Comfy Jammies

I found a tutorial on MADE for some pajama pants for toddlers.  And lucky me, her pattern happens to be a 2T/3T which is just the size I needed.

They sewed together really easy and turned out equally adorable on my little girl.  For the next one, I'll probably play with the pattern a bit since she's still in diapers and needs a little extra room in the toosh.

I had polka dotted twill tape, so the tie on the jammies made a cute detail.

Knit Racerback Dress

I made this Racerback Dress the day after I saw the post at Crafter Hours.  The tutorial was really easy to follow and I love that the pattern goes from 12month all the way up to size 7-8, so I can keep making this dress for a few more years.  It's a nice and light weight "summer" dress.  It looks adorable on her - she is pulling it behind her a bit in the picture, but there is a little more flare to the bottom of the dress than this picture shows.

Here's the back (my favorite part) - I used a different fabric for the small piece at the top of the back.  I wanted to add some more detail since the fabric of the dress is plain and a bit boring.  Thus the hot pink binding at the neck and arms.

I made this out of an old t-shirt of mine, so that was nice to not have to hem the dress (one less step is always nice).  I also applique'd a heart onto the front to add some more detail.

Market Skirt

I've been on a sewing kick lately - 4 dresses and 1 skirt for my daughter in the last couple weeks...and something for my nephew's 1st birthday, but his momma reads my blog, so I can't blog about that yet. :)

I made one of these Market Skirts (free pattern and tutorial here) while I was pregnant with my daughter, and I thought it was easy to make and adorable, so I made one again.  I gave her a few choices of fabrics from my stash, and she picked this retro Strawberry Shortcake print.  I'm not big on "character" clothing, but this is the Original Strawberry Shortcake from my day - the 80's - and it's cute and not tacky like some character fabric can get.

Here's a close up of the pockets - I added some embroidery floss stitches for some pop - and I had cute flower buttons...thanks for cleaning out your fabric/button stash mom!

Oliver + S Ice Cream Dresses

I made this Oliver + S Ice Cream dress for my daughter in the 6-12 month size...almost 2 years ago.  I still fits her, but as a tunic style shirt.  But I loved this dress on her and decided to make it again.   The red fabric is eyelet - so the texture gave a nice pop.

My daughter is not easy to take pictures of, she doesn't keep the same pose for long enough to position her and then take the picture, so I end up taking about 30 pictures each time and then just have to pick the best ones.  She does make some cute faces, but also some really odd ones.  To keep her distracted during outfit/pose changes, I had to let her drink from the spray bottle. 

This time I made both options/styles of the dress.  This option for the dress wasn't supposed to have the pockets, but I liked it better with them.  And I liked how it tied in the top fabric too.  These dresses take several hours to make each one...but they are easy instructions and turn out adorable.

 She discovered the pockets!

Ice Cream Dress by Oliver + S

My Fabulous Mother-in-Law (and my father-in-law too) gave me the pattern for the Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress for my birthday. They also gave me the Birthday Party dress pattern as well!

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the neck has a "v" notch in the center and there are 2 pockets on the front. The pattern size I made was 6-12 months, but it's huge on my 8 month old, so I think it probably won't fit her till she's 1 . . . so I guess I'll just be making a few of these until then.

I've been wanting this pattern for a while . . . there are other variations to make from the pattern as well - a blouse and a three tiered dress too. This wasn't hard for me to make, but it was very time consuming. It took me 2 days of naps and one evening after the kids were in bed to make this, but it was well worth the time.

Little Sailor Dress

I found a tutorial for this sailor dress. I had to modify it to fit my 8 month old, but the tutorial gives the instructions on how to modify it from her measurements. Just because I like to be different, I added piping along the pocket openings. I like the crisp line it gives to the pocket.It's a little big on her, so she should be able to wear it for a while . . . hopefully.

Daphne Dress Sew-a-long

My Mother-in-law got me the kit/instructions to make this "Daphne Dress" from Oh So Sassy . . . I'm so excited to make it . . . but then I opened up the instructions and they are very, very rustic. They are typed up but all the images are hand drawn and I've read it through several times and I'm still confused. I also got the Eliza Dress Pattern - and the same issue there. It's very confusing.

But guess what! I found a Sew-a-long on The Train to Crazy . . . Starting on Monday Aug 9th, she is doing a Daphne Dress sew-a-long. So I'm thrilled and hoping they have pictures to go along the way with clearer instructions. Or at least it may just be a support group to try and get the dress done.

Has anyone out there used one of their patterns before? Am I the only one that thinks they are quite "rustic"? And I'm not a beginning sewer. I make things with patterns or make my own patterns, so I'm shocked that I'm confused.

But I'm crossing my fingers that the sew-a-long will be helpful. And it couldn't have come at a better time. I just have to wait 1 more day to be able to start it. I fell in love with this dress once I saw it, so I'm dying to make it!

Smocked Knit Dress

I was at the dollar store yesterday and found these knit scarves that were originally from target and say they are for belts, scarves, or headband wraps . . . but I had a different idea for them.
After I washed and ironed them, I decided to make a smocked knit dress. I only needed 2 of the colors to get the length of the dress - and I only used half the pink and purple, so I can make a skirt for her later with them too.

I just sewed the purple to the pink and smocked the top with elastic thread and sewed up the side seam to make the full tube. They already came with the edges serged, so I decided not to make a hem. To finish it off, I just sewed on ribbon to tie at the shoulders.

