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!