Pink Floral Dress

I am really happy with this little dress. It's the first time I've made this pattern. I love the details---the little pleated pockets, the tied shoulder straps, and the way it is gathered around the waist. It was easy to make, except for the pockets...they took forever! This is fabric I bought at Wal-Mart about 2 years ago for $1/yard and I finally got to use it. Hurray for little girl dresses! They are so fun!

Men's Shirt to Toddler Dress---I Did It!!!

This morning I happened upon a garage sale. All the clothes were 50 cents, so I picked up two men's shirts. I am SO glad I didn't get impatient and buy one at D.I. for $5. After paying 50 cents, that seems like such a rip off!

Anyway, I tried making a dress following the tutorial I posted about a few days ago. It was easy and pretty fast, too! And I am SUPER happy with the end result.

Here is the original shirt:



And here is what I turned it into:


I added some lace trim from my stash along the front bodice and hemline to give it a little touch of girly goodness. While I was working on it, I had about a million ideas of spin-off projects I could create. I still have a second shirt just waiting to be cut up, so stay tuned for more reconstruction mania!

Another Reconstructed Shirt

Can you tell I'm on "vacation" this week?! With my hubby home to help watch our daughter, I've been sewing up a storm! Here's another reconstructed shirt from that bag of clothes I saved from the thrift store. I cut it down to size (width, length, neck, and arm holes) and added an empire/baby doll waste. Now I just need to find some pink leggings to match!

*****BEFORE****************AFTER**********SO CUTE!****

Clothing Reconstruction: 2 Shirts To A Hoodie

Hurray! I am so excited about this project! When I got it all done, I danced out to the living room squealing to show my hubby. I even took pictures along the way so you can see how I did it.

I started with two shirts (which I forgot to take pictures of before I cut, so here they are with the least cutting done).

The blue shirt will be the body of the jacket. Carefully cut along the seam up either side and around the sleeve so it looks like the above picture. It should only be connected across the shoulder seams. Flip the back part of the shirt up and out of the way.

Next, put the shirt over the head of the person you are making this for. Using chalk, mark a new seam line along one front side. This makes the shirt smaller in the shoulders, arm holes, and body so it will fit right. Cut, then fold the shirt over and use it to cut the same thing on the right front side of the shirt.

Fold the back part down and cut the sides using the front as your guide. Turn the shirt inside out (right sides together) and sew from the bottom edge up to where the arm hole is on both sides.

Following the original seam lines, cut the sleeves off of the second shirt (see first picture). I used a black shirt with white polka dots. It was originally a 3/4 sleeve shirt for a 12 year old, but the length is perfect for my 2.5 year old.

Lay the sleeves out flat next to the body of the shirt. Now you need to make them fit into the arm holes on the blue shirt. So draw a chalk line from where the arm hole is and taper it down to the ends of the sleeves like in the picture above (this will also narrow the sleeves a bit). Sew on the chalk line and trim excess fabric.

Now sew each sleeve to the bodice. Turn the shirt inside out. Turn the sleeves right side out. Insert the sleeve into the arm hole and match the bottom seam on the sleeve with the side seam in the shirt. It will look something like this:

Sew all the way around the circle. Trim any excess fabric. (I had to fudge mine a little because the top edge of my sleeves were shaped funny.) Repeat for the sleeve on the other side.

Okay, now we're going to make the pocket. Get a piece of scratch paper and cut it into a shape like this

Lay it on the shirt to make sure it's the right proportion. No secrets here, just eyeball it. But DO make sure the pattern is straight.

Lay your newly-made pattern onto the second shirt and cut TWO pieces. While I was working on this part, my daughter asked me if I was making underwear. HAHA.

I can see what she means. It DOES look like undies!

Anyway, on with the instructions. Now flip the two pieces so they are right sides together and sew around the edges, leaving a little space to flip it right side out. You may need to clip the corners of this to get it to lay flat when turned right side out. Iron it also to get really crisp, flat corners.

Pin the pocket to the front of the shirt and sew along the straight edges. Don't sew along the two curved parts---that's where your little one will put her hands in!

Now it's time to make the hood. Start by measuring the neck hole of the blue shirt. Then cut two pieces shaped like this:

The top straight edge should be 1/2 the distance of the neck measurement you just took. Flip the two pieces so they are right sides together and sew from corner to corner along the curved side.

Next, you're going to make a binding (shown above) for the edge of the hood. Cut about a 2 inch strip of fabric long enough* to go all the way around the opening of the hood. Fold it in half and press. Bring each edge up to the middle crease line and press. Make it look like the picture above.

Put the edge of the hood inside the binding so that it's sandwiched in there and sew the binding on.

* If you can get a long enough piece, make it so it will go all the way around the opening to the hood. I didn't have enough fabric, so I made two separate pieces, then sewed them to each side of the hood separately BEFORE sewing the two hood pieces together. Here's a pic if I'm not being very clear:

It will look much better if you can manage to get a long enough piece to just go all the way around the hood.

