Sunday, May 22, 2011

Toadstools, buttons, puddles...

  Is anyone else at a loss when it comes to finding quality, affordable toddler clothing; devoid of liscensed characters, logos, or garish design?
On the very rare ocassion that we do go clothing shopping, I never seem to find anything. W isn't "daddy's little slugger", or "property of Baby Gap"....he's a toddler. He also doesn't need buttons, zippers, clasps, or itchy tags. At this point, even jeans restrict his movements and seem uncomfortable. For late Spring and Summer, I'm loving 100% cotton pants, shirts, and shorts, merino wool and silk, and a sweet pair of knitted board shorts created by a talented friend! Organic cotton is worth the price, as it's softness is unrivaled. In short, I'm a huge fan of somewhat plain and definitely unrestrictive clothing for children.


  I found a big bag of white cotton T-shirts in our attic this past month and I've been thinking of what to do with them. Tie Dyeing will definitely be an option. I've also enjoyed dyeing with indigo to create a "cloudy sky" look. But first, I decided to hand dye a few and make some appliques.


I was recently given a big bag of RIT dyes, so I used some to dye the shirt on the stove. Once it was clean and dry, I began sewing on the appliques I cut from scrap fabric. I cheated a bit a glued them down with a very small amount of glue to hold them in place while I hand stitched. Can you tell I am a novice sewer?


Here's W wearing the finished product while playing with a huge tin of buttons.
Oh, those buttons.


Such a fun tin, too. Around these parts, we say, "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much!"
Thank you for all of your supportive and loving comments on my previous post. They mean so much to me, and I am incredibly grateful.
I leave you with our playschool week in photos...they were days filled with rain, puddles, and sweetness:)
We are preparing for our (late) May Day celebration next week. I'm doing the event on a $15 budget--an exciting challenge as I look around our house and see ordinary objects and even things headed for the garbage that we can use!




14 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link, love! Here is the ravelry project page as I don't think most people will be able to see the facebook page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Cerr/sheepy-pants

    About clothes, I actually get a good bit of O's clothes at The Children's Place. They have really great sales, especially on t-shirts. I just skip over anything that says "little slugger" or anything like that! I also like that the clothes run kind of big and fit well over cloth diapers :) We have a Children's Consignments shop but I have a hard time paying $3 for a used t-shirt when I can get a new one (in better condition) for the same price.
    O only wears natural materials (cotton, wool, silk, linen) and we try to make sure his pjs are organic cotton... Which, I agree, is totally worth the extra expense!
    Your little toadstool shirt is so cute! I know RIT dye has a tendency to bleed... So, you might want to be mindful of that :)
    ~Carrie

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  2. Oooh, I LOVE the toadstool shirt! And your playschool children must be so happy to have such a wonderful place to go to during the week! They look like they're having a blast!

    Oh and I LOVE this gal! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ozark-Mountain-Mama/129665057092674
    I traded some dolls for a couple of adorable outfits! wool pants and shorts, cute t-shirts and I want to order a cotton short set soon. Very inexpensive!

    Becca

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  3. Ok, That shirt is the cutest thing ever and novice or not I'm begging you for a tutorial whenever our child comes along :) your photos brought such a ray of sunshine to me on what has been a very bleak and rainy month. Take care.

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  4. You think toddler clothes are hard? Wait till you try to find what you just mentioned for 8-14 year olds. Especially girls.

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  5. That shirt is adorable! Great job!

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  6. adorable! I love your blog... such a gentle sweet life you live! inspiring to me! our girls just love to make capes and fly about in their silks as well! simple toys are the best!

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  7. I get a lot of L's clothes used on ebay. We love Hanna Andersson. My in-laws also get her some cute stuff from Osh Kosh and Carter's...both tend to run big (except jeans) so they do fit over the fluffy cloth bums. :-) Luckily my in-laws really seem to pay attention to our wants, and get very plain clothing, though the occasional elmo sneaks in at times!

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  8. I am so in love with your Toadstool shirt. I just recently found, http://www.happygreenbee.com/ it is owner by one of the founder's of Burt's Bees and you cannot beat their sale prices for organic clothing, I hope they come out with a new line for boys soon, but I stocked up on the cute sale items which come in my favorite color, stripes!

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  9. Do I know what you mean! I don't have toddlers, but the clothes for my little girls are atrocious! If I see another t-shirt with "Sweet Thing", "Naughty", "Princess", "Spoiled Rotten", and a bunch of others again , it won't be too soon! I make t-shirts and embellish them with the girls help, much more fun. Or I do buy hemp ones from Sweetgrass. There is a great group I belong too on yahoo called Greentara Mama, it is an exchange on natural living but, the owner Michelle, also sells natural clothing , etc.

    And I am having a giveaway on my blog for a set of my Waldorf Math gnomes if anyone is interested:-)

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  10. thanks for all the recommendations, everyone! I'll be sure to check them out!!!! :)

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  11. So inspiring, thank you! I have been succumbing to the trends as of late out of laziness, but you clearly show me it doesn't have to be complicated or laborious!

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  12. I LOVE the toadstool design on the shirt. What sort of fabric did you use for the aplique? Did you design it yourself???

    We love our play silks as well, especially outside. The silky fabric feels so good when it is breezy outside.

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  13. That shirt is incredible! I am so with you on the clothes for kids. I have to hit consignment stores, land's end and llbean and then I have to watch out for prices, so I stick to sales. Hopefully I can make some things for my kiddoes. The messages on boys and girls clothes, toddler and other are simply asinine and offensive, and I am no prude. I don't need to see words on the rear of a little girls shorts (which are cut too short anyway), and boys shirts that say "bad attitude". I mean really! I love your solution!

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  14. Love the toadstool t-shirt! So, so sweet. We're big toadstool fans here!

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