Does anyone think that Lukka should be holding a pitchfork in this picture?
Excuse the fading cat whiskers on Lukka's face, we had gone to the Children's Museum, er, the day before. I mentioned I went to a friend's house last Saturday for a little 'girls only' crafting day, and I had wanted to make these adorable Independent Smocks from Meg McElwee's Sew Liberated book for.ev.er. I love tools or items that the kids can manipulate and figure out themselves, and with all our craft projects and water play, I knew these would be useful. I traced + cut out 2 smocks in one night (the slowest part for me!) and pressed and sewed these during our craft day. The first one, with reading and following directions to the "t", took me about 90 minutes because I wanted to get it just right. The second, after I'd done one, only took me about 40. Meg's patterns always come out crystal clear and they are the only patterns I've followed thus far on my sewing adventure. I know I will make more of these in the future, as Lukka's is already a bit too small. Seems I waited too long to make his. Ahem.
Sew Liberated, the blog, is one of my favorites, and author Meg is a former Montessori teacher now SAHM with her son, Finn. I love all of her posts on
Montessori, especially the DIY ones, so it's no wonder this was the first project I couldn't wait to make from her book,
Sew Liberated.
In the above picture of Lukka and the second of Ani, you can see how they are figuring out how the smock works. The child puts the article on over the head, and then there are two 'arms' that reach around either side with Velcro on each one. The Velcro shuts the smock together, keeping it close to the body to prevent spills and splashes on clothes!
I'd been saving that sweet pink '50s baking' material since before I even had Lukka (I knew someday it would come in handy!) and her matching aqua was from a free stash I was gifted.
Lukka's two fabrics were quite possibly, my favorite fabrics in my entire stash. Japanese waves on lightweight linen and a really pretty cream pinstripe on brown fabric. I'm not sure of the content of the fiber since it was in a remnant bin (somewhere?) but it is so soft and flow-y. Almost like a silk + cotton mix, anyone have a guess?
I love how each one more or less fits their personality, too. Bubbly and bright and serene and serious. Until next craft time...I'm trying to squeeze in a few more
Montessori place mats for the kids and get started on an
Advent Calendar a la Rachel Denbow before September is over!
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