Back to School: Copy That Look

 Who's ready for some more fabulous fall inspiration from a popular fashion house?? 🙋🙋🙋 Today we are looking at Zara, a Spanish brand loved all over the world! in complete opposition to our previous inspo, Zara designs gravitate toward neutral colors and more classic pieces, with a few trendy pieces thrown in. Watch close, you might notice some flashbacks that will drop you right back in 1999! Hit me baby, one more time. 😜

We can definitely get behind some great neutrals here at Project Run and Play! Grab the George Hoodie and some super fuzzy, super plush sweatshirt fleece from Cali Fabrics (trust us, it's sooo soft!) for a hoodie he will never want to take off. For absolute luxury and a host of gorgeous colors, pick up one of these Foundation Brushed French Terrys from Canadian company, Shear Perfection Fabrics. 

Here, I'm seeing some Joesph Joggers, or maybe Twist it Up Trousers with an ankle cuff hack, sewn in yummy French Terry from KnitFabric.com. Pair them with a Lemon Tee, and don't forget to size that sucker up!

One thing you may notice about many of these images is that most things are extremely oversized. That's great for kid's clothes! For these looks, just size up a couple of sizes and they can wear it for at least two seasons, maybe even three. Because we all remember what came after the oversized trends of the 80s and 90s: the teeny tiny, squeeze-yourself-into-your-nephew-and-niece's-clothes trends of the 2000s. So don't give away those outgrown handmades just yet. They'll fit again soon.😂 

Look what we found! This looks like a pattern mash made in heaven. 😍

Definitely a Parfait Polo with some Story sleeves tacked onto the short sleeve! 

We know you've all embraced the rib knits of our youth, so here's your chance to test out the Blip Top using some fabulous rib knit from Raspberry Creek! Choose a classic solid, or get some custom stripes. There are some great colors in the Halloween collection that just released last week, as well as hundreds of choices in the Designer Studio, available for custom printing.

Everyone loves the squishy feel of double gauze. This cute dress looks just like an Alice with a bishop sleeve hack, made with dreamy double gauze from Raspberry Creek! Did you know that Raspberry Creek not only has fabulous in house printing, but they also carry the hottest colors in solid retail fabric! (And also, did you know that you can have any design custom printed on double gauze?! Oooooh the possibilities...)

Did that help anyone looking for a little more neutral fall inspiration?! We hope so! Here are some accessories to finish off these looks, straight from our Amazon Shop! Stay tuned for our last designer look at the end of the week!!

Back to School: Copy That Look

Did you know Project Run and Play has an Amazon Shop?! We are officially Amazon affiliates, and we've stocked the shop with all our favorite sewing supplies, fabric and notions, and the cutest accessories! Because everyone knows that a great outfit is not complete without awesome accessories to match. 😏 All the links in this post lead you to the shop, so make sure you poke around and see all the goodies we picked out!

Instagram is our favorite source of inspiration for kids fashion! From small boutiques and one woman internet pop ups, to the main stream chains, all the way to super high end fashion houses, you can always find something to jump start your creative process.

Today, we are featuring a few looks from Lola and the Boys, a children's boutique out of Chicago, with an awesome online shop as well! Everything is super bright, colorful, and EXTRA, which you know some of us here at PRP totally love. 😜 Items are seasonal and tend to sell out (because they are so fun!), plus sizing is limited, as they are a small boutique. We've rounded up some of our favorite looks from their current Back to School line up, and sourced the perfect fabric for you to sew up some new high power statement pieces that really embrace the energy of childhood. 😄😄😄

This shiny raincoat was one of the first things to pop up under the Back to School tab, and it is almost identical to the one made by Jenny of Made of Starlite for the Project Smooth Sorbet lookbook in 2021!

She used the David Raincoat and some fun holographic fabric from the cosplay section at JoAnn's. Lola and the Boys used sequin fabric under clear PVC. Surprisingly, one of the best resources for clear vinyl for raincoats are shower curtains! They are the perfect weight for raincoats. Grab one of these shower curtains, this cute sequin fabric, and this metallic bias binding to copy the look!

