Pattern: Simplicity 1887 Fabric: "Apparel" fabric from Hobby Lobby (cotton) Notions: elastic Total Cost:   $6 including pattern ($1 dollar sale) Size:  8 (made slightly narrower) Age: 13 [Top: H&M; Cardigan: Banana Republic XS Petite; Shoes: Keds] This is one of the first fabrics we got when we decided we needed to make a bunch of summer clothes --shorts were the first priority. I think at one point, we decided it was going to be a top instead, but eventually came back to the shorts. And this was just the right pattern for this super fun, fresh summer fabric.  Monkey Pants , became even more obsessed after we found Emily Hallman on instagram and couldn't stop swooning over all the large gingham. Suddenly she fell in love with dresses, skirts, ruffles, and even big bows! I know!! I was like --what the heck is going on here? Who are you? Had I had more fabric, I would definitely cut the waistband and tie on the diagonal to take advantage of th...

After discovering the Lekala patterns , I saved a few other styles I like for Monkey Pants and purchased this cute summer dress right away. I love the detailing on the bodice and I worked hard to convince Monkey Pants that she wanted a dress for summer. She is currently obsessed with rompers but wants nothing to do with dresses as they are just nonsense in her world of backyard shenanigans -you can't use them for swinging, riding a bike, jumping on the trampoline, she told me. Well, I promised her she'd love it because it would be sleeveless and cool for the summer heat, casual, and easy to wear. And it's been a success! Yay. Pattern:   Lekala Tunic Dress #42 30 Fabric: "Apparel" fabric from Hobby Lobby (cotton) Notions: buttons Total Cost:  $14 including pattern Size: Custom          Height 153cm          Bust 76cm          Underbust 66cm          Waist 62c...

Pattern:  MCCalls 7726 Paperbag Shorts Fabric: Cotton Twill JoAnn Notions: Regular zipper Total Cost:  $8 Size: 6 Age: 13 The next items in the Summer Wardrobe are the paperbag shorts and bubble top. We initially bought this fabric for capri pants but Monkey Pants became obsessed with having a pair of paperbag shorts. These require a lot more fabric than regular shorts but they did turn out really cute. I had to go back and get extra fabric to make the sash. Definitely a little more time consuming than the Burda shorts -those really come together pretty fast. But this is a really cute look. I didn't want the fold to show the side seam so I thought I was being smart by cutting a seperate piece of fabric to make the fold but ended up sewing it to the bottom of the shorts like it had been all one piece anyway. No idea how I thought that was magically going to turn out better than just doing that in the first place.  I used pink for the top stitching to make it st...