First attempt at clothes for small children - success!

I have come to realise how rewarding making kids clothes is. They're so quick to make and you can do lots of cute embellishments. I previously mentioned that I had bought a pattern - Butterick 5713 - and then I proceeded to make the pants and overalls. I rarely sew from a pattern and often don't take the time to read through the instructions carefully when I do. I think this means that it takes me about twice as long to make something as it should, but I'm quite stubborn and tend to think I can predict what the instructions would say (thankfully my attitude while I'm at work in a laboratory isn't the same!).

Actually, the hardest part of the whole project was working out what size to make. What size is a typical 9 month old? I know when I've bought patterns for myself, I pick the right size and then the end result turns out to be 5 sizes too big - was this pattern going to be the same? I decided to go with the large size, rather than the XL size, and it turned out to be spot on for the little boy I was making it for.

The pants:
From not reading the instructions fully, it wasn't until later that I realised that these pants are supposed to be fully lined. We are coming into summer here and so I did away with the full lining, but I liked how the turned up cuffs had a contrasting colour. I added 10cm strip of cute, blue camo fabric to the bottom part of the inside of the leg, so when it was turned up you could see it. Taking the approach of not lining the whole thing also meant I had to alter the casing for the waist elastic, so I added a strip of blue camo fabric around the waist as well.

The overalls:
Went well for the most part as I actually read the instructions. The bit that stumped me was when it started talking about self facings. As I'm a hack sewer I had never come across the term "self facing" before. I couldn't understand what the diagram was telling me to do either. So after fussing about, googling "self facings" and things (I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't know!), I finally worked it out. And the instructions and diagram immediately made sense. It felt good to learn something new.

Gave the pants and overalls, and also the bibs I'd made a while ago, to my friend who I caught up with last night. They were immediately put to good use. The bibs are so quick and easy to make, I must make more! The hardest part is thinking what fabric and design to use...