A Birthday Skirt

Did you know that all the best patterns for baby and children's clothes are made by moms? I recently discovered Pink Fig Designs. Mama-made patterns that are SO CUTE. Pink Fig patterns are designed to be made from woven fabric, which is great. Knits are fantastic, but sometimes it is really hard to find good prints at a good price. 

The first thing I made was the Nie Nie Skirt. I love how it turned out. Gathering ruffles isn't my favorite task, but I love the result. I'll have to look into a gathering foot for my machine.

Addy is modeling the skirt, though it isn't for her. It is for one of her friends who is just a couple weeks younger than Addy. The little girl needed a birthday skirt, and this will be it! 

I used my serger quite a bit for this skirt. You could get away without one, but I love my serger and use it at every opportunity. I did a serged rolled hem on each layer instead of a sewn rolled hem. It makes such a nice finish to a ruffled look. 

The only modification I made to the pattern was to use 5 ruffled layers instead of the 6 outlined in the pattern. The smallest size in the original is a 2T. This being for a first birthday, it needed to be a little smaller. I didn't want the strips that make up the layers to be any more narrow than they already are, so I went with omitting the sixth layer to make it a little shorter. 

The skirt was to be "Cupcake Themed." And so there are a couple of cupcake prints. I also think the tiers add to the theme, bringing to mind layers of piped icing. 

I love the fullness of this skirt. It bustles with that little toddler toddle and just adds to the cuteness. Addy will definitely need a couple of these for herself!

I've released a monster

Who knew there was a dress-making  monster latent within me? I'm addicted to making little dresses. It's so much more fun than making adult-sized clothes. Except for PJ pants. I love making a new pair of PJ pants. :)  

I didn't use a pattern. I looked pictures of baby dresses and made up my own. Facing is annoying and I probably won't use it often, but I'm glad I did it for this dress. (Facing is the little red strips along the arm and neck holes.)

On future dresses, I'll make the neck a little deeper as this one is just a little close. It's not tight around her neck by any means, but it doesn't sit low enough for my liking.

The bodice just fits. With yesterday's larger product, I wanted to be sure this one wouldn't also be big. It isn't! It fits her fine for now. We'll see if it still fits next week though!

 See the leg warmers? I made those too. Out of women's crew socks. There's a tutorial here if you want to see how it's done. Very nifty!

The darker border is a separate layer. Then I pieced an additional length of the lighter material. I think a fuller skirt would be better, but I wasn't displeased enough with this one to scrap it. ;)

I put a zipper in the back. I find buttons far more time-consuming to install. The layers from the front continue in back, though with the way she's laying, this is mostly a shot of the leg warmers.

Inspired by Tea Collection

Long time no post! I was busy making a person. Now that she's here, I'm feeling crafty like I haven't felt in a while! Don't get me wrong, I made lots of stuff while pregnant. But it would take too long to catch up and post each one. We'll just start fresh with a recent craft!

Some of the cutest baby clothes I've ever seen are made by Tea Collection. Seriously fabulous clothes with designer price tags. So I made a dress with Tea's style, more or less, for about $8 and an hour of my time.

I'm pleased with the result! The shoulders tie for easy adjusting and easy on-and-off. Oh, and easy to make! I thought about doing proper shoulders, but didn't. Maybe next time!

It ended up being bigger than I intended. I wanted something Addison could wear now-ish. This will likely not fit her until late spring or summer. Since I'm impatient for her to have cute dresses, I'll probably make a smaller one. From different fabric, of course. Much more fun that way!

Thank you, Tea Collection for having beautiful clothes I choose not to afford.