Christmas Dresses (Thrifty & Recycled edition)

Reposting for Cardigan Empire!! Happy Thrifty sewing!

See the Bridesmaid dresses above? Watch what they came below. As far as dresses go, they weren't awful. But I no longer wore it.

Thrifty Recycled Christmas Dresses...which also happen to be stunning.

I have 3 daughters. This year, I did something I have yet to do - make Christmas dresses for all my girls. A few years back I made 2 flower girl dresses for my sister's wedding but this is the first time making 3 Christmas dresses. I adore each one of them. All simple and fit their personalities and they fit well too! Phew! Made headbands as well.

Now on these dresses. It is no secret that in the past year we both have become an even greater fan of thrifting and recycling clothes. In fact, it has been since August that I bought something brand new for myself to wear. Anyway, I made a decision a couple months ago that I would follow suit in making my girls Christmas dresses. Every component would be thrifted or something I already had in my stash of fabrics. For the girls, the red taffeta came from the skirt I wore for our other sister's wedding and the leftover fabric in my stash. The black fabric was in my stash of fabric too. I can't remember why I bought it. The white accents came from a goodwill $1 shirt that I bought knowing I would use it for the accents - it was the perfect fabric. (I have bought a few things like this on dollar day - a great way to buy buttons too.) It is the sash on L's dress and the fabric flower on her headband the tuxedo accent on C's dress. The black accent on K's is also from my stash. It was literally scraps. I then had all the interfacing, elastics, and buttons needed to complete the dresses. The only thing I purchased ($3) was the pattern for the black dress. The other two I either didn't use a pattern or modified one I already had. So not counting items from my supplies and stashes of fabric, I spent a grand total of $4 on 3 Christmas dresses for my girls. (And several hours of course...)

Now L knows how to pose - she is 8. All perfectly tied up from head to toe. We went thru 3 quick fittings to get this right and now she is in love! The first try on erupted in tears. The arms felt wrong. The neck was wrong. But I tweaked and altered the underarm seams and pinned, added a temporary sash, took her to the mirror and her face lit up like New Year's Eve. She loved it. The final verdict? "Mommy, I love it. It is so comfy!" Not something I expected from the first tears about weird armpits. I had a pattern Butterick B4910 which I made as a size 5 nightgown years ago. She is not a 5 anymore. I tweaked and altered to make a bigger version and cut the sleeves long, not knowing what she would want. We folded and pinned until we found the gathered puff sleeve you see here. It is elasticized around the bottom.

And C can pose too - she is 6. Once we found this tuxedo inspired dress, we knew it was the perfect dress for her and it fit right on the money - gotta love that. I made it with an fairly lightweight black taffeta I had in my fabric stash. If I could change anything it would be to a heavier weight fabric but I worked what I had. Sure, I could have gone and bought 1.5 yards of fabric but this worked. To make the white tuxedo bib, I cut the hem from the bottom of a white blouse and used the finished edge as the edge of the ruffle and gathered the cut edge. I had some lovely mother of pearl buttons that are just too sweet. I love this kid - her missing teeth might possibly be my favorite part of Christmas 2009.

Obviously K wasn't interested in modeling. K is 19 mo old. You can't see the matching 2" black band at the bottom. It looks like the sash. This was literally scraps that I had to back with another black cotton fabric to make the sash and hem substantial. This is basically a peasant top made longer and I made it without a pattern but it followed the basic instructions found in this tutorial. I had found one years back and wrote down notes but didn't have the website any longer. In this tutorial it suggests lightweight fabric but this taffeta is fairly heavy weight and I think it made a nice dress.

Thumbs Up!

Who doesn't love a good handmade Valentine? But what I really love even more is knocking off a fantastic creative idea and making it work for me! None of the guts, all of the glory, I always say! This year, while cruising a favorite craft blog, U Create, (who has been so kind as to feature us before) I found these.

After school we had our photoshoot. This angle takes a bit of practice.


Then I got to work selecting the best photos, adding text, and printing them at Costco for $.13 each:

How can I NOT prominently feature kindergarten's toothless wonder?

