Baby Gifts Modeled (Caution. . . Adorable babies ahead. . .)

Fair warning. . . 

You can't handle the cuteness. I'm dying over here.

 You've got to love it when a Momma loves her shower gifts so much that within a week she's given you photos of the outfits in action. . . and recruited helpers for the things that were too big.

Hello sweet little baby toes! I barely even see that bright skirt I'm so overwhelmed with the urge to kiss those toes. 

 And then there is this.
Heaven help us, does she not look like an angel?

This is exactly how I envisioned this dress in my head. I am so glad I got to see it on a model.

I really have no words for this one.

A big Awwwww. . . is all I can muster.

There is nothing sweeter than ruffles on a baby's bottom. . . Except maybe those curled up tootsies. . . Or that sweet sleepy face. . .

Thank you ladies so much for sharing your sweet girls with us! It is so gratifying to see something you've made actually in use and even more, to know it's appreciated.

~Lindsay

Gifts for baby. . .

Am I the only one who finds sewing/blogging hard in the summer? 

Maybe I'm just out in the garden more. I don't know.

But I'm definitely not as prolific in the summer months.

I did get in there enough to make a few sweet little gifts for a baby shower this past week.

Baby clothes are so fun to sew. They take so little time and fabric comparatively.

 Embellishing onesies is alway fun. This one I just topped off with a bit of ruffle trim around the collar.

I think it's just the right amount of understated sweetness to pair up with this bold little skirt.

And the skirt (complete with threads needing trimmed. . . sigh. . .) is a simple design with a sweet little ribbon hem.  I love this fabric. It's been in my stash for forever waiting for just the right project. I think this was it.

Instructions on how to complete a ribbon hem are at the end of the Oliver + S Lazy Days Skirt Pattern. It's a technique I've used more than once to avoid hemming a garment!

My personal favorite summer baby gift is also the least photogenic.

It's near impossible to get a good photo unless it is ON a child. 

But Heaven help us. . . believe me when I say this little ruffle bum romper is the pinnacle of adorableness. 

If you don't believe me, click HERE (but don't blame me if you faint from cuteness overload!).

You can get yourself a copy of the pattern by Little Lizard King, here.

I highly recommend it.

The last gift was inspired by this beautiful embroidered pillowcase that was in my stash of vintage goodness I received from my grandma.

I ALMOST made a traditional pillow case dress.

Maybe I should have since that tutorial is the one thing driving traffic to this blog.

But I didn't.

You know me, I can't ever do the same thing twice. 

So I made a peasant dress.

 I used a bit of vintage bias tape to make some fun little stripes. One on the waist and one on the skirt--to make up for the fact that I cut the skirt too short! Shh! Don't tell, I made a mistake! Ha!!

I really do live the bias tape though. It looks so perfect with the sunny yellow flowers.

This embroidery bewitched me.

I am a sucker for a scalloped crochet edge.

I wish you could feel the fabric through the computer. It's the softest time worn bit of lovely you will ever see or feel.

It simply begged to be made into a dainty baby gown.

Unfortunately, I didn't make it to this shower but I sent my gift ahead.  I'm told there were great oohs and aaaahs among the crowd.  That stuff always makes me uncomfortable. But what I really hope is that the Momma felt loved and blessed because that's what it's about for me and it's what keeps me sewing. . . even when the sun shines bright outside my sewing room window and my garden beckons.

More baby gifts to come! Another sweet girl due the end of this month will be receiving a package soon! Assuming I get my act together and finish one last thing!

~Lindsay

Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

Because the internet needs one more take on how to make these cute little dresses, right?

Actually, believe it or not I've had a hard time finding a tutorial that suites me so I have come up with my own hodgepodge method of sorts to share.

Sidenote: I wrote these instructions for the sewing novice. I don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence, I just want to help teach a new skill  to a few folks if I can. Experienced seamstresses, thanks for your patience!

