A little lady's summer dress - gathered elastic dress with shoulder straps

Hello there, I am back again. Disappeared into the land of sewing for a while.  Been sewing some simple dresses for my toddler for this hot summer season.  So this is one of them.

Summer dress for toddler girl

Summer dress with shoulder straps

This is where I got my patternless little girl's dress and tutorial:
http://sewhipmama.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/so-simple-little-lady-dress/

Fabric used: polycotton mix and match floral print 112cm width x 19" length (for main dress)
Straps - pink poplin fabric, 2 pieces of 10"length x 3" width

Seam allowance 1/2" or 13mm
Elastic band 20mm width x 51cm or 20" length.

This dress measures 17" length from chest to bottom of hem. The straps were sewn to the top of the dress bodice about 1" from edge.  Size is made for 2 to 3 year old.

Shoulder straps measure 1.5" width x 8" length when sewn.

Been out and about with my little model

Breakfast ideas for little toddler

I am very lucky and blessed to have a good little eater who is not fussy about what to eat and also not picky despite my poor culinary skills in the kitchen!  

Regardless of how my food turns out or is presented, my little girl will still chow down all the food, most of the time.  Though, lately, she has been making choices about when she wants to eat certain foods or fruits.  She eats strawberries on certain mornings but not every morning as part of her breakfasts!!

toddler breakfast: french toast with honey, orange slices, strawberries

home-made yogurt with bananas, apple, strawberries.  rice puffs and special K (adult cereal) with milk

hash brown, egg (it looks bit rubbery and dry), banana sliced, tomatoes (her favourite)

Sewing a toddler dress - using old bed sheets

toddler dress (aka pillowcase dress)

Hi there, for this sewing project, I used some old unused bed sheets that have been lying around in my mums linen cupboard.  The pattern I used required 40 inch (100cm) square of fabric.  After cutting out the pattern and sewing the dress, I found it a bit too short for my 2 year old toddler so I decided to add some more fabric to it.  I decided to add some ruffles.  For the ruffled hem, I used 4" height x 50" length, and 1/2" seam allowance.

There is also two fabric cut outs for the front and back bodice, with a shorter length, just 2" below the armhole, used for lining the top or chest area.

After sewing the lining to the front and back bodice, I also did a top stitch around the armholes which is not indicated in the book. Some of the extra embellishments indicated in the book were omitted in this project, as I just wanted to test out the main pattern, which is the dress.  You could add a flower yo-yo to the front bodice and also coloured ribbons along the bottom of the dress.

1/2" seam allowance used throughout.
Straps made from 2 x 2" width x 28" length fabric. (50cm width x 80cm length)
White thread used
Safety pin
Singer 160 sewing machine
Scissors
Pattern for 2T-3T

The pattern for the toddler dress was taken from this book by Emma Hardy, "making children's clothes".

New sewing quick projects - toddler clothing 2T-3T

Bought this top pop poplin fabric at Spotlight for $2.99 per metre, I bought 2 metres in total to help me practice my sewing projects.  So I decided to try the night dress pattern again, this time, I used some "super seams" in this sewing projects.  All my seams are sewn so raw edges are hidden away, and I did not do any zig-zag stitches as before.  Hiding the seams are preferred way for me, as they look neater.

For ideas on super seams, I followed the tutorials found on this blog:
http://www.made-by-rae.com/2013/06/super-seams/

Items needed for this sewing project:  

Poplin fabric, 112cm x 125cm

6mm width x 16 inch length elastic (1/4" width)

(18" is too long for my 2-3 yr old)

Sewing machine

Button

Scissors and pink general purpose thread

Pattern cut-outs

Tailors chalk

Night gown #2 with flower yoyo

For how to make a flower yo-yo, check this out:  
http://littlelivingstone.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/how-to-make-fabric-flower-yoyo.html?m=1

Night dress using poplin fabric

The flower embellishment was made using scrap fabric and some buttons I have in my stash.

Pyjamas pant for summer

The pyjamas pant pattern was taken from Emma Hardy's "making children's clothes".  It is sized for 2T-3T.  Pattern #16 used.

Fabric used was pink top pop poplin 79"  x 40" (200cm x 100cm)

No edging or contrast fabric used.

Elastic 6mm (1/4") width x 20" length

Pink coloured thread

Instead of overlocking or doing zig-zag stitches to prevent fabric frays, I did super seams on the sides and also the crotch area for the pants. 

Gathered elasticated skirt with ruffle

There is no pattern used for this gathered elasticated skirt with ruffle.  Basically I just started off  with two separate pieces of fabric, mainly the top and middle part of the skirt, but found it a bit too short at 9" length, so I decided to add a blue slightly ruffled bottom to make skirt longer.

What I used:

23" length x 4" Noah's Ark uncoated decor cotton fabric height for the top of skirt (where the elastic casing is)

35" length x 13" height for the middle section of skirt (Noah's Ark uncoated decor cotton fabric)

45" length x 5" height for the bottom blue ruffle (top pop poplin costs $2.99 per metre)

Elastic for waist - 6mm width (1/4") x 20" length (toddler waist is 19")

Sewing project: reversible bucket hat for toddler

Sewing project:  reversible bucket hat for toddler

The weather in Perth is now getting warmed up and we are really heading into some serious hot weather coming week.  I've been thinking about making a hat for my little girl, and have procrastinated as weather seems cool and at times still cloudy during the day.  So far we have been staying indoors and in shade, but not for long as the weather gets better.  Toddler wants out, so have to make sure she has suitable hat.  The ones she's been wearing is getting too small for comfort.

I finally found something on a blog that I can use and follow, with pattern and step-by-step instructions.  So this is where I found my sewing pattern and tutorial:

http://www.sewmuchado.com/2010/07/tutorial-and-free-pattern-4-in-1-reversible-toddler-bucket-hat.html


I went through my fabric stash and decided to use this two fabrics for the hat, mostly scraps as you don't really need much.

Using scrap pieces of fabric:

Noah's Ark print by Filligree Textiles Pty Ltd - all cotton.
Cherry print (made in Japan) - all cotton.

I decided not to bother with using any interfacing to stiffen the hat, even though I did buy some.  I will save it for my next hat project.  Overall, this effort took me about four hours to complete.  Very painfully slow....

It is not perfectly sewn, but I think that will do for now.  Will try again and hopefully it will be an improvement in the quality of sewing.  Haha!!  As soon as I took some pictures I will share it online.

Reversible bucket hat for toddler 2T-3T

Reversible bucket hat for toddler 2T-3T

Noah's Ark print

Sewing project: toddler night dress

Toddler night dress

Hello there, I am back on my blog after disappearing in blogging land.  I've been getting myself into some beginner's sewing projects.  Just starting experimenting with sewing skirts, panama pants and also any easy sewing patterns that I think I can tackle.

Thought I share about my recent attempt on making a toddler night dress, using this pattern I found in this book written by Emma Hardy, Making Children's Clothes.  This book has 25 step-by-step sewing projects for 0-5 years, including full-size paper patterns.  The pattern I used is for 2T -3T (2-3 years old toddler).

Materials I used

Pattern pieces 3 and 17 from the book

124 x 100 cm of cherry print cotton fabric

Approximately 16 inch of 6mm (1/4") width elastic

30" length of 12mm width pink ribbon suitable for garments

Seam allowances of 1/2" included in pattern pieces

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