Navy and Red Blake Dress

Here is a cute dress I made in September 2019 using fabric from the free stash I was given. I used VFT's Blake pattern. It was a pretty simple and quick dress to sew up. I think it turned out adorable, but unfortunately Eesa only wore it a couple times and it has hung in her closet, untouched for the better part of this year. I hope I can sell it. I can't figure out what's not to like about this dress. Sometimes its hit or miss with this girl!

Striped Romper

A neighbor down the street gave me a large bag of fabric, and a couple of sewing patterns. Eesa had a blast laying out all the fabrics and matching them with her hairbows.  Silly girl. I've only made a couple of outfits for her from this fabric stash; the rest I still have. I'm sure someday I'll figure out what to do with the rest. The first thing I made a romper (August 2019), and I used one of the patterns that was gifted along with the fabric. The romper was pretty easy to make, I can't remember what brand the pattern was (it was a paper pattern and not a pdf). I didn't make too many alterations to it other that adding an inch to the waist and ruffle on the short's hem. Eesa wore this romper fairly often, until she grew out of it about a year later. 

 

Teal Tank Dress/boy's oxford shirt

Here's another cute dress that I just love so much! I made this in June of 2019. This is the Gwen dress from VFT, I used this same pattern to make some tops. I had fun making this dress. My (new-ish) machine has lots of fun embroidery stitches, and I enjoyed making use of one of them for this dress. My machine is pretty adept at sewing button holes too, so it wasn't too painful making all those button holes. The back is stretchy, so we don't even need to bother actually using the buttons, they're just for looks even though technically they are functional. What else to say about this dress? It has been used for a wedding reception and a portrait session, so I'd say this is a dress worth posting about! I used some cotton-poly fabric (I think its a quality broadcloth) I found at Goodwill, I also made little brother a shirt using the same fabric, so they could match at the reception and for their portraits.

 

A close-up of the buttons and embroidery trim

The pockets are so fun!

She's just too cute in this dress!

The dress in action at her aunt's wedding reception

She wore this dress for her portraits over a year later...you can see she grew a little!

And here's the boy's oxford shirt to match! That's the only picture I could find of him wearing it! It's your basic oxford shirt, pattern from Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop.

Flower Girl/Baptism Dress

Here is a very special dress! In fact, it's double-special! This dress was Eesa's Baptism dress AND her flower girl dress for her aunt's wedding. I took a lot of time in planning this dress. I looked at soooo many flower girl and baptism dresses, but really the dress I wanted was mostly in my head, although I did find one picture that closely resembled what I was picturing in my mind, but unfortunately I can't find that photo. Anyway I bought the materials for the dress in April 2019 at Joann's. I had to ask for help for finding the white satin fabric. I made sure it was the best quality I could find, which luckily wasn't too much deal since I was only using it for the bodice. For the skirt, I found the perfect lace at Joann's that was finished at the bottom. Then I bought a bolt of tulle, which was 20 yards worth. The total cost added up to only $40! 

I used Violette Field Thread's Harlow pattern for the bodice, because I wanted the princess cut. I used the cap sleeve pattern option (yep, its a separate pattern). For the skirt, I would like to say I used the Penelope pattern, but I diverged from it so much that I basically used my own, though I did rely on some measurements from the pattern. The bodice came together nicely without a hitch. I used my ruffle foot attachment to sew the tulle onto some basic cotton-poly fabric that I already had in my stash. The ruffle foot made sewing the tulle so much faster and easier! I was actually surprised how quickly the skirt came together, especially with all those tulle layers! It was also nice that the lace didn't need to be hemmed. All that was left was to sew the skirt to the bodice! Oh, and sew buttons and make button holes. I used pearl shank buttons that I found at Walmart for the back enclosure (sorry I didn't take a picture of the back), which matched perfectly. 

