matching vs. coordinating
this is one of two photos i know of where my sisters and I are in matching outfits. okay, there may be a few more if you include pjs, but roll with me here, the point is that by having your children over the course of a decade isn't conducive to dressing them alike.
from left to right: abby (aka nora and etta's mom), sammie (aka maya and neela's mom), dad (aka gramps), and maggie (aka aunt maggie) golfing in the mid 90s.
despite this upbringing this i've made the my nieces tons of matching and coordinating outfits over the past four years. today i'll share a few of my favorites.
matching
the three older girls have gotten a lot of matching dresses. starting with the duggar dresses,
then the thanksgiving polka dot music box jumpers,
and the croquet dresses to name a few.
i made the two oldest girls a number of matching dresses, including the seersucker or 'booger' dresses,
the poppy dresses,
and the beatles dresses which they wore on our trip to the oregon coast last summer.
more recently there has been their paisley back to school dresses from 2014,
and the bee mine dresses.
maya and neela have matching lorax pj pants,
and more recently the #lovewins swingset skirts.
coordinating
but if i'm being honest my favorite thing to do is sew the coordinating outfits for the girls. i might do the same style and same print of fabric, just different colors. but my personal favorite is to use the same fabric to make two different styles.
sewing coordinating clothing has it's risks (mainly one child likes the other's outfit better), but it has it's advantages: more fun and variety for aunt maggie and easier laundry sorting for parents.
i first sewed coordinating outfits when i made the three oldest girls ikat book report dresses back in 2013.
shortly after that i made nora and etta their tinkerbell and perrywinkle costumes.
and their dresses for the first day of school in 2013.
I used the same paisley print to make maya a hide-and-seek dress and neela a music box tunic.
I did this same approach with the fireworks fabric, making maya a playtime dress and neela a lullaby layette top.
What's next? Well I'm thinking of making Nora and Etta coordinating peplum-esq tops via the Oliver + S pinwheel tunic and butterfly blouse patterns.
will it start a third world war? perhaps. Is that a risk I'm willing to take to see two new patterns? most definitely.
love,
aunt maggie
