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.

The Stash is now organised!

Now I'm sewing more, or at least have plans to, I went to the half price sale at the local fabric shop. Awesome huh! But that meant that I needed to sort through everything I had to make sure I knew what I had and could get inspired!

Its in the built in wardrobe of my sewing room/study. Going back to uni means I'm going to have to keep it more under wraps too, so I can concentrate on work and not pleasure!

The box at the bottom has upholstery fabric and a bag of scraps. 

The upholstry fabric is destined to be some cushions for the garden seating. I've had it for a year though, and haven't quite got around to it yet!

The we have a stash of meshes and netting. I love the blue one- its all glittery!

Knits! The one with the dots is going to end up as a wrap top, and the stripes will be tshirts.

Cottons and poplins. These are mainly for muslins and linings.

Assorted others.

The dots are velour- its going to become the perfect PJs. Perfect for me, maybe not perfect in sewing skill!

The charcoal colour is synthetic moleskin. The plan is to work it into a formal-ish little black dress for work.

Pretty cotton and chiffon. 

The small flowers will be a blouse.

The large flowers will be a bag,

The rest I have no idea!

And having saved the best for last- the working stash.

These are the fabrics that I have plans to make pretty things from in the short term.

The yellow and blue polkadot is my currently a work in progress. It was cheap and on sale, but it feels lovely, wears well and has a gorgeous sheen, so I'm glad there is more left.

Mr Purple and Blue is going to become a dress. And maybe also a skirt.

The rest will become tops for work, like this and this.

Figuring out cap sleeves

I bought some light weight fabric recently, in the hope of making some summery tops and dresses. Then realised I don't really have any patterns! 

This is a version of the cap sleeve dress pattern, from Burda. Its made from quilting cotton, so is probably a bit heavy for summer (36 degrees today and its only just starting) but I like the fit, and its given me the confidence to start on the real fabric!

I just need to work on my zippers!

I "made" the skirt too... a pair of thrift shop jeans which were a bit too big... legs cut off, pretty fabric ruffle  sewn around. 

Done :)