hesitant to use for a garment but figured she likely won’t care as much about what it feels like on her body as I would.
I bought the fabric at Seams Like Quilting, a new-ish, well stocked quilt shop in the small town of Spooner, WI. I have been meaning to shop there for a while but whenever I pass through Spooner it’s usually later at night so it’s closed and I don’t get a chance. I loved stopping in there, they had a really extensive selection of quilting cottons from manufacturers I like (Art Gallery, Ruby Star Society, Cloud9, Riley Blake) and I got a few yards of fabric from a company I’ve never heard of (Diamond Textiles) for me too. What should I make with this shot cotton Cabana Stripes sunburst fabric, do you think?
Pattern and Buttons
I haven’t spent a whole lot of time looking at clothing patterns for children but did take notice of the Made By Rae geranium dress pattern. A couple people I know have made it and it looks cute! However, I already had this McCall’s pattern in my stash and as it only goes up to a size 6 it really was now or never to use it. I either found this snooping in my mom’s sewing stuff or I bought it at the Textile Center’s garage sale so the pattern was free or very cheap (iirc Textile Center has patterns at the sale at $1 for 5 patterns).
The buttons I used were cute vintage pearl ones from the 50’s or 60’s that I thrifted at my favorite thrift store, Encore Resale Store in Bayfield, WI. They were a buck for five buttons! To be honest, when she’s done with this dress I will probably replace them with some white or blue plastic ones as I love these buttons and want them for one of my own garments.
Pattern Gripes
This was my first time using a pattern from a “Big Four” pattern company (i.e., McCall’s, Simplicity, Vogue, & Butterick). Compared with the pattern for The Donny shirt that I just made, these instructions were terrible. I hated the illustrations, they were confusing. The instructions were vague, or lacking. The flow of the instructions sucks too. Never once did it tell me to finish the seams or now would be the ideal time to finish these seams. A lot of information just seems to be assumed and having used indie sewing patterns before this I’m used to better instructions with more hand holding. If you’re a seasoned sewist there are things that you do that you just know how to do and when to do them but I’m not there yet. What didn’t kill me made me stronger, I guess.
New Skills
With all my gripes about the pattern instructions being said, McCall’s 2566 is overall pretty easy to make. You’re cutting a front bodice and back bodice (two of each as the bodice is lined), pocket bags and two rectangles for the skirt. This pattern also marked some firsts for me:
- First buttons & buttonholes
- First skirt/dress
- First in seam pockets
- First garment I made for someone else
That’s a pretty decent list! I’m especially glad I tackled buttons/buttonholes as my next work in progress garment is a button up shirt.
Mistakes Were (Always Are) Made
I mistakenly sewed the pockets towards the back of the dress at first and almost left them that way. She’s not much of a “stand with hands in pockets” kind of gal and is more of a “put random things in her pockets because she has pockets” kind of gal. In the end, however, I wanted it to be correct so I seam ripped and resewed them so they laid correctly.
This was my first time using the buttonhole foot on my machine and while I did practice on scrap fabric, I had to seam rip one buttonhole as it ended up too close to the edge of the fabric. It might’ve been functional but I thought it looked bad.
When trying to sew the 3rd button on using my button foot for my machine I made an error and I broke a needle and damaged the button foot. I took apart my machine, looking FOREVER for that needle tip and still haven’t found it! I called the dealer and they suggested:
1) to never use the button foot that comes with the machine (lol) and instead always hand sew buttons on because of exactly this problem (breaking a needle) and
2) didn’t think it was critical I take it in for service to find the needle tip.
I was happy to hear point number 2 as I didn’t really want to take my machine in and have it out of commission for two weeks while they hunted for a needle tip that may or may not even be there.
Final Thoughts
In the end I’m glad I made this pattern. I’m really glad I made a size 6; even though she’s really petite this looks like the right size for her. The pattern was simple, so a good introduction to using a “big four” pattern. It was easy enough that I didn’t abandon it halfway through. Now I know, though, that I’d still prefer to make patterns from indie pattern makers who have excellent instructions and YouTube sew alongs. I’ll happily pay $10-$20 for more hand holding through the process until I’ve got more garment sewing experience under my belt!
The real test, however, is will my daughter wear it? She has tried it on and it fits her well; she has already worn it to school twice. Only time will tell if it becomes a favorite! I hope to do more sewing for her since this did come together relatively quickly and sewing kids clothes can be really fun. I hope she loves to wear it this spring!
A Perfect Sandwich 