Top six tips for making children’s clothes

Charlotte Denn is the founder of children’s clothing store, What Mother Made. She designs, hand-makes and sells children’s clothes from her studio in east London’s trendy Dalston.

We asked her to give us her top tips for sewing your own children’s clothes

1. Hand Sew!

hand sewing is a great way to start and fun. Amend straps, add buttons or trim to change an outfit.

2. Start simple

Start with something really simple like a small hair bow or bow tie just to get confidence. You can find how-tos and video demonstrations for a lot of things like that online.

3. Cut and Copy

I used to cut up old cheap clothes and use those pieces as pattern pieces to follow. Then you can how an item is sewn back together.

4. Go retro

Use vintage fabrics or old garments to make some items. It is cheap and vintage prints are amazing.

5. Just have a go!

A handmade item is loved so much more than modern throw away garments! Make a hand-me-down!

6. Get Inspired!

My favourite places for inspiration are jumble sales, charity shops and car boots. I am inspired by vintage shapes and fabrics and the beautiful way that clothes used to be made. I love finding a ‘Made in Britain” label in clothes – and I would love people to start seeing that more often.

Charlotte Denn, What Mother Made.

Katie Lee

Dork Adore's Editor! Katie started out life as a tech journalist and blog obsessive, launching the UK's first and biggest blog publishing network, Shiny Media. Favourite dork things: knitting, crochet, Press Gang, Buffy, Battlestar, Doctor Who and lifehacks.