The Haley Dress Sew-Along Part 1: Making Your Pattern

Welcome back! Thanks for joining me for my first sew-along :)

Remember this dress, I made my daughter from a knit t-shirt that I had laying around? It's a perfect little spring dress for playtime in the beautiful weather we've been having lately. I love it so much that I came up with a pattern and tutorial, and I'm so excited to share it with you!

Over the next few days, I'll be sharing this project in pieces so you can sew along with me. So grab your supplies and let's get started!

Supplies for this project (this is for a 2t/3t dress):

• 1 yard cotton fabric
• 1/2 yard coordinating cotton fabric
• 1/8" elastic
• 2 buttons
• Sewing machine and thread
• Rotary cutter and mat (or scissors and ruler if you're REALLY careful)
• Iron and ironing board

For the first part of our sew-along, we're going to talk about creating the dress pattern. If you want to make a 2t/3t dress, you're in luck. I happen to have created a pattern and instructions for assembling the pattern for you to download HERE! The pattern includes seam allowance and fits my tall 2-year-old. If you would like to make a different size, don't fret friends, I'll show you how to make your own pattern below.

I hope you'll look past the fact that I'm self-taught and may not know all the correct terms for the different fabric pieces, so in those cases I substituted my own :) Hopefully you'll get the general idea, I've tried to make things as simple as possible. And if you have any questions, ask away! I answer every email (just make sure you include your email address!)

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Making Your Pattern

Step 1: Create your back piece 

First, find a dress that fits your child well (one with spaghetti straps would be best). With the front facing you, line up your edges and fold the dress in half so that the front of your shirt is folded inside the shirt and the back is on top.

Tuck any straps or sleeves behind the dress. Line the dress up with the side and bottom edges of a piece of paper -- I like to use a large drawing pad or card stock because it's thicker so it's easier to trace your pattern onto your fabric. If you're using regular paper, you may need to tape a few pieces of paper together to fit your whole pattern. Next, trace a straight line running from the neck to 1/2 inch past the shoulder of the dress, then trace around the arm holes as shown below. Now, trace down the side of your dress to the bottom 1/2 inch outside of  it for seam allowance. Make the bottom of your dress a straight line.

Cut out your pattern. This will be your back piece. Mark this as "back piece" to help you remember which is which.

Step 2: Create your front piece

Now, because the top is gathered, you need to include some additional fabric to account for the gathers. Take the pattern for the back piece you just made and place it on another sheet of paper about 2 inches away from the edge. Trace from the edge of the paper and around your back pattern piece all the way to the edge to include the extra 2 inches for gathers.

Cut out. This is your front piece. Mark this as "front piece."

Step 3: Make your yoke

The yoke is the rectangle of fabric on the top of the dress that encases the gathered front piece.

You want this piece to be as long as the neckline of your back piece. Measure the neckline of your back piece and double it for the length. My neckline measured 3 1/2, so my final rectangle length was 7 inches. For the width, your yoke should be about 3 inches wide. Draw and cut out a rectangle with these measurements. Mark this piece "yoke."

Step 4: Make your front and back hem facings

Lastly, your hem facings. The hem facing is the bottom, decorative rectangle on your dress.

You'll need 2 rectangles in 2 different lengths since the front piece is bigger than the back. Measure the bottom edges of both your front and back pieces then double them. These are your lengths for each rectangle. Length for my back piece was 6 3/4 inches (or 13 1/2 inches total), and the front piece measured 8 1/4 inches (or 16 1/2 inches total). The width for each rectangle should be 2 1/2 inches. Make 2 rectangles total, one of each length, and with a width of 2 1/2 inches.

Mark each respective piece as "hem facing front" and "hem facing back."

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RECAP

So to recap what we just did, you should have a total of 5 pattern pieces that look like this:

That's it for today! Come back tomorrow and we'll begin assembling your dress. Feel free to email any questions to me at myownroad(at)yahoo.com!

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Linking up here:

Show and Tell Wednesday at Blue Cricket Design

The Haley Dress sneak peek and sew-along

I'm still here. I promise.

I've just been busy making summer clothes for my daughter, helping to plan a baby shower, and coming up with a tutorial to make this dress from scratch!

Did you think I forgot about it? I didn't, I've just been putting together a pattern for you to download (woo hoo!) and a tutorial. I'm so excited to share this with you, I'm totally loving how this turned out. Since this project took some time to make, I think I'll do a sew-along and share it in parts so you can make The Haley dress with me!

So this weekend, go out and grab the supplies below (or dig through your fabric stash), and come back next week to sew along with me!

The supplies below are for a 2t/3t dress. You may need more or less fabric depending on the size you want to make. Use an existing garment as a guide.

Supplies:

• 1 yard cotton fabric
• 1/2 yard coordinating cotton fabric
• 1/8" elastic
• 1 button
• Sewing machine and thread
• Rotary cutter and mat (or scissors and ruler if you're REALLY careful)
• Iron and ironing board

See you next week!

Appliqued tank top

I love Alisa Burke's blog. If I'm ever in need of some creative inspiration, I know I can hop on over to her blog for some beautiful eye candy and great tutorials. She paints, sews, cooks amazing food and takes fantastic photos - I want to be her when I grow up!

The thing I love most about her though, is the way she uses her darning foot to do a lot of decorative stitching. She makes magic with her sewing machine! I just love her stitched gift wrap and gift tags. Who wouldn't love to get a present wrapped in handmade gift wrap and personalized tags? Amazing.

Altered Flip Flops? Yes please!!

One of my very favorites is the Altered Hoodie, which is a take on one of Anthropologie's expensive sweaters, is a project I've been saving in my inbox for a rainy day. I seriously can't wait to try this one, I have the perfect hoodie for it. And, if you're like me, you also have a giant bag of fabric scraps just laying around waiting to be used for something.

One of her projects that I knew I had to try is her Altered Striped Tank, which is inspired by an Anthropologie shirt. In her tutorial, she takes a simple tank top and transforms it by appliqueing flowers she painted to the shirt with decorative stitching. I had to do this.

I went to Old Navy when they were getting rid of their summer clothes last year (sale!!) and found a large striped tank top for $1.50. Then, because my painting skills suck, I bought some fabric with a large flower print from my local fabric store and cut out a few select sections.

After some snipping, Heat 'N Bond-ing, and LOTS of stitching, this is what I ended up with:

I just love how the decorative stitching inside the flowers adds an extra wow-factor to the whole shirt. And it's a heck of a lot cheaper than anything I would have gotten at Anthropologie!! It's not a quick project (it probably took me 2 1/2 hours), but the end result is totally worth it.

Perfect for spring right? Go there and make one for yourself!


Linking up here!

Show and Tell Wednesday at Blue Cricket Design

Baked Italian Meatballs

There's just something deliciously comforting about a big plate of spaghetti and homemade meatballs.

This recipe has become one of my husband's and my favorites to whip up on nights when I forget to plan meals or just want something really tasty. The ingredients are pretty straightforward, but the cooking time does take a little longer than usual, so plan to start making this a little earlier than other meals. The wait is so worth it though.

Believe me.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 egg
3 Tbsp. bread crumbs
3 Tbsp. grated parmesan
1 tsp. basil
1-2 Tbsp. minced garlic (less if you're not a garlic person like me)
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 tsp. Italian herb seasoning
Dash of salt and pepper
Pasta sauce


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

If you want smaller meatballs, roll mixture into 2-inch balls. If you want man-sized meatballs like we make, double the size. Place meatballs on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Add desired amount of pasta sauce to a deep saute pan and add meatballs to pan. Cover and allow to simmer on medium-low for 1 hour.

We prefer to put these bad boys on top of a big pile of pasta, but they would make awesome meatball subs as well.

Yum!

Optometrist Prime

Yesterday, I began thinking more about what I wanted to do with the Scrabble tiles I bought during this past weekend's garage sale adventure. The first thought that came to mind was to make them into Scrabble tile pendants, so I Googled "Scrabble tile pendant" under images to see what pictures people have used for their necklaces before. As I was browsing, I got bored of the idea of making pendant necklaces and a thought came to me to use the tiles to make a cool "eye chart-style" picture with them and spell out something.