Supplies:

• Pillowcase--Any old pillowcase will do. I've found all sorts of lovely ones at the thrift store but you can use new or one from your linen closet as well. The size of the pillow case doesn't matter so just pick something pretty.
• Double fold bias tape (aka seam binding)--get "Extra-Wide" if you've never used it before or make your own if you are a show off!
• Straight pins
• Scissors
• 1/4" Elastic
• A safety pin
• Thread--please match it to your pillowcase and seam binding. It will hide crooked stitches better!
• Sewing machine--this should go without saying, right? But also here I should include extra needles, bobbin, etc. Anything you need to make your machine run, k?
• Seam ripper--I hesitate to add this to the list because I am confident in your abilities--but even the most advanced seamstress has to rip out a few stitches here and there. It's best to be prepared.
• Iron and Ironing Board--Sewing is so much easier on crisply ironed fabric!
• Trim--this is optional but a little bit of rick rack or ribbon can really make this simple dress into something over the top cute.

The Process:


1.  Cut your pillowcase down to size. 

Sizing will be based off of the Little Dresses for Africa website since that's where I'm sending my dresses but you can feel free to measure your little one to get a more custom fit. Just measure from shoulder to where you want the dress to fall and add about 1", give or take, for the top elastic casing.

2 = 16 inches

3 = 19 inches

4 = 22 inches

5 = 24 inches

6 = 26 inches

7 = 28 inches

8 = 30 inches

9 = 32 inches

10 = 34 inches

11 = 36 inches

You want to cut off the end that is sewn together and leave the hem (that will be the hem of your dress later--big time saver!)

So, for example, if you have a 40" pillowcase and you are making a size 8 dress you will measure up from the hem 30" and cut straight across. You would be left with 10" of scrap fabric to add to that scrappy quilt you are planning to make "someday". Or is that just me?

2. Cut your arm holes. 

Fold your pillowcase in half so that the side seams meet and the top cut edge is lined up. 

On the side with the seams (not the center fold), measure down 4" from the top corner and over 2" from the top corner. My lines are a little hard to see but look there by the 12 on the left and at 2" on top.

Cut a curved line from point to point. You can mark this first with a disappearing ink pen if that makes you more comfortable. You could even use a Sharpie if you wanted since this part will eventually be hidden under the seam binding.

Your arm hole line should look sort of like a "J" with a slanted bottom hook if that helps. But don't sweat this. This dress is super roomy and very forgiving. Close totally counts. 

If you are totally anal, go HERE for a template. Go ahead. I won't judge. 

3. Make your elastic casing.  

Make sure your iron is hot and ready to steam! 

You are going to want to iron down about 1/4"  of the fabric on the top cut edge. Do this on both the front and the back of the dress. You are ironing the material wrong side to wrong side.

(The "wrong side" for sewing newbies is the side of the fabric that is on the inside of your garment--the side that is not meant to show. The outside of the garment is, conversely, called the "right side". See, this sewing thing is EASY!)

Now you want to iron down another 1/2" or so. Again, both on the front and the back and toward the wrong side of the fabric. See how you just hid that rough little edge? Give yourself a little pat on the back.

You can pin this down if you want. It's quicker if you don't but if it makes you more comfortable go for it! Me? I'm all about living on the edge. Pins cramp my style.

Get your sewing machine ready! You want to sew a straight line close to that bottom fold, say around 1/8" for you math-lovin' types.  

Repeat for both the front and the back of the dress.

A good way to help sew a straight line is to find a place on your presser foot to line up that fold line as you sew. If that doesn't work, put a little piece of masking tape on your machine to help line things up. See how my fold lines right up with the inside of the left fork of my presser foot? Yep, that's how I keep it on the straight and narrow.

Now you should have two nice little "pockets" on the top of your dress. This is your casing that will house a bit of elastic that will gather the top of the dress nicely.

Speaking of elastic, grab yours and measure 6" from the end and make a mark with a pen. No need to cut yet. 

Attach your safety pin to the end of the elastic and feed it through the casing until the safety pin comes out the other end. The safety pin gives you something stable to grab and push through the casing, otherwise you'd be working all night to wiggle that floppy elastic through on it's own.

Take the pin off of the elastic and sew the elastic down. It would be good to backstitch over it a few times just to make sure it catches.

(Your machine should have a button or lever you can easily push to make it stitch backwards--check your manual if you don't know how)

Now that the first end is locked and loaded, pull the other end of your elastic until you see the mark you made earlier and stitch that end down as well. Now cut the elastic.

