PR&P Week #4: Simple and Special

It's the last week of this season's Project Run & Play.  Boo has certainly loved week one's Belle Dress and week two's Easy Starburst Dress.  I was teaching Boo's preschool during week three, so even though I already had a project done (I didn't make it for PR&P, but it fit the theme), I couldn't manage to get it posted!  Life was crazy that week.  I'm hoping to post that project later.

This week's theme is Your Signature Look.  At first I thought, "I don't have a signature look.  I just do whatever I feel like at the time."  

But I don't sew shirts.  

I don't sew pants.

I rarely sew skirts.

I mostly sew dresses.

It's not like I'm necessarily opposed to sewing shirts or pants, they're just never what I feel like doing.  Because they're less special.  If I'm going to take the time to make clothes, they're going to be something a little fancy, and a little special.  Which works, because Boo loves fancy.  She wears dresses/skirts almost every single day.  I like dresses better than skirts because a dress is a complete outfit.  Simple and done.

I also like the designs to be fairly simple.  This may change as I sew clothes more, but for children's clothes, at least, I don't really want to be fussing with little details.  Cute, but simply executed details, simple to put on/take off (especially for wiggly babies!)--that's what I like to make for my girls.

So here is my Signature Look:

Simple and Special

Easter Dresses

I never did get around to posting my little girl's Easter dresses, and since they fit exactly into this week's theme, I thought today was a great day to show them off.

Daddy's Girl's dress was another variation of a pattern I've used several times before.  I change the pattern every time!  Here are the first two dresses I made from this pattern.  This time, I made the dress fully lined, instead of using bias tape (blue dress) or facings (orange dress).  I lowered the neckline and thinned the straps, like I did for the orange dress.  I used a hook-and-eye closure instead of the zipper, which was a new alteration.  

I also added a contrast band around the bottom.  That was a really fast and easy alteration, and it made so I didn't even have to hem the dress!  I'll have to do a quick tutorial another day, so you can see how that worked.

Aww, isn't she so pretty?  I love yellow on her.

Boo's dress is the same style, with a sash that ties in the back, hook-and-eye closure, and contrast band. This dress, I actually spent a lot of time on, and did a lot of work by hand.  (For Daddy's Girl's dress, which I did second and whipped out in one late night of sewing, I figured out how to do it without the handwork.  Good thing, too, because it was the night before Easter!)  

Easter morning, I gave Boo her new dress I'd spent so much time on...and she wanted to wear a different dress to church!  (Cry!)  But when I showed her she would be matching her baby sister, she became excited about this dress.  I'm doubly glad I got Daddy's Girl's dress done in time.

After church, we went to the park to take family Easter pictures.  Boo actually didn't like being up in the tree, even though her Aunt Kelli was right there, making sure she stayed safe.  (I actually photoshopped her out of this picture--she was really right by Boo.)  But Boo was a good sport anyway, and let me get a few good pictures of her in the tree.

So here's the back of the dress.  The contrast band was actually a necessity, not just a design choice.  I'd bought the two fabrics for this dress one or two years before, intending to make Boo a dress for Christmas, but then the holidays rolled by without the dress being made.  This year, I realized I had to get the dress made NOW or Boo would be too big for the amount of fabric I'd bought.  I had to add the contrast band to the bottom of the skirt to make it long enough, even now.

So that's it; that's my signature look.  Simple to sew, simple to wear, but also special.

And they make my little girls happy.  That's really what matters.

PR&P Week 2: Easy Starburst Dress

This week's theme for PR&P was "Candy Inspired."  I had some cute ideas--a dress with an orange-ish top and pleated skirt (Reese's Peanut Butter Cup)?  This cute orange striped adult's dress I found at Goodwill, cut up and pieced together into a cute chevron skirt (Starbursts--the connection being the color and the angles)?  I loved the orange stripes, so I went with that one.

That thrifted dress had a cute flower-and-hearts pattern on the bottom, so I wanted to make a quick dress for Boo with it before I used the rest to make the chevron skirt.  I knew Boo would love the dress, and she even hugged the fabric before I made it into a dress!

Just look at that happy face!  Boo loves her new dress, which is just the Popover dress again, virtually unaltered this time for simplicity.  She's worn it three times so far, and I just made it on Saturday.  :)

I realized my children have plenty clothes, so I decided not to make the second dress.  I know this simple dress won't win this week's contest, but I'm okay with that.  Boo LOVES the dress, and that's what really matters.

Project Run & Play Week 1: If Belle Was a 20's Flapper (aka Drop-Waist with Ruffles)

So, does everybody know about Project Run & Play?  It's the kid version of Project Sewn, which I participated in earlier this year.  (I made a date night high-low skirt, a 50's inspired sundress, an asymmetrical draped knit shirt, and a button and ruffles dress.  You could go and check them out; I'll wait for you.  ;)

The theme for week one of PR&P was to remix the Popover Dress.  (It's a free pattern--HERE.)  This is my interpretation.

When I showed Boo the mostly-completed dress, she said, "It's a Belle dress but it has sleeves!"  Really, to Boo, any yellow dress is a Belle dress, but I thought it was a Belle dress, too...if Belle was a 20's flapper.  :D

The original dress is a simple A-line with a small yolk and tie straps.  While my version of the dress looks significantly different than the original, structurally speaking, it's altered very little.  The straps no longer tie, and I added sleeves.  Besides that is the obvious drop waist and ruffles, but those were just sewn on top of the A-line dress--no structural change.

So it was a really simple alteration.  But I learned something important in the process:  I really don't like making ruffles.

I love the dress.  I think it's adorable.  Boo loves the dress.  But Daddy's Girl will not be getting a matching dress.  Ugh, the ruffles.  So adorable, yet so time consuming.

But look at this happy face.  Totally worth it.  And speaking of "worth it," this dress was completely free.  There's the obvious free pattern, plus the blue fabric was leftover from a project I completed ... two years ago? and haven't posted yet.  (Hmm, might should do that...)  And the yellow fabric was leftover from this summer skirt I posted two years ago.

And as a side note, I've been wanting to get a picture like this (with the sun behind the person's head, lighting up their hair so prettily) for just about forever.  But it's hard to get out to take pictures when the sun is low enough.  So I'm really excited we could take pictures early enough in the morning to get this shot.  And isn't Boo beautiful?  Awww...