Children’s Corner Johnny, Mary De and Kathy Dykstra Diaper Set- A Sibling Set

I love sibling sets. I love matching. I love sewing in groups. There, I said it. Over time, its become clear that I sew in cycles. I have periods of time in which I want projects that are fast and rewarding and often in multiples, then I have periods of time in which I like to sew very intricate (often heirloom) pieces slowly and often individually. At the moment, I’m in the middle of fast and rewarding sewing phase.

It seems like Christmas to Easter, I like to sew very slow, detailed, elaborate pieces but the rest of the year I mostly enjoy creating pieces that I can churn out quickly and are more “kid friendly.” Not sure if this is the case for everyone else, but its definitely a trend I’ve noticed in myself.

All of that to say, I’m in the mood to sew garments in groups, that my kids will wear A LOT and will fit for a long time.

So for this set of garments I chose this linen and this gingham. The linen is a cotton/linen blend and is thin like lawn, with a looser weave. Its a very light, easily sewn with fabric. It would make beautiful pin tucks and would pleat perfectly. In fact, I would likely consider adding a baby interfacing prior to pleating to give it a bit more body. This is my first time sewing with linen and I absolutely LOVED it. I love this blend and will report back on how it wears over time. I’m not sure what the weather is like where you are, but it is HOT here, this linen is so breathable and perfect for the weather in Kentucky for the next few months.

In the image above, Maria had worn the linen dress for a ten minute car ride and an hour at church. Prior to sewing with it, my main concern with linen was wrinkling. Every ready-to-wear garment I’ve ever purchased in linen wrinkled when I breathed on it. I think this linen/cotton blend was the perfect solution, it wrinkled but it wasn’t out of control. I should have expected nothing less from Farmhouse Fabrics…they always have the best quality fabrics.

When I chose the fabric I also chose the patterns I’d be using. To complete three outfits in a week, I have a system. First, I choose the patterns and make sure they’re all cut out in the correct sizes. I then bulk cut out all of the patterns in the correct fabric. For all of the outfits I then do the appliqué and make piping/trim/buttons in bulk. Then finish each garment individually.

Once all the garments have been appliquéd I pick a garment to complete. I often choose the least labor intensive garment to do first, so I can get on a roll/build confidence. For me, that was the Children’s Corner Johnny. I piped the gingham Johnny in the linen.

I then chose the most labor intensive pattern. For me, that was the Kathy Dykstra Diaper Set. It is still not that difficult, it just has two pieces and sleeves and the others are sleeveless and only one piece. I chose to do this in white lawn instead of the gingham or linen, because its a newborn garment. I have a hard time making newborn garments very bright/colorful. I almost always like little babies to be the focus, not really what they’re wearing, so I like to put them in white, light blue, light pink, light yellow, etc. I was a little worried about the red and white trim being too overpowering but was pleasantly surprised with the overall look.

I used a shell edge trim to trim out the shirt of this diaper set. I created the shell edge using my blind hem stitch setting. I have a tutorial on how to do this in my saved highlights on Instagram.

I then completed the Mary De. I used a PDF Mary De pattern. It was my first time using a Children’s Corner PDF pattern and I was SO impressed with the quality. The sizes are layered so you can print out only the size you want. I made this in a size five hoping to get some longevity out of it. It will definitely fit her again next year. Maria is pretty solidly in the average range of the growth chart and at four years old I feel like this pattern runs very true-to-size.

Anyway, that was WAY too much to try to put in a Facebook or Instagram post, so I hope you enjoyed this explanation!