from ladies dresses to fairy and princess dress-up clothes

I made my daughter's first princess dress out of a dress that I stopped wearing.  I save a lot more ill-fitting, stained, or damaged clothes than I used to.  If I like the fabric, I try to think of something else that I can make from it.  I don't have a before picture of the dress, but it was a very basic, 3/4 sleeved, knee-length sheath, which made it the perfect length for a long princess dress.  

I took it in a little bit, added elastic at the waist, draped tulle for poofiness, and added a tulle neckline.  I was able to preserve the original hem...it's always nice to be able to cut out some steps!

I found this sparkly button in a stash that my mom gave me years ago that is the perfect embellishment for the new neckline. 

I also cut up a very old and worn out Elizabethan costume that I inherited.  I had just enough fabric to make a Tinkerbell costume.  I used one of my daughter's undershirts as the lining and cut the green velvet to fit comfortable over the undershirt.  I made straps to cover the ones on the undershirt as well.  I cut up 6 or 7 leaves out of the velvet with a couple of layers of green tulle on the top of each.  I topstitched leaf veins as well.  It was so easy to use the undershirt as a guide.  I'll share a couple of other dresses I made with undershirts another time.  

from slinky skirt to Rapunzel-inspired dress

I have two daughters under the age of 5.  Disney princesses are big around here.  I love the way my oldest daughter loves to fully embody characters, acting out favorite scenes in movies, and belting out songs.  Naturally, she loves to dress the part.  I don't love the ridiculous prices of princess dresses, especially since the cheap fabric often loses its elasticity and pills up or the way the seams often fall out.  I also am trying to be conscious of how much I allow my kids to be branded.  I would like them to be content with what they have and not get used to having what marketers tell them they need.  I try to repurpose and use up scraps as much as possible.  My daughter got really into Tangled last year, and I knew that she'd love a dress to match the long golden locks she was blessed with.  

I started with a plum skirt that I haven't worn in years.  A skirt that hits below my knees will be a long dress on her.  

I had a remnant of a sheer white fabric with embroidered pink flowers on it that I used as an overlay for the dress.  I laid out the skirt and wrapped the printed fabric around it, folding and draping as needed to achieve the look I was going for.

After I had the fabric laid out how I wanted it, I cut and hemmed it along the two sides in the front and, eventually, on the bottom of the dress.

I pinned the overlay fabric to the skirt in a lot of places so that it stayed right where I wanted it while I did the hemming.

Then I cut out armholes, using the scraps to make capped sleeves.  

I put in an elastic casing so that the dress would have a defined waist and be easy to put on for a 4 year-old and comfortable to wear.  

I sewed little loops to the bodice of the dress and threaded ribbon through them to tie a bow at the top.  The ribbon is functional and helps the dress to fit my 4 year-old and her very petite 2 year-old sister.

I know that she won't believe in fairy tales forever, so I'm happy to help her live inside of them for a little while.

from someone else's scraps to a 1st day of school dress...

My oldest daughter had her first day of pre-k this week, and I whipped up a new dress for her the night before.  We're in LA, and our summer heat is just getting started.  A sundress seemed most appropriate.  Plus, she LOVES them.  I am always shocked when I make something for her in total secrecy and it ends up fitting (I do use clothes that have a similar fit as a guide when cutting fabric, and she still has a board straight little girl body...)!  

I have been wanting to make a dress for her out of the bottom fabric for a couple of months.  I got both fabrics from a very special source who gives me lots of amazing samples and scraps that she no longer has use for.  I kind of think this might have been a pillow case originally from the way that big hem was done...and, it had a tag inside.  I love repurposing things that already have usable hems!!

I made a casing for the straps to go through so that they could be adjustable.  

I love the circles and dots on the bottom.  

She was very excited to put it on for her first day of school and even was willing to pose for the camera!

There goes my big girl.  

from old-fashioned slip to belted skirt

Five or six years ago, I found a old-fashioned slip at an antique shop in Harbor County, Michigan (I think it was in Three Oaks).  I love that part of Michigan.  It's only about an hour or so from Chicago.  The beaches are beautiful with crystal clear (salt free!) water.  Besides the beach, there are great restaurants, pretty places to bike ride, and antique shops.  That's pretty much it, so it's very relaxing.  I live in LA, and I'd take the beaches of Michigan any day over what we have here.  Any way, I bought what I think was some kind of antique slip for $10.

I used to wear it with a belt around the waist and cowboy boots, and I loved it!  It started getting kind of scroungy looking around the neckline, though, so I decided to turn it into a skirt.

I chopped of the torso and folded over and stitched the top of the the skirt part.  I also saved the in-tact parts of the neckline by cutting it into panels to make belt loops.  

I also made a belt out of a wide strip that I cut off of a cotton-linen blend pair of pants that I shortened.  I trimmed the edges of the belt with more of the lacy detail from the dress. 

 I hardly had anything left over when I was finished!