Monday, February 15, 2010

The Heat Is On!

*Note: I hate blogger right now- I can't, for the life of me, get the formatting of this post to work*

One of the blogs I LOVE to stalk is Lil Blue Boo!!! I've just admired her work from a far, but since I've been step'n out and challenging my sewing skills lately I decided to join in with a design challenge she is doing.


I have never worked with knit materials before, but I loved the idea of upcycling old t-shirts into fun clothes. This along with my new obsession of making matching outfits for girls lit a fire :)

{Okay, so the fact that one of the prizes to the winner is an original piece of nursery art from Ashely is another motivator :) }

So I bought this pattern and went looking for some material at the thrift store. I've never done fabric painting, so I tried freezer paper stenciling for the first time. I really wanted to do an all over pattern of cherries on the black fabric to tie in the pink & green.













It was a bit tedious to cut out each individual cherry, iron it on, and paint it. But I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

I came up with this for Brooklyn's dress (2T *crossing my fingers she actually grows by then):






















Since B is so petite I decided to stitch the straps down instead of leaving it as a halter that ties behind the neck.

After asking for weeks for her to try this dress on, she finally let me but was certainly not happy about having her picture taken.



The pattern is for 12 months-6T. So for the baby, who I went from some 3-6month size clothes for measurements and came up with this belly shirt and bloomers:





















I used the same 2T top section, but used the front panel for both the front and back and made it a tank top instead of crossing straps. Then added a ruffle. From the bloomer section of the pattern (12 month), I subtracted a 1/2"except for leg holes and added ruffles to the bum.

BTW- this is only the second time I've tried a gathering stitch and it went much better this time. I don't think I even cursed once!












I can't wait for it to heat up this summer- mostly to see my girls in these adorable outfits! Couldn't you just eat them up? We'll see what the judges think.

6 comments:

Natalie Woods said...

These are so cute Sarah!

Sara Osman said...

TOO CUTE! Hope you win!

Michelle said...

So cute Sarah! I wish you'd come back and stay and we could start crafting together. I really think we'd have a lot of great ideas to bounce off one another, and you could show me the ins and outs of actually doing it ;)

Anonymous said...

Very cute! :) Great job!

RB said...

Sarah- These are fantastic! My Gram used to make me dresses when I was a girl. I also used to fuss when asked to try them on, but I would always cry and cry when they were taken away as they got too small! Your girls will love this!!

RB said...

Note- RB equals Liz, sorry forgot to sign out of his account!