Rainbow Dress

I just realized I never blogged one of my favorite things I've ever made for my Madeline. And in honor of her turning 5 (FIVE!) yesterday, I thought today would be a good day.

It's just a simple peasant bodice - I'm telling you guys, once you understand the construction of a peasant bodice, it takes under 30 minutes to construct one. Then you get to be creative with the skirt!

 

 I wanted Madeline's to be super twirly, so each tier is approx. 50% longer than the tier above it.

See? Super twirly. She LOVES this dress.

A customer asked me to recreate it for her daughters birthday and together we came up with this color combination:

I really, really love this one too! Such happy, fun colors!

Ok, that's all! Just a quick fly-by so I don't break my self-imposed rule of going more than a month without blogging!

Molly

Easter Dress Pattern Round-up

Every year about this time, I start on my quest to find the perfect Easter dress pattern for Maddie. I thought it might be fun (and helpful for someone, maybe?) to show you my favorite new patterns that I've discovered this year. Maddie's dress is going to end up as a big mash-up of a few of them, but they are all darling on their own! (You can see past Easter dresses I've made here, here and here.)

Argyle Party Dress Pattern  $8
I looove the collar on this one.

 

The Clara Dress by Olabelhe
If you are into old-fashioned, darling dresses for little girls, you must check out the amazing patterns on this website. The "Clara" is one of my favorites, and it would be perfect for a chilly Easter that lands in March!

The Adele Twirl Vintage Dress

The little scalloped bib really transforms a simple dress into something special. This won't be Maddie's Easter dress, but I definitely see a dress like this in her future.

The Madelyn Dress

I.love.this.dress. I'm thinking about adding sleeves to make it a little warmer for Easter...

The Big Bow Dress

Adorable. 

The Amelia Dress

Love the bib and the pick up skirt. LOVE this blog, by the way. Tons of great clothing tutorials.

The Chloe Dress

I think a pattern is emerging here...I'm all about the details. This one has it all. Oversized pockets, contrasting patterns, and a bib (with buttons!). I used a modkid pattern for Maddie's dress last year, so I'm obviously already a fan of their work. 

The Vintage Holiday Dress

The possiblities with this one are endless. 

 

As always, my go-to pattern for bodice and sleeve pieces is The Precious Dress.

I'm also working on Maddie's dress for her 5th birthday party, so some of these elements are going to work their way into that dress as well. 

What's your go-to dress pattern? What are you loving right now?

Molly

The Catch-Up Post

This is the post wherein I catch up my readers on all my crafty news from my 4 month long blog hiatus. Which was not intentional, I assure you!

Hmmm, where to start? Well, I continued the tradition of making Madeline's Easter dress. I really, really love this pattern (you can find it here)! Will also wore his first bow tie, which was totally adorable, if I do say so myself. 

I made Maddie an Easter Bonnet Headband , inspired by this post. She loved it and it almost made up for not having a hat. I had a better picture of it, but I can't find it...

Maddie recycled her Halloween costume for Plow Days this year and as I mentioned before, me and my cousin made a boatload of stick horses to sell. I also made about 2 dozen bonnets. I simplified my Sunday Bonnet so I could crank them out quickly. Fun, busy day!!

I revisited my most popular blog post of all time, the reversible sundress and made a matching pair for two little sisters. I started working on patterns for sizes 3 months - 6 years, plus some revisions to the fit that I think work a little better than the original. For now, that's still on the to-do list!

I made this little old fashioned set for customer's grandchild for her school play. I used this pattern for the apron, but opted to use regular elastic instead of shirring the neck and arm holes. I love this fabric!!

This is the little peasant style dress I made Maddie for the 4th of July. I'm in love with this style! So easy to make and so easy to wear! I have an extra-special peasant dress all cut out for her that I'm dying to start sewing. I'll definitely share when I'm finished. 

My biggest project this year was completing Will's bedroom. I made crib bumpers, crib skirt, curtains, refinished a dresser and tracked down some cool wall art. I also made something very cool out of this pallet...can you guess what? 

It definitely needs it's own post, but I need to clean his room before I take pictures. So in other words, don't hold your breath or anything. ;)

I think that's about all the crafty related news I have! I always slow down a bit in the summer months, but I have so many, many projects (that's a lot, Pinterest!!) that I want to make, so I'll have to start putting the pedal to the medal come fall. Speaking of Pinterest, you can follow me here. 

In the meantime, we're have a blast this summer, spending lots of time at the pool and the beach and making lots of memories with our two little munchkins.

Molly

Little Bo Peep and Her Sheep

It's been a busy summer. And a busy beginning of fall (can someone please tell me how it can possibly be November?). Anyway, that's my excuse for being so absent. But November seems like a good place to get back in the swing of things in bloggy land. Also, yesterday was Halloween...and that's my weak segue into sharing pictures of my cutie pies in their costumes.

Meet Little Bo Peep and her sheep. They make a cute pair, no?



I know that my days of dressing them in coordinating costumes are numbered, so I figured I would take advantage while Maddie can still be easily persuaded. She was honestly excited that her brother was going to be her little sheep.

