dress

February 25, 2012

Pinafore Summer Dress

I made this cute little pinafore summer dress the other day and now I am wondering why I haven’t made one of these dresses before? They are quicker and easier to make then a peasant dress. This is a great little starter dress or the perfect dress to make when you need a quick gift.

I made this one in about 30 minutes along with some matching bloomers.

I added two button holes on each strap to allow for more growth.
I used a pattern to make mine, but if you are looking for a free tutorial Smashed Peas and Carrots has a great one here.

Posted by Christina 24 Comments
Filed Under: dress, girls, pinafore summer dress, toddler dress

January 20, 2012

Girly-Twirly Dresses

I had a lot of little girls to make Christmas gifts for, 12 to be exact. So I decided to make them all the same dresses to make it easier for me. I bought The Twirl Skirt Pattern from Lil Blue Boo and copied her A Party Dress Tutorial. Instead of using cotton fabric for the twirl skirt I used ruffle fabric.

As you can see in the picture below, the ruffle fabric goes in all different directions when cutting it into a circle skirt. I think it adds to the girly-twirlyness of them. Yes they are so sweet and I’m pretty sure that I just made up a word there…girly-twirlyness!

I bought most of my tee-shirts from Walmart or Old Navy. I find they have the best selection of plain tees that can be embellished. And they are very reasonable in cost.

Some of the dresses I added flowers to them, while some I left plain.

I even used a few other fabrics that I had on hand to make each one unique and one of their own.

It was fun making so many different dresses with so many different colors.

I just wish one of these girly-twirly dresses would look as cute on me as they do all those little girls that they went to.

Posted by Christina 14 Comments
Filed Under: dress, toddler dress

July 1, 2011

Fat Quarter Friday {Guest Post from Suburbs Mama}

I’m so excited to have Rita from Suburbs Mama here today! When I first stumbled upon Rita’s blog I was shocked by the amazing dress refashions and skirts she makes. I’m still such a newbie to sewing clothes and was immediately drawn to how detailed her tutorials are and how she makes refashioning look so easy and actually doable. Here are a few of her creations that I’m loving, to see more head on over to her blog.

Hi! I am Rita from suburbsmama. I was thrilled when Christina asked me to do a guest post on Fat Quarter Friday. I absolutely love her blog and everything she makes.

Today I am going to show you how to make a elastic waist, color blocked children’s skirt.

(my daughter is a 4T):

OK, lets get started!

Take your 2 pre-shrunk fat quarters (you need two coordinating prints):

Measure your little girl and determine how long you wanted the skirt to be. Then add 2 1/2 inches to that, then cut off the access (there is a longer side to a fat quarter, that will be the waist, the shorter side is the length):

Then you need to divide your fabric squares into 3 even sections each. (6 1/2 inches wide):

Cut them all, now you should have 6 pieces:

Next you need to pin them all together (alternating the print):

Here is the wrong side all pinned:

Here is how the right side looks all pinned:

Sew all the sections together:

Then when you have sewn all of the pinned sections, put the last to ends together and sew:

Next, you need iron open all of the seams:

Ok, now we need to make a elastic casing, fold and iron down a half inch:

Then fold and iron an inch :

Sew the casing, leaving about 2 inches open:

Insert your elastic:

Once you have pulled your elastic all the way through, over lap the two ends about an inch and sew and back stitch a few times:

Then stretch the elastic and sew the casing closed:

Next, we need to create a hem, fold and iron a half inch:

Then another half inch:

Sew the hem:

At this time I attached my label (optional):

All Done:

I made a matching shirt with some of the scraps:

Come and visit me at Suburbsmama

Thanks for joining us today Rita! This is the most perfect little outfit for this weekend. Happy Fourth of July!

Posted by Christina 7 Comments
Filed Under: dress, fat quarter friday, guest post, suburbs mama, Tutorials

October 28, 2010

Newborn dress turned toddler apron (refashioning tutorial)

Do you have a ton of newborn baby dresses like me and don’t know what to do with them? Why not do what I did, and turn them into a toddler apron.

Just the other day I was going through my kids drawers and I came across this dress that was a hand-me-down from a friend of mine. I always love getting hand-me-downs and especially from her. I am always guaranteed to get at least a few things from Zutano, and I just love their clothing! This dress was one of my favorites from her. So when I was getting ready to pack it away I decided to use it and make her a little thank you gift instead.

So this is what I started with, a 0-6 month dress from Zutano.

I cut off the sleeves and cut the dress just above the waist. I wanted to keep the gathering that was already there.

I saved the sleeves. There is actually a bit of material there and I’m sure I can make something else with them.

Here is the bottom half of the dress. Luckily, it was a button down dress so I didn’t have to finish off any of the ends or side seams and I kept the buttons and button holes as they were.