It's been a school tradition the last few years to support the Christmas Shoebox appeal. The kids enjoy choosing small gifts to fill the boxes, such as toothbrushes, soap, colouring pencils, toys. I always try to make an item of clothing as well for something a bit extra. I think the kids don't completely fathom how a child overseas can only receive a shoebox of little things for Christmas and nothing else, but they are starting to (occasionally) realise how privileged they are...
Anyway, last year the school stopped doing the boxes, but the kids and I still wanted to, so we did. I made some Explorer shorts (about the only shorts pattern I use these days) for the boy's box, using the fish fabric from a friend's old sundress (also used on the iPad cover last year) and some plain blue, which probably came from an op shop, but I honestly can't remember.
Back view:
For the girl's box, I made a little skirt using Simplicity 9611, which I picked up in an op shop. It's pretty simple, basically a rectangle with elastic drawstring, and a split hem detail at the side (which you can't see too well in the photo, but can see in View C in the drawing).
The fabric, from a garage sale, was an off-white cotton with little flowers. There were two bits of fabric in the same print but different colourways - pink/green and purple/orange.
The pattern doesn't have a pocket, but I thought it needed one. I drafted the front pocket (using the second print) by tracing around a bread and butter plate to draw a circle, then cutting an arc out of the top. It still looked ho hum so I dug out some purple braid (from the op shop, of course..) Instant cute!
The last pic below is Ellie in her cub poncho/blanket. I remember having one as a Brownie back in the early 80's. I found the blanket in the Yass Salvos and after picking Mum's brain, turned it into a poncho by cutting a curved slit in the centre and adding a rib trim.
She has a way to go with covering it with badges, but we have 4 to start with at least! She did take this on a camp, but reported back that she didn't sleep under it because it was a bit itchy. I did say it was meant for wearing over clothes around the campfire, not actually sleeping in, but clearly that message was lost!
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