Much like myself, Lila has a special fondness for all things crafty. I have zero confidence that she could pick a tennis ball out of a line up, but she can distinguish between my pinking shears and my scallop shears in seconds flat. In fact, it’s really my craft supplies that she prefers, and she seems to be happiest when she’s making a huge mess. She’s been known (all within the last week) to spill an entire tube a glitter, glue her fingers together on purpose, apply stickers in the most inappropriate of places, take scissors to an entire package of band-aids, and paint herself from finger tips to shoulders (that’s every time the paints come out, actually). Should I be supervising more closely?
Anyway, I think the whole arm-painting thing is why I was drawn to the long-sleeved art smock from Oliver + S Little Things to Sew.
When I bought the book it was the project that appealed to me most, and my friend Trinh made one for Lila last spring. It gets a lot of wear, and does indeed prevent her from painting her arms in their entirety, since she can only access her hands. Foiled!
That’s the one Trinh made for us. It’s in the wash a lot, so I figured I could justify making one myself. I made the medium (size 4-6) so it’s big on her now, but it’ll last a long time.
The main fabric is Raindrops on Posies from Alexander Henry – I bought it to cover the kiddie table for cloud cookie decorating at Lila’s birthday party…
….but then I thought the raindrops looked like colorful drops of paint, and pairing them with these little scissors from Cosmo Cricket seemed like a good art smock combo.
The pattern has some nice details – French seams make it clean and tidy on the inside, and it closes in the back with either Velcro or two snaps (I went with pearl snaps, my favorite).
And while we’re on the subject of craftiness, have you checked out Crafty Chloe?
Our copy was yet another gift from Trinh, and an immediate favorite read. It’s such a cute story, about a girl who also probably can’t identify a tennis ball, but solves all sort of problems with her craft supplies. The illustrations by Heather Ross are delightful.
Highly recommended if you’ve got a crafty kid at home….or you might just enjoy it yourself!
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Hahahaha this post had me cracking up! Love that Lila – just like her mommy. Super cute art smock, and nice call making the arm fabric darker than the body – looks like that might come in handy. 🙂
everything you do is so beautiful, gail. i love the pearl snaps. there’s always so much inspiration to be found here. thank you.
very cute. i’ll have to make another one for siena; she’s completely outgrown the last one. love the fabric combo.
It’s beautiful! It’s almost too nice for crafty messes! ;P I’ve been wanting to make that project from the book – I think it just got pushed higher on the must do list. Love that your daughter is a crafty one – I want to check out that cute book!
i can’t wait until my daughter is big enough to “choose” crafty endeavors!
The play smocks turned out great Gail! I love the Oliver + S Little Things To Sew book, such a great range of projects to work from. I was so happy to see a post from you this morning. Lila’s birthday party turned out darling!
Oh I do hope my baby girl decides to love crafting! Does digging through my fabric scraps bin and spreading them everywhere count? I say so. Loved the post, and pinned the book, for when my Lila (same name alert!) is old enough to read, and not eat, her books. 🙂
so so cute! i’ve been wanting to make some for my girls, they love painting and everything crafty – they once glittered all the handles on my buffet in the blink of an eye. Sounds like lila is having fun though!
that is a great crafting cover all and apart from practical they are all so pretty. I sometimes think I could do with a grown up version of something like that!
Love the apron! I have just gotten the Oliver + S book and im now really excited to get going on these patterns! Beautiful stuff 🙂
These artists’ smocks are so adorable! I love this pattern, and I’m looking forward to making it for my baby girl on the way some day. Joe could really use something like this too … for everyday, and made of some kind of hose-down-able plastic. 🙂
Oh my gosh. I love everything you make. I mean really, that’s not an exaggeration. You pick the best patterns and fabrics to go with them!
I love the fabric combo here! And yes I realize this is an old post but I just found you and am doing some back reading. I love everything.
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