Itty bitty baby dress

Some non selfish sewing for once!

Some friends of ours just had a little girl after a difficult pregnancy. It gave me the perfect excuse to make some tiny baby clothes to ooh and ahh over. There are so many baby projects out there, and with no babies on the cards for a few years yet, making gifts is a good way to quieten the biological clock for a while!

They're also goof for trying out techniques on small scales and using up ends of material, and they take no time to sew so they're a good quick fix!

These are probably totally impractical, but its always good to have some pretty dresses, right?

And at least they aren't pink and frilly! My aim was to make baby clothes without the baby feel, as I don't think the parents are into that kind of thing. They are all based on the FREE itty bitty baby dress pattern at made-by-rae.

The first dress is fully reversible...
White bodice with a box pleated blue and orange skirt on one side.

And this lovely brown and brights elephant print on the other.

The other baby dresses

Making the pattern reversible

To make it totally reversible, I followed the instructions given by Rae which makes a lined bodice.

I tried to chose fabrics that would work together as you will see some of both bodice fabrics on the ties.

When I was ready to sew the skirts on, I pinned one to the outside and one to the inside of the bodice, making sure that you have the fabric you want on the right side, and facing the right way.

 (I'll admit I got a phone call from the hubby while pinning this together and when I had sewn and turned it out, the orange was inside out... easy to do!)

Then sew through all four layers (skirt 1, two sides of bodice, skirt 2).

When you turn it out, the dresses fold down over the seam. 

Fold under a little of each skirt, and sew together to hem both sides at once and close up the skirt.

Try and use a thread colour which either contrasts or matches with both fabrics.