You know the eye charts I'm talking about, the ones your optometrist makes you stare at to see if you can read letters in a size 2 font?

Source

I thought it might be cool to spell something out with the tiles in this style to add to my non-existent gallery that I've been planning for the past 2 years. With this idea in mind, I decided to type in "optometrist eye chart" into the search box to find a picture of an eye chart to study. And that's when the fun began.

When you begin to type in the search box, Google auto-populates popular search words for you. Helpful most of the time so you don't have to type in the entire word. Other times, just plain funny. Here's what came up as I started to type "optometrist eye chart":

Really Google? Optometrist Prime? I'm no expert, but I don't remember him being in Transformers. I imagine a really dorky robot in a lab coat asking me which slide looks the clearest. Not exactly the "saving the world" sort.

I immediately took a screen shot and sent it to my husband and sister-in-law, who I knew would appreciate this as much as I did. Between the 3 of us, we came up with a pretty accurate depiction of Optometrist Prime:

Optometrist Prime has the ability to morph from a pair of glasses to a robot with multiple spectacles on his body (decorative AND functional!) He's also very budget-friendly. His goal is to persuade Earthlings to stay away from designer lenses - which is one ploy the Decepticons apparently use to take over the Earth. He can also apparently morph into a swan. Don't ask me how that works.

My awesome sister-in-law Shannon of Details of a Love is an artist. Thankfully, she used her skills to bring us this:

I thought the creepy font I used for his name might make him seem a little more intimidating.

No? I guess the world is doomed.

And I'm still working on a use for those Scrabble tiles.

Garage sale finds

The weather is getting warmer, and that means GARAGE SALES! My mother-in-law got me addicted to garage saling last year when she came to visit. She is the queen of the garage sale.

The night before, we planned our conquest. We searched Craig's List and mapped out about 10-15 garage sales we were going to hit. We woke up the next morning around 6am, hit the nearest Starbucks, and took our wads of cash to see what we could find.

And from then on, I was hooked.

Imagine my excitement when I noticed that our neighbors put up signs for their garage sale this morning. My first garage sale of the season!(I know, I live a wild, exciting life.) Here were my finds:

Grand total: $14

Is it weird that I'm totally planning on making clothes out of the shower curtain and table cloth? No? Ok good. I know the Scrabble tiles might seem a little random, but I'm going to use those to make Scrabble tile pendants. It's not often you find bags of Scrabble tiles without having to buy the game. As for the frames, those are going to be dressing up a bare wall in our dining room. 

 I probably could have gotten everything even cheaper, but I suck at bartering. They give me a price and I give in and just pay it. Something to work on before this summer's garage sale adventures.

Another shirt refashion

I just wanted to share a little spring refashion I did the other day with you! I gotta say, this turned out way better than I hoped it would.

A friend of mine gave me a bag full of some great kid's clothes as well as some women's shirts, knowing I would either wear them or turn them into something else. One in particular caught my eye (probably because brown and turquoise are my favorite combination). I knew I wanted to make it into a dress for Haley.

Here's the original shirt:

The colors are a little off on the picture above because I didn't have good lighting, sorry! The shirt really is turquoise and brown. Note the extra awesome purple buttons (which were immediately removed). And after some seam ripping, hemming, and general sewing awesomeness, this is what the shirt became:

As you can see, she found a really interesting stick that she wanted to play with instead of posing for me.

I just love easy refashions where I barely have to do any sewing! Since I used the shirt from the neckline down, there was no need to hem the bottom because it was already hemmed. The neckline of the shirt easily became the neckline and straps of the dress, so I didn't need to do much there either. I just used my seam ripper to separate the binding from the neck to the shoulders and then (using a dress that fits my daughter) I traced and cut the dress in a simple A-line style. I stitched the raw seam of my newly created straps to the back of the dress, and then (my favorite part) I made a flower out of the extra fabric I cut off. The flower is basically a bunch of circles I cut out and folded twice, then stacked on top of each other in a circle. It really completes the dress. I didn't hem or bind the armholes at all because I was feeling lazy and I know the knit fabric won't fray.

I like it so much, I'm thinking of doing a tutorial for how to make this dress from scratch. What anyone be interested?