Toddler Knit Peasant Dress

I have been wanting some new pajama pants and couldn't find any I liked that weren't like $30. (Whaaat!) so I decided to make some using this fabric from Girl Charlee

I had some fabric left over and so I decided to make a peasant dress for Lilly (who is now 3!!) I used this tutorial to make the dress and used a coordinating coral ribbon as a belt. Love how it turned out...perfect for the early fall days we're having here.

Newborn DIY dress

Remember the fabric I bought at the thrift store over the weekend? I paid $.50 for some cute pink knit fabric with blue sailboats on it.

I found an old onesie I had laying around (9 month size) and cut the bottom off of it.

Next, I cut two rectangles from the knit fabric, they measured about 3 inches wider than the width of the onesie. I sewed the two triangles together, front to front, creating a tube.

Then I sewed the "tube" to the oneside and hemmed the bottom.

For the "necklace" I ironed on some heat n bond to a piece of the knit fabric and then cut out the circles. Then I removed the backing and ironed them onto the top of the onesie. Finally, I sewed through the middle of each circle with a decorative stitch.

Now Miss Charlotte has a dress that was made just for her :)

Easy Maternity DIY Dress

I found some knit fabric the other day at Hancock Fabrics that I absolutely loved. I used 1 yard and an old long sleeve t-shirt and made a comfy dress for my oh-so-pregnant-self.

To make this dress I used the same technique as when I made the Tank Top Maxi Dress

This is a very easy dress to make and because it's all knit, it's extremely comfortable. I'm sure it will still be wearable post-baby as well!

A pillow case dress for grownups

Remember how I have about 100 yards of knit fabric sitting in my closet? Sure you do. Well, after making the pillow case dress for Lilly I decided to make one for myself...but with knit.

I started out the same way I would make a pillow case dress-folding the fabric in half lengthwise and then cutting out the arm holes. Next, I hemmed the top, leaving a large enough space for the "ribbon". Except where I would normally use ribbon I used a doubly thick strip of the same material. I fed it through the casing and then sewed the two ends together (no bows). I cut another strip and cut the edges with pinking shears (to spice it up a little) and used that as the belt.

Total Time: 30 minutes

I Love It.

Thoughts?!

Yet another maxi dress...

I just can't make enough of these, especially when I have such gorgeous fabric to worth with! This particular fabric was from my sponsor Marie Madeline Studio and it can be found here.

I had a brown knit tank top that I was just too short but was gorgeous other than that. The weight of the fabric on the bottom allowed for it to stretch and now it all works perfectly together.

All I did to make this dress was take two yards of fabric and sew the ends together, creating a tube. (pictured above) Next I replaced my regular bobbin thread with elastic thread and sewed a straight line  around the top of the dress. I pulled the back stitch of that fabric slowly together, causing it to scrunch up.

Finally, when it had scrunched enough so that the width of the fabric was the same as the width of the tank top, I attached the two (front to front) and sewed (still using elastic thread in the bobbin)

Then all I had to do was hem the bottom of the dress and I was done!  I love how long the tank top portion of the dress is. It's different than any I've made before and I think it looks nice that way. What do you think?

Pleated Dress!

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a wonderful time today visiting with family and eating as much as possible.

I made a dress this week that I am really proud of! It's more of a spring/summer dress since it's sleeveless but I suppose I can wait until then.  I have never done pleats before and so I attempted them with this dress. I'm not sure I did it the way the professionals would do it but they turned out how I wanted them to and they weren't too difficult so no complaints here. 

I started by wrapping the material around my waste 1 1/2 times, this was the width I used. I determined the length by measuring how long I wanted the dress and adding an inch to that number. I then sewed up the sides of the material, creating a tube. The photo below shows how I made my pleats. I evenly spaced them and then sewed about two inches down on each one, backstitching at the end.  This picture is of the back side of the material all pinned up before I started sewing.

Once I was done sewing I flipped the piece inside out and this is what it looked like finished.

The picture below shows the top portion of the dress. I traced a top that I already had and kept it simple. I added a zipper to the middle of the back that went down the middle on both pieces. In order to do this you will want to make sure the seam of your skirt portion (the seam you used to make the tube) lines up directly with the seam of your top portion) Once you've sewn the two pieces together you'll add your zipper to the back of the dress. I also added some white edging around the sleeves, some extra material around the color and a green ribbon around the center.

