Pillow Case Dress- 12months

Pillow Case Dress:

I love these because they are super simple and they are quick!  I made one for Athaiah to wear to a bridal shower to go with my maxi dress!  It was a lot of fun and I will definitely be making more.  You do not necessarily have to use a pillow case you can obviously just use some fabric, but I found the pillowcases on sale and loved the cute little pattern!

 

What you will need:

Pillowcase(or fabric if you are going that route)

Ribbon-cut 2 equal pieces twice the length of her neck-or greater for a bigger bow

A dress of current size(for measurement purposes)

 

First step:  Cut out your dress.  To do this I placed a dress that currently fit her on top of the pillowcase.  Fold the pillow case in half width ways, that way you just measure half the dress and you won't have as many seams to sew up! Easier is always better in my book!  Make sure you add 1/2" all the way around for seam allowance.

 Second Step:  Cut it out! Easy enough, right?!

 Third Step: Sew up the sides with the right sides of the fabric together. But do not sew the part where the arms would be or the top part(along the neckline)  When you get to the arm holes, sew up each side(top and bottom) separately, this will make a nice seam ensuring you don't have any rough edges. But will keep the arms open so it is easy to slip on and makes the ribbons the top of the "arm hole."

 Fourth Step:  Cut out a piece of ribbon for the neck line.  I did one piece for the back and one for the front so it can tie together at the sleeves.  You can use any size of ribbon you like. I did super skinny ribbon because Athaiah has super, super petite shoulders and I thought a big ribbon might be overwhelming on her little arms.

Fifth Step: Fold the top piece of the fabric down 1/4"(I recommend ironing so it stays nice and straight). This is so there is no fraying fabric.  Fold the fabric down again the width of your ribbon(mine was another 1/4").  Lay your ribbon inside the flap(This eliminates having to string it thru later, but if you prefer that method by all means go ahead, I just like to cut out as many steps as possible) See picture below!

Sixth Step: Now sew along the bottom, ensure the ribbon is tucked inside, but don't sew the ribbon.  You need the ribbon to be able to move some! Center your ribbon in the sleeve with extra on either side, sew a line down the center(top-bottom) this will hold the ribbon inside the sleeve but still enable you to gather it at the sleeve so it can fit your sweet little one!

Do this again with the back piece!

 No need to hem the bottom if you used the bottom of the pillowcase.  I made sure that I did to eliminate another step of sewing, keep it simple.  That is the point of these dresses to be extremely simple!!

Easter outfits-tutorial

This post is really early or really late ;) I think we all know which one, but I am going to go with early for next Easter in case you want to make one for your kiddos-or maybe you can use it for Christmas?  I took one of Greg's old dress shirts(that don't fit him any more), and got to work on making the kids Easter outfits.  I was able to get a vest for my little man and a dress for my sweet girl! I loved them and think they looked adorable, what do you think? Also, 2 apologies while writing this post-lack of pictures(so very sorry for this one, as it can get hard to explain without pictures), and long post and I'm putting everything into one post(since it is so late) instead of separate posts for each item!

 Double trouble!

Big boy!

Sweet girl!

Flower for Headband Tutorial:

This was the flower that we clipped onto Athaiah's head band!

 

First, cut out 6 circles that are fairly big in size, I used my big cups as a guide. (this is the patterned fabric in the background of the flower).  You will need one more circle that is the same size, you can use a pattern if you like, I just used the plain yellow for this one.  You will also need 6 circles(the pale yellow pictured above) in a smaller size as these ones will go on top of the bigger(patterned ones).
Next, you are going to fold all of these up in half so they are now a semi-circle, and them fold them over again so they make a triangle shape(like above)-I apologize for the lack of during pictures, it makes it hard to follow.  Put a small amount of hot glue on the end to hold them together and keep them folded.
Arrange them on the big circle that you cut out and didn't fold. Put the point sides in the center so that it makes a circle. Hot glue them onto the big circle.  If you would like you can put buttons or any other decoration at the center of the bow! I used buttons off the shirt sleeves since they were small and extra pieces of the shirt, (the pale yellow fabric was fabric from the sleeve of the dress shirt, I was making sure not to waste anything I could use!)
Hot glue the big circle now to an alligator clip so you can clip it on a headband or whatever you like, or so you can just pin it directly to their hair(If your little girl is lucky enough to have hair unlike mine!)