Will was a little angel and didn't fuss at all about wearing a hood and hooves.




Madeline had SUCH a good time trick or treating (this was her first year), that I have a feeling that I'm going to be hearing about it for weeks to come.

Her costume is a doctored up version of The Precious Dress, which you know I just love. I've lost count of how many times I've used it, but you can see a couple versions here. I also borrowed some ideas from the Cinderella dress you can find over here. I searched high and low, but I couldn't find a tutorial for exactly what I wanted for her bonnet, so I just winged it. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, even though I was totally improvising as I went.

Maddie's eyes lit up when she looked at herself in the mirror after trying on her costume - and that always makes those hours behind the sewing machine worth it. As a bonus for Mommy, this dress will also double as her Plow Days dress for next spring.



Will's lamb costume is a Tom Arma costume I scored off of ebay on the cheap. Love that!

I really have been busy in the past few months doing all sorts of crafty things, including a complete bedroom set for Will, so I have plenty to share - just need to carve out the time for blogging! Wiping noses and filling bellies always comes first, you know. ;)

Molly

More Marissa...

I really love this pattern.



A couple of my friends asked me to make dresses for their daughters after seeing pictures of my Maddie in her Easter dress. Here's one of them in my beloved hunky dory fabric. Some day I'll get sick of it...but not today!





I don't buy a lot of patterns. I'm a big fan of figuring stuff out myself or finding a free tutorial online. But I don't mind spending money on one of Carla's patterns. I always learn so much from her instructions! (The way she installs the zipper in this dress is genius!) She makes intermediate projects into beginner projects with her fabulous pictures and instructions. This is not a paid advertisement, I just really love her patterns. :)

Molly

Easter Outfits!

I had in my mind that I wanted Madeline to have a very old-fashioned Easter dress with a vintage feel to it. A little embroidered collar with hand-made lace, complete with pearl buttons and pintucks.

Uh, yeah. Totally crashed and burned, ya'll.

I made a very poor fabric choice that was way too thin and delicate (read: difficult to work with) and my hand crocheted lace started unraveling after it was sewn into the collar.

So, I started all over with a new plan. I had purchased the "Marissa" dress from The Scientific Seamstress right after it came out and decided it would be a good choice. And yes, more Amy Butler "water bouquet" fabric. Can't get away from it.

Recognize that basket? The tutorial is here. The hat was thrifted for $1...love that!

I'm so pleased with how it came out! And Carla has done it again with another fantastic pattern. If you recall, I used her "Precious Dress" pattern for Maddie's dress last year (it kills me how much she's grown in just a year!).

I bought Will an outfit to wear Easter Sunday, but it was really, really bugging me that he didn't coordinate at all with his sister. So I made a tie to pair with a white shirt and pants that he already had. I know he's mine and that makes me totally biased, but seriously...how cute is he? The tie is from this pattern. I highly recommend it - you'll be seeing plenty more of these on my little guy!

And together?





I can't believe these kids are mine. Am I blessed or what?

Molly

Plow Days...and a pretty pinny

I know I haven't posted in awhile - but that doesn't mean I haven't been crafting. In fact, I've been giving my sewing machine quite a work out lately.

First up - An old-fashioned dress for Madeline for "Plow Days". You can read about the event and see pictures of last year's dress here.

Of course, the day ended up being quite chilly, so we had to cover it up with a sweater for the actual event. Her cousin is just a day younger (and a foot taller!) than her, so they were partners in crime for the day.

The next day just happened to be "old-fashioned day" at church, so we got some more mileage out of her outfit.

Photo-op with the horse and carriage. She was quite pleased with herself!

Will giving us his unimpressed face...

I have a few other projects that are currently a work-in-progress, so when I can find time between changing diapers and working on the red lipstick stain currently on my carpet (yes, that actually happened. sigh.), I'll share those too.

Molly

Notes:
The dress and pinafore is from this pattern. Definitely not just for old-fashioned days! I plan to make another one of these for every day play!

Twirly Birthday Dress!

Last year for Madeline's birthday, I made her a special birthday outfit, and I thought it would be a fun tradition to keep up! This year, we're doing a "pink party" - everything is pink, pink, pink! My girl loves anything girly, frilly and PINK. As I mentioned in my tiered curtain post, the idea for the curtains originated when I was trying to come up with an idea for a frilly, twirly dress for Maddie. I made the curtains first and then got to work on her birthday dress.

She really loves it. Because - a) it's pink and b) it twirls. Does she need any more reasons? I let her try it on for a mini photo-op and had to seriously bribe her to get her to take it off. Every morning she asks if she can wear her "birthday dress". She knows how to make her momma feel good!!

We're trying to beat the baby to the punch by having her birthday party a little early this year - so this little one is under strict orders to stay put until after Saturday. After that? Bring on the baby!!

I've been working on some other little birthday things, I'll share them after the party on Saturday. And then maybe I can finally finish my baby quilts? I'm kind of cutting it close! 6 days!

