Summer Dress

If I haven't already meantioned this, I have 2 daughters. One is seven and the other is two with a brother inbetween them.   I have never been one to dress them matchy matchy.  I was thinking about this fact the other day and I decided I'm not against it.   I think its just the age difference that I never really thought about it. Plus,  I'm all for using the hand me downs for the younger girl. 

So Since I have tons of this awesome blue fabric I thought I'd make a little summer dress for my two year old that matched the skirt I made for the seven year old.

Once again I used another dress she had as a template for width and height.

This dress kind of reminded me of a pillowcase dress only I added a little section at the top and obviously its not made out of a pillowcase :)

I'm sorry I didn't write down my measurements!  I was just eyeballing it the whole time.  Same as the skirt I hemmed all the raw edges. Then using the older dress as a template I cut off half circles on the top corners.  I then, sewed a loose stitch across the top without going back and forth on the ends.  Pull on one of the strings and gather the fabric.  I measured from armpit to armpit on my daughter (which was around 6 inches) and gathered the fabric down to that measurement. Then stitch on the edges so that it will hold what you gathered.  I did the same to both pieces. 

Then with these pieces laying face to face I sewed up the sides.

Next I cut a piece out of the blue fabric.  I cut it out a little wider then needed then gathered it in around the top until the measurments where the same as the yellow top.  Pin the top to the bottom and sew together all the way around.

Iron seams flat and turn inside out you will end up with this:

Now for the straps.

  I cut out two strip of the blue fabric around 2 or 2 1/2 inches wide.  First iron the strip in half 

Then unfold and take one of the halfs and folding toward the center in half again.  Like below:

Now do the same for the otherside.

Now find your center point on the straps and sandwich the yellow fabric inbetween the straps. Starting at the middle of the armpit.  Pin in place around the armpit and keep the strap pinned in half all the way up the rest of the fabric.  Finally sew in place. Starting at one end of the strap all the way around to the other end.  I also did a zigzag stitch on the ends of the straps to keep them from fraying.  I really wanted to use the yellow fabric for this but ran out.  oh well!

Thats it!

I like the way it is now but I'm still thinking about adding a strip of gathered fabric around the bottom to give it a ruffled look.  We will see.

A Skirt for my Girl

One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to get over my fear of sewing clothes.  I don't know why but the thought of trying to sew clothes really freaks me out.  But there is sooo many really cute things out there that I'd love to make for my 2 cute girls or even for myself.  I have even bought a few patterns but while reading the directions I usually get lost and then just give up on it all together! 

Well this is the year that I get over it!! I have some cute fabric that I've been staring at for a while thinking it would make a cute dress or skirt for my girls.  Through the last few years I've seen many different patterns and I feel like I get the idea and figured instead of confusing myself with following patterns I just try and figure it out on my own.

So here is what I started with. 

And once again I started out thinking of making one thing and ended up with something slightly different. For my 7 year old I wanted to make a dress out of a white tee-shirt and then adding on this cute yellow and blue fabric.  Well by the end I decided I didn't like the shirt look and cut it off! So some these picture show the shirt attached.  Just ignore that please.  :)

I used a dress she has outgrown as a template.  I knew that I just needed to make it longer.

First I cut out two pieces at 12 inches in length and 23 inches in width.  This will be the main part of the skirt.  Since I don't have a serger I had to hem around all the raw edges.  This is the part I usually want to skip but I was determined to make a skirt that my daughter could wear for a long time with out it falling apart in the wash!

 

Next, Place the pieces face to face and sew together on the shorter sides.  Then, I sewed a loose stich all the way around the top making sure not to sew back and forth on the ends.  After that pull one of the threads and gather the fabric in the size of the waist. 

Next I cut a piece from the yellow fabric I needed it long enough to go all the way around the waist.  I also cut it about 4 or 5 inches wide then sewed it in half and turned inside out.  That way I could slip a elastic waistband through the center.

Once again ignore the T-shirt since I got rid of that part  but I wanted to show you how I also attached a flower on the waist band. I also sewed a button in the middle of the flower, to finish it off.

around the bottom of the skirt I sewed on a 5 in wide strip . Once again hemming all the raw edges and gathering the fabric in so that gave the skirt more character.

Pin then sew around bottom.  I also added a yellow strip of fabric to that I tried to gather the yellow part in a little more before sewing on.  That way it was more of a ruffle at the bottom. (sorry no pictures of that)

Here is the end results. 

I think it ended up being pretty cute and hopefully should last her through the summer!

I appoligize I thought I had taken more photos while I was making it but apparently I didn't.  So please don't hesitate to ask any questions!  THis is really a simple straight forward pattern.

Gym Shirt for Practically Free

Hi, its Chelsea's cousin Alyson. She was sweet enough to let me guest blog again! I am really excited to share this idea. I don't quite dare say craft since it only involves a shirt and scissors.  Anyway, I, like most women, enjoy trying (key word) to appear somewhat fashionable while looking like a wet beaten dog at the gym.  But I am extremely cheap.  These two words don't always work out so well while shopping unless armed with major coupons and store cards you know darn well how to use. I am not this girl unfortunately.  So hello to a cheap girls workout clothes dream! The old sad T-shirt turned into a cute useable workout tank top.  I suggest using a t-shirt that is a bit baggy or even sneakily taking one from the back of your husbands closet. The style is meant to be loose.

Start with laying out your T-shirt on a flat surface.

 Next cut the sleeves, collar and bottom hem off of the shirt. Cut all seams off with pieces.

Since I started with a -neck i just followed the v and cut out a V on the back.  If you use a different neck line be sure to cut a V in the front and back.

Next, take the bottom seam that you cut of and cut the double seam part off so that there is no seam. I hope this makes sense.

 Next stretch the piece that has no seam really well.

 Take the back of the shirt and tie a knot towards the top around the two side pieces.

          wrap it all the way down tightly and tie another knot to secure it

          Cut the left over piece off

 The finished product front....

 and back.....

 I hope you enjoy this!!! Happy cutting!!!!