Grow-with-me Clothes

The pillowcase dress is so popular right now because it can "grow" with the girl. As she gets older the shoulder straps can get longer and then later she can wear it as a top.  I've made a few of these and I understand the popularity!  We want to get the most out of our favorite items, especially clothes for our little ones.

With the same idea of having our Kiddle wear an outfit for more than one season, here's a trick that many of us have forgotten or perhaps never knew.  In the day when garments were made by hand, moms and grandmoms would add tucks to the hemline.  The tucks could be let out as the child grew, giving extra months and sometimes years of wear to the clothing.

I was thinking of this while adding tucks to a christening dress.  For my next few projects I'm going to add tucks to dresses and the tops of overalls.  Not only do they give the item a finished look, mom or dad can take out the stitches in a few months and have the extra length or room in the garment to get another season or so wear out of it. 

How do you "stretch" your clothing to get more time out of your Kiddle's clothes?  Let us hear from you!