Tag Archives: dress

Iris Dress

Project Run & Play is back! This time around is only four weeks and I have vowed to work ahead a little bit…just so things don’t get out of control and I miss out on entering my submissions.

Week one is: Inspired by Art—Choose an artist, art movement, or artwork and create a children’s look inspired by your choice.

When I read the themes I knew I immediately wanted to do something based on the Impressionists…they are generally my favorites. I was feeling particularly drawn to Van Gogh’s work. (Probably because I just recently watched the “Vincent and the Doctor” episode of Doctor Who…there is just something moving about the way Vincent describes how he sees the world at the end of the episode. I know, I know…nerd alert.) Irises are one of my favorite flowers and I have always loved his interpretation of their beauty.

Source: vangoghgallery.com viaHarmony on Pinterest

So, with that awesome image in mind I set out looking for fabric and a dress shape that would evoke the fluidity of his strokes and the shapes of the irises. A normal “smooth” fabric just wouldn’t work for the feel I wanted and I eventually thought of using gauze. It is a semi-sheer, wrinkly fabric with a ton of body and movement and I knew it would be perfect. And then in the process of searching for something else altogether I ran across this pattern.

Source: butterick.mccall.com viaHarmony on Pinterest

I love the circle skirt on it and the way the tiers can look like petals. Perfect!

I altered the pattern in a couple ways…first, I decided not to mess with doing a zipper. I thought it would be too fiddly with this slippery fabric. And then because the fabric is so light I felt it would be too heavy. I just added a loop of elastic cord and a single yellow button at the top to be the closure. This created a cute little peek-a-boo at the back.

It also made the skirt be two true circles which was perfect for spinning!

So, one thing I forgot to count on after I had painstakingly ironed and hemmed both skirt tiers is that this gauze fabric would fall out differently on the bias. And now my circle skirt is rather asymmetrical. I mean, it works for the feel of petals of an iris, but just something to keep in mind for the future.

Dinah did love her new dress…which is great, because she is quickly growing out of everything and I lost my main provider of hand-me-downs last year. So, she will be getting the majority of the new clothes this time around since Esther has a TON of dresses that I just pulled out of storage.

And I had to share this picture. Whenever we say, “Smile, Dinah!” she does this.

No one knows why. Weirdo.

And one final story about this dress…it is probably my most beautiful dress on the inside. I used french seams on the skirt and I actually took the time to hand stitch the bodice lining down. It was a lot of work, but I was really happy with how it turned out. And then Esther broke into the sewing room and got a hold of a Sharpie and thought that Dinah’s dress needed some decoration. Ack! There was a huge black mark along the back shoulder of her dress. Christian broke out the Carbona and scrubbed and scrubbed and now you can barely tell it was there! Whew!

Ruffled Remix

Hey everyone…I can’t believe it is already week 5 for Project Run & Play. This week’s challenge was to take a men’s shirt and remix it into something new. I found this shirt on Pinterest a long time ago…

Source: janieandjack.com via Harmony on Pinterest

…and knew that I would like to attempt something like this for a men’s shirt refashion in the future.

So, I was excited about this challenge because I already had a great idea AND I had several of Christian’s shirts in my refashion bin waiting for me to get around to them.

My first step was to think out the whole process of remaking this shirt from scratch and write it down. After I had that clear in my mind I was able to get started. AND now that everything is pretty much all written out I think I will put together a tutorial for you all. Look for that after this cycle of Project Run & Play is complete.

Okay, so this was the shirt I started with.

Just a normal pinstriped men’s dress shirt. It is a muted light green in color with navy blue pinstripes. My original plan was to use only fabric from the shirt…just like my inspiration shirt. But when I started cutting I realized that 1.) The colors were just too boring to not use a contrast and 2.) There wasn’t enough length in the sleeve to make a sash long enough for Dinah. So, contrast fabric it was.

And I am so in love with how this turned out!

It ended up being the perfect little shirt dress. It will be cute for church or school and she seems really comfortable in it.

Some details:

For my pattern I adapted the A-line dress pattern that I used for the Polka-Stripe Dresses to be sleeveless. The armholes ended up a smidge too big, but they are still okay. Just a mental note for later dresses made from this pattern.

