Rainbow Twirl Dress

Rainbows have recently started showing up in Little Miss’s drawings and she often tells me she likes all the colors, except black and so making her a rainbow dress just seemed like a good idea.  I saw this dress on craftster years ago (okay, I just went and looked, 2007!) and have been wanting to make it ever since.
Vegbee (craftster name) has a free tutorial on her blog indietutes for the rainbow twirl dress. She also a ton of other tutorials that are on my must sew list (check the full list on the left hand sidebar).  She also offers a more detailed version in her etsy store SweetShop with the bodice pattern piece and exact number of patches to complete a finished dress.  I opted to purchase the pattern, cut and sew without math was completely worth $4.00!  The pattern is very detailed and easy to follow and the results are fabulous.
I really want to make one using scraps, but this time I wanted the rainbow and sorting through my extensive stash to find a rainbow was NOT going to happen!  I bought a batik jellyroll from W-mart and supplemented it with a few extra 1/4 yard batik cuts.  I needed a lot extra of purple and yellow batik is hard to find.I sewed the strips together and made alternating patchwork in the designated lengths.  I wish I had a serger, it would have made the process much faster.  I used my handy cording foot to zigzag over dental floss to gather the layers up.  I honestly would not recommend trying to gather this up in the traditional way, with two rows of stitching, pulling the bobbin threads.  She suggests using elastic and I’m sure that would give you a nice, even gather.  I like using denatal floss because it’s cheap and it slides easily through the zigzags to make gathers and it is impossible to break, once each layer was sewn together I removed the floss and then finished all the edges.Here’s the finished dress all laid out in a circle.  That purple tier took forever, it was over 12 feet long.  This is great beginner pattern, really, it’s almost entirely straight sewing, except for the curves on the bodice.  Seriously, I LOVE this dress and now I want one in my size.  I’m not kidding, I’m going to be sorting through my massive stash and cutting squares as I go, but first I need to do some math (ugh) and figure out how many squares and tiers I’m going to need. Here are the action shots from yesterday’s egg hunt.  There was a lot of spinning.  I really need to make her some matching bloomers to wear under this, she is not very lady like ;)

The Easter Dress…

…that didn’t get worn.  I know what you’re thinking, it wasn’t finished, but it was.  I used the button shirt to toddler dress tutorial from craftster.  BTW, it was really easy to do and it really made a cute dress.  I had bought the perfect shirt (from the Goodwill), so cute with pink and blue plaid, and it was going to be great.  I made my dress and ended up adding elastic to the top front to make it fit a little better, but other than that everything fit perfect and it was really quick to make.

The reason she didn’t wear it was that I didn’t like how the colors looked on her.  I know, that seems a little silly, but I really am picky about what the kids wear.  It’s okay, but it would have been a lot cuter on her if it was a brighter color or had a bolder pattern.  It might even look better this summer after we’ve had a little sun.  I thought about dying it, but I sewed it with polyester thread, so that would stay white, and I wasn’t sure what color to use anyway.  I’m still thinking about solutions.  I really like the style of the dress, the little ruffle straps are my favorite.  I would also look great with a petticoat under it.

I do recommend the tutorial, it was very easy and the results were great, just make sure to pick the right shirt!

Lilblueboo Pattern Review

Last weekend was $.99 clothing at the Goodwill, my favorite time of the month, and this month I was on a mission for some super cute knit fabrics to make my new pattern. The Goodwill I go to is smaller, but really nicely organized, all the women’s clothing is sorted by color. All I had to do was find a few cute patterned knits and go to the coordinating color section to find matching extra knits, super easy. It was also fun because it didn’t matter what size the shirts were(smalls seem to have the best designs). I came home with this:

Using the Sienna Dress Pattern from Lilblueboo I made this awesome dress for Little Miss:

I was so excited when I got this pattern and have been waiting to try it, I had to find the perfect knits. It has lots of step by step photos and a lot of tips for working with knits, which I thought was going to be difficult (it wasn’t!). I also really like the different sleeve and skirt options for this pattern (I used a tapered sleeve and ruffle for this version), I will be using it over and over and the dresses will have different looks. Don’t forget the opportunity to embellish the fabric is endless. I also have to mention how impressed I was that the pattern pieces matched up so well, a lot of times the commercial patterns are difficult to match (all those notches and dots), not this pattern everything went together smoothly. I highly recommend this pattern, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, finding/reclaiming old knit fabric is so fun, and the dress is super soft and comfortable! Don’t forget to stop by her blog for more tips and tutorials.

I also brought a few more knits home to work with, you know I spent more that $2.00 on $.99 day, right?

And some cute tops for me and an almost brand new baby coat for next year, the bargain saving high is great and I can’t wait to make a couple more dresses. I also have a plan for the left over knit from making these dresses, more on that later this week. If you want to see what other people are making from her patterns check out her flickr group.

Ladies Top to Girly Dress

On one of my recent trips to my local thrift store I found this adorable super small top.  It was $.99 day and I really liked the fabric, I was thinking it would make a cute tote. I was looking through all of my finds and Little Miss saw this and thought it was a dress for her.  After trying it on her I realized that with only a little alteration it would be just perfect.

I removed one row of the elastic smocking about 2 inches from the “skirt” and then chopped the top off, I finished the edge with a stitch on my machine that looks like a blanket stitch (I’ve lost my manual and I have no idea what it’s called).  I did the same thing to the smocking about 2 inches from the top and cut off and finished the edges.  I used this strip to make the straps.  I also cut another strip of smocking off of the scrap to make a headband, I just stitched a seam at the correct size and ta-da, matching headband!

So here’s my super cute $.99 dress, I had brown thread on hand.  The great thing is that she will be able to wear this for several years, the smocking is loose fitting, with room to grow and the length is generous.  I will definitely keep on the look out for smocked tube tops, this was just to easy!

Twirl Skirt Recon

As I wandered through the Goodwill a few weeks ago this cute ruffled skirt caught my eye.  It wasn’t my size or even my style, but I just had to have it!  It was begging to become a twirl dress for my daughter.  It had a slight aqua color, but I am not a fan of light colored clothing for children, especially a party dress.  I used navy blue Rit dye to make it a richer blue.

I hand dipped the skirt into the dye holding it for a few minutes for each layer, I was going for a gradation dyed effect.  It’s a little wobbly, but I like it and besides she’s three, is she really going to hold still long enough for anyone to notice it’s not perfectly straight.  The top two layers were just dipped and immediately removed to be rinsed.

Now I just need to decide how to cut it apart and put it back together, Oh and I need to find my sewing machine and unpack the craft room, everything is still in boxes.  I hope to finish this up in the next few weeks, I want her to be able to wear it to my cousins wedding.

Caftan - After

I happily sewed all last evening and this afternoon and this is the result.
I used McCalls #5626 View A with the length of C. I really like this pattern, it is loose and flowing without looking like a tent. I think that all of the different lengths are great and that the details that can be added to the yoke make this a pattern that can be made again and again without being boring. The only problem that I had was getting the yoke attached to the dress front, but with a little fiddling I got it.
I know that it is hard to see, but there is are ties under the bust to give it shape. This fabric is like camouflage for itself! I normally do a bust cup adjustment on commercial patterns, but I thought there was enough ease to get by without one. I think that it would look/lay better if I had made that adjustment, but I will still wear this, I'll just need a good minimizing bra :).

I hope that you can see the ties in this one and also how close fitting the bust is. I also thought I should share this "out take" to give you a better idea of the chaos that is really going on here at my house and maybe explain why I look a little worn out on some of these photos.