I'll probably cut down the ribbon soon, but she wouldn't quit pulling at them long enough for me to measure and get good bows. So later, I guess. Next, I need a hair clippie to match. But I'd rather have hair on her head first - Im getting tired of only using headbands since she has no hair :)

oliver + s Ruffled Halter

I found a free pattern for this Ruffled Halter by oliver + s It was very time consuming to do - first off the pattern prints out on 24 sheets of paper and you have to tape them all together perfectly . . . after that, everything else seemed like a breeze.

But I spent one day assembling the pattern, another cutting out the pieces in the fabric, and a 3rd sewing it all together. I think it would have been way too much to try and get it all done in one day. The instructions were easy for me to follow and I didn't even have to unpick anything and start over! I love it in the red gingham, but I think next I'll try it out of a different pattern.

Here is the back with the elastic and the tie at the neck. The instructions/photos never show a picture of the back, so I thought it would be helpful for anyone who wants to make it to see the front and back. (there are no ruffles on the back - just on the front)

Snappy Top

I found a free pattern for this Snappy Top at Prudent Baby. It is sized for 12-18 months, but somehow it fits my 7 month old. She's not huge either - she only weighs 15 pounds - about the 25th percentile . . . so hopefully this will fit her for a long while then. I used yellow eyelet fabric, and since that was a bit see-through, I lined it with a white linen - which meant I had to tweak the instructions a bit. And I had to cut 2 of each the front and back of the shirt.

Instead of sewing bias tape around the arm holes, I just attached the lining to the shirt at the arm holes and turned it right side out and pressed it. So the side seams are sewn on each piece separately and the lining is only connected to the shirt at the arm holes and the neck.

My only issue with the instructions was it didn't say how far to put the neck of the body up and inside the collar piece. So I put it all the way in and tried it on her and that was squeezing her arms like sausage links - so I unpicked it and then lined it up along the open edge instead.

Other than that, the pattern and instructions were very easy to follow. This shirt went together really fast. And I love how it turned out. I'm already digging through my fabric stash to see what else to use and make more of these. You can even add to the length and make it a dress - so that will probably be my next one.

Oh, and thanks Mom for the green snaps! I'm borrowing her snap setter and snap stash - which technically means I'm using a few of them since she has some awesome colors.

4th of July Dress

So . . . Dana MADE me do it . . . Using her pattern and instructions, I made a dress for my daughter out of her Warhol Dress.

I turned this men's shirt into a 6-12 month dress for my daughter. I fits her perfectly except the shoulder strap (the one that doesn't tie) is too loose, so I need to shorten that. Otherwise, the length and shape is perfect. It looks adorable on her.

I applique'd stars on the dress with wonder under. After the white neck line was added, it needed something else to help tie the white all together. I also used red thread to top stitch around the stars.

I also did three rows of topstitching with red thread on the neck tie as well.

Guitar Onesie and Tutu

I had a baby shower I went to over the weekend, so that means the week before was my creative time. I always try new things when I have a deadline - like a present to give. So that way I don't put off the project.

I used the guitar applique pattern and tutu idea here - and i used the tutu technique of wrapping it on cardboard here - made it much easier.


The headband is a knee high that I cut the toe and elastic top off and sewed together - adding a ribbon loop at the seam so that the hair clips can be interchangeable.

I keep a pack of onesies in my fabric stash so that I can use them when I need them - it's hard to not grab from that stash to use on my kids instead of doing laundry when they run out of clean ones :) I suggest getting a pack of gerber onesies at Jo-Anns when you have a 40% off coupon. Some days I'm just wandering the store with nothing imparticular that I need so instead of letting the coupon go to waste - I buy some onesies. They're usually in the isle with the fabric paint - in my store, it's next to the yarn isles.

Smocked Toddler Dress

I've been wanting to try smocking for a while, but I was intimidated by it. After finding a pattern/tutorial in this book, Weekend Sewing, I gave it a try.



I also made the fabric bow clip I made a while back since it was the same fabric. It can be used in her hair or it's even cute clipped on the dress where the shoulder strap connects in the front.

Market Skirt

I fell in love with these skirts from Dana at MADE.
She made them and did a giveaway a few months back, and I was crossing my fingers that she would create a tutorial for these skirts - and she DID! I was using my scrap fabric, and I didn't have enough to make the standard size in the tutorial. So I made one that should fit a 1 year old by multiplying it all by a certain percentage (i don't remember what number I used anymore - but i figured it all out by measuring my son's waist since he's in that age range) But then a week or so later, Dana put up instruction help for making it smaller or larger - posted on her site as well. Since the skirt was smaller, I shrunk the pocket too.

This skirt was fun to make - I got to use my grandma's serger on it that I recently acquired!

Button holes still scare me, so I just sewed the pocket shut with the button - I figured my daughter won't be putting things in her pocket when she turns 1, so I got to skip button holes :)

Bubble skirt and applique tank top

I made this outfit for my 5 year old niece for her birthday. I applique'd the hearts on the tank top to match the fabric for the skirt.

The skirt was a headache for me. I loved the idea of a bubble skirt and tried to alter and do it myself. The waistband gave me the most trouble. I think it was partly because the fabric I used was thick, heavy, and stretchy, so it wasn't easy to sew. Next time, I'll take pictures of the process and make a tutorial out of it, but I'll use a t-shirt knit fabric or cotton next time.

I didn't get a picture of her wearing it to post since it got tossed to the side in favor of the new toys she wanted to play with instead. But I love that it bubbles out at the bottom since the inner lining layer is shorter and thinner so it pulls in the top layer to bubble out.