Transformation!

Remember this post? The Ugly quilt?

That quilt has been in the back of my mind...bugging me. Taunting me. Willing me to finish it, when I really didn't want to put the effort into something so ugly I couldn't even give it away (I offered it to someone who told me it "was cute", but she never got back to me with her address, so I guess it really wasn't that cute!)

Well, I'm on a "gotta-finish-the-projects-I've-already-started-before-I-start-more" kick. Problem is, I really, really didn't want to finish the ugly quilt.

As I looked around on blog land this week, inspiration struck. I found a cute, free pattern for a dress. (Here) My mind jumped to the ugly quilttop, and started working overtime...

So, without further ado, I present Ugly Quilt turned into a Pretty Dress:


























There still are a few things about the dress I might change, but all in all, I think I like it better as a dress than as a quilt!

Yay! A new sun dress for the princess, which will probably fit her next summer better than it does this summer! Gotta practice more with my machine and shirring...

Thanks, Christine for the cute pattern!

Tuesday!

I love my husband!

Tuesdays are the days he cooks and cleans up the kitchen, so I can go help out at scouts.

I also snuck upstairs and got creative last night, while Brent cleaned up the kitchen, and did some bishopric calls.

Brent had an old polo shirt that I nabbed to make a dress for Lexi.

You can see I had to get creative on the front, to not have a big button placket in the middle of the dress.

For the skirt, I used a ladies skirt I had laying around, just for that purpose. I think it matches the writing on the shirt pretty well.


Of course, no dress is complete without a matching hair accessory.

It's a good thing my daughter seems to be a girly-girl who loves to wear dresses!

seeking perfection...

A few weeks ago, I got a new camera - now I've got to learn how to best use it, but that's another story...

I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and make myself a pretty camera strap:


But, upon closer inspection, I found a problem...

(The green piece was put on backwards!)



Really, I'm a better quilter than this!



I did find out I had made a mistake when I turned the strap, but I went ahead and finished it to see if there were any other design flaws I needed to correct for the next cover I craft.

Just a few - the lens cap pocket is way too deep for my liking. And, I need to use my walking foot on the final sewing around the strap, so it will lay flat. Also, I'm thinking of enclosing the batting with a layer of material inside the cover, so the strap will slip into the cover better...

So, version 2.0 will be worked on today after work...and will hopefully not have the bugs that version 1.0 has! :)

Fun Sewing!

This weekend I had so much fun sewing for my daughter. I made three different dresses for her:

First up, I took a new turtleneck, cut off the bottom inch, and added two tiers of ruffles. I also made a matching hairclip. She was stylin' it on Sunday!

Second, I took a pair of overalls, cut off the legs above the crotch, and used the material from the legs to make a ruffle. So cute!

Third, I took a polo shirt, laid a sundress on top of it, cut it out, and made a simple dress that will be great for potty training that will be commencing in earnest soon. The hardest part was putting sleeves on it, but I faked it!

Sorry, no pics - guess I was too busy sewing to stop and take some!

(Easter Sunday, 2010)

Also, just to be silly, I straightened Alexia's hair while drying it on Saturday night. It was a good 5 inches longer than it usually is! Of course, by Sunday morning, it was all curled back up again!

Winner!

All right, I wasn't crazy creative enough to win a big-big prize in the design challenge (I really need to go all out and be really expressive next time!), but Alexia did win an honorable mention:

Go here to see it:

Honorable mention

That makes me happy! :)

Congratulations to all the winners, and to all the people who participated. It was fun to see all the creativeness and thought that people put into their creations!

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Down to the wire

The Lil Blue Boo and Dharma Trading Design Challenge ends February 15th!!

I took Friday off work, to have a day of rest and relaxation. Yeah, right. My competitive spirit kicked in, and I did some more sewing for my daughter.

I made a Valentine's dress for Sunday:



Since part of the contest is adding embellishments of some type, I was having a problem deciding what would work on this already "busy" material. Buttons to the rescue!


Would you believe this love-ly (ha-ha, valentine's humor) dress began life as a short sleeved tunic and pair of leggins, that cost me $5 at Walmart? Score!

On to my experimental dress-


One of the techniques taught was freezer paper stenciling. I found this cute "Mrs. Roboto" pattern on the Lil Blue Boo blog. I printed it onto freezer paper, cut it out, ironed it on the t-shirt, then proceeded to use acrylic paint mixed with textile medium to paint in the robot.

Well, while painting, I OOPS! dropped the brush outside the freezer paper, right on to the t-shirt. So, I had to splatter the rest of the shirt to hide that boo-boo.

