Dishtowel Dresses

I want to share a quick little post with you of the darling dishtowel dresses I made for my two granddaughters.  As most of you know I am always thinking out of the box and looking for ways to give something a whole new use; which is pretty much I what I did with a couple of sweet heavy duty cotton dishtowels I saw at Target on sale.  Since I have to drive two towns over to shop for fabric I try to find other ways to get hold of fabrics I can use to sew with including, sheets, towels, tablecloths, placemats, curtains and shower curtains.  Most of those items have good size yardage I can cut up and use for several projects for very little cost especially if they go on sale or clearance. In the case of the cute dishtowels I saw them on the end cap with the summer accessories and thought they were really adorable but they did not go with my kitchen décor. I began wondering what else I could use them for and immediately thought they would make pretty, durable summer dresses for the girls.  Here is what I did with them.

The first dress I made was for my littlest granddaughter, the pretty hot pink and green was so sweet it looked just like her.  I took some measurements from her then cut off one end of each towel, I used two identical towels.  Next I just stitched up the sides two thirds of the way up leaving the existing side seams and hem intact.  I stitched down around the arm holes and turned down several inches at the top to create a casing to run some ties through.  I cut long strips of double fold bias tape, stitched it down one side and threaded it though the casings on each side and tied it at the shoulders, all done in less then thirty minutes!

I made this darling dress for my oldest grandchild the same way I did the first dress, with the exception of two inch slits on each side seam for easy movement.  I top stitched the slits and under the arms to keep the fabric smooth and fuss free. In hindsight I should have put slits in the toddler dress as well since she is super active and she moves around more then her big sister.  These adorable dresses will become very soft and comfy the more they are worn and washed because they are made of sturdy fabric suited to drying dishes. 

Both girls looked very sweet and summery in their new outfits, I am glad I saw those towels and found a whole new use for them.  Thanks for letting me share my dishtowel dresses with you, I hope you enjoyed another one of my out of the box designs.

See you soon.

Laurette

Cute Onesies Dresses

Time to take a break from fall decorating projects to make a couple of really cute Onesies dresses for my youngest granddaughter, I haven’t made any clothing for her yet, it was way past time to get busy.  I really can not take credit for the idea of making baby Onesies into summer or winter dresses, I saw several versions on Pinterest and decided to make a few dresses of my own.

It was a pretty simple process to take a basic Onesies (snap style body suit, for those of you who have not seen them) and add a skirt. Since my granddaughter is only a year old; I used a 1/4yd of 44” wide fabric, stitched the ends closed, gave it a narrow hem then gathered the waist and stitched it to the Onesies, all done, just that simple.  It did not take long once I got use to the stretch of the Onesies and the lack of stretch in the cotton fabric, it was a bit tricky at first until I got the feel of all the stretchy knit.  The two dresses came out so darling I can not wait to see our baby girl modeling them, I will try to get pictures of her in the dresses, if I can catch her, she moves really fast. Giggles!!!

Thanks for letting me share my latest sewing project with you, I am not sure what is up next, it is just too hot to work on the fall projects and I kind of lost my inspiration on those. I am working on several new patterns and the prototypes for those, which I can’t share with you until the patterns are out for sale. I guess I will have to put on my thinking cap so I can find a project I can share with you.

See you soon.

Laurette

It's A Blanket Wrap

I finally finished the Snoopy Building Block baby quilt, it came out very cute but it was quite a challenge to work with two fabrics which like to stretch, slide and shed.  I am happy to be done and able to move onto other projects, I can safely say it will probably be one of a kind unless I decide to give up my sanity and do it again, not likely.  Back to work on my prototypes, patterns and the brown pants makeover.

See you soon.

By the way this is my 100th Post!!! This blog has come a long way since the very first one I wrote last September.  Happy 100 to Buttons Bows & Bling!!!  Woohoo!!!

Laurette

All About Babies

Today’s creative project is baby burp cloths, with an 8 month old granddaughter and a new baby arriving in the fall, I thought it was time to get sewing for the little ones again.  I felt it was appropriate to begin with all those necessary little generic layette items since we don’t know yet what the sex of our fall baby is.  Burp cloths were up first, with baby kimonos, bibs, blankets, toys and quilts to follow as time allows.  I love to sew for babies and toddlers the fabrics are so much fun to work with; you will be seeing quite a few projects over the next couple of months as I gather together my completed projects for the baby shower.

I had a great time shopping in my fabric stash for the retro prints I used on most of the burp cloths.  The fabrics remind me so much of the ones I used to make things for my children when they were babies, except the prints then were the originals, these are replicas of those.  The retro fabrics I chose are not gender specific and can be used for either a boy or a girl.

I played around with different kinds of fabric mixes with printed cottons for one side with either flannel on the back or terrycloth toweling.  On one of them I used the same flannel print on both sides. I sent one of each kind over to my daughter’s house to try on her 8 month old to see how well they work and wash up; they are still in the testing stages, so far so good.

These six will go into the basket of goodies for the baby shower; they are a mix of cottons, flannel and terrycloth toweling. As soon as I find out the gender my projects will get much more specific, but for now I get to sew for the baby as my creative spirit speaks to me.

Thanks for letting me share my baby burp cloth project with you.  I have several summer patio sewing and painting projects coming up very soon as well as the kitchen/family room makeover posting, I misplaced some photos which is putting me a little behind on that one, but it is on the way.  See you soon.

Laurette

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Project Progress

I thought I would share with you some of those pesky little unfinished projects I managed to complete, they were just hanging around in my project boxes collecting dust, now they are finished and ready to be sold or given as gifts.

First up, some cute little zipper bags made in a few fun animal prints, etc… I just love making these; they sew up pretty quickly once you get everything cut and pinned.  I already gave away several zip bags as gifts; I guess I will just have to make more.

I made this sweet little light weight pink blanket for my newest grand-baby, her Mom thought she needed something to cuddle with in the night which was soft but not very heