Snap tape

"Tom Farrell" wrote in message
om...
"Cynthia Spilsted" wrote in message
...

snip Right, that I knew. I'm curious, do you have any strong opinions on
buttons on toddler day-wear? I'm inclined to avoid them, but wondered
if people felt it's not a problem.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

For my own children, I generally avoided buttons for both the safety
concerns (any bought item with buttons I re-stitched the buttons to make
sure they were secure) and self-dressing issues. There is enough
frustration in a two year old's life without them having to fight buttons
when their fine motor skills are not ready for them!
Some of the girls' dresses buttoned up the back, and Michael had one or two
shirts but that was about the whole of it: tops were mainly pull-on as were
pants. We had a few items that snapped or zipped up, but pull-on/off ruled
in our house. It made the routines of the day a little easier to manage and
helped them learn to dress themselves. Of course, sometimes these things do
backfi my older daughter had a thing for dresses but a November
birthday. On her 3rd birthday she was cross because I insisted on pants to
go to the indoor playground. I thought the argument was settled - until I
heard laughter behind me in the foyer of the 'Growing Space'. I put my baby
down and turned in time to see an item of clothing flying through the air
accompanied by "I told you I didn't want to wear pants!". My daughter had
not stopped at removing her coat and boots: she stood starkers in the entry
of the Space in full fury. I finally fixed the dilemma of winter weather
clothing by sewing reams of lace on all her pants! (Now, this same daughter
goes around in 'army look' and still looks feminine!).
My biggest problem with toddler clothes was lack of selection for little
boys: I had a problem with GI Jose and Ninja Turtles on everything. It was
either plain and boring or violent and mean for little boys. I finally
bought plain jogging fleece, sewed some outfits and put my own pictures on
them with fabric dye sticks and fabric markers. The 'dinosaur panorama'
jacket is coming back to our house to be passed on again: it has gone
through at least five little boys and is still going strong. The zipper has
had to be replaced about three times but the rest of the jacket is in
excellent condition.
Cynthia