I used a navy blue cotton to make bias tape for the neckline and the armholes. I made half inch double fold tape for the neck and quarter inch double fold tape for the arm holes. There is also a little sash made from the same fabric.

My new favorite thing is hem facing. I just love the little pop of color it adds to the hem of a dress. (You can just see it peeking out a bit in this picture.) And it helps with things like fabric yardage. For example…making this dress from Christian’s shirt I realized that if I included a normal hem allowance that the dress might end up being a little short. Enter hem facing! This way I only had to include a quarter inch hem allowance and I was able make the dress an appropriate length.

I replaced the boring clear-ish buttons on the shirt with some navy blue buttons from my stash. They are actually some vintage buttons that my grandma sent to me awhile back when she was clearing out her stash. I’ve received a couple boxes of things like buttons and lace and bias tape and other trims. It is fun to dig through them and find the perfect thing for a project I am working on at the time.

And I love the ruffles along the front! Just what was needed to make such a neutral-manly print seem a bit more girly.

And, really, one of my favorite things about this dress is that it is so one of a kind. I mean, making things myself usually has that result, however, making something from a widely available pattern from widely available fabric means that item *could* be duplicated, if wanted. But unless you could hunt down another one of this random shirt from early 2000′s Express there is no way to make another exactly like this one. I should refashion more…one of my other favorite outfits was this one made from vintage pillowcases.

I guess that really is the fun of making and designing clothes for our kids…making pieces that are unique and really fit you and your child’s personal style. And that is what next week is all about! Signature Style Week is coming up!

Polka-Stripe Dresses

I hate missing deadlines! These dresses were originally supposed to be submitted for Project Run & Play’s week 2 challenge: Stripes and Polka-Dots. I was really excited about this challenge too, because I already had this awesome polka-dot corduroy. I got it last fall to make new Fall Dresses for my girls, but pregnancy exhaustion struck.

So, when last week started I pulled out the fabric and fell in love with it all over again. AND I noticed that the polka-dots actually make a stripe pattern…bonus! Many of the folks sewing along with the challenge were doing interesting things mixing up prints and while that is awesome, it just makes me nervous. I guess my style is much less adventurous than that. The fact that I actually was hitting both polka-dots and stripes in one awesome piece of fabric made me even more excited to get down to work on them. And then…life struck. My children were crazy-pants all week and didn’t actually go to sleep until after 9 pm each night…I had to finish up a couple orders for the Shop…I got a wicked headache that lasted 2 days…our pest control company sprayed the house one morning and then 7 hours later the floors were still soaking wet, effectively locking the small children and pregnant people out of the house…it was just one of those nutty weeks. I was able to work on the dresses here and there, but just couldn’t get them done for the Friday at 8:00 am deadline. Boo. But I plowed on and finished them this weekend and the girls were able to wear them to church this morning.

And now that my whining and excuse-making are over, I present to you my Polka-Stripe Dresses!

Polka-Stripe Dresses-4

Since I bought this fabric I have been going back and forth in my brain over what I wanted them to look like. I decided this week that I wanted to do a simple a-line dress to show off the print on the fabric. But because that would be too easy I wanted to give myself a couple challenges.

The first challenge was the sleeves. I took an existing straight sleeve pattern and expanded it using ikat bag’s sleeve adapting tutorials. I wanted a slight puff at the top and quite a bit of volume gathered into cuffs just below the elbows. Esther’s didn’t turn out as big as Dinah’s, but I love the result of both for each of their dresses.

And the other challenge was to do a real button placket. Um…I have to say this was A LOT more daunting. I looked up several tutorials and settled on this one. Okay, in theory it seemed simple enough. And it was…sort of. They turned out okay, but I need lots more practice to get them to look better. Esther’s is slightly crooked and both of them are hideous on the inside. But on moving children you can’t notice any imperfections and no one will ever see the insides.

Each girl had a different contrast color for the lining, underside of the button placket and the hem facing. And they each had fabric covered buttons (my favorite!) made with some of their color dots.

After church today we went to a friend’s house for lunch and I took our pictures there. Dinah was being a good model again…

…but Esther was a wild woman! This is mostly what she wanted to do…

Polka-Stripe Dresses-Silly Esther 3

These were definitely better late than never. I just love how they turned out (though Dinah’s is a bit big on her right now) and I am glad I set myself new challenges, even if it meant I missed the deadline for the contest.

