Little White Dress

I still have a few clothes pre-maternity (and when I saw pre-maternity, I mean way back in 2008) that I kept because they were relatively new when I got pregnant and I was planning to use them again. Some are back in circulation again, but some... um... let's just say I question my fashion choices back when I was... errr... younger :)

Here's one of them:

Nothing wrong with it really. And I think it might even look flattering if you are slim, which even pre-maternity I was not :) The puffed sleeves made my arms look bigger, and the white shapeless silhouette of this top made me look bigger, period.

Why have I kept it then? Because I like this detail at the bottom:

A few weeks ago, before Andrea started going to school, I took out this old top and decided to make a dress for her. 

I cut the blouse in half at the middle. The bottom part was used as the skirt, unaltered. The top part of the dress I fashioned from the upper half of the blouse. I used the neckline of the blouse for the neckline of the dress. Using the blouse this way meant there was only a little sewing involved (i.e. attaching the front and back of the top, attaching the top to the skirt, hemming the sleeves) and it only took me about an hour to finish. 

I finished this dress weeks ago. Only Andrea refused to take it off when I asked her to try it on, and then it got messy after a few minutes of playing that I was not able to take photos until last weekend when I asked her to wear it to go the mall.

She even picked the shoes to wear with it. Little girl has fashion sense, don't you think???

She saw the cardboard set-up for the movie Ice Age 4... she's a big fan of the squirrel from the Ice Age franchise.

This project is linked at the following parties:

Tuesday Alchemy Challenge |

Matching Dresses

Remember the Anna Dress I made for my daughter? Well... I made another one.

  

For her doll :) She doesn't have a name. Andrea just calls her 'Baby Doll'. 

A closer look.

The buttons in front are just aesthetic. The opening is actually at the back. The back opens from top to bottom and I used Velcro on both sides to close it.  

I am linking up to the following parties:

Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle | A Marvelous Mess at Marvelously Messy | Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | Pink Hippo Party at Pinkapotamus | Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime | Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Take-A-Look Tuesdayt at Sugar Bee Crafts | Handmade Tuesday at Ladybug Blessings | Tuesday To-Do Party at The Blackberry Vine | Homemade Projects at Tip Junkie | Link Party at Running with Glitter | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Tuesday Confessional Link Party at Confessions of a Stay at Home Mommy | Cure for Common Monday at Lines Across My Face | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife |

My 'Anna Dress' from Craftiness Is Not Optional

When I first started sewing, my goal was so that I can make dresses for my daughter Andrea. One of my goals for this year is to actually make her a dress from scratch... you know, not one of those refashion projects I am so fond of (because they're easier). And not one of those simple A-line dresses... I want one made with patterns and with puffed sleeves and buttons and bias tape binding. 

I first saw the dress I wanted to make at Sertyan's Sewing Corner. I followed her link to the sew-along at Craftiness Is Not Optional.

Reading the instructions... it looked like something I can do so I decided to give it a try.  And I showed a preview of the finished dress last Saturday. I promised more photos today... but unexpected things that shouldn't have been unexpected when you're dealing with toddlers happened while my toddler was wearing it.  She soiled it while we were having lunch yesterday after church... and BEFORE I was able to take pictures X(

Preview of my 'Anna Dress' during the final fitting stage last Saturday

I am so proud of this one because this must be the most 'complicated' sewing project I have accomplished so far. With buttons and binding and lining and all! Jess of Craftiness Is Not Optional did a good job on her sew-along tutorial. The instructions are clear and easy to follow.

Being a novice sewer... I made several a few monumental small errors. First... I envisioned this dress as a white and red polka-dot dress with red satin in the middle and binding the sleeves. Unfortunately... I cut the fabric wrong and ended up with several small pieces of scrap and not enough for the skirt. I tried looking for more of the same fabric I was using but was unsuccessful. I had to settle for any red print on white background and though the store I went to had a wide range of fabric designs, they didn't have a lot of red on white. The one they showed me reminded me of table cloths in rural areas here in the Philippines but I didn't have much choice and ended up using that anyway. That's the fabric I used for the skirt part.

Another mistake I made is that I forgot about the binding on the sleeves when I put the dress together. I was too excited to put it together because I wanted to see it finished. The sleeves, when sewn together, leaves only a small opening for the arms and it was difficult to sew the bias tape binding along the raw edge of the sleeves using the sewing machine. In the end... I had to sew it on by hand. 

I love the dress though and I learned a lot while working on it. I am so proud of me for finishing it and seeing that it looks the dress I was trying to copy! Even my top stitches are even.. and that's saying a lot because I usually have a hard time sewing straight and even lines. 

Andrea wearing the dress outside the restaurant before we ate lunch, and before she got it dirty.

After I finished it, I had it washed, dried and pressed so Andrea could wear it to church yesterday morning.

Now, I am so inspired to make more! Good thing my little girl likes wearing dresses. I went to the mall with my husband yesterday after we had lunch and I looked at some dresses at the children's section for inspiration. Here are some that I find pretty.

I particularly love that schoolgirl look at the bottom right. Can't wait to see if I can make something like those!

I am linking up to the following parties (it's been a while since I linked up a project, wow!)

Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes | Sundae Scoop at I Heart Nap Time | Sunday Showcase at Under The Table and Dreaming | Not Baaad Sundays at Lamb Around |  Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff | Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | Making Monday Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping It Simple | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Made with Love at Sew Chatty | Marvelously Messy at A Marvelous Mess | Tuesday Party at Running with Glitter | Take-a-Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts | Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Show Me What Ya Got at Not JUST a Housewife | Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog | Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Make It Wear It at The Train to Crazy | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts |

My first documented UFO

UFO - Un-Finished Object. I've been reading about UFO's from Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom and I was amazed how some people are so good at finishing what they started. You see, I often start something... and when it doesn't turn out right or how I wanted it to, I lose interest in fixing it or starting over. And I move on to something new.

A month ago, I posted about this blue dress I sort of finished for Andrea. It's sort of finished, because it can be worn. I can't call it finished because, it looked a little plain and I know it can do with more... um... flair?

See?  Boring.

I got a few good suggestions from the comments section and I tried to get some more work done on the dress but with all the cleaning and preparation last week for my in-laws' arrival, all I managed to do was add some ruffles around the front part of the neckline.

The ruffles don't even extend to the back of the neckline :-/

I'm still thinking of adding a small pocket to the center of the bodice... watchatink? Can I call it done? or does it need more... flair?

Keeping it real

Last week was rainy... too rainy. Many areas were flooded last Friday and some areas are still flooded as of yesterday. Thank you for all the well-wishes. The area (or specifically the street) where I live does not flood (though the surrounding areas do). However, I was not able to visit my dad for his birthday last Sunday because he lives 3 hours away, in another city... and the provinces along the way to where he lives is severely flooded. We will be visiting this coming weekend. Hopefully, the weather will be better.

So we stayed home. I was feeling out of sorts last weekend and finally got sick yesterday. And since I wasn't feeling well... 

This is our living room. And yes, it is filled with Andrea's toys. I was too tired to pick up after her so I just let her spread everything out. And who am I kidding? This is how our living room looks like everyday I guess. Daddy and our nanny cleaned up when I took Andrea upstairs for a bath. After her bath, to keep her quiet, I let her pick her shoes. She loves shoes (I think because she just learned to put them on by herself... changing her shoes every 30 minutes is like a game to her). This is what she picked.

Yeah, she wore her boots ALL day. Good thing it was raining, the weather was cool. Knee-high boots are not very practical most days in this country.

I wasn't up to making any projects since I was sick, but I did manage to semi-finish this dress for Andrea:

I used the same pattern (traced from one of Andrea's dresses) I used for the Minnie Mouse dress. Only this time I added ruffles to the bottom. This again made from another old shirt and left over fabric from when I made boxer shorts. I really need to buy fabric. I said semi-finish because I think the dress still needs a little something. Ruffles along the sleeves area? Ruffles along the neck area? Front pocket? Watchatink? I still have a little of that fabric I used for the bottom ruffle (just a little more so I can only add small pieces).

I hope you guys had a great weekend!

Old Sarong to Simple Summer Dress

Before we left for our trip last week, I was planning to make matching summer dresses for my daughter and my niece. I looked around my stash to find fabric that looks 'summery' and is big enough for 2 dresses and I found this:

It's an old sarong I got from a store in White Beach, Puerto Galera several years ago. If you're wondering what a 'sarong' is, it's a length of fabric that is used as a beach cover up. I Googled some images and found this:

These are actually the most common designs and you can buy one from most beaches here for around P100 (approx $2.50). The sarong I'm using above... I remember that it was on sale (yeah, they have sales on beaches too). It was like buy 3 for only P200 (approx $5) at the time. The design choices were limited and that red one was the nicest.

Anyway... for my summer dresses, I wanted to incorporate the dolphins to the tassels. I one of Andrea's dresses as my pattern. I laid it on top of the sarong, making sure that the designs I wanted are inside the lines of the dress. I traced it out and cut the front and the back pieces. For my niece, she's a year older than Andrea, I just made the front and back pieces a little bigger than Andrea's size.

I didn't have to hem the edge of the skirt because I wanted to keep the tassels. So first I sewed the sides. And then I hemmed the arm holes and the neckline. And the dress was done.

She was playing and did not appreciate being pulled away from her toys for a few minutes so I could take this photo.

Very easy to do! Since I wanted to incorporate the sarong design from the dolphin down to the tassel... the dress ended up a little longer than I wanted but Andrea didn't seem to mind.

When we went to the water park, Andrea spent most of the time taking a nap or wading in the pool. My niece did too. So they never got to wear it, therefore no picture of them with their matching dresses. Tsk tsk. Maybe next time.

I am linking up to the following link parties:

We Did It Wednesday at Sew Much Ado | Sew Cute Tuesday at Creative Itch | Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs | Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims | Make It, Wear It at The Train to Crazy | Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman | Wednesday Link Party at Tea Rose Home | Will See It Wednesday at Fabric Bows and More | Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple | Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma | Get Your Brag on at Gluesticks | Thrifty Thursday Blog Hop at Saved By Love Creations | Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Chic Cottage | Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts | Thrilling Thursday at Paisley Passions | A Crafty Soiree at Katie's Nesting Spot | A Glimpse Inside at Catch a Glimpse | Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge |