Sunday, April 15, 2012

Bringing back the Suspenders

I am in love with French label Lili Gaufrette. They make gorgeous and delicately stylish clothing for girls and babies, although the latter is very hard to find. The garments are made from the highest quality fabrics and are finished with an equally high attention to detail. Of course you pay for quality. Alyssa has a few items I purchased from OZSALE (with discounts of about 80%) and I eagerly anticipate each subsequent sale, but am disappointed when time after time they only have the smallest sizes available. The few things I purchased were size 1 month, 3 months and 6 months and she has outgrown everything.

...so I decided to try and make something myself. I'm not sure if this outfit looks particularly French but that's where I got my inspiration, along with these two pictures I found on the net:

It was super easy to make. Its basically two long rectangles. One for the waistband and one for the skirt. The waistband actually has another layer of material on the inside as well as a couple of layers of interfacing to stiffen it. I turned the raw edges of the waist band in, gathered the skirt to match the length, tucked it between the two layers of the waistband and then sewed the waistband all in one go. I hadn't really though about how to do the back up. I decided on snaps (the sew-on kind) for the waistband and buttons for the skirt. That way as she grows I can simple move the snaps over to accommodate.


It was my first time making suspenders, or braces I think we call them in NZ/Aussie. I looked at Alyssa's pram straps to work out how to put them together, as the adjustable feature had me confused for a minute or so. The only difficult thing was paying $14 for the clips (I needed two sets) at Spotlight... eek the most expensive part of the outfit. I guess I should add that the corners of them are a little sharp and the whole idea of braces possibly a little impractical for a bubby so young. I might have another go at this outfit when she is 2 or 3 years old.



Can you see the suitcase in the background? We are going to New Zealand for a month to see my Mum and Sister. I'm packing fabric and some of my sewing essentials. Mum's had her sewing machines' serviced and has booked me in for some lessons. I'm looking forward to having a baby sitter while I sew. It's so hard to sew sometimes when all you have is 5 minutes here or there.


I totally think there is a market out there for making cool colourful suspender clips. Some pretty pink flower suspender clips would have been fab!

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