Petticoat Junction

A recent romp through the dress-up clothes chest prompted my girls to ask for some underpinnings in their current sizes. Miri couldn't find any skirts to use as a petticoat, and Lina really wanted pantaloons to wear under HER petticoat and dress. She wanted a corset too, and I told her no way am I breaking out the eyelets and the hammer right now.
     For Miri, I took some leftover blue flannel fabric (that I had originally intended to use for Celina, when she was smaller) sewed up the sides, put elastic in the top, let her pick out some lace, and sewed it to the bottom. DONE! She wears it all the time, and though it's a little warm still, it's nice to know that she'll probably still wear it when it gets colder and she actually needs a cozy skirt.


As you can see, she clearly enjoys wearing it whenever and wherever she can. 
For Lina, I got out the old pantaloons pattern I had originally gotten when she was in preschool. She had come to a point where she couldn't stand anything that was too tight (like tights or pants) or that had seams (like pants and socks). It was winter, and she needed something to keep her legs warm. With the help of wonderful Jenny Chancey over at Sensibility.com (it was her pattern, after all), I sewed my very first garment ever - white flannel pantaloons with french seams that Lina could wear under all her dresses to keep warm.
     For this pair, she chose an aqua/white striped seersucker material I was originally going to use to make her some Barbie outfit that I can't remember. She decided she liked a ruffle of self-material along the bottom hem, so I added that and then some narrow lace. Then she wanted ribbons, too, so that it would be similar to the pair I had bought myself from GapBody years ago (they are pajama bottoms).   Overall, she likes that they're so pretty but refused to model them because she said the waistband was too high up (they were meant to go under an empire-style dress. I have since lowered the waistline but have yet to take a picture of her in them.




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