As always, sweet.

Now here is the part where I am multi-tasking and making dinner (Meatless Thursday - whole wheat waffles with a 4 berry sauce) and slicing the photos to make slits for the blow pops and I didn't have a 3rd hand to take a picture. I used a rotary cutter because I couldn't find my X-Acto knife quickly. I just made about a 1/2 slit at the top and bottom of the fist and honestly, I think the rotary cutter was easier than the X-Acto would have been. I just pressed the blade to the picture (on a cutting mat) and it made the perfect slit.

While I was gone last night I left my kiddos and husband assembling the Valentines. I came home to these piles on the sofa and chair:



I think these are a total riot! They were super fun to make and oh so unique. Even my husband, who is pretty jaded by the crafting around here, was impressed.

A Simple Apron & Birthday Gift!

Do you like this version? Hemmed sides, less seam binding?

Or this version? Finishing all edges with seam binding & added pocket.

Today I needed a birthday gift for a 6 year old girl's party tonight (totally forgot about it - do you ever do that or is it just me?) and didn't have to run to Target for my usual $10-$15 kiddo gift. Plus, Mommy had just treated herself to a couple new things at Anthroplogie and Ann Taylor (I am worth it, I keep telling myself...) so I needed to save a couple bucks somewhere!

So, I decided to make an apron as a birthday gift. I remembered these aprons we made last fall for our other sister in Denver. (There are 3 of us sisters.) She was planning a Ratatouille themed birthday party for her daughter and wanted simple aprons as the kid's party favors. She asked her sisters in Arizona to help her out. We had to make a bunch and they had to cost hardly anything.

Required:
22"x22" fabric - twill, print cotton, scrap from stash, whatever you wish (more if you want to add a pocket)
1-2 Pkg. Seam Binding (1 pkg. is 3 yards)
(2 1/4 yd required for hemmed version , 4 1/4 yd for the finished on all edges with seam binding version")

I made this "pattern" (probably, no, for sure, not to scale at all) quickly after making several aprons. Really we free-handed it, using another kiddo apron as a guide. Does this guide make sense? It is really finished measurements. If you plan to do the hemmed version, using less seam binding, cut overall width and length 1.5 inches larger. My daughter, the model, is 5 1/2 years old. Adjust your size up or down if needed but I think there is plenty of room to grow with it. My 7 year old has an apron the same size. We made them this size for the birthday party and that was for 3 year olds. it is really a versatile size.

We were making several for the birthday party and used the rotary cutter and mat to cut lots at a time.

If hemming (and we were for these - we couldn't use so much seam binding - it wasn't in the budget) turn under a double 1/4" hem on top, bottom and sides. Press and straight stitch.

Use the seam binding as the neck; the neck opening measures about 15" from point to point where it is attached, covering the curve and then as the ties. Pin in place and straight stitch. The seam binding will bend around the curve easily. Just make sure you catch both sides of the binding in your stitch!

We made 10, 12, I don't remember. I do know we ran out of red and had to finish with some purple I had in my stash.

And the version I made for the birthday girl. She is not a girly girl so I thought this funky graphic flower print from my stash I picked up on clearance at IKEA would be perfect.

What I did differently for this one:
*I cut to the finished size & used multiple scraps of seam binding from my stash to finish all edges
*I cut the bottom edge to curve
* I added a pocket to the bottom 6" or so and stitched down 3 straight seams to make 4 pockets. (Ok, I actually didn't measure this. I just cut it the same width as the apron and I think it is about 6". The gift is wrapped or I would measure it!

And really, Presentation is Everything. Recently at Ross, I had picked up a 5 pk of glittery body splash spray ($5 for 5 sprays) to use as an easy add-on to birthday gifts. I rolled up the apron, tucked the orange splash in the pocket, and tied it with a ribbon.

So, I am going to say this gift cost me $1.00 because I really don't count using stuff from my stash! But seriously, isn't it better than another set of Polly Pockets?