Next week: my little nephew gets to be the star of the show for Boys’ Week!

So, does anyone have tips for making a better button placket?

Infinity Dresses…for Little Girls

This week’s Project Run & Play challenge was to remix the Party Dress from The Cottage Home. I have to admit I struggled with this one. A pattern like this is very basic and yet very specific. A basic, lined bodice is pretty much the foundation for almost any garment. AND I had made dresses almost exactly like this before. (The girls’ Easter dresses from last spring…I used them for my Signature Look the last time I participated in the sew-along.) So…what on earth could I do that would adequately “remix” it?? I was thisclose to just skipping the first week. However, my out-of-the-box thinking, creative-minded husband came to the rescue. He was looking at the picture of the dress on The Cottage Home’s site and said…what if you did it like one of those infinity dresses? Eureka! I loved this idea!

I recently helped a friend figure out the best way to wear one of these dresses for her brother’s wedding, so they have been on my radar. Apparently they are (were? Am I behind?) all the rage for their simplicity and versatility. The idea of one for little girls appealed to me for the same reasons. Although the top did need some tweaking to make it more appropriate for children. (for example…my girls are not going around strapless!)

What I ended up creating is a simple tank dress made of a two-way stretch jersey that I found at Joann.

It has a lined bodice and a slightly gathered skirt.

For interest at the hem I added a band.

Infinity Dresses-25

And instead of a normal sash, I gave the dress two loooonnnnggg sash pieces at either side that can be used to wrap around the little one in several different ways to give the dress a new look every time she wears it.

Except for fighting with the knit, this was a really easy dress to create and I thought I would share a little tutorial with you! These will be super comfy and fun to wear in the spring/summer (although it is 80+ degrees here this week!). My girls loved them and didn’t really want to take them off.

I am so glad that I didn’t skip this week! I just love these simple dresses and they will be a great addition to their warm weather wardrobe! I just wanted to share a few more pics from the photoshoot today…Dinah was being a ham and it was cracking us all up. I promise I did not coach her at all…these poses came straight from her crazy, three-year-old mind. :) Just scroll down for the tutorial…

Infinity Dress Tutorial

Materials Needed:
Stretchy knit fabric (preferably with two-way stretch)
Coordinating thread
Ball point needle for your machine
Walking foot (optional…but I find it helpful)

Step One: Create your pattern, calculate your measurements and make your cuts

The first thing you will want to do is make a tank top pattern if you don’t already have one. This is super easy…just go dig out a knit tank top that fits your child well, fold it in half and trace. Don’t forget to leave a bit of room for seam allowances…I did 0.5 inch for this project. I made the front pieces a bit lower in the neckline than the back, but you could do them the same if you wanted…that is totally a personal preference thing.

Next you will need figure out how much fabric you will need for your skirt and the hem band. Here is the formula I used:

((Waist x 1.5) + 1) / 2 = each skirt panel width (That 1 is added for seam allowance.)

My measurements:
Dinah (4T size): ((22 x 1.5) + 1) / 2 = (33 + 1) / 2 = 34/2 = 17
Esther (2T size): ((19 x 1.5) + 1) / 2 = (26 + 1) / 2 = 27/2 = 13.5

For the length, you need to measure how long you want the dress to be. I did from about 4 inches under the arm to right at the knee. Take this measurement and add 1 inch. Next subtract 3 inches (or however big you want your band). This should be the length of the top panel of the skirt.

My measurements were:
Dinah: 14 + 1 = 15 – 3 = 12
Esther: 10.5 + 1 =11.5 – 2.5 = 9 (I made Esther’s band slightly smaller)

So, to recap my top skirt panels were:
Dinah: 17 x 12 inches
Esther: 13.5 x 9 inches

The band panels should be twice the length you want the bands to be plus 1 inch and as wide as your skirt panels.

My bands were:
Dinah: 17 x 7
Esther: 13.5 x 6

And finally you will need your sash strips. I just cut two strips for each dress the width of the fabric. For Dinah’s I did 5 inches and for Esther I did 3 inches.