The material I used (isn't it gorgeous!!) is from my sponsor Skye Reeve Fabrics and I loved it. Not only is it gorgeous but it has a bit of a stretch to it as well, definitely a wonderful quality. 

What do you guys think?

The Versatile Dress...Part 2...and Frankenstorm!

What a weekend! John and I took a short trip to Charlottesville, VA to see Eric Church in concert at UVA. It was our first trip anywhere without Lilly and we had a really good time. Thanks to my parents for watching her for the night! We came home Sunday, just in time for "Frankenstorm" to hit Hampton Roads. So far things aren't too bad here. Our dock is completely covered by water and a tree, (yes an entire tree) somehow washed onto it from who knows where but other than that we're still good. Praying that the power stays on throughout the day. I think once this evening hits the worst will be over for us...

If you remember Friday's post, I created a basic pattern with plans to use it in a few creative ways. Below is a picture of the first dress:

For today's project, I used the remaining fabric blue and white fabric I had left. This fabric is from my sponsor Marie Madeline Studio. 

I decided I wanted to do an Asian inspired cloak. I simply used the three base pieces from the pattern and added sleeves  Instead of the two half pieces forming the back of the dress, this time they formed the front. There was also enough extra material to fold over in the front to make button holes and buttons.  I finished the neck and bottom off with some white edging that I had left over from Friday's dress.

Here is the fabric in the front folded over before I installed the button holes.

 And here are some pictures of Lilly, who of course is not into sitting still or modeling whatsoever...

Maxi Dress, using a tank top

I had an old tank top that was kind of stretched out that I no longer wore and was wondering how I could re-purpose it. After some looking on Pinterest I decided to make a maxi dress out of it! It was very simple and I love how it turned out, here's what you'll need:

Materials:

• Old Tank Top
• Corresponding Material: (mine was 46 inches wide x 38 inches long)
• Elastic Thread 
• Regular Thread
• Sewing Machine

I began by cutting my tank top off where I wanted the skirt to begin.

 Before

After

Then I wrapped my material around me 1 1/2 times. This came to about 46 inches wide. I measured how long I wanted it to be (just to the tops of my feet) which came to 38 inches long. These numbers will obviously vary for each person but that's what great about making your own clothes, they end up fitting YOU perfectly. Remember to allow for seam allowances when you cut. I usually add 1 1/2 inches length wise for this and 1/2 an inch width wise.

Once I cut my fabric, I folded the piece in half (front to front) and sewed up the side so that I then had a giant rectangle. I found this fabric in a clearance pile at JoAnn's a while back, it was about 1 1/2 yards and was only $5!

 Here is the fabric folded in half

In this picture I'm sewing up the sides, making my huge rectangle

Next you are going to switch your bobbin thread with elastic thread. I find that it helps if you just have two bobbins so that you aren't wasting thread and always re-threading your bobbin. You will need to hand thread your bobbin with the elastic thread. 

Once your elastic thread is on your bobbin, place it in your machine and then sew a straight line across the top of your skirt, the part that is going to attach to your tank top. Once you've sewn your line your material will crinkle up as in the picture below. Then you are going to flip your tank top inside out and pin your skirt to the tank top. Make sure the seam of your skirt is in the center of the back of the tank top. Pin this first and then work your way around the tank top, pinning so that everything is even. You pin the skirt and tank top so that they are front to front.

Once yo're done pinning, sew the two pieces together, still using the elastic thread in your bobbin. The elastic thread is important because if you didn't have it your dress wouldn't fit over your shoulders...assuming your shoulders are wider than your waist that is...which I'm pretty sure is the case for most of us.

Once you've sewn the skirt and top portion together, flip your dress inside out. This is what it should look like:

Then I ironed the fabric and added a large belt where the two materials met. What do you think?

 Just add a sweater and you're ready for fall!

V-Neck MOD Dress Tutorial

Ever since making my last MOD dress, I've been wanting to make one with a V-Neck. Below is the inspiration dress that I found via Pinterest:



I used the same pattern from my last MOD dress but cut a V on the front piece. Last time I used Linen and lined it so that the dress was very thick. This time I just used cotton and didn't line it so it was much thinner. The fabric I used is from my sponsor Raspberry Creek Fabrics and can be found here.

The thin fabric around the V caused the sides of the V to fold down. I fixed this issue by ironing on fusing paper to each side of the V. This made it more sturdy and allowed it to stay upright. I really like how it turned out and it was very easy to make...I love things that are symmetrical!

 Here's a close up of the fabric, gorgeous don't you think!

 Here are the pieces all cut out. I was originally going to do something extra to the ends of the sleeves with the two rectangular pieces but this idea got nixed. I sewed two arm pieces to each bodice piece and then sewed those two pieces together. Very easy. 

Maxi Dress Tutorial!

Remember a few weeks ago when I won the fabric giveaway for 2 yards of knit fabric from Girl Charlee?! Well, I FINALLY got around to doing something with it. As soon as I saw the fabric I knew I wanted to make a maxi dress out of it. Below is the fabric I picked out:



After Ironing the fabric I folded the two yards in half and cut it so that it was the correct length from my shoulders to my ankles. I then cut the folded side so that I had two equal pieces of fabric.

Next I cut out the neck area by folding the fabric in half again and making a 45 degree cut as seen in the picture below. Once the two pieces of fabric are unfolded you will have two identical V's in the center of each piece.

Next, I placed the two pieces front to front and sewed a straight line up the sides. I stopped a few inches down from the top, leaving enough room for my arms.

Finally, I sewed  two straight lines across the top of the dress, on either side of the "V". I used as wide of a stitch as I could and made sure to leave plenty of thread tails on either end. The picture below shows the area where you would sew these straight lines (keep in mind that in this picture the material is still folded in half, you will be sewing the two pieces of material together after it is unfolded, but I wanted to give you some kind of visual as to what I'm referring to)

Next I pulled the back stitch slowly so that the material "scrunched" or "ruffled" together. For a more detailed explanation about how to do this, see this post. Once I got it scrunched up the way that I wanted I knotted the thread on both ends. This is why its important to leave long thread tails. 

Finally I cut a thin strip of material to use as the tie and I was done. Since its knit it looked fine without doing any more hemming. I love love love the way it turned out and it is SO comfortable! I want to make six more so I can wear a different one every week!

(Also, I know what you're thinking..."Lindsey, that's a summer dress...it's October! Get with the program!" But alas, it's ok...I live in Hampton Roads and this week it has been 87 with full humidity...so it still feels like the middle of July here.)

Mod Dress: Pattern and Tutorial

Today is the last day to enter into the clutch giveaway from MSG Fabric Creations! Click here to find out more...

I'm loving all the Mod dresses I've been seeing lately. While browsing pinterest I spotted a few that I absolutely love...

    

Aren't these cute? I love how they could easily be worn as an every day dress or an evening dress, all depending on what accessories you put with it. All of these photos are of dress sold at emersonfry.com (they range between $200-$300)

Well I decided I wanted to make one and liked the idea of using linen because of how sturdy of a material it is. I bought two yards of linen from Hancock Fabrics and set out creating a pattern. What's great about this dress is that there are basically only two pieces. The body, which you need 4 of, and the sleeve piece, which you also need 4 of.

Here is the one of the body pieces

I started out by cutting out all 8 pieces that I needed. Then I ironed them all.

Next I sewed two of the main pieces together, front to front and then sewed the other two together, front to front. Then I flipped those right side out (make sure you don't sew the bottom closed so that you are able to flip them right side out) and added two sleeve pieces to each one. Now I had two pieces total: a dress front and a dress back.

 Here's a picture of the sleeve pinned on before I sewed

And after I sewed both sleeves on 

Next I sewed those two pieces together (except for the arm holes, neck hole and bottom of the dress).

To finish it off I double folded the area around the arm holes and double folded the bottom of the dress (see pictures) and then I sewed. Because the dress is lined (except for the arms) it is thick. I like that look though because it allows for more modern straight lines. You could definitely get away with not lining the dress and you would only need 1 yard of material instead of 2.

 This is a picture of the arms folded over twice, next I sewed around the edge.

This is the bottom of the dress, folded over twice, just like the arms. Next I sewed around the edge. I think this way of doing the trim gave it a very clean look.

I love how it turned out and can't wait to wear it somewhere fun. (I actually am going to a wedding next weekend and wanted to wear it then...which is why I chose to not buy white material, I would like to make the dress in white next.) Total cost was only $12.99 for the linen (it was half off!) which definitely beats the $299 price tag from emersonfry

If you would like to purchase the pattern for this dress you can find it in my 'Patterns' section by clicking here.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!