Easy Tunic Toddler Dress (with mini tutorial)

We just celebrated having A home with us for one whole year!  I (finally!) got around to making her a new dress for her Gotcha Day.

 I used a fuchsia and orange version of Garden Party by Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller for the fabric.  I picked this up at my local quilt store several years ago, so it would be hard to find now.  I was looking for fabric that was bright and Indian-ish for my daughter who was still living in India at the time.  I used some of this for her blocks and her quilt, but since I had several yards I knew I wanted to make a dress out of it. 

 

Step 1: Cut out the fabric.  I used a couple of dresses she is currently wearing as pattern guides.  This is the back of the tunic so the straps are longer to come up over the shoulders.  I didn't want to have to finish the lining on the upper part of the dress so I cut it to use the selvage edge.  The lining on this side is crooked, but you can't see that on the finished dress so I left it like this.

The front panel of the tunic, again using the selvage edge for the lining.  Lining the top gives a little body to the neck and arm holes.

Step two: Sew linings to the pieces.

Make sure to cut your edges to ease the seams around curves like the neck and arm openings.

The following steps don't have pictures... I was trying to rush and finish the entire dress while A was napping!

Step 3: Turn the pieces right side out and press with iron.

Step 4: Sew the front and back pieces together along the sides.  I used French seams so I didn't have to finish anything on the inside of the dress.  I love French seams and on something like this they are so easy!

Step 5: Hem bottom of dress.  Press with iron to finish.

Step 6: Add buttons to top of dress.  I sewed buttons on the front piece and added button holes to the straps, but you could do it the other way around for a slightly different look.

Finished product!  My machine was very cooperative for this project so I was able to finish quickly, about two hours start to finish.  I think this is a record for me- sewing projects, even easy ones like this, tend to drag on for me as I am constantly ripping out seams and re-sewing. 

A loves her Gotcha Day dress!  Having the most beautiful model makes my sewing look good!!!

Whole Cloth Elephant Quilt

I have wanted to try quilting for years but always put it off thinking it's too involved for my short attention span crafting style.  I finally took the plunge with this whole cloth elephant quilt!

I love the elephants in this fabric (Madhuri Elephant by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake) and couldn't bear to cut it up so a whole cloth quilt was an easy solution.  I made this for my daughter who was born in India, so the fabric is obviously a nod to her home country.  I'm really pushing the elephant theme for her, so I hope she likes them!

 

Everything I know about quilting I've learned from reading fiction books with characters who quilt, so not that much.  I learned a bit about Hawaiian whole cloth quilts reading The Aloha Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini and was also inspired by looking at kantha quilts (blankets made from old saris or sari fabric) on-line.  I knew I wanted to quilt by hand not machine and finally found this tutorial as a guide. 

 

I mostly used supplies I had on hand instead of buying all new quilt specific tools - I used an embroidery hoop instead of a quilt hoop and normal thread and needle for the basting.  I did buy hand quilting thread and needles for the swirling design.  I have tried using a thimble several times, but I find it to be more of a hassle than helpful.

 

I drew the swirling design freehand with a water soluble marker.  My favorite part was spraying down the quilt with water and watching the blue ink disappear.  Since my thread was the same color as the background of the fabric the quilting still looks subtle even with an intricate design.

I only quilted the background so the elephants stand our a bit because of the batting layer.



 

To be honest, I was going to ask my mom to do the binding for me.  It involves all the parts of sewing I don't like: measuring, ironing, being precise.  I ended up giving it a try on my own and I think it turned out okay.  It's a little wonky in places but that adds to the handmadeness, right?

 

A loves her special elephant quilt!

Woodland Tooth Fairy Pillow

D came home with a missing tooth recently!  I was planning on whipping up her tooth fairy pillow when her first tooth got loose, so I was a bit unprepared by her sudden lost tooth.  Thankfully the Tooth Fairy held off visiting D until I was able to get around to making her pillow.  Here's how it turned out.

I had been saving this fabric for something fun.  A tooth fairy pillow fits the bill, don't you think?  The small pocket in the front is for her tooth...

A little simple embroidery for her name...

A larger pocket on the back side so the Tooth Fairy can leave her receipt...

