Thursday, July 21, 2011

Sewing for my little girl

When Olivia was born my sister loaned me some baby clothes which included LOTS of summer dresses.  But having my first girl and being somewhat crafty, I can't stop myself from pumping out a few dresses now and then.  First of all, I've been seeing these bandanna dresses around: http://artsyfartsymama.blogspot.com/2011/07/bandana-dress.html AND http://www.momtastic.com/home-and-living/features/128314-diy-st-pattys-bandana-dress and am loving them.  First of all, they're inexpensive.  A trip to the dollar store for two $1 bandannas.  Secondly, they're nice and lightweight for those few blistering days we sometimes get (have you heard we're supposed to have a really warm August)  Really easy project: shirring, seams and ribbon.



Since madam is so scrawny I trimmed the outer edges (and used them to make the ties) so there was some hemming involved, but I think any bigger that 6 months you could get away with just sewing the two sides together, shirring (or adding a casing for some elastic) and attaching some ribbon ties!  This could even be made as a toddler shirt.
I decided to make it a halter, so I attached the ties at the middle and made sure I had enough length to tie a bow.  Here's madam pretending she doesn't know what to do in front of the camera:


Sorry, I had my 50mm lens so only her eyes are really in focus, but you can see how I just sewed the ties together at a right angle, then attached them to the front (after shirring).
And here's a view of the back.  Now that O is swimming around, it's rather challenging getting a decent pic of her on the ground...




I wasn't too sure if the back would sag since there's no ties, but it holds up great!  Loving the little baby shoulders!!!
I think my next bandana project will be something like this: http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.223985305.jpg  Aren't those baby cowgirl boots adorable!?!

NEXT! Jess at Craftiness is not Optional had a sew-along this week for her adorable Junebug dress (tutorial here:  http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2011/07/junebug-dress-sew-along-part-1-pattern.html  so of course I could not resist joining in.  Showed DH when it was done and he complemented my fabric choice, which I could not have been happier about since it was a ReUse centre find!!!  I think O will wear it to an upcoming wedding...


And theeen... there was this simple romper posted on Nap Time Crafters http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/2011/07/tie-sun-suit-tutorial.html (looove this blog) which looked so adorable on her little girl that I just couldn't resist:

So I'm thinking Olivia has plenty of clothes, but I CANNOT resist sewing for her!!!