Frilly Kindergarten Shorts Set

This is another outfit in the kindergarten wardrobe Suzanne Sawko is making for her granddaughter.   It seems to meet all the requirements of primary school wear in Florida–the outfit is cool, comfortable and allows for active play.

At the same time it satisfies a little girl’s desire for feminine clothing, as well as her Mamaw’s own desire for a pretty back-to-school wardrobe for this 5 year-old.  And what teacher wouldn’t love to see a new student in a smocked garment?  Clearly, this is a winning 2-piece set.

The shorts are made of leftover scraps from the old brown linen tablecloth Suzanne recycled into the Burda Style dress made for this same child.  Notice how Suzanne highlighted the pin stitch that joined the heirloom cotton lace to the hem of the shorts.

You might question the practicality of lace on  the shorts.

Kindergarten, here she comes!

This little redhead will make certain that no harm will come to her clothes.  She plays rough and tumble, but is always mindful of her clothes, especially the ones which her grandmother makes for her.

The lace is repeated on  the sweet pocket on the smocked  top.

When I told Suzanne about the gorgeous NYLON heirloom laces I recently pordered, she was very interested.  It makes the use of lace on garments such as this more practical for most children.    The nylon lace arrived recently and is absolutely gorgeous, nearly indiscernible from the cotton heirloom laces.  The prices are very reasonable and shipping from The Netherlands is free.

UPDATE:  The link is now active!  I thought you, too, might be interested in this lace,  but suddenly the web site, www.cottonlace.com is unavailable.  Hopefully, this is a temporary closure.

At the Sewing and Quilting Expo which Suzanne and I attended earlier this year, the owner of Cotton Lace Company, Luc Smiers was marketing his extensive inventory of heirloom laces.  Though we shared no common language, his elderly mother and I had a bit of a chat.  A common passion for needlework   helped us circumvent that communication barrier.

From her collection of antique needlework publications, mostly in French, I purchased one magazine with a spectacular embroidery alphabet that could be digitized.  I’ll share that with you another time.

With Luc’s help,  I learned that she has treasured those magazines, much as we treasure our Creative Needle   and  Sew Beautiful   magazines.  But she felt it was time to let them go.  She especially liked meeting the new owner of each piece of her collection.

You might recall from an earlier post that in order to use Suzanne’s projects, I was forbidden to gush about how gorgeous they are.  So let me just say that I hope you enjoy seeing this outfit.  There are more to come.