Now we are ready for the rest of her teeth to come out!

Dining Room Before and After

Way back in January I felt the need to redo something.  I think I needed a new room for the new year.  So I went to work updating the dining room.

 

Here is the before (staring Mozie, the handsome cat).  Our dining room chairs were really beat up and blended in too much with the table and buffet.

The curtains were a grey-green chenille that had seen much better days...

 So time for a new color- it only took me five months to paint all six chairs.  I couldn't find a spray paint color I liked so I ended up painting each one by hand.  I love how the green contrasts with the buffet table.

And new brown/cream rugby stripe curtains.  I looked everywhere to buy these instead of having to sew them, but I never found anything close to what I wanted.  They were actually easier than I thought they'd be and the stripes match up when I close the curtains.  Success!

Knit Princess Dresses

 Delia has two beautiful princess dresses my mom has made over the past several years (see them here and here.)  Since we will be meeting Rapunzel and Merida at Disneyland(!) next week I thought about letting her wear them to the park, but I'm worried about her being uncomfortable or ruining the dresses.  So I made these play dresses for our days at the parks.  I borrowed heavily from these dresses at homemadebyjill and crafterhours. 

 

The Belle dress- I used two XXL men's t-shirts for the entire dress, making it long in the bodice so she can wear it for awhile.

 

 

The Sleeping Beauty dress- I just added the white collar to a pink t-shirt D already had (cut from an old white shirt I had on hand.) The skirt is made from a women's pink t-shirt and the light pink overlay is an old t-shirt of mine.

The Snow White dress- again, I just modified a t-shirt from D's closet with sleeves made from old t-shirts and some yellow ric-rac.  The skirt is made from leftovers from the Belle dress.

 

D is ready to meet some princesses in royal style... and comfort!

Disney Theme Boxy Bags

 Our trip to California includes a 13 hour drive, so I've been working on some fun treats for the kids to have in the car.  I made up these boxy little bags to hold goodies while we travel.  Since Disneyland will comprise most of our trip I ran with Disney themed, well, everything!

I couldn't decides on fabric for M so I ended up making two.  He has a million CARS cars so he will need them!

I saved up to buy a used DS that he will get to play in the car.  His Marvel Heroes bag is just the right size for the DS and a handful of games.

D has a number of small princess dolls.  Hopefully playing with them and dressing them up will keep her entertained!

I have been picking up Disney coloring books, magic ink activity books, stickers, and small toys at the dollar bins at Target and Wal-mart to round out our in-car box of fun.  How do you keep your kids entertained on long road trips?

Tooth Fairy Pillow

We had our first lost tooth in our house recently.  Time for a tooth fairy pillow.  I basically made the exact same pillow my mom made for me when I was a kid- a small pillow with my name embroidered on it with a little pocket for teeth/ money (pretend you can't see the pencil lines from my embroidery.  have to get rid of those...)

This is the back of I's pillow.  I added a large pocket for correspondence with the Tooth Fairy.  I & D both wrote notes and left them in there for her.  In the morning I found a receipt for his tooth in the pocket.  It looked a lot like this one...

 

I was afraid we might loose the teeny tiny tooth, so I had I put it in this little glass bottle to stick in the front pocket...

I loves his new pillow, but not as much as the gold $1 coin he got for leaving his tooth!

Ballet Bag and Basketball Cinch Sack

My two oldest started new activities this year- ballet for D and basketball for I.  So far they are enjoying themselves, but it's made for more junk laying around the house.  Last week I decided they both needed new bags to corral their stuff.  I made a point to use materials that I had on hand so as not to spend any money.  I might have done somethings different with new materials, but I'm happy with the results.

D's Ballet Slipper Bag-

just the right size for ballet slippers and a pair of leg warmers

Isn't this fabric perfect?  I bought it in CA years ago and had just a scrap of it.  Just enough to make the little cylinder.

D with her bag ready to go to class...

I's Basketball Cinch Sack-

big enough for a youth size basketball, a waterbottle, and his basketball shoes

My husband suggested spelling out "Bong-nam Style" in the iron-on letters, but my son vetoed that idea.  He just wanted his last name...

I modeling his new bag...