Are your kids into fashion? These kits make introducing fashion design to kids easy & fun with everything needed for children to start creating their own unique designs. A big thank you to Faber-Castell Creativity for Kids for sponsoring this post and sending us the kits to try out and review.
Isn’t it interesting to see how different two siblings, raised in the same environment, can be? And how their personalities and interests can be so dissimilar from the very beginning?
Maia was all about science, gymnastics, sensory everything, Weird But True books, and The Guinness Book of World Records. Daphne was into fashion, graphic novels, stuffed animals, and stories from the very beginning. Sometimes I think their only shared interest is baking and playing board games.
Nurturing Kids’ Interests
As a parent, we do our best to nurture each child’s individual interests and skills. And to introduce them to new ones that we think might click with them or benefit them. We aim to continually broaden their horizons and even shape to some degree who they are becoming.
We do this through conversation, home life, books, classes, travel, museum visits, and activities. And sometimes we broaden their horizons and nurture their skills and interests through kits, such as activity kits, craft kits, or science kits, which are basically experiences wrapped up in a box.
Daphne has had more interest in fashion than anyone else in this casual jeans-wearing family since she was toddling around. And frankly, that’s just not an area I feel qualified to help her with. And after doing the thing where you pretend for a while that it’s not important just because it’s not important to you (oops, I meant me), I finally decided I needed to do the right thing and nurture this interest of hers. So when I saw Creativity for Kids Fashion Design kit, I thought it would be the perfect introduction to the ideas, techniques, and tools inherent in fashion design. And I proposed that we try it out and, you know, review it for them. They’re nice folks and said yes. Plus it turns out there’s a sister kit on Fairy Fashions, which they sent us as well!
Fashion Design for Kids Made Easy & Fun
Daphne’s been using and loving the kits for the past few weeks. I’ll share a few photos as well as brief videos that show the two kits in action.
She started off by drawing and sketching several dresses in the sketchbook provided.
Then she made dresses for the mannequins.
Then she wanted to make one for her American Girl doll.
(The kit is just meant for exploring fashion design, rather than the actual making of functional clothes for dolls, but she was resourceful and with my help we transferred one of the dresses to her doll and sewed it up. If this is something that interests you, see my later notes about using these kits to make doll clothes.)
After exploring the Fashion Studio kit for a while, I introduced the Fairy Fashions kit.
She especially liked decorating the wings and bodices with glitter and sequins. And she was super impressed that she could make a tiny doll-sized tutu, using just the materials and instructions provided.
Pretty soon the materials from both kits were intermingled, she was creating all kinds of outfits for mannequins and dolls alike, by herself and with a friend, and having a blast.
Finally, Daphne decided that she really needed some Barbies to design clothes for and I went from a mom who had never bought her kids Barbies to one who has now bought two.
Tips and Ideas for Sewing Doll Clothes with the Designed By Me Kits
While the Fairy Fashions kit IS designed to make fairy clothes for kids’ dolls, the Fashion Studio kit is not technically designed for kids to make their own doll clothes. You can stick with the intention of each kit, or you can create your own work-arounds and use the Fashion Studio kit to make clothes for your dolls to wear. It’s up to you.
In case your child wants to use it to make doll clothes, here are some tips and ideas that Daphne came up with (with very little help on my part).
- Use the fabrics, ribbons, bows, lace, to sew clothing directly onto your dolls using the thread and sewing needles provided (after designing the outfit on the mannequin). Note: This option means the clothing might not come off your doll easily so they might need to wear it until you’re ready to cut the outfit off and start over.
- Buy some stick-on-velcro to make your clothing easy to put on and take off
- Use glue dots (I’m not sure this is the very best idea, but Daphne made it work for some of her doll clothes
- Small safety pins can hold clothing together if you’re not too concerned about how the outfit looks from the back.
- Or just use the Fairy Fashions kit, which is specifically made for making clothing you can dress your 11-inch doll in.
Explore Fashion Design for Kids with Faber-Castell Kits
So if your child is interested in fashion design or fairies, I encourage you to try one or both of these kits by Faber-Castell Creativity for Kids. Here’s a bit more about each, including what makes each unique, a few pros and cons, videos of each in action, and links to buy them.
Designed By Me Fashion Studio Kit
Info: The Fashion Studio kit is designed for kids to explore fashion design from sketching ideas, to coordinating fabrics with trim, to creating dresses and other clothing items on a small mannequin. It includes a sketchbook, markers, fabrics, ribbons, bows, pins, a mannequin, and more as well as some instructions and inspiration to get started. The kit says ages 9 to 99, and it was perfect for Daphne, who just turned 10, but I’d also say that a child as young as 6 or 7 years old could have a lot of fun with this kit and be able to use it effectively.
Video of Fashion Studio Kit in Action:
Pros: Great selection of fabrics and trim! Perfect amount of everything to get started. Inspiring!
Cons: Younger kids may want to use the kit to create doll clothes, which the kit is not strictly set up to do (see our workarounds above). Daphne asked me to add that the scissors included in the kit were too small for a 9 to 99 year old person. Since most families have scissors around, I don’t see that as a big problem, but rather something that most kits just seem to have in common.
Where to Buy: You can purchase the Fashion Studio kit here.
Designed By Me Fairy Fashions Kit
Info: The Fairy Fashions kit is a no-sew kit that enables children to create and decorate fairy outfits on the mannequin provided that translate well to the their 11-inch (and even 9-inch) dolls. It includes a sketchbook, tulle, sequins, wings and bodices that can be decorated, glue, a mannequin, and more as well as some instructions and inspiration to get started. The kit says its for ages 8 to 98, but again I’d say that a child as young as 6 years old could have a lot of fun with this kit and be able to use it effectively with just a little help.
Video of Fairy Fashions Kit in Action:
Pros: It’s super easy to make some pretty amazing fairy clothes for your dolls.
Cons: If you’re in the anti-glitter camp, this kit might make you twitch. But your kid will love it. And the glitter can be cleaned up.
Where to Buy: You can purchase the Fairy Fashions kit here.
Some other kits to consider by Faber-Castell Creativity for Kids:
- Quick Knit Loom
- Create with Clay Dinosaurs
- Lots o’ Loops Potholder Loom
- Beaded Snowflake Ornaments
- Create Your Own Story Books
- Grow N’ Glow Terrarium
Again, a big thank you to Faber-Castell Creativity for Kids for sponsoring this post and sending us the Designed By Me kits to try out and review. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.
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