Knock it Off - The Train to Crazy

To wrap up this week's knock-offs, is the wonderful Andrea, who blogs at The Train To Crazy.  She is a huge source of inspiration for me.  How she manages to sew, blog, design, own/manage Go To Patterns, and raise her brood of four is a mystery to me!  I've appreciated getting to know her in the blog world, as she is super kind and thoughtful, and a major source of knowledge.  Today, she's offering the pattern for her stylish version of this knock-off for free in select sizes!  See what I mean, she's awesome!  Thank you, Andrea!


Hello! I'm Andrea from The Train To Crazy and Go To Patterns. I love designing and sewing children's clothing. I blog about all types of sewing and handmade living. Stop on by!
I love European style for kids. Great clothes that are stylish without being cutesy. Not that cutesy doesn't have it's place. My kids prefer cutesy to stylish. But this time I got to choose the fabric and the style. That's good because while at the fabric store my daughter picked out a green and red poinsettia fabric that would be better suited to a Christmas day tablecloth. She said that all she wanted for Christmas was a dress made from that fabric. What do I say to that?
While perusing my Pinterest kid's style board I kept coming back to this outfit from Brian and Nephew, a children's fashion from The Netherlands.

Source: brianandnephew.com via Andrea on Pinterest

I adore the color combiniation and the simplicity of the outfit. I'm a bit obsessed with that yellow mustard color right now. And I almost always pair it with blue. So I copied the outfit.

cardigan: self drafted, dress: Go To Shift Dress, leggings: Go To Leggings, boots: Lands End 2009, belt: leather cord

I set to work drafting a cardigan with that style of collar. I'd share it with you but you don't want to copy the way I did it! It looks fantastic but getting there wasn't that pretty. I self drafted the dress and fell in love. So I graded it up and down and it is now called the Go To Shift Dress. I'm offering it free in sizes 12 mo. & 18 mo. to all of you! The full pattern goes up to size 12 yrs.

Download the pattern HERE.

It is such an easy sew. A front bodice and a back bodice. A bit of bias trim and a button. I styled it here with a leather cord I got for $.49 a yard. Perfect.

My cardigan drafting was a bust but there are some really cute cardi patterns out there right now. The Greenpoint cardigan is perfect for boys and girls. You can't go wrong there. With this dress I'd lengthen the cardi a bit. The Ruffled Cardigan is a great length with this dress. It is a bit shorter and the tie would be cute with this style.

 I've loved this series Heidi! Thanks so much for having me!