How cute is this simple sweatshirt?? It makes us happy just looking at it! 😄 This would be incredibly easy to re-create. Start with our most popular sweatshirt pattern, the Chromium Cropped Hoodie, use our favorite stretch French Terry from Raspberry Creek Fabrics, and these cute patches from Amazon! (You'll need two packs, because you only get one of each letter.) Throw in some blue rib knit and break out the Bookish Beanie to complete the look! You could also go this route, and show your hometown or favorite destination some love.

White Stretch French Terry

I don't know if you've noticed, but patches are EVERYWHERE right now! Here's another great idea that kids will love helping with. Let them choose the base color and patches, and go to town! Basic patterns really let those patches shine. The Jingle Joggers have a side stripe option built into the pattern, and the Touka Sweater is another great option for a crew neck sweatshirt.

 

Solid Stretch French Terry

And look at this! This outfit uses a design that is one of the best sellers in the Raspberry Creek Designer Studio. It does not come in this colorway, but many designers are happy to accommodate re-coloring requests if you message them!

Smiley Face Fabric

If you want to go completely over the top extra, try one of these ombre sequin dresses!! A simple Noel Dress would do the trick, or use the Infinite A-Line Dress and add some puff sleeves.

We found the perfect sequins on Amazon, which is basically the universe saying: "Someone please do this!!" 😍😍😍😍😍

Sequins are not a beginner fabric substrate, but they don't have to be scary! Just remember a few tips from our resident sequin expert, Jenny at Made of Starlite, and you will be a pro in no time. 

One: Use separate fabric scissors/rotary cutter to cut sequins. they are plastic, and will dull your blades faster than you can say sparkle! 

Two: Sequins are super itchy against skin! Even the fabric side of sequins is not fun to wear. Make sure to line everything with something soft (we like super cheap interlock lining), enclose all seams, and bind necklines and sleeves to reduce areas where skin will rub the sequins. 

Three: If you are using large sequins, take the time to remove them from the seam allowance of the fabric. You can use a seam ripper or small embroidery scissors to cut the sequin off, rather than unpicking the thread, which may unravel the whole row. This step won't be necessary for the micro sequin fabrics that we've linked to in this post, but larger sequins can cause issues in the seam. So while it may be tedious to remove them up front, you will be so much happier in the long run! 

See?! You can totally sew with sequin fabric! Easy Peasy! And since you're now a sequin sewing master, go ahead and order an extra yard or two so you can whip out a coordinating Senpai Bomber Jacket while you're at it. 😏😏

Are you totally ready to sew all the things now?! Stay tuned for one last look from a PRP designer, more Instagram inspiration, and don't forget to check out our amazing Amazon shop!

Back to School Tour: Skirtfixation x Raspberry Creek Fabrics

Today Audrey is sharing more Back to School inspiration!  Prepare to take notes...

Audrey used a whole bunch of patterns from the Project Lounge Library collection and some of the new Back To School fabrics from Raspberry Creek Fabrics to create her back to school looks!

Hmmmm, what have we here?!?!!?  Let's take a closer look...

Back to School Tour: Hem & Bind x Raspberry Creek Fabrics

 Today we get to be inspired by Bonnie from Hem & Bind and her kids fun back to school clothes.

Bonnie used the cutest combination of pattern and some of the new Back To School fabrics from Raspberry Creek Fabrics to create her back to school looks!

Let's take a closer look at each of these cuties...

Back to School Tour: SewWhit Designs x Raspberry Creek Fabrics

I can't believe school is starting again! It seems like summer is getting shorter and shorter every year!

Back to School Tour: PACountryCrafts x Raspberry Creek Fabrics

On the blog this week we have our official 2022 Back to School Tour with Raspberry Creek Fabrics! Talented Project Run and Play designers will be sharing some incredible sewing inspiration!

Lindsay of PACountryCrafts is starting us off with an adorable, vintage style girls outfit!