Measure another 6" down from the cut end of the elastic and repeat these steps for the opposite side of the dress.

4. Bind the arms and make your ties

Now grab your seam binding. No matter what size dress you are making , cut two 38" long strips. Fold them in half and mark the middle with a straight pin.

See how the binding is folded in half? You want to envelope the raw edge of your armhole inside the fold of the binding. So line up the center of your binding (you just marked it with a pin, remember?) with your side seam and pin it.

Continue to put the raw edges of the arm hole into the seam binding and pin all the way to the top of your dress. Go ahead and do this around the whole arm hole. To make things easier on yourself when you are sewing, make sure your fabric is right up to the inside of the fold before you pin it.

To finish the raw ends of your seam binding, open it up, fold down about 1/4" and then refold it. Pin if you need to. Obviously, you'll need to do this on all four raw ends so unless you want to wing it as you sew, pins are good.

Now, let's get ready to sew again! Start at one end of your seam binding and sew the open parts together. You want to sew a short line along the top of that fold you just made and then turn and run your seam all the way down to the dress. Sew about 1/8" away from the open edge.

When you get to the dress, continue to sew approximately 1/8" away from the edge of the seam binding all the way around your arm hole. Our goal here is to catch the front of the seam binding, the pillowcase AND the back of the seam binding all with this one run of stitches. 

If you are nervous about doing this and catching all the layers, switch over to a zig zag stitch! Super cute way to "cheat" a little! (This is obviously not the dress I was working on. I grabbed it from the bag of lovelies that we whipped up last week. Credit here goes to Brooke.)

Take it slow. This is the hardest part of the process. If you get off of your mark a little there's no shame in ripping out the part that was messed up and doing it over.

Once you've sewn the binding to the dress, keep going to the end of the tie and then across the top fold just like you did the first time.

Repeat this for the opposite side and you are, for all intents and purposes, DONE!

Woo Hoo!

5. Trim!

If you want, you can add a bit of trim at the hem. It's totally optional but I am a trim-aholic. A little trim can go far to make your dress look more professional.

But, if you are just over it at this point, don't sweat the trim stuff and move on to step number six!

For most trims, I find it easiest to just sew right along the line of hem stitches. Super easy way to keep your trim straight and even.

Trimming isn't limited to a line of ribbon or rick rack around the hem. Get creative. Add a bow, maybe some ruffles or a flower from your scrap fabric, sew on some buttons or do a fancy applique! The sky's the limit!

6. Step back and admire your handiwork. Pat yourself on the back because you are so awesome!

And if you're sending this little number off to Africa, take a moment and say a prayer of blessing over the girl who will someday wear it.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you get stuck! I'll do my best to help out!

~Lindsay

Crafting Hope

A spark of an idea ignited when I read this post on the Little Lizard King blog.

And when I flipped through this book, a plan formed.

Last night seven of us met with pillowcases in hand.

We had varying levels of sewing expertise but a like-minded goal: to make dresses for little girls in Africa.

If you aren't familiar with the group Little Dresses for Africa, check them out. Their goal is to distribute these simple hand made dresses to little girls in Africa to help them feel WORTHY.

I love that.

So we all lugged our sewing machines down to the library and set up shop.

We cut.

We sewed.

And in the end, we had some beautiful dresses.

Beautiful because of the love that was sewn into them.

Thank you ladies.

Thank you for facing your fears Shannan.

Thank you for being willing to hone your skills Brooke.

Thank you for dusting off your home ec skills Kim (like riding a bike, yes?).

Thank you for stepping out of the box Maggie.

Thank you for your enthusiasm Heather.

And Jess, thanks for your help and encouragement along the way.

You all truly blessed my heart with your willingness to give a bit of yourselves and your time.

And I can't help thinking how blessed seven little girls we may never meet this side of Heaven will be when they receive these lovely frocks.

God, bless the hands of your servants.

Bless the fruit of their labors.

Bless the recipients of their generosity.

And thank You for the opportunity to give, even a small piece, of ourselves. 

We who have been so blessed.

~Lindsay