I’ve gotten into the habit of sewing an outfit for Elena each Christmas. I sewed her a little Christmas ruffle bum onsie the first year.

Last year I sewed her a pair of Grinch shorts.

This year I managed a dress for Elena and a Christmas tree onsie for Hugo. Of course, I left it completely to the last minute and only started Elena’s dress at 10.30pm on Christmas Eve…and made Hugo’s on Christmas morning.

The onsie was about as simple as it can get. I cut out the shape of a Christmas tree and used vliesofix to attach it and some stars to a white onsie. Christmas outfit: tick! In the end, it was good that I was running so late. Christmas day was unexpectedly chilly so I switched out my planned short sleeved onsie for a long sleeved one. The fabrics were the same as those used in Elena’s dress.

The dress was also a pretty simple affair. I found the sweet Little Ellie pattern from Wink Designs on Etsy. I was attracted to the round collar and simple lines. The pattern was great, with clear instructions and a nicely designed layout. It was a quick sew, too. I started cutting out the pattern pieces at 10.30pm and was all done by 1.30am. Not too shabby.

I made the size 2-3 which fits Elena quite well (despite her chest size of 19 1/2 inches matching the size 1 on the size chart). There’s a bit of room in it which means she’ll get a bit of wear out of it. I don’t mind – it makes the effort a bit more worth it. The star fabric is from Lincraft’s Christmas collection, and the red trim is from my stash.

Unfortunately we didn’t have a particularly smooth Christmas day and I didn’t manage to get a good photo of the dress on. This was as good as it got! It’s not even in focus.

I intend to keep this tradition going until the children won’t have it any more. And then? Well, I’ll try to guilt them into it – and if that doesn’t work, well, I’ll come up with something else.

Do you have any silly Christmas traditions?