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8.29.2016

Mini Tania Culottes for Miss Tarikua

Last winter, Megan Nielsen asked if I wanted to review her children's patterns.  I made five mini briar tops and three mini virgina leggings.  Needless to say, I was a fan! :P  I was eager to try the mini tania pattern as well.


Like her other patterns, this one does not disappoint! The instructions are extremely thorough and easy to follow.  It's a fantastic pattern for the beginner and experienced sewer alike.  Also, the fit is spot on.


The only change I made was to decrease the length of the front pleat pretty significantly - maybe by 2-3 inches.  Somehow, this made such a big difference in how the fabric laid.  It made the culottes look more like a skirt from the front, which was the look I was going for.


I made these in a linen from Joanns. The weight is just right for shorts.  I have been so happy with Joann linens in general.  In my opinion, it's some of their very best stuff.


At the kids' new co-op, if the girls choose to wear skirts or dresses, they are asked to wear undershorts underneath, being they play sports at recess time and during PE.

The culottes are such a great choice, because they have the practicality of technically being shorts.  But they look like a skirt.  Tia loves a bit of fancy flair.



Also they have a lot of twirl!  A surprising amount, right?


I think that's my favorite part about this pattern - that the culottes have so much swing!


The kids are doing so great in their homeschooling enrichment program.  I worried that it might make our lives more stressful being we now have to get our homeschooling work done in three days instead of five.  But so far, so good.

 
 It's created such a nice balance in our homelife rhythm.  The kids enjoy having the extroverted activities two days a week.  But then they also enjoy their three days at home.  They really buckle down and get to work on those days.  They have more focus and are working harder independently than they did when we homeschooled five days a week.


Another thing that's been so helpful to us is we started bullet journaling this (school) year.


My friend Inder turned me on to it several months ago.  (Thanks, Inder!) I bought journals for Jude, Indigo and myself.   Ours are super casual, but have been so helpful in keeping us organized without much stress or fuss.


Have a great week, friends!  And if your child/ren are heading back to school, I wish you a beautiful school year filled with many blessings!  xx


13 comments:

  1. So pretty and twirly! Love love the colors! And of course the child is gorgeous. 💛💛 (See what I did there, yellow hearts for yellow shorts. 😎😬)

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  2. I love to read you!!! 'The culottes, I'm not a big fan maybe because my mother always insisted about them when I was a girl but Tia's culottes are very different and very cute. Love the twirl factor, hehe. About bullet journal, I'm all into bullet journal right now. It's incredible that something I always did, now it is so popular. I never used an agenda at school or college, I always have my little notebook and ruler and kinda washi tape (made by myself), where I put everything. Now, I'm helping my 10 year old to do his own journal and for him it's great, because he has some self control about his activities, just writing them down.

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  3. Whoa!! I didn't expect that shout out! You caught me off guard there! I am delighted that you've found a system that is working for you, though! I want to see a visual of your homeschooling bullet journals - I think I feel a homeschooling post coming on ... !

    (My bullet journal is out, right under my computer at work, open to today, as usual. I have grown to depend on it pretty heavily.)

    I love these culottes! I can see what you mean about them being practical like shorts, but with the swing and fun (and fancy) of a skirt. In the women's size, the circular skirt-ness of the Tania culottes was actually a turn off for me - so much fabric, so much hemming! - but in kids' sizes I can absolutely see hopping on board this train. Wouldn't Maggie love such twirly shorts?!

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  4. Thanks for the tip on linen from JoAnns. As usual, Tia is so adorable!

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  5. This girl <3 She is such a character :) I love her new culottes. Unreal twirl factor. Being linen they will also be oh so soft and nice to wear. I find it so weird that girls are required to wear shorts under skirts and dresses.

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    1. Well, they aren't real shorts - they are more like undershorts. (I edited that in my post to hopefully make it more clear.) You can buy them anywhere, so I think it's a pretty common requirement here.

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  6. Love those twirling pictures! Pretty cool for shorts. The sound of your routine seems so well suited for you guys. I hope the year continues to go as smoothly.

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  7. Love those colours for Tia. Is the t-shirt one you made? That's what's really floating my boat here ;)

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  8. She looks darling and seems to enjoy being in the spotlight ; )

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  9. Oh Tia, such a joyous looking child!! Love these colors and this silhouette on her. Want to hear more about the top, too! I'm so impressed by the balance you're striking with homeschool this year! Seriously. I could do that schedule. :)

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    1. The top is by Olive Juice - a Zuliliy find! I wish I made it! I don't think that counts, though! ;)

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  10. Those colors are spot on, again. The earthy yellow is so beautiful on Tia's skin! And Tia is such a beautiful kid. I really love seeing pictures of her smiling face pass by. It almost shifts my attention away from her great skirt-culottes!

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