girl dress

http://madeitonmonday.blogspot.com/2011/05/tutorial-sunny-little-miss-dress.html

This little drop of sunshine for Round Six on SYTYC was inspired by a JCrew little girl dress (which, of course, is no longer available so I can’t show it to you) that cost $168. The triple layer skirt was too cute not to make! I used a yellow seersucker (which I just love!), but any woven cotton would be a great choice.

Cut three circle skirts of graduating lengths (Dana at Made has a great tutorial for how to figure out the measurements).

Cut your bodice piece. I chose to make mine lined, so I cut two. I used a pattern for a dress with an empire waist as a guideline for sizing. (If you do the same and don’t have a full length bodice piece to use, angle the cuts under the arms out so it looks somewhat A-line. I did not do this and the dress ended up only fitting a much smaller child because the waist was too tight for the child I originally intended it for.)

Cut out two strips for your straps.

Hem each of the layers of the circle skirts. I like the way a rolled hem works with this style since it allows it to flow without being weighed down by the hem. It also is quick and easy to do and doesn’t require any measuring! For instructions on how to do a rolled hem, I have a tutorial on my blog HERE.

Sew the lining and outer layers of the bodice together at the neck, arm holes and sides with the right sides of the fabric together. An opening will be left where the straps will attach.

Cut small slices into the curve at the neck line and arm holes almost up to the stitching so when you turn it right side out everything will lay nicely. Turn right side out and press seams.

Sew your straps right sides together and then turn right side out. I love using this hook turner for turning a tube like strip right side out. Then press your straps.

Insert the straps in the openings, fold the openings under and pin in place.

Do a 1/8” seam allowance top stitch around all the edges of the bodice. I love the way top stitching gives a piece a more polished look. Also be sure and go across where the straps go in the openings to make sure they are well secured. (Excuse the messy house in the background!)

Set your stitch length to a longer setting and baste stitch around the bottom of the bodice, sewing one side of the back a half inch over the other side so there is some overlapping.

Pin your layers of the circle skirt together.

Baste stitch the three layers together. Turn your bodice inside out and put it over the skirt so they are right sides together.

Pin.

Sew together. Depending on the size of your skirt and the size of your bodice, you may need to gather the skirt fabric a bit. At this point, your dress is actually finished! But if you want to have a sash…

Cut 2 strips of contrasting fabric long enough to wrap around and tie (I cut 2 strips 3.5 inches wide but you could also just do a double width strip and fold in half). Sew with right sides together so it makes a long tube. turn right side out and press.

I originally put three button holes in the back but then later chose to put a zipper in instead and cut it into the skirt a bit just to make the dress a little easier to put on. I also trimmed the zipper slit in the blue and white stripe. You can choose whatever type of fastening you like for the back. If you like, stitch the sash to the dress at the side seams so it won’t slip and slide while being worn.

And there you have it, an adorable little dress! The shoes were made with the blue seersucker, and yellow flowers were topped off with blue buttons. I’ve made so many shoes now I can freehand them, but I’d suggest purchasing a pattern off Etsy to start with.

sweatshirt turned into cute shirt

My favorite piece from the Comfy-Chic Anthro-Inspired Ensemble (my entry for Round One of Crafting with the Stars) was the jacket.

I took this large, shapeless sweatshirt from Goodwill

And turned it into this super cute jacket

My inspiration came (loosely) from Anthropologie’s Swept Swag Sweatshirt.

Wanna know how I made this comfy and cute top?

I liked how the Swept Swag Sweatshirt had the curve and connected at the shoulder. An asymmetrical front slit did the trick (look closely and you can see where I cut it).

I also cut rounded the corners both at the bottom and top. I just free-styled it, but you could use a CD to trace the rounded corners first.

Then there was a lot of trying it on, going to the mirror in the bathroom, back to the sewing machine, back to the bathroom, the sewing machine… you get the picture.

I wanted a fitted look, so the first step in achieving that was making the back smaller. I simply folded the back in half and ran it through my serger. Please note: you really, really, really don’t need a serger to do this. I just liked using mine because I don’t have to pin when using it and it rims the fabric as I go.

Later in the project, it seemed like the back stood up awkwardly off my shoulders/back (does that make sense?) so I cut in a bit (this time using my regular sewing machine because I was upstairs and my serger was downstairs and yes, I’m lazy). You can see in the picture below how my stitching was going straight and then sloped in. This slight adjustment made a HUGE difference in the fit of the jacket.