When I pulled the freezer paper off, the paint had seeped into one of the robot's eyes, giving her two different sized eyes! Brent was the one to suggest putting buttons on for eyes to hide that mistake!



The skirt I added, just for fun, to mirror the skirt on my daughter's dress.


Cute! But notice I had to hold her down on the floor to get a decent picture - she just wanted to play hide and seek with the curtain when I let her stand up.

And, finally, my last (probably) entry - a $3 Mylie Cyrus T-shirt, converted into a nightgown:

I think I'm all embellished out - I'll just have to count those stars as embellishment.

Well, after Monday, head over to here to see the gallery of crafty, creative people, and their entries into the contest. As for me, I'll probably be returning to quilting, at least until my daughter grows out of all her new dresses!

Bragging!

Yes, that's right, it's time to show off another Dharma Trading entry dress. This one is from the pattern called "The Paper Doll Dress" by lil blue boo.


It's amazing what a 1/2 yard of material and a charm pack will make (I even had some charm squares left over!) The material is called Spring Fever by Me and My Sister Designs for Moda (look here for details). I'm not usually a quilter who cares about designers or certain lines, but I LOVED this line when I saw it - had to have it.

Here's my "embellishment" as per the rules of the contest - cute, large flower buttons.

And, a ruffle - the pattern didn't call for one, but I had enough material, so why not?

I love it! It looks so spring-like and colorful.

When Lexi got up from her nap, she kept pointing at the curtain and saying something - I finally realized she was saying "dress" (the dress was hanging on the curtain). We put it on her, and she was happy.



Now I've really got to dedicate myself to cleaning my house, instead of sewing - boo-hoo. Do you think Brent would notice if I hired a maid? :)

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A crafty weekend!

What a fun Saturday I had! I got to spend about six hours in my sewing/craft room, all alone, no kids, and was able to craft two more dresses for the Lil Blue Boo/Dharma Trading Design Challenge.

I have to confess, I "Charlene-d" the Sienna pattern a little bit. Instead of making the middle part of the dress long and straight, I gathered it right below the bodice part. But, that's the fun thing about this pattern - it can be changed up quite a bit. How fun!

The first one I did, I used a patterned cotton jersey material from a dress I used to wear a few years ago:

I have to say, I think it's cuter on my daughter than it was on me!


I appliqued the fish and the flower on the bodice before I put the dress together. I kinda forgot about scale, and probably should have only put on two fish and one flower, but it can't be taken apart now, so it's staying the way it is.



I also put a fish on the back of the dress, just for fun!

Then, after the dress was complete, I decided to make a matching headband, since Lexi's bangs are beginning to grow very long!


Here it is on my daughter:











































While I was on a roll, I made the dress I've been DYING (ha-ha) to make, ever since I found out about this challenge:



And, here it is on the kid:


























I used a tee shirt I tie dyed for myself, when Braden and his friend tie dyed shirts for their first day of school. I didn't like it for myself (not enough dye used), so I threw it in the back of my clothing drawer, until now. Again, I think it looks better on Alexia than it does on me!

The bottom part of the dress is a re-purposed rayon sarong. Fun, fun!








And, just so you don't think my kid is a perfect photography model, here's some "outtakes" from our photography session:




She was in an onery mood, and I think it shows!

I did it!

This girl:

is spoiled!
Her brother never got the benefit of my sewing experience!

I was poking around on the blogs I like to blurk on. Found the cutest dress pattern for sale on http://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/. I bought it (Sienna dress, sizes 12 mos to 6, score!) It's such an easy pattern, and comes with lots of tips for working with t-shirt jersey. I sat down last night with a few old t-shirts and crafted this:

This rose is my own contribution to the basic pattern. As you can probably deduce, I'm still working on getting it to be more "rose like". I also added a little bit of fancy topstitching along the bodice/skirt division.
I got the dress completed, brought it downstairs to try on my daughter. Daddy thought it was too short, so I added a ruffle on the bottom. Instead of attaching it to the inside of the dress, I tried to be crafty and put it on the outside, to get that "messy, shabby" look.
I have never worked with t-shirt jersey material before. I thought it turned out pretty well, considering I didn't have a knit needle in my machine, just a quilting needle that probably needs to be changed.
Here's my willing model wearing it:
Do you think she likes it?
Yeah, me too.

Guess I'll be on the lookout for interesting t-shirts for awhile, to craft her some more cute dresses...

Oh, and I'll be entering my creations in the Lil Blue Boo/Dharma Trading Design Challenge:



Next up is a dress I've been thinking about for the past few days, a little more wild and crazy. I'll post pictures when I get it done!

:)