The Great British Sewing Bee is back on TV and I love it. As always it inspires me to sew. This year I have set myself the challenge of sewing one item from each episode.
Last week was probably my favourite themed week. It was kids week. The made to measure challenge was dungarees so I decided that is what I would make.
Finding a pattern turned out to be a lot harder than expected. All the usual ready made pattern brands like Simplicity or New Look only had dungarees for babies or toddlers. Eventually I found a pattern on Etsy. The brand is ‘Made by Jack’s Mum’ the pattern is called ‘I Dig Dungarees’. It is a downloadable pdf which personally I hate but it ticked all the boxes in terms of size for my daughter as it goes up to age 12.
I set about printing and assembling the pattern which is a laborious task involving sheet after sheet of paper that has to be lined up & sellotaped or glued to the next one. They almost NEVER match up perfectly and by the end you end up cutting off parts to reattach and make line up. You can send your pdf or AI file off to a printer but often the print cost starts to make this an expensive project before you even get to purchasing fabric.
Luckily for me I have an overflowing stock of fabric so we browsed my stash and eventually picked a blue Snoopy Dog fabric that I purchased in Walmart in Florida on holiday one year. Fabric in America is cheaper than it is in the UK so I often bring an extra suitcase home stuffed with fabric.
After assembling the paper pattern I coped out the Age 11 pieces. This is where I made my rookie mistake. I checked the age guide for height for size but did not measure things like waist and leg length. In my defense I am used to doing measurements with my patterns but since I usually make dresses for her that are not fitted I am not used to taking her measurements. Anyway more on that later.
The fabric is so beautiful to sew with and so pretty I couldn’t wait to see them on her. I spent ages double stitching all the seams
Well I absolutely love the dungarees! The Snoopy fabric is gorgeous but…. they are too small. 
I measured and guessed at age 11 but actually Seren-Grace needs them bigger. Ideally age 13 if I want growing room. Gutted and can’t believe I made such a rookie mistake.
Well I now have a pair of Snoopy fabric Dungarees to decide what to do with and I have a new pair of dungarees to make.
It’s ok we have already chosen fabric 