My little girl absolutely LOVES her new back to school outfit!!! The fabrics are so cozy and she was even commenting on the quality! What can I say? I am raising them right! Haha!

Last year I sewed an Easy Street cardigan hack for her and she outgrew it. I have been really wanting to try sewing with waffle knit and thought it would make the perfect lightweight cardigan. I think that is definitely her favorite piece because it is so soft and cozy!

For the top, I wanted a 3/4 sleeve, fitted style, so I took the Abby's Spin and Twirl dress and lengthened the regular bodice to make a shirt. I also added cuffs to the sleeves because I really hate hemming.

The skirt was made with an Evergreen skirt pattern hack. (I really don't do well following directions!) I wanted a poofy, short look so I omitted the first a-line piece and attached the first tier to the waistband. I also added a faux button placket to the front, so I will add a tutorial for that in the future. I had also never sewn with gauze before and it was such a nice weight fabric to sew!

The last part of the outfit is a pair of Abby's Trailblazing socks BUT I still didn't follow the directions! She has sensory issues with sock seams. Most days she wears her socks inside out! I was able to sew all of the seams near the toes inside out intentionally so that they don't bother her. She also loved the thickness of the cotton spandex and wants me to make her some more socks for soccer practice!

If you want to pin this for later...

Fabrics:

Dusty Pink Waffle Knit

Deep Mauve Organic Cotton Double Gauze

Cotton Spandex Jersey Club Print

Patterns:

Abby's Trailblazing Socks

Abby's Spin and Twirl Dress

Easy Street Tee

Evergreen Skirt

Don't forget to get your free 1st Day of School printable signs!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for more back to school sewing inspiration!

Back to School: Extending the life of your kids handmade garments

 It's been suggested that sewing for kids isn't very sustainable because they outgrow what you sew for them!  We LOVE sewing for kids, and don't agree with that sentiment, so today we're sharing 5 ways to prolong the wear of handmade children’s garments.  Yes, these hacks can help the clothes GROW with your child!

Extension #1: Shorten It

This one is a pretty easy one!  After they outgrow the garment in respect to height, you shorten it to use as another garment.  A dress becomes a top, pants become shorts, long sleeves become short sleeves, and so on.  

This works best when you begin with a pattern that has a shorter version designed into it.  Here are some great patterns for just this purpose:

Convert from Dress to Top:

Holly Tee & Dress Pattern

Noel Top & Dress Pattern

Eclipse T-shirt & Dress

Fragola Top & Dress pattern

Hot Chocolate Hoodie & Dress Pattern

Emi Top & Dress

Parfait Polo Pattern

Alice Top & Dress Pattern

Story Pattern

Coral Wrap Dress, Top & Skirt

Abby’s Spin + Twirl Top & Dress

Via Top, Tunic and Dress

Odeline Blouse & Dress

Merry Go Round Dress & Top

Rita Top, Dress & Nightgown

Up Beet Tee

Tip Top Tunic and Dress

Squared Away Tunic and Dress

Chestnut Tee & Dress

Convert from Pants to Shorts:

Singapore Shorts & Pants

Four Seasons Joggers pattern

Limone Lounge Set Pattern

Prose & Poetry Cargo Joggers

Morocco Pants and Shorts

Turnip Up Trousers & Shorts

TinTin Trousers and Shorts

Metro Pants and Shorts

Jingle Joggers Pattern

Bacca Bootcuts Pattern

Abby’s Marigold Pants

Abby’s Spidermonkey Pants

Super Tough Jeans

Convert from Long Sleeves to Short Sleeves:

Easy Street Tee

Aurora Raglan

Janie Dress and Peplum

Robin Dress

Friday Dress

Maybelle Blouse & Dress

Odeline Blouse & Dress

Umaru Shirt

Jacky V T-shirt Pattern

Nini Noni Nightwear Pattern

Lemon Tee

Abby’s Spin + Twirl Top & Dress

Maria Blouse

Modkid Aubrey

Extension #2: Lengthen It

For this tip, you need to plan in some extra fabric when you're making them clothes.  We're talking about making deep hems and adding extra length.  For example, in this Becky Skirt I sewed for my daughter, I added quite a bit of extra length simply by sewing the size she is for width and adding length by extending  along the line to the desired length.    This is illustrated in the photo below.