When I had Eesa put the dress on for the very first time, she looked just like a princess! To add to that effect, I had bought a hoop skirt (years prior on Amazon), pearl earrings, and I made a delicate necklace featuring glass pearls and Swarovski crystals, a $3 white rosette hairclip I found at Walmart, and last but not least, a sparkly bridal sash from Amazon, which I had to trim.

Here are the pictures, her dress sure was a hit! She still wears her dress occasionally to church. I don't plan on selling the dress, I suppose I'll keep it as an heirloom forever.

The bodice. My anxiety was pretty high when handling it--I didn't want to snag it or maim it in anyway! 

You know you have a full skirt goin' on when it can "stand" on its own!

Trying it on in my messy sewing room

Red, Black and White Dress

May 2019. A neighbor generously gave my a big bag of fabric, including this cute red & black flower fabric. There was only just enough for a skirt, so I rummaged around in my fabric bin and found some red,  ribbed knit fabric for the bodice that I had previously purchased at Goodwill. So this dress probably costed me a dollar or two to make! I used the Tallulah knit pattern as a base for the bodice, but I modified it so much that I'm not going to bother tagging VFT in this dress. I somehow made the bodice a size bigger than I planned, but that's okay because Eesa has finally (a year and half later) grown into it. I'm glad I put that extra strip of black at the bottom for length! Eesa wore this dress fairly often, and at this point in my sewing life, I've realized that Eesa prefers knit clothing, something she can throw on over her head without help. So probably why she wore this dress as often as she did, versus the wrap dresses (previously posted here and here), for example (even though I personally think they are much cuter than this dress). Here she is modeling her new dress. We found a necklace that matched perfectly with this dress, it totally brings the outfit together!  

Pink & White Striped Wrap Dress

May 2019: Here is another wrap dress I made, and I love it! This is the Olive dress pattern from VFT. I started cutting this dress before I realized I didn't have enough fabric to finish. Whoops. Luckily I was able to order more fabric from Walmart.com. I like how the lines go different directions with each part of the dress, yet are still neat. For that added touch of cuteness (and length!) I added a pink band at the bottom of the skirt and sewed in some $1 lace I found at Walmart. I like that it breaks of the lines and adds some interest. The dress sewed up easy enough; I don't remember having any trouble with it. I love how this dress turned out. Unfortunately, Eesa didn't wear it near as much as I would have liked her to wear it. I don't even know if it fits anymore.

 

Gwen Tank Top Shirts

April 2019: Here is a sweet-heart top with straps, aka the "Gwen Top " from VFT. This pattern sews up fairly fast and I was able to use fat quarters, at least with this size (size 6/7). That makes the price of this shirt come to about $2. The front button (or snaps) open, but the back is elastic so the shirt can just be pulled over the head. I found some adorable flamingo fat quarters at Walmart and was happy I could use them for this project. I used scraps of pink for the trim and even some leftover black pom trim. I think it turned out super cute. Elisa wore it a handful of times before she outgrew it, and then I sold it.

Here is a bonus shirt I made using the leftover scraps from Eesa's Jacket I had made months before. You can see the elastic-back. This shirt looked nice with white shorts. I used buttons instead of snaps, and yes they are functional but no need with the elastic back so they're just mainly for looks.

Floral Flouce Wrap Dress (The Elianna)

