♥ Pockets!

I think the term for what I did to this dress would be "upcycle," but I think "embellished" would work also. I found two cheap dresses on clearance at Target. This one is orange with a pink ruffle on the bottom and pink straps, the other is blue with green. They were cheap - super cheap, I want to say $3 a piece. I knew before I bought them that I wanted to add some pockets or some sort of applique to them. After I bought the dresses, I took them to JoAnn and matched them up with fat quarters.

Since Lauren has been into pockets lately (especially for the ability to carry around her little tiny princesses), I decided to go with a little function in the fashion.

The top heart isn't a pocket, it is just sewn on and I added three mismatched but kind of coordinating buttons in a row on it. The bottom middle heart is actually two pockets. I sewed a seam straight down the middle and left the rounded parts of the heart open. The two pockets on the side are also hearts, the top open to make the pockets.

And the dress was a hit. She put it on as soon as I finished it and went out to play and we went out to dinner with her wearing it.

The only bad news I have about this dress is how much it has inspired me to use buttons from Lissa's stash in upcoming projects. I must have laid out a dozen different setups for the buttons before I decided to go with the simple three button design I used.

I also hit up Hobby Lobby on Tuesday and picked up four patterns, taking advantage of this week's 99 cent special. I may wait until we get up to Washington, but I may not. I just need to find a fabric store that sells better fabric for apparel. I'd like some better knits instead of the stiffer cotton that I've been using.

Ladybug Dress

Here's Lauren in her ladybug dress. This is the same pattern as Mia's waterymelon dress. The prints on the fabric are similar, so they look cute and coordinated without matching perfectly.

I got a close up shot of her ladybug button and the ribbon I used.

It always makes me so happy when she picks out one of the dresses that I've made for her as the dress she wants to wear for the day.

Mia's "Waterymelon" Dress

This is my almost three year old niece, Mia, and today I gave her the watermelon-print dress I made for her (or, "waterymelon" as she calls it.)  I added pink ribbon to the bottom hem and between the bodice and skirt sections for the dual purpose of adding flair and covering my not perfectly straight stitching.  The pink ribbon has little black dots in it that look like little watermelon seeds.  There are also two watermelon buttons that I added where the straps meet the bodice on the front.  She really liked it.  Tomorrow I'll post pictures of Lauren's ladybug dress made from the same pattern.  (Click on the photo to enlarge)

Sewing Up A Storm

I've been doing a bunch of sewing lately. Tons of dresses for Lauren, and some shirts for my sisters-in-law (or is it sister-in-laws? Doesn't matter...) and I have some projects on the horizon that I'm thinking about and figuring out how I want to do. I need to get pictures and post them soon, maybe I'll get that done today so I can start posting tomorrow.

Lots of baking has been going on here, too. A few good recipes from The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook (thank you, Jayna) and more planned from the Pink Princess Cookbook and the Pink Princess Tea Parties cookbook.

Plenty of plans, a few finished projects, and now I'm just looking for some time to get a bit more done. Hope to post soon!

Sugar Cookies

I made sugar cookies a few weeks ago and let Lauren decorate them. She did the sprinkles and after they baked, I decorated them with icing. She had fun and we all enjoyed eating them.