Notes: I used the same method as I did for the curtains - I just doubled the length of each tier to make it more "twirly". I also sandwiched in a layer of tulle to make it a little more full. To get my first tier width, I measured the turtleneck from armpit to armpit and multipled that number by 4. Then took that number and multiplied it by 2 for tier #2 and so on.

The waistband was an afterthought - I wasn't happy with how the first tier attached to the turtleneck (which I did NOT make, by the way!), so I sewed down a piece of ribbon and ric rac and handsewed the bow on. I think I'm going to add a tie for the back - the dress is so heavy that it does make the knit turtleneck sag a bit. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing - it came out just like I wanted. (love it when that happens!!)

Molly

My new baby

No, not *that* kind of baby.

This kind.

I ditched my little not-so-trusty Singer for an upgrade. It's not a huge upgrade, but enough of one that it's making a huge difference in my sewing time. A local sewing shop is going out of business and I got it for a song.

It's first night home I pulled out some of my new fabric and made a little dress for Madeline. I think this one might be one of my favorites to date. It was fast and easy, but still super cute. If there is any interest, I may do a tutorial.

I love this fabric. It's "Fresh" by Deb Strain.

I know I've been a little scarce, but this new machine is just the kick in the pants I needed to get back to sewing. I just finished up a doll quilt that I'll share soon, I'm slowing honing those quilting skills!

Reversible Sundress Tutorial - and Pattern!

This dress is seriously easy, you guys. So don't let the number of pictures I included in this tutorial indimidate you, I just get a little carried away some times.

Okay, ready to make one super cute, super easy, reversible sundress? This is a beginner tutorial, you can totally make this. And if you're already a seasoned seamstress it's the perfect naptime project. Quick and easy. You know how I love those.

See the reversible side peeking out under the hem? Ah, I love it!

I drew up a pattern for Madeline's dress that you can download here. It fits Maddie well and she's a wearing 18 month - 2T clothes right now. If you need a larger or smaller size, use a dress that fits your daughter well and use that to adapt this pattern to your needs.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1/2 yard each of two different prints - that's 1 yard total folks! You'll need more if you're making a larger size.

1/4 yard of coordinating fabric for the hem, armholes and shoulder ties

Matching thread

CUT:

Print out the pattern, adjust it to your needs and trace it right onto your fabric. I just use a regular old pen. All the edges are going to be finished, so I never saw the point of using a fabric pen.

Cut out four dress pieces.

Two of each of your main dress fabrics.


Cut five 2 inch strips of your coordinating fabric in following lengths:
(1) 35 inches - for the hem
(2) 14 inches - for the armholes
(2) 24 inches - for the shoulder ties

Now here is where I was originally going to insert another 20 pictures and a bunch of information on making your own bias tape, instead - head over to my bias tape tutorial. I promise, once you learn to make and use bias tape, you'll use it all.the.time.

Okay, fold and press your bias tape strips - and you're ready to start sewing!

Take two matching dress pieces and sew the sides together, right sides together. Repeat with your second set of matching pieces.


Use a zig-zag stitch to reinforce your seams.

Now we're going to make the dress reversible! Turn one of your dresses right side out and leave on of them inside out. Now slip your "inside out dress" inside the "right side out" dress.

The wrong sides of both dresses should now be facing. Carefully smooth your "inside" dress so it fits nicely within the "outside" dress.


Using the instructions from my bias tape tutorial, pin your bias tape to the armholes of your dress.

Stitching close to the edge of your tape, sew the bias tape to the armholes.

Trim the edges of the armholes so they are even with the top of the dress.

Now, you need to decide which side of the dress you want the casing to show on. I decided the floral was already kind of busy, so I flipped the floral side over on the polka dots. Experiment by folding each side down and seeing what you like best.

Fold the top edge of the dress down 1/2 inch. Press.

Fold down another 3/4 of an inch, Press and pin in place. Repeat for other side of dress.

Sew the casing down on both sides of the dress.

Repeat for other side.

Okay, now it's time to sew your ties! Your tape should already be folded and pressed into 1/2 inch strips. Fold your ends in so you're not left with raw edges and sew the ties shut by sewing as close to the edge as possible.

Throw your pretty ties over the back of a chair and they'll be all ready for you once you finish the hem! Almost done!

Pin your last strip of bias tape to your hem.

When you get close to the end, trim the bias tape about an inch longer than you need it for your hem.

Open the tape up and fold one end under to finish the hem. Pin.

Sew your hem in place.

Attach a safety pin the end of one of your shoulder ties.

Thread it through the casing on your neckline.

Repeat with your other tie.

You're done!

As always, you'd make my day if you share a finished project with me!

Oh, and I accidentally grabbed my hem strip instead of one of the ties and sewed it shut, so instead of spending 10 minutes ripping stitches, I tossed it to the side and just cut a new one. Later when I put the dress on my munchkin, I remember my "oops" and grabbed the tie. Turns out 35 inches is the perfect length for a cute little matching headband. Love when that stuff happens!

Molly

Linking up at the following parties!

The Shabby Nest

A Few of my Favorite Things

Fingerprints on the Fridge

Amy Lou Who

Somewhat Simple

Sew Dang Cute

Sew Can Do