Smocking, and mini-designers

Blue moleskin shirt: BT Kids, Vest The Children's Place, Pants: Kenneth Cole Reaction
Bubble Romper by Fried Knits, hand smocked with delightful sailboats and seagulls.


A word about smocking. I love it. It's adorable. It's fun. It's unique. It's EXPENSIVE. Due to it's supreme adorableness, hand smocked outfits are pricey. This is where Ebay rocks. Many people only put their children in their $80 smocked outfits once, for pictures, or a holiday, and then they never wear them again. Then they go up on Ebay for a fraction of the price. At which point, you have a prime chance to grab them for a steal. And smocked outfits can be everyday clothes. Look at Oliver's adorable sailor outift. The fabric was soft and surprisingly stain resistant. Many companies that make smocked clothes make them out of corduroy, which is very durable.
Smocking is done by making tiny pleats in fabric and then embroidering right over the pleats. The details can be beuatifully intricate. The animals have real furry mains and tails, and little button wheels. It takes a very long time to do.
Now, onto the first outfit (sorry, smocking makes me so excited it's hard to contain myself.) The frist outfit is my "little Man" outfit. The blue shirt is INSANELY soft, like, make a blanket out of it soft,inside and out. It's from BT Kids, but I got it at a second hand store for $1.00. Infac,t the entire outfit came from the same second hand store, and I paid $5.00 for it total. The vest isn from The CHildren's Place (TCP), and the brown and blue pinstriped pants are from Kenneth Cole. Yes, Kenneth Cole makes baby clothes. IN fact, most mainstream designers do. Anthropologie does. Ralph Lauren does. DKNY does. Even Burberry makes tiny plaid things. Are these things more expensive? You bet your butt. But, I will say that these mini designers make their children's clothes the same way they make adult clothes- double seams, matching patterns, linings, the whole nine yards. The fabric is softer and more durable. And while $75 is a lot for a pair of baby pants, they will last through 2 or three kids. Or, you can just pick them up at a local thrift store for $3.00 like I did.
CHALLENGE: Go to a thrift store and paw through the children's clothes and see what you can find. Sometimes things are brand new. Check for double seams, or linings in overalls and pants, and piping on shirts, or smocking. I bet you'll get a great haul for pennies on the dollar!