Kids' Garb

I like kids.
I like to see kids at events, dressed up in garb and having a great time.
Trouble is, there's a lot of bad garb for kids out there: wrong size, too hot, in bad repair, unpleasant scratchy material….  and sometimes just plain bad design. 

Oh, I know there are people out there with the time and skill to make nice garb for the young lordlings and maidens, but it's hard to keep up with the way they mess up, wear out and outgrow their clothes.

That's why I sew garb for kids -- for the joy of seeing them play the same game as their parents, in period-looking-but-comfortable wash-and-wear outfits. Eight of those kids are my own grandchildren. The younger ones usually wear hand-me-downs but the older ones need two or three new outfits per year to make it through Quad War. I also donate a few new outfits to the LOVE kids' clothing exchange which is held at Quad War each year.

And I sell some garb for kids. It's not a money-maker. The materials are cheap (fabric and trim left over from making garb for adults) but the labor is almost the same as for adult-size clothes (same number of seams and hems). And the parents don't want to see adult price tags on the clothes their kids will outgrow in a year or two.

Each time I go down to my sewing room I'm faced with this dilemma: should I sew garb for adults (getting a better return for my time and working through those big piles of cloth faster) or garb for kids (using up scraps and making the kids happy but barely earning a minimum wage)? Usually I choose the first option…. and create more scraps for option #2! Now the boxes of scraps are getting in the way of bigger projects. I have to process them or toss them out. No, that's not an option -- I can't bear the thought of tossing all that lovely potential!

Guess I'll be making a lot more kid garb in the coming year….

The grandkids try on their new garb but have trouble striking a serious pose

Yeah, those are (some of) my piles of fabric…..

And that's a closetful of scraps (hidden in there just before the out-of-towners arrived)

More kids' garb…. but not nearly enough for next summer