Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Sewing for Tween Girls

Girls seem so easy to sew for…until they become tweens.
My step daughter was invited to a birthday party. My husband requested that I make the birthday girl one of these hats. Great idea…for a winter birthday, not quite fitting for an April celebration.
However his mention of a hat did get my creative juices flowing…
Using fabric and notions from my stash I made a hat. Then I sewed a bag. After that I stitched up a notebook cover. And finally, about five minutes before the party, I whipped up a rolled flower hair clip.
DIY Tween Girl Gifts
I searched and searched for the perfect hat to sew. I found a few tutorials, but in the end decided to just dive in.
Girls Military Style Hat
After three failed attempts I smartened up, and followed this tutorial. This tutorial was one of the first I had found, and her hat was super cute. But I didn’t feel like doing the math.
Learn from my first three mistakes- and do the math!
The hair clip is just a basic rolled flower. The material is the same as the hat and purse linings.
When I asked my step daughter and the neighbor girls about popular purse styles, I was told (direct quotes from a group of eleven year old girls):
  • They go across your body.
  • They have a flap.
  • The flap has to close, so their stuff doesn’t flop out when they are running. *I decided I did not want to know why they might be running so fast that their stuff might fall out…
  • A pocket is necessary for little stuff like lip gloss.
Tween Crossbody Bag
This bag came together very quickly. (I was successful at ‘winging’ this project.)
Crossbody Inside Flap
The magnetic closure was salvaged from a purse in the refashion tote.
*Not pictured are two inside pockets.
Covered Notebook With Pen Pocket
Lastly I had decided to cover a notebook.
Again, I just did my own thing. In my opinion it looked like crap, but the girls loved it.
I was told, “eleven year olds do not even know what seams are, so we also don’t know if they look bad!”
Eleven year old logic won.
Do you have any tween girl gift ideas? Sewing for this age group is so different from sewing for the little guys.

Partying here:
Creative Sewing Blog
150x200


10 comments:

  1. Wow. How do you find the time to do it all? Lovely gifts. I bet she loved them.

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    1. These projects did take a little longer (because of the first 3 failed attempts), but hubby worked with me to help find time.
      Thank you, they were well received.

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  2. What a pretty and useful gift! Am sure she'll love it....

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    1. Thank you, the gifts went over really well.

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  3. Very cute! I love that hat. I want one for myself! Thank you for sharing! I’d love to have you visit me at Get Your Crap Together! We have a Pattern Party from the 1st of the month to the 10th and would love you to check it out. See you soon!

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  4. I love the hat! The bag is really cute as well! Nice fabric!

    Navy Wifey Peters @ Submarine Sunday Link Party
    http://usscrafty.blogspot.com/2013/05/submarine-sunday-30.html

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    1. Thank you! This fabric has been sitting in my stash waiting to be used for years, and I still have so much left...wonder what project I bought it for... ;)

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  5. What a cute bag and hat! I love messenger bags and it looks like your daughter does too!
    Thanks for linking up!

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    1. Messenger bags are my favorite too. I think Lila was a little bummed that she had to give the gifts, so I know I will have to sew up another set soon...

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