:: Refashion - girl's dress

In 2012 when I was pregnant with Anson, I found a cute tunic on clearance at H&M.

I wanted to make it into a dress, so I bought two of them. 

This is what I came up with and you can see the post here.

After sewing the bottom half of the second tunic onto the first tunic, 

I had a top half left over.

I decided to make it into a dress for Ava.

Friends. . . this is a top that I've been meaning to refasion for more than a year.

My poor sewing pile.

I was determined to finish it.

Almost a year and a half later.  Ha!

I used another dress of Ava's as a pattern and just hoped that it turned out.

And luckily it did!

It looks darling on her.

And she's quite the little model.

I'll be sharing this here.

:: Refashion - maternity dress

So, I'm going to have this baby in a week and I'm just barely posting this maternity dress refashion.

Ha!  This depicts my life exactly.

Anyway, a few days after Christmas we were in Vegas visiting family.

I really wanted to get maternity pics done (28 weeks along).

 (I like to get them done for each pregnancy - - can you tell I'm a middle child?)

We had Janette from Janette Nelson Photography take some photos for us.

 (the wife of my husband's cousin - - you got that?)

Unfortunately, I forgot how freezing cold and windy it is in Vegas in the winter. . .

but we did get some cute shots.

I found this mid thigh dress/tunic at H&M 

and knew I wanted everyone else's outfits based around this striped gem.

It's not a maternity dress, but was on clearance for $10.

So I bought it thinking it would look cute with some black leggings (it was mid thigh length).

But, really . . . I don't know if I'm a leggings girl.

And after thinking about this for a few days, I had my hubby go back and get me another one . . . 

cause I had an idea.

Why not just put the two dresses together and make a cute maternity dress?

And that's what I did.

I wish I would've taken some before pics, but I didn't.

But in the picture below, you can see where the dress went down to, sorta.

So, on the top dress just right above the hem, I cut across the bottom of one stripe.

I measured to how long I wanted the dress 

and then cut across the top of one of the stripes on the bottom dress.

Does this make sense?

I then sewed these two pieces together in the middle of the top stripe (on the bottom dress)

and in the middle of the bottom stripe (on the top dress).

There are different ways you could've sewn these pieces together, but that's how I did it.

And I think the finished product turned out pretty cute!

FYI:  buy the same size dress! By the time Tommy went back to the store to get the second dress,

they only had a size smaller than the one I bought.  And it was a PAIN!  It would've gone

so much smoother and looked more professional if I had the same sizes . . .

Here are some other pictures I love.

 I think the girls were more excited about chasing after the peacocks than having their picture taken . . .

I'll be linking here.

:: Refashioning - shirt to toddler skirt

For our family pictures in November, I'd had this color palette all worked out in my head.

Maybe it looked a little too halloween-ish (I added in black), but I thought it worked.

I was wanting to make the girls outfits but I ended up just making their skirts.

{which was fine with me}

For Ava's skirt, I wanted to use this woman's XL top.

I'd found it at Downeast Basics on clearance and thought I'd resize it to fit me,

 but that never happend {the story of my life},

 so I knew it'd make a perfect skirt.

It already had shirring.

 {that's what it's called, right? - - I'm still a beginner sewer}

So, 

1.  I just cut across a few inches above

2.  folded over right above the shirring

3. then sewed it.

4.  I next got out my elastic and measured it to Ava's waist

5.  I pinned the elastic to the shirring and did zig-zag stitches across it

Turned out to be cute, definitely not professionally done,

but it worked. 

This is what it ended up looking like.

It's a little big, but she'll grow into it.

And there's my little cheese-ball.

{the skirt underneath is this skirt from DowneastGirl}

I'll be linking to these parties here.

:: Fashion - asymmetrical collars

I'm loving these little girl dresses with the

asymmetrical collars.

I'm trying really hard to resist the desire to make a few.

:: jcrew

:: Playful Pickles via Color Issue

:: Tutorial - toddler apron

So I know that there's been many times

where I've said I'd post a tutorial or show you

the finished outcome of something

I'd been working on

. . . and it doesn't get done.

For instance, our kitchen.

Still a few things here and there that

we need to finish before I post the "after".

And I really hope that we can do this soon.

Hmmm. What else.

What about the aprons from Ava's party?

Oh yes. That's another one.

I said I'd post a tutorial "soon" and it never happend.

I feel like that's the story of my life.

So, I apologize.

I need to do better at that.

Recently I've received a few e-mails

regarding the tutorial for the toddler aprons.

And I figured I should do it.

Now.

So, here it is, my blogging friends . . .

the long awaited tutorial for the toddler apron!

If you're crazy like me, you'll make 13 of these.

What was I thinking!

(for the boys, I used white fabric and the aprons were a

little bit wider with no pleats; I made Ava a

full apron - - if you're interested in a tutorial for that

then let me know)

Oh, and I know I'm not the best at giving instructions,

so if you don't understand something, please ask!

I'll be linking to these parties here.

What I'm Loving Wednesday: Valentina Dress Pattern and a Giveaway!!!

The Easter dresses were a success. They both looked adorable in them, so I of course had to do a quickie photo shoot.

So, a little about this dress pattern . . .

A few years back when I started blogging, I found a sewing/refashioning blog that I loved called
My Mama Made It. Since then she's changed the name of her blog to Made by Lex that you can find here.

She came out with a pattern that she sells on her etsy site here called the Valentina Dress. Love. It. The pattern comes in size 6 months to girls 8 that you can see here {currently the pattern isn't on her etsy site, but she says she'll be adding more soon}.

And it is so easy to make! No button holes and no zippers. Just the way I like it! I also love how versatile it is. You can make it casual or really fancy looking {like the Easter dresses}. It really is my go-to pattern. I've made about 5 or 6 of these dresses now and not one is alike.
Well, Alexis has been so kind and generous to giveaway one of her Valentina Dress Patterns
{pdf} to one of my fabulous readers. How sweet is that!!!

Here are the details:

This giveaway starts Wednesday, April 27

and will end on Saturday, May 7 @ 9 p.m. (PST

{Make sure you leave your e-mail in the comment section so I can contact you.}
To Enter:
1. Tell me what's on your sewing to-do list.

For Extra Entries:

1. Follow my blog, come back here and leave me a separate comment letting me know and if you're already a follower, let me know too.

2. Follow Made by Lex, come back here and leave me a separate comment letting me know. {I love her blog - - especially her amazing refashions}

3. Become a fan of Lex Designs on facebook, come back here and leave me a separate comment letting me know.

4. Post about it on your blog, facebook, twitter, etc.

Good luck! If you're the lucky winner, then you'll be sent the pattern in PDF form through e-mail shortly after.
Oh and because I know that you're totally not sick of seeing a ton of pictures of my little girls in their Easter dresses . . . here are some more.

I'll be posting to these linking parties found here.