Most patterns are capable of this kind of extension.  Currently, this skirt is midi length on my 5 year old, and by next year it will most likely be the intended knee length.

The Turnip Up Trousers & Shorts are fun too because you can unroll those turned up cuffs as they grow!

Extension #3: Pass It On 

In other words, hand-me-downs!  (Remember the Hand Me Down challenge during Season 10?) 

If you use good quality fabric/patterns can be worn by younger sibling/another child.  Probably everyone uses this extension, and for good reason!  Here are some pattern suggestions that have built in durability in them so they can be passed down to another child:

Joseph Joggers Pattern (Double knee patches)

Super Tough Jeans (Reinforced knees)

Caraway Cardigan (Elbow patches)

Biography Bomigan Pattern (Elbow patches)

Touka Sweater Pattern (FUN fried egg or kitty paw elbow patches)

Cancun Cover Up pattern (This one is super oversized and they'll be able to wear it for-evah!!)

Extension #4: Add To It

 This is a really great one, and can often be done after the garment is made and they've grown UP and it's too short.  You can add a tier or a ruffle to the bottom of a dress or skirt to extend the length of time it can be worn.

Most skirt and dress patterns can have a tier or ruffle added to the bottom, but here are some that work especially well for this extension:

Evergreen Skirt Pattern

Abby’s Ballerina Skirt

Above you can see a Noel Top & Dress Pattern that I sewed for my daughter in February.  It was knee length (as intended) but by August, she has grown 3 inches and it's almost unwearable!  So I added a 3" tier of lace so she can get another 6 months of wear...hopefully!

Parfait Polo Pattern

Alice Top & Dress Pattern

Limone Lounge Set Pattern

In the photo above, you can see how I added a tier to the Odeline Blouse & Dress to make it last longer!

Novella Pinafore

Robin Dress

Friday Dress

Maybelle Blouse & Dress

Rita Top, Dress & Nightgown

Fragola Top & Dress pattern

Infinite A-line Dress

Squared Away Tunic and Dress by Winter Wear Designs

Too Wild Dress

A slightly different version of this is deep hems!  Here are a couple of examples:

Deriving Mommyhood created deep hems on these pants for her daughter in Season 24.  They can be let out as she grows.

During Season 16, on the pink sequin tee, Sew Chibi Designs used a deep hem to make the Umaru Shirt hip-length.  It also can be let down as her daughter grows.

In Season 26, Southern Magnolia Design sewed this stunning dress with pin tucks.  Did you know pin tucks were originally created to make the dress last longer?  The tucks were let out as the child grew!  And we can still do that today to extend the wear on our kids' clothes if we want to.

Extension 5: Upcycle It

When all else fails, or a garment has gone through one or more of the first 4 extension tips we offer her, you can try upcycling!  Here are some of our FAVORITE upcycle ideas:

Quilted jacket by Skirt Fixation used up lots of leftover scraps!

Remember when there was an entire Refashion Challenge in Season 8?  Check it out for inspiration.

And remember when Ajaire made all her old scraps into fabric in Season 9?!?!?

And one final idea is to use them as stuffing in a floor pouf or bolster.

Remember to get your FREE printable First Day of School posters!

We also have new Back to School digital designs in the shop!

If you want to pin it for later...

Back to School: Sewing clothes your kids will actually wear

 Have you ever taken a bunch of time and effort to sew things for your kids, and then they languish in the closet?  Yeah, we can't stand that either!  So today we're sharing some of our favorite ways to make sure they wear what you sew for them.

Tip for Clothes they'll actually wear #1: Get them involved in the design process

When a child gets involved in designing their future garment, whether that's helping choose the fabric, or decide which pattern to use, or what graphics to add to the shirt.  This almost guarantees they'll wear the clothes they received because they are invested in the design.  And when they get a little older, you can even begin teaching them to sew as you are making their garment, and they really start to get excited and involved!  We've put this one at #1 because it's probably the biggest determining factor in whether or not they will wear what you sew for them because it removes the guess factor!

