From the age of about 3 until 10 my children have worn Atlantian Business Casual or the G-63 (named for the archeological dig information from Woven into the Earth.) It is an easy garment to construct and does not need to be altered for growth. The G-63 is only fitted at the neck and cuffs. The rest of the garment is a full sack with a lot of seams. After a number of variations I learned to make the G-63 too long in the sleeves, with buttons at a tighter cuff and below the knee for length. It took me a year to learn I had to put shorts on my kids for tree climbing and head standing activities. I made extra long white shorts, put elastic at the waist and an eyelet hole in front of each leg to tie on hose without feet. This way the braise would act the same way as sweat pants and there would not be a porta-castle crisis due to a knot in a string.
When I started making G-63’s they only took about a yard of fabric to make one and I could get 3 out of two yards. That made it possible to get many outfits from scraps and it allowed me to use nicer fabric than I would normally have chosen for children’s garb. The last set of G-63’s I made needed over 2 yards per garment. I have learned that I prefer to sew with nice fabric and it is worth it too me for all of the use and abuse that these garments receive. I have not had to replace the hose and braise, although a few knees have needed patches.
The documentation for the G-63 is labeled as a cotehardie. The terms can be interchangeable. The documentation is from one of my early Pentathlons and is part of a story.
Hand-me-downs are great! The blue cotehardie is on my second son.