The next step was adjusting the sleeves and the sides. I really didn’t want to have a modified sweatshirt look, so I majorly took in the sleeves. They now fit tightly to my arms. I just started at the cuff and sewed up the sleeve, turned the corner at the arm pit and sewed down the side seam. I cut of a TON of fabric during this part. And I did it in small increments—trying it on, seeing I could go smaller, etc, etc. You can also see how I angled in under the arm—this allowed it to fit to the body higher up and then loosly fall around the hips.

When I tried it on at this point, the area around the shoulders fit funny—the shoulder seam sat in a weird spot and the sleeves looked almost puffy. All it took was sewing around the sleeve (be careful you don’t sew it closed). You can see in the picture how the grey serged stitch was the original sleeve seam, and I sewed below it. That did the trick!

The jacket was taking a nice shape, but it didn’t have the wow factor I was looking for. So, starting at the shoulder seam and going down to the side seam, I sewed 5 rows of straight stitching around the edges. I also serged the raw edges of the sweatshirt. Again, you don’t need a serger to have a polished look on this project. You could skip that part all together.

I also sewed five rows around the cuffs to help reduce the sweatshirt look.

At this point I liked how it was coming together, but it still lacked wow factor.

(Finally I can show you an “in process” picture!!!)

My star (Michelle from Someday Crafts) and I were stumped, so I asked my parents for input. My dad (go dad!) suggested that I needed a touch of red, like in the movie Sabrina when they’re doing the photo shoot and she put a red scarf on the ground to add a pop of color. My dad was so right!!!

I took a sweater that was in my Goodwill box and cut several strips of the ribbing. I then sewed it around the trim and it curled nicely to make it look almost like piping.

I liked how sewing that on also kind of ruffled the jacket. My last step (or so I thought) was sewing button holes on. At this point I was in a HUGE rush. I only had 5 minutes before I was supposed to leave to take the pictures with my model. When I went to try the jacket on to place the buttons, I discovered I had sewn them on the wrong side!!! Thankfully, that meant they would be covered up. But I didn’t have time to deal with both button holes and sewing on buttons. So the buttons when on the top corner instead, and snaps were sewn underneath. I like the clean look of the buttons just sitting there without the pull of a button hole. Yay for a mistake turning into a great solution!

When I tried this finished jacket on with the finished shirt (tutorial to come in a few days), I was so excited!!! The outfit finally had the wow factor I’d been trying and trying to find.

The tutorial for the shirt and purse will be coming this week! Happy sweatshirt adapting and I’d love to see what you make if you follow this tutorial!

http://madeitonmonday.blogspot.com/2011/01/tutorial-sweatshirt-turned-jacket.html

hair bows

DIY Anthropologie-inspired Hairbows

These hairbows are easy, sweet, and a great way to use up fabric scraps!

I saw this bow on Anthro:

It's cute, but it is 7" wide and 5" tall. Pretty big bow. I wanted to make a few last minute bows to slip into Charlotte's Easter Basket - somehow our bows are always disappearing. I altered the bows to be about 2" wide and 1 1/2" inches tall. I made two of each color so she can have one on each side. If you want to make some for your little one's Easter Basket here's what you'll need:

Fabric scraps (at least 3"x2 1/2")

Sewing machine/thread/scissors

Hair clip

Wire (I used the kind for jewelry making)

Hot glue

Paint chips (optional)

Step 1: Cut out your fabric scraps 3"x 2 1/2". Cut two rectangles out for one bow. Since I made 8 bows, I cut out 16 rectangles.

Step 2: Lay the fabric right sides together and stitch around 3 sides, leaving one end open (like sewing a tiny pillowcase).

Step 3: Flip it right sides out and turn the raw edges inside. Press. Topstitch the opening closed.

Step 4: Now twist the rectangle once so that it makes a bow shape. Wrap the wire around the middle a few times so that it will hold it's shape.

Step 5: Hot glue the bow to a hairclip.

Let it dry and that's it!

Step 6: I had a few paint chips lying around so I made some slits in the cards with an exacto knife

and clipped the bows onto them.

Perfect way to slip them into her little Easter Basket!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

jessica