April 2019--Here is Eesa's Spring/Easter 2019 Dress! Let me tell you, this was one epic dress. Hindsight--I probably wouldn't have bothered to purchase this pattern had I known how involved it was/is, not to mention the crazy amount of fabric involved in creating it. The pattern I used is VFT's Elianna Dress. The downloaded file of this pattern is HUGE. It's 171 pages! Even with the layered sizes, it kept printing, and printing, and printing...and then I had to assemble the printed pattern pieces together, and that took forever. And that's only just the pattern assembly itself. For a size 8, this pattern requires 11-12 yards of fabric! Yep, that's right. I had to go back and look at the pdf pattern file to double check. Fortunately, I didn't end up actually using that much fabric (VFT tends to overestimate fabric requirements). I saved fabric by not lining the bottom flounces, and for the flounces along the bodice, I used inexpensive white fabric that was most likely from a king-sized sheet I found at Goodwill. I can't recall the exact yardage I bought, but I do remember I bought $40 worth of this floral fabric from Walmart, so at $5/yard--I guess I used 8 yards for this dress. With the exception of one other dress--which is a very special dress, and I'll post about that later-- I've NEVER spent that much money to make a dress. Not even to buy a dress off the rack. As for the actual construction of the dress...I guess it came together okay. It's a wrap dress and I got confused along the way, so my dress actually wraps the opposite way then the pattern calls for, but I don't think that matters one bit. Fortunately, this dress turned out so gorgeous! Eesa wore it a handful of times, but not as much as I would have liked. At least, not enough to make all that work and money that I put into this dress worth it.
I decided since I already spent soooo much time printing and assembling the pattern, that I might as well make a dress for Eesa's cousin Aaliyah. I bought a twin-size sheet set and cut it up for fabric so the dress wasn't so pricey. I think the sheet set was only $10.  I couldn't find sheets with cute prints, so I chose a solid navy blue. The sheet set was (thin-ish) polyester, so I got a nice drape out of the 2nd Elianna. I don't have pictures of it, but I did get a video of Eesa trying it on, which is in a way even better that pictures!

 

Lil' Bunny Ball Stuffy

Here's a cute little toy I made for Eesa, on account of her insistence that I make her a "squishimal". I used some pink fuzzy fabric (that had a teenie bit of stretch) that I found at Goodwill. I used a fabric ball pattern I found free online and just kinda made up the rest myself. I hand-embroidered the face and used a pom-pom maker to make the bunny's tail. I actually had (still have) some memory foam stuffing that I had pulled out of my own pillow (which I did because the pillow was waaaaay too overstuffed for my liking). It's nice to sew up something different for a change. The kids have way too many toys and I don't' like adding to the pile, but isn't this bunny ball just so cute?? I think so! And so delightfully squishy, too!

 

Daisy Print Maxi Dress

March 2019. I do wish I had better pictures of this dress. This is a casual yet extremely cute dress that Eesa has worn quite a bit. A neighbor down the street gave me a bagful of free fabric, which included this daisy print fabric with a red background. It has a real nice drape so I decided it would be perfect for a dress. For the bodice I used some knit jean fabric I found at Goodwill. I used VFT's Zoey pattern. It sewed up pretty quickly and it sure is twirly! This dress is a little small on Elisa now, and definitely isn't maxi length anymore! 

 

Purple Velvet Shirt

 February 2019. I'm surprised I can only find one picture of Eesa in this shirt since she wore it quite a bit. This is a simple knit shirt I made using Violette Field Thread's (VFT) Tallulah pattern. I didn't modify too much except by adding a simple gathered ruffle on the sleeve. Crushed velvet was a thing at this time, and I actually was inspired by a similar shirt at Walmart, of all places. I found this violet crushed velvet shirt fabric at Hobby Lobby. This sewed up really quick and it probably doesn't fit Eesa anymore, but we sure got our use out of it! 

Boy's Minecraft Jacket

I actually made this waaay back in November 2018, and managed to actually take pictures of it in February 2019. And now, September 2020, I've finally gotten around to posting this jacket. Anyway, I love it when I can make another sewing-for-boy post! There's just not enough of them. Here is a jacket I made for my oldest son. I used a boy's "Big Bad Wolf" vest pattern from Puperita. I didn't modify the pattern a whole lot. The two main alterations I made were adding long sleeves, and putting in a zipper instead of snaps. Installing the zipper while getting the lining to look right was pretty tricky, but I got it to work eventually. One other thing I do remember doing is "quilting" the vest itself. I bought some thin batting at Joannes and sandwiched it between the outer fleece type material and minecraft lining. Then I made some criss-crossing lines with my marking pen and sewed across those lines to get that quilted look. This jacket was worn all winter and is now too small, but I'm saving it for my youngest son, because what little boy doesn't like minecraft?