My little arty kid

Miss M started school mid last year, and although I promised her a handmade art smock with her name on it in her second week of school, she was forced to wear Master A's blue one... with cars on it... And his name on it too!

At least I managed to fulfil half of my promise, as she did get her library bag straight away, with her name embroidered on it and an owl appliqué I bought specially for her, letting her choose whatever design she wanted from an etsy store.

So when the note came home about art smocks last week, I made sure I had one for her to take to school on Monday. I didn't want her to be without one so sent it along without having taken photos (just as her library bag went last year). But when I found it still in her bag tonight, and the power off since 5:30 this morning, I thought I could spare some time for a little photo shoot (no power makes it difficult to do much housework, other than a quick uniform hand wash before the light disappeared). One big problem I hadn't factored in was all the crazy wind we are having (the cause of many trees on roads and many houses without power for over 24hrs). So please excuse the blurry photos, and creases from being in her bag and no way to iron them out - not exactly what I had in mind!

I took a peasant dress pattern I had, made the neckline a bit higher on both front and back (to avoid paint on her collars), and snipped the back piece down the middle, which makes it easier to get on over clothes. I added a radius (using a small saucepan lid) to the centre back corners, and lengthened the cap sleeves to a 3/4 length to protect her sleeves without having them get in the way. I sewed the sleeves to the front and backs, then grabbed some bias binding I had, and bound the back opening and hem all in one before doing the elastic casing at the neckline. Unfortunately I didn't have enough red or white bias binding so used some navy I had, and hid it under the hem rather than encasing as planned. Lastly I pushed the elastic join into the neckline and secured the back pieces to the elastic at the back opening to stop the backs shifting. I'm very pleased with the fit, not so pleased that I forgot to centre her name in the grid when I did the embroidery and had to add her surname initial to balance it out. At least everyone will know it's definitely hers!