Sneak Peek at the Next G-tube Clothing Tutorial

You are supposed to get a full tutorial this evening, what with today being Tuesday [editorial note: it WAS Tuesday when I worked on this "quick" post. Ha-ha. Blogger does NOT play nice with photos and I need to go to bed before frustration drives me to do something drastic to the laptop. It's not the computer's fault. As a result, this won't get posted until Wednesday. My sanity is not worth the fight. Huge apologies!]. Instead, you get a teaser. Here’s a sneak peek at good things to come, the inseam g-tube access openings!

So many, many possibilities for these two handy techniques! Picture this in a frilly party dress, or a tiered sundress in fun bright prints…


Here's an opening on a gathered skirt...

...so you can get to the g-tube.

…Or this in a sophisticated princes-seam dress, or a little boy’s tailored coveralls…










At least you get to spy on the final samples. It’s the how-to pics that aren’t ready yet, so stay tuned.
Any of you who create online tutorials know just what goes on behind the scenes of a pictorial lesson. Whew! There are some amazing bloggers who post lovely online tutorials several times a week. They make it look so easy; that’s part of the magic. There is a LOT more to it than simply snapping pictures as you merrily sew away…hah!
Given our family schedule this past week, I was pretty pleased to have finished mock-ups to share. Next week you can have a step-by-step play on how to recreate these same openings to access your child’s g-tube.  

In the meantime, why not go shopping for a pattern and fabric and some fun trims? Look for a garment design with a seamline that falls several inches above the waist. Copyright issues mean I can’t post the pattern pictures here, but a quick click will take you to some possible choices:
McCall’s 6155 (girls flared or gathered top, easily lengthened to a dress)
McCall’s 6268  (flared toddler dress)

Butterick 4054 (toddler dress with gathered waist)

Oliver + S School Photo Dress and Tea Party Sundress, both vertical openings

New Look 6451 (princess seams, vertical openings)

New Look 6041 (toddler dress horizontal or vertical options)

Simplicity 2377 (girl's tiered sundress)

Simplicity 2264 (baby boy suit)

McCall’s 4236 (infant saque)
There are lots of GREAT vintage patterns that work well for adapting to g-tube access too!

Disclaimer: I haven’t used any of these particular patterns (my kids have long since outgrown these sizes), but they can give you an idea of styles that work well for these adaptations.

So many, many possibilities for these two handy techniques! Picture this in a frilly party dress, or a tiered sundress in fun bright prints…

You might also find some inspiration here:
Sewing Clothes for G-tube Access, Part One: DESIGN

4 comments:

School System Occupational Therapist in Virginia said...

Glad I found your site. Have shared the link with friends.

http://otinpublicschools.blogspot.com/2011/03/clothing-adaptations-for-g-tube-access.html

Rose-Marie said...

Thanks so much for sharing! I hope your friends find the g-tube clothing adaptations helpful. I need to get the last couple finished up and ready to post--and this gives me good incentive to keep forging forward. Thank you!

Rose-Marie

debs said...

Hi, I love your ideas! I just can't sew!! My daughter is 6 months and I would love to buy these ready made. Any ideas of where they would sell something like this as my daughter has a surgical jejunostomy into her bowel and is fed for 23hrs so these would be a god send!
Kind regards
debs
debbiemoore7@googlemail.com

Rose-Marie said...

Debs, I did a little searching around for an answer to your question. and came up pretty empty-handed. I was surprised; I knew adult g-tube clothing was hard to find, but had thought there were more sources for babies’ and children’s clothes.

Here are some online sources:

http://www.bundiebaby.com/store.html carries onesies and wraps

http://www.tummytunnels.com/ cute iron-on patches that surround holes you cut in ready-made clothing (no sewing required)

http://www.special-clothes.com/special.htm toddler-sized clothing (sorry) and larger

I know time is in short supply when you have a baby. But if you took ready-made clothing to a tailor who does alterations (many dry cleaning shops can connect you or have one in-house), along with a print-out of the technique from the blog here (especially the g-tube jammies tutorial, which is quick to do), it should be a fairly inexpensive alteration. Or if your local high school has a home ec department, it might be worth a call to see if advanced students would be willing to take on a community service project doing this for you.

Thanks for such a great question! If others have resources for you, I hope they will post here so you and others can benefit from the information.