Tuesday, August 20, 2019

A Not-So-Small Sibling Set

Sometimes a print just grabs you. So it was with this lovely design from one of my favorite fabric groups - the clock tower reminds me of the Small World ride, the geometric shapes tickle my inner quilter, and the bright blue background made it surprisingly boy-friendly despite all the glitter and rainbows. 


The flexibility of this print - plus its Disney-esque feel - made it a perfect candidate for my nieces and nephews in SoCal. Everyone loves a good sibling set, so that's what I set out to make.

The girls were easy; my SIL favors timeless, classic silhouettes, and so I've been collecting Violette Fields Threads patterns for quite some time with her in mind. Normally I mostly use knit fabric (it's softer and more forgiving), but for my nieces' dresses I really wanted to work in Woven. Woven takes a lot more work, in my experience. But it has more structure, it's typically what you think of when you think of a "timeless" or "classic" silhouette, and most importantly, it lasts longer. My SIL loves dressing her kids in things *she* wore as a baby, and so I wanted her to be able to pass that gift along to her kids: knits can lose their elastomeric tendencies (stretchiness) over time and in hot storage, but a good woven fabric can be stored indefinitely as long as isn't stored wet.

For this particular sibling set, I settled on the June and the Ruthie for the girls. I wanted each recipient to have her own unique style, and I felt those were the patterns that would best suit the girls' sizes/ages and my chosen fabric. Plus, both patterns have tie closures in the back, which I thought was a nice unifying element.


Baby W was a little bit harder. After much consternation, I did go back to knit for the 'baby' (see: soft & forgiving). I settled on the Brindille & Twig Polo Romper because I did really like the romper + the collared neckline.


Over the next few days, I've got some posts scheduled for how each of the pieces went. Check back tomorrow to hear about the girls' dresses!

1 comment:

  1. It was quite interesting to hear your logic on what makes an outfit timeless. I'd never really thought about knit versus woven. The ties in the back being a unifying element is a good design consideration and once again shows a great deal of thoughtfulness on your part in customizing your pattern choices.

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