Isn’t math fun? Or not…okay, here are all the cuts you need…

Cut 2 of each:
front bodice piece
back bodice piece
top skirt panel
hem band
sash strips

Step Two: Make the bodice

**Note: for all my stitching I used a stretch stitch on my machine, a ball point needle, and a walking foot. The stretch stitch I used looks like a little lightning bolt. You could also use a very narrow zigzag stitch. This just allows your seams to stretch just a bit with the fabric so your stitching doesn’t pop.**

Pin front bodice piece to the back bodice piece at side seams encasing one end of each sash piece at the sides. Leave about 1 inch on either side of the sash in the seam. You will have to gather the end of the sash pieces to accomplish this. Pin together the front and back bodice lining pieces at the side seams, as well.

Stitch the side seams together on both the bodice and the lining.

Place the bodice and lining right sides together and pin bodice to the lining at the neckline and armholes leaving the top of shoulders open.

Stitch along neckline and armholes.

Turn the bodice wrong side out and press well.

Pin the shoulder seams right sides together and stitch.

Finish the seam as you choose…I just trimmed to a 1/4 inch and did a simple zigzag stitch. I also hand tacked the seam down at the shoulder, just so it laid nice and flat.

And now the bodice is finished!

Step Three: Make the skirt

Fold hem bands in half lengthwise, wrong sides together and press.

Place raw edge of hem band along bottom of skirt panel, right sides together. Pin and stitch. Finish seam and press band down and seam up. Repeat for the other half of the skirt.

Pin skirt panels together at side seams, matching the hem band seam lines. Stitch together and press seams open.

Near the top edge of the skirt run a gathering stitch. Pull the bobbin threads to create a slight gather around the top of the skirt.

**And, I apparently was in such a great hurry to finish these up that I totally forgot to take pictures of these final steps. Hopefully this makes sense and you can figure it out. :/ Sorry!**

Step Four: Finishing it all up!

Pin your skirt and bodice right sides together. Match up the side seams and adjust your gathering so the skirt panel width matches the bodice. Finish those seams and press the seam allowance down toward the skirt.

And you are done! Now you can wrap up those cuties however you wish!

If you make one of these, I would love to see it! Add your pictures to my Flickr group!

Peter Pan Birthday Party

My Dinah turned three (!) last week and of course we had to have a party for her. I love throwing parties. And parties with a theme are so much more fun. In thinking through some of Dinah’s favorite things, I toyed with Little Einsteins or another Mickey party and then she asked to watch Disney’s Peter Pan one more time. Peter Pan, of course. We regularly travel to Never Land on her magic carpet and she is always pretending to be “Cappin Hook” and we are always assigned other characters from the tale.

Dinah says, “Arggh!”

And because of the popularity of pirates and pixies among her age group I knew a costume party was the way to go.

I had already been planning to make a “Wendy Dress” for Dinah since the first time I put her hair in a ponytail and noticed the sweet little ringlets. This definitely seemed to be the perfect opportunity to make it.

I’ll be detailing The Wendy Dress in a separate post. I love how it turned out so much that it deserves its own space.

Little Esther would be our Tinkerbell. I simply made her a cute green tutu and got her some wings. She already looks like a little imp, so she was the perfect pixie.

Some more party details…

Since her party was really just a glorified play-date, I didn’t go overboard with the decorations. I used our screened-in porch as the “Lost Boys’ Hideout” and most of the party took place out there and in the back yard. (We put down sod in the backyard the week before and it was so awesome for the kids to have a nice grassy area to play.)

Running from the crocodile in the backyard.

Wendy with her sword and hook on the porch.

Wendy, Peter, Tinkerbell and a couple pirates playing in the sand table.

I hung streamers in the window to look like vines and some cute paper lanterns that I thought looked like fairy houses. (Of course, I have no pictures of this…I forgot to take them in the rush to get everything set up for the party.)

And my favorite part…Peter Pan’s shadow!

For favors, I made each guest their own Peter Pan hat. (They also had a small goodie bag of snacks with stickers and bubbles.)

The Peter hats were ridiculously easy to make and I’ll post a tutorial for them. They also looked so cute on all the little heads.

And one of the best parts, I didn’t even make. The cake.

My friend Krystle is an accomplished baker and cake decorator. This is NOT where my gifts lie, so I decided to get some help from a friend. I told her what I wanted and she made the most awesome Never Land cake.