Another Spring Favorite from M5793

Whew! I needed a little bloggy break after finishing up my pattern last month. The computer work was intense so I’ve been busy just sewing and sewing and sewing these last couple of weeks. Trouble with that is it leaves no time for photo taking or blogging. So now I’m SUPER behind with posting all the dresses I’ve made lately!
I realized though that I had made a set of dresses for the girls this spring that I had never posted about, and they have been a favorite this year. Here it is, another variation of my all time favorite M5793:

These were made for a special occasion this spring. I made a pleated skirt rather than a gathered skirt and lengthened the tulle underskirt a little bit (a little too much as it turns out, oh well).
I made them matching shrugs, using my easy knit shrug tutorial and added a little ribbon flower embellishment at the neckline – the girls LOVED this detail.

These dresses had BIG bows in the back – my favorite part.

And what’s a new dress without a new hair accessory?

Alas, they have been too busy this spring/summer making “cupcakes” in the mud outside to be modeling dresses and taking photos with me, so I’m lacking photos of them wearing much of what I’ve made them lately, but that’s OK with me. Summer is so short here, we must enjoying it while we can!
Make sure you stop by my pattern shop and check out my first pattern, the Cutie Capris! I have a fun giveaway planned for next week – stay tuned for it!

Plumberries, Oranges and Port Wine

…these are the color names of the cottons used for this dress.

And that is exactly what I was thinking of as I was stitching it up. Delicious, colorful fruits and a glass of dark red wine (a personal favorite). All while I was thinking of this dress and working with the fabrics, I had images like this one swirling in my mind.

Source: andreasrecipes.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

 

Yum! I just love this color combination and how the dress worked out. I drafted this during KCWC last week and finished it up yesterday.

I’m entering this dress into this weeks challenge at Project Run & Play. The challenge theme this week is: color. Initially when I read that, I thought of bright, bold, loud, big colors. But then I started to think of how color in deeper, more subtle tones can make just as much of an impact. I was inspired by a RTW dress that I saw with a similar color palette and I was sold!

It’s made of quilting cottons, the seams were finished with pinking shears. Normally I serge all my interior seams, but this time I was too tired lazy to change the thread in my serger.

 

I started to document the process with the idea of writing a tutorial, but then I got anxious to finish. But I do want to make this dress again. Anyone interested in a tutorial or maybe a digital pattern? If you are, leave a comment and let me know. If enough people are interested, I might write up a tutorial and put the pieces I drafted together for a download.

KCWC-Days Three & Four: Stripe-y Knit Dresses

For days three and four of KCWC, I made up these simple knit dresses for the girls with a little embellishment and ruffle. I saw a stripped knit dress with a similar embellishment in an email awhile back and I really wanted to recreate the look.

This awesome knit came from a local quilting shop of all places. They do have a small selection of apparel fabrics. The bolt was labeled “t-shirt knit” and that was it. I’m convinced that it is a cotton/rayon blend. It’s lightweight but very very soft and it sewed really well.

Check out the KCWC Fickr Pool, there are some really awesome kids clothes there!!

KCWC–Day One: Tiered Ruffle Dress + TUTORIAL

Truth be told, I started these dresses over a week ago, but I finished them on Monday-Day One of the KCWC.

These dresses were inspired by a dress I saw in a popular children's clothing store, but it’s no longer on their website (otherwise I’d link you to it!).

I loved the tiered ruffles and fullness of the skirt, and after working on the ruffled skirts for the girls, I knew my plan of action for these dresses.

It started with my FAVORITE pattern, McCalls 5793. It’s not a fancy pattern, but it has so many possibilities. It’s a basic bodice (with options for sleeves or a yoke) and a ruffled skirt. I mainly use the bodice only and adapt the skirt portion to suit my needs for the project. I’ve sewn up this pattern at least 10 times now in all sorts of variations, each of them unique. For the 99 cents I spent on this pattern (on sale, of course) I’ve got my money’s worth by a hundredfold!!

Anyways! I’ve put together a little tutorial on how I made these. Click below for the details!