I will not show you a picture, you just have to trust me on this: half of my study, which includes a sleeper sofa, is chock full of outgrown and/or outworn clothes that I don't want to give away because, you know, one could make something out of them. Feasibly. If one actually did do something, I'm sure it would be great.
Then last week, I booked a flight to the US and in time-honored tradition, went to order such items online which we cannot get here. One website I visited was Magpie Lovely, a website that sells excruciatingly cute kid's clothes. I fell in love with this dress -- but, you know, $59 is kind of a lot for a dress for a little girl. I looked a bit closer, and thought to myself, Hm, I wonder if I could make something like this.
This is the bane of sewing: you always ask this and you end up not buying and most of the times, you also end up not making the coveted item and you end up with nothing.
This time, I was determined. So I dug out one of Doug's old dress shirts. It was on the sofa courtesy a frayed collar. I went online and found a great tutorial on Made. I made up a pattern and cut up the shirt:
Yes, I know. The color is a bit pale -- Doug claims that Leah has his coloring, so it would look good on her. It does. Only, I'm partial to stripes. The striped shirt I wanted to cut up he took away from me, though, on the grounds of it being perfectly okay. That was true but he's not wearing it! And now I have to find a striped shirt at the second hand store because while the dress turned out cute and nice, I think stripes would be so much cuter...
Dress up!
With Daddy. I couldn't resist and inserted a little tattoo/skull ribbon for subversiveness. Otherwise, the cuteness would have been unbearable.
Back view.
Next time -- you know, when I have that striped shirt -- I'll make the sleeves a bit less fluffy, I think. I omitted the elastic that the tutorial suggested to achieve the look of the inspiration piece but I might have to go back and put elastic in anyhow. Next time, less sleeve for a sleeker look. Also, Leah needs more underarm-space, it's almost a bit tight. But the project was quick and easy and fun -- the tutorial is great. Next up: I make shirts. T-shirts. Yes, with knit fabric. We'll see how that goes.
Colour looks great on her, at least in those photos. Your baby isn't a baby any more! She really looks quite a bit older in those photos, esp the front view of her with Doug. You do good work!
Posted by: Christine | April 15, 2010 at 06:32 PM
You are so very clever,Claudia! Your daughter looks very cute in the dress. Your next project may be tricky but I'm sure you'll do a great job!
Posted by: Karoline | April 16, 2010 at 12:04 AM