Well, now that that's clear as mud, let's move on. Attach the hood to the neck hole of the shirt, first lining up the hood so it's centered with the shirt. I lined up the back seam and the middle of the tag in back. Then sew it down.

Now all you have left to do is clip threads, adjust the bottom hem if the shirt is too long (I didn't need to) and then step back and admire your handiwork! Here's the finished product:

I guess she likes it:

Don't Send It To The Thrift Store!!!

So while visiting my parents, I discovered that my little sister had a whole garbage bag full of cute clothes that don't fit her anymore. Most are about girls size 12. I decided I would experiment to see if I could come up with anything suitable for Sadie to wear. Let me tell you, I have been in seamstress bliss for the last few days! It's been like playing fashion designer! I have been ripping apart shirts and scouring the internet for tutorials as fast as I can! I will definitely post the outfits that actually turn out. :) So if anyone's got a bag of clothes waiting to be sent to D.I., hold off---you may be able to make something fabulous!

My Favorite Pattern Ever

Hi Everyone! So I went to D.I. to look for a man shirt to transform into a little dress and I was very sadly reminded how overpriced D.I. is! $5-8 for an old shirt? Not happening. I'll have to wait and hit up some garage sales this summer so I can get shirts for $1 or less.

But in the meantime, I thought I would post about my FAVORITE pattern ever....Simplicity #5695. I got it for 99 cents on sale at Joann's and have used it more than any other pattern I've ever owned. It is so versatile. So far I've made three dresses and four summer shirts from it. The best part is that it actually has sleeves and doesn't require a zipper. I only have pictures of three of the things I've made and they are all very similar looking. But I promise the pattern can be changed up quite a bit!

The first two pictures are little baby doll shirts. I just adapted the pattern to shirt length and added ties in the back. I'm going to buy/make blue leggings with stars on them to go with the red shirt so she can wear it on the Fourth of July. The third picture is a tiered dress that I lengthened so she can wear it for a very long time. It has fit for an entire year, and it's not too small yet! Hurray!

Anyway, if you're looking for an easy pattern that will get lots of use, try Simplicity #5695. But only buy it when Joann's is having a sale! :)

Men's Shirt Transformed To Toddler Dress

Wow! I just found my next project! This lady gives AWESOME step-by-step instructions with photos on how to take an old men's button up shirt and transform it into a fabulous little girls dress. Guess I will be going on a shirt hunt at D.I. very soon. The way she did this is brilliant. It looks really easy too! You can see the full instructions at: www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=170402.0%20toddler%20dress%20from%20shirt

Amazing Quick Donuts

I tried a new donut recipe a while back that is OUTRAGEOUS. Most donut recipes take a few hours of rising time and well, when I want a donut, I don't want to wait for a few hours! This recipe only takes 30 minutes, so it's a winner in my book! The finished product is light and fluffy. Just don't make these too often because they are completely irresistable!

Ingredients:
5 teaspoons yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour (more if dough is sticky)
oil for frying

Maple Glaze:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons maple syrup or maple extract
powdered sugar (enough to make it the consistency you prefer)

Mix yeast, water and sugar. Wait until bubbles form in mixture. Add egg, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, salt and flour. Mix to form dough. Knead dough for 1 minute. Roll out dough and cut donuts using donut cutter or large drinking glass. Allow to rise for 30 minutes on floured surface. Fry in oil until golden brown. Oil should be approximately 350°. Coat with maple glaze or any topping of your choice (chocolate, cinnamon sugar, etc.). These would also be AWESOME if filled with cream, custard, or fruit filling.

Quick and Easy Plaid Quilt

We found out a few weeks ago that we will be having a baby boy. The first thing I did was run to the fabric store and buy fabric for a plaid quilt! I'll post the general instructions for making this quilt. If you want more specifics, leave me a comment and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Materials:
* 1/4 yard of five different plaid fabrics. I used homespun and shirting material found on sale at Joanns. The total price was around $6.
* Batting. I happened to have some leftover strips from making a queen sized quilt, so I basted them together and didn't have to pay anything for the batting! Yay!
* 1 1/2 - 2 yards backing fabric. I used a piece of blue flannel I found in my fabric stash that I purchased last year for $1 per yard. Score!

Basic Instructions:
* Cut six 7 1/4 inch squares from each fabric.
* Arrange them however you would like (I did mine completely random...which is harder than it sounds).
* Sew all squares together to make the quilt top.
* Machine stitch the quilt top, batting, and backing fabric together. I stitched in the ditch down the rows for an easy way to keep the quilt together.
* Sew all leftover scraps together in a long strip. Trim down to 2 inches wide by long enough to go around the quilt. Use this as the binding fabric.

So that's how I made this quilt in a nutshell. Like I said, if you want more details, leave me a comment!

Hooded Towel

When my daughter was born, my mom made a hooded bath towel for her. It is one of THE most useful things...especially now that she's a toddler. If it weren't for the hood, she would probably do a lot more streaking when she gets out of the tub. haha. I made this hooded bath towel to give as a baby shower gift. You can find step-by-step instructions to make your own hooded bath towel at www.breakitdowndesign.com.