Kid's Clothes Week Challenge Spring 2013

Next week is the KCW Challenge for spring and I've decided to participate!  I did the challenge last fall and I found it really productive.  The challenge is to spend an hour a day on anything related to sewing kid's clothes (tracing patterns, cutting fabric, etc. as well as actual sewing).

Since I'm swearing off cheap fashion, I'm trying to be a little more thoughtful about Cate's wardrobe and make sure the things I add to it are actually things she needs.  So, while I'd love to sew a few more cute dresses for her, I don't think that's in the cards for awhile.  What she really needs are pants, capris, and shorts.  It seems like every day I'm struggling to find a pair of bottoms that: fit, match her outfit, and are weather appropriate. 

While it's gotten quite warm in the Bay Area, the mornings and late afternoons/early evenings can be chilly (as they are most of the summer), so even if I'm putting a dress on her because it's going to be 80 degrees (as it was today), she still needs some pants to wear under the dress in the morning.  And, as we are still cloth diapering, it seems like the smartest thing to do is to make a bunch of variations of the Big Butt Baby Pants pattern--a pattern that is specifically designed for cloth-diapered babies. 

In total, Cate should have at least 7 pairs of pants or capris, because:

1. She's wearing a pair for at least part of every day
2. Her current eating habits preclude wearing the same pair of pants more than once before washing them
3. We don't have a washer/dryer in our apt. or even in our building so we only do laundry once a week (as God as my witness, we will never live in another place without a washer/dryer EVER AGAIN).

The next step is to inventory Cate's clothes to find out how many pants she currently has and what color of pants she needs to go with her shirts and dresses.   (And then do the same to my wardrobe!)