Last minute going out clothes for the kids

Our family lifestyle is such that we really don't have a great need for a lot of going out/nice clothes.  There's just a couple of times a year when we go out to celebrate a birthday dinner that I like the kids to get dressed up.  The problem with that is that when those few dates do come around the kids never have anything to wear.   It's my husbands birthday today and I've booked a table at a slightly nicer restaurant than we normally go out to, but last night someone said something and it got me thinking about what we were going to wear...neither of my kids have anything that fits them that would be considered dressy....so what's a girl to do.  Obviously I whipped each of them up an outfit.

I started with L.  We sat down before she went to bed an talked about what she would like.  Her response was that she wanted something like my two piece maxi dress with a long skirt and a matching top so that it looks like a dress when worn together.  That's great.  I had a beautiful teal and black paisley knit fabric that I had been planning on making something for myself out of, but I selflessly offered it to her and she jumped at it.  So a straight long skirt that's simple, but what about the top.  We wanted it to be long sleeve for warmth, but we didn't want the sleeves dragging in her dinner so I suggested using the split sleeve with elbow cuffs that I used on this shirt (second shirt in post).   She agreed with that.  Next we discussed necklines and she decided she would like a shallow V neck.  OK I had my marching orders - I took all her measurements and sent her to bed and I got to work on her pattern.

I started with the kimono sleeve top pattern that I used when I made her a version of the sallie jumpsuit.  I added about 3/8" to the centerline as shes been growing a bit again lately and I didn't want her to grow out of this too soon.  I really should have added some length as well but I forgot about it at the time.  I brought the neckline in about 1" and raised it by about 2" to get the shallow V that she was looking for, and then for the back piece just cut a gentler curve around the neck rather than the V neck.

To make the sleeves I measured the armholes off the pattern and just cut a rectangle that wide and the length of her arm to the elbow.    I then hemmed the two long edges of the rectangle (the split down the top of the sleeve)  and sewed it into place in the armhole of the kimono top - effectively creating a drop shoulder sleeve. For the elbow cuff piece I cut a second rectangle to snugly fit her forearm, the length of the arm from elbow to wrist, and sewed it into a tube.  I then gathered the top half of the sleeve to fit into the cuff.  I finished the cuff just by turning and stitching with a decorative stitch.

To finished the neckline of the top I created a basic facing and cut it off and sewed it down about 1cm back from the sewn edge.

The skirt is just a basic rectangle sewn up the back and gathered at the top with 1.5" wide elastic.  I used a double turned 2" wide hem on the bottom to give it some weight to make it hang nicely.

For an evening and a few hours work in the morning (I had to wait till she had tried it on before I could finish it off) I'm very happy with this - and most importantly so is she - she hasn't taken it off since I finished it.  And best bit is, the top at least can hopefully be worn again and not just sit in the back of the closet until she outgrows it,

So once L was taken care it it was time to turn my attention to J.  Now J has a couple of store bought shirts that still fit him, but no pants that would go with them.  So I took J down to the fabric stash to see what he could find.  This boy has a very garish taste in clothes - I don't normally have a problem with that - but when he chose a fabric (bright blue corduroy with pink guitars) that totally clashed with the shirt he had chosen (dark blue and black paisley) I decided to step in and say no.  In the end we decided on a back cotton sateen material with some multi coloured scraps to be used as pockets and wasitbands etc.

I used his basic pants pattern with an extra 1" at the rise all around and an extra 2" length.  This worked beautifully.  I added front slash pockets - with a contrast edging along the line of the pocket.

Back patch pockets in a contrasting colour.

And a contrasting waistband. I interfaced the front of the wasitband as I wanted it to stay as flat as possible and just gathered the back of the wasitband with 1" elastic.  I added cuffs to the bottom of the legs to make them a tad more fancy and for a change added 3 belt loops (He got a belt from cub scouts this year but has no pants that have belt loops so he can't wear it - I promised him that this time I'd add the belt loops to he could wear the belt finally.

And in 24 hours we have a skirt, a top and a pair of pants - not a bad days work!  Now what am I going to wear?