Dress Tutorial:



Take the dress shirt, and line a current dress up with the dress shirt across the bottom and center it. You want to make sure that the dress is centered so you can have the dress button down the front and you want it to button in the middle not on the sides.
With everything lined up correctly-make the skirt part of the dress a little bit bigger so that you can gather it(if you don't want the waste gathered at all just add extra for the seam allowances(1/2" on each side). Then cut out the dress pattern.  I made a separate part for the top and bottom-this was so that I could gather it so it would have more of an A-line shape and so it wasn't so boxy looking.  Just a personal preference.  If you are cutting it into two pieces instead of one just make sure that you add extra to the bottom of the top piece and the top of the bottom piece for seam allowance.  Also make sure the top part will fit perfectly and cut the top part of the bottom piece wider than you want it so you are able to gather the fabric! (I hope that makes sense, I'm sorry I know it would have helped a lot more if I had pictures to help explain things)
Sew up both sides of the bottom piece, and the top piece.  To do that put the right sides of the fabric together and sew up both sides, so the seam will remain on the inside of the dress.  You are going to also sew up the neckline seam.  I use a zig zag stitch because that is what I like and I don't have a serger currently(maybe one day) To sew up the neckline just make sure you tuck about 1/4" under and sew it up so it is nice and smooth.  I used a rounded neckline just because! Just make sure you don't sew it closed! I had to watch out on that part honestly because I almost did!
Last part is to sew the top and bottom pieces together.  IF you made it all one piece congrats you are done-Easy right? Put the right sides of the fabric together and get to pinning, this is to gather it by hand so you don't have to do a gather stitch and then sew it up again.  I like less sewing if possible.  Make sure that you are again keeping the front part where it buttons open(if you like it that way), and sew the two pieces together.  Congrats you are done!  I added a bright pink ribbon to it(not attached, just tied it on) just for a pop of color since it was such a pale yellow shirt! Your done with the girly stuff, now onto what to make if you have a little man! 

The BOW TIE: (My favorite part)

Ok, bow ties are super, super easy-are you ready for it?  You cut out a rectangular shaped piece of fabric(make it double the size you want length wise because you are going to fold it in half).  So if you want a bow tie that is 5" wide and 2/5" tall.  Cut the piece of fabric 11" wide and 3" tall.(the extra is your seam allowance!) Fold it together with the right sides facing.  Sew up 3 of the sides.  Turn it so it is right side out, and sew up the last side.  This bow tie has 2 layers so then do this again, but make it a couple inches shorter! 

For the knot- You are going to cut a piece of fabric 1"x1.5", hem the sides so they don't look rough.  Then sew the two ends together so that is makes a circle! 

For the strap- Cut a piece of fabric a couple inches longer than your child's neck so you can tie it in the back(or if you like you can put a snap on it)  Hem the edges so they look nice and finished.  Attach this to the back of the knot-I hand stitched it on because I had already sewn the knot closed.

Assembly- Stuff the two rectangles into the knot(circle), Adjust the rectangles so they look how you want them to.  I then ran it one time thru the sewing machine to hold it all together.  BUT you don't have to do that part.  My little one is 2 though and can play rough, I just didn't feel like taking a gamble that it would stay all together if he was pulling on it!

 

The Vest:

Take the leftover piece of your shirt.  Make sure this is the top half of the shirt! OR if you are only making a vest you really can use whatever part that you want.  I used a different vest that he already had for the template(makes it easier that way).  Cut out all around the template leaving room for seam allowance.  Sew up both sides by putting the right side of the fabric together and sewing it up!  I then removed the pocket off of the shirt, cut it down to size and placed it on the vest!  For the neckline, just tuck about 1/4" of fabric down and sew it all up so it looks nice and even! Do the same for around the arm holes.  And there you go- A super simple and easy vest! 

 

All of this was made out of 1 dress shirt.  A bonus it was one that no longer fit my husband, which means it was free! The best way to do things!

Casual Baby Dress

I don't have my camera so I will have a lot of posts without pictures and I apologize.  When I get it back I will try and take some pictures of them finished, but I know that doesn't help much with the process of making these things. So I'm truly sorry.

I made this using one of my old shirts that was stained! What a great way to re purpose it!

To make this I pulled out one of her dresses and set it on top of the shirt.  I cut it a bit skinner than the one I pulled out since it was a really fluffy one and I was looking for more of a T-shirt type of dress to wear with some knit pants(make sure you have seam allowance room). I cut out the basic pattern of the dress, but I didn't cut out sleeves.  I am going to make it a tank top.  Sew the side seams together(right sides of the fabric facing each other).  I used a 1/2" seam allowance. Now I didn't hem the bottom of the dress, because it followed the bottom of my shirt so there was already a seam there!  I did fold down the top about 1/4" and sewed that just to make it look a bit neater!

Next I cut out a long strip of fabric(I used this for a headband)

I then cut out two strips of fabric each about 3" long for the straps and about 1/2" wide.  This is for a little girl dress about 6 months old.  So if you are making it for a child bigger than that, adjust the strap size accordingly.  Sew the straps onto the top of the dress about 1.5" in, so there is room for the armpits! Make sure these are sewn on good.

Next I cut 2 small strips of fabric and made them into flowers to put on the beginning of the straps just to dress it up some! This is very easy to do with a hot glue gun. Just keep swirling the fabric around and fold down on occasion to give it some depth and you have a flower. I added them to the straps with hot glue, it has already been through the wash and they held up just fine.

You are done.  I will add, this was made using a knit shirt so there is plenty of stretch in it so I can simply pull it over her head without worrying about any buttons, snaps, or zippers.  So this makes it a quick and easy dress to make!