Schattebout

The question of whether or not kids still wear handmade clothes for kids is a tricky one. Some children recoil at the sight of anything at all that happens to be homemade, whether it be a hand-sewn shirt of even a beautiful wool sweater. For these fashion-obsessed kids, influenced by modern pop entertainment, there may be no changing their attitudes.

Luckily, these kids are not the norm. The vast majority of children don’t really care too much if it’s homemade or from the store, whether it’s hand made or brand name. If it’s comfortable, stylish, cool, warm or fun to wear, they like it.

Of course, then there is that span of time where anything that reminds a kid of their parents is treated as if it’s been handled by lepers. Between the ages of 13 and 16, a child may secretly treasure their hand knit socks or their homemade shirt, but probably not publicly. They might wear a pair of jeans they stitched together with a friend, but they’ll probably only wear the flannel shirt mum sewed for them under another layer or two.

Once a teen gets closer to young adulthood than early childhood, they’re likely to reverse their stance, becoming less interested in looking “cool” in front of their friends, and more interested in, well, wearing comfortable clothes that they like.

This may sound a little wishy washy, but the truth is that you know your kids better than anyone, so it’s your call to make. That said, a beautiful, comfortable, stylish or warm piece of clothing, made with love, is eventually going to see some use. Eventually that “Too Cool” phase will pass and the cynical teen who was too hip to wear handmade clothes will start to grow into a sensible adult who wishes that the stores he/she shops at had more clothing that was so well made, so durable and so comfortable.