For this Back to School outfit, my daughter had some very specific requests during the design phase.  She wanted the top to have short sleeves (an easy hack of the Alice pattern - I just hemmed the sleeves where she requested!) and she helped pick out the stunning dragonfly fabric from Bobbins 'n Buttons.  If you're concerned you'll never sew anything but sparkly rainbows and unicorn fabrics, try this tip: offer them an edited selection of fabrics that you would be happy to sew with.

Tip for Clothes they'll actually wear #2: Use good quality fabric

We know.  You got this really cheap fabric and it turned out you don't really like the feel of it, but you don't want it to go to waste, so you sew something for your child.  (Ask us how we know...)  And then, surprise, surprise, they don't like the feel of it either!  Or they love it and it wears out within a couple weeks of them wearing it 24/7.  (Why is it always one extreme or the other with kids?!?)

But using good quality fabric not only means there's a good chance they'll wear it, but it will last through allllll the wearing.

In the photos in this post, I used good quality fabric.  The Alice Top is made from a beautiful, drapey rayon swiss dot fabric from Alyssa May Design.  

The Becky Skirt is made from dragonfly cotton lawn from Bobbins 'n Buttons, and is very high quality.  

Tip for Clothes they'll actually wear #3: Make a muslin to check fit

Okay, so this is where you can use cheap quality fabric if you must.  A muslin is intended to check the fit of a garment before you sew a final version.  Why is this encouraged?  Well, if you want them to WEAR the final version, fitting is necessary.  We can't tell you the number of times we've skipped this step and wasted time, fabric and been so disappointed!  And sewing a muslin doesn't have to take tons of extra time...you can just baste the seams and leave off any extra options.  For example, on the Prose & Poetry Cargo Joggers, you would skip all the steps that involved sewing the cargo pockets and just sew the basic pants or skirt to quickly check the fit.

Do you want to know a secret?  The Alice Top she's wearing in these photos is actually a "wearable muslin."  This means that I used leftover fabric from another project (for me!!!) and sewed up the top to check the fit before using a different fabric to make an Alice Dress.

Tip for Clothes they'll actually wear #4: Coordinate with what they already have

Do they have a favorite pair of shorts?  Make a t-shirt to go with it!  A favorite hoodie?  How about a dress for underneath?  Some sparkly shoes they insist on wearing with everything?  Sew a special skirt to pair with them!  And this brings us to capsule wardrobes.  If your child has fewer amounts of clothes to wear, and/or if all those clothes coordinate, they are more likely to wear each and every item.  Unlike if you sew them a top and they have no bottoms to match.

Each of the pieces I sewed for this back to school outfit coordinate with other clothes I've made her.  Like this skirt and this top.

Tip for Clothes they'll actually wear #5: Go shopping for inspiration

Often kids want to wear what their peers are wearing.  Or what they've seen advertised somewhere.  Or insist on only wearing their favorite color, or are reluctant to try a new feeling fabric.  It's fun to go shopping for inspiration!  They can try things on to see if they prefer a v-neck or a scoop neck.  Maybe they thought they'd LOVE a maxi skirt, but once on, they realize it's just a trip hazard for them, or they would really prefer midi length.  Don't know if they like a certain color?  Try on a blouse in that color and see how it looks in those big dressing room mirrors!  It's easier (not to mention free!) to pare down ideas, likes and dislikes, fabric types, feel, look and so on in this way, rather than sewing up something they think they might like, but end up not wearing.

Do you want to know a secret?  All Project Run & Play brand patterns (like the Noel Top and Evergreen Skirt picture above) are thoroughly researched to make sure they are on trend with the current fashions, yet classic enough to be sewn for years and years.  So you can sew them for your kids and they will love them too!

If  you're sewing for Back to School, be sure to grab these:

Back to School Digital Files

First Day of School Posters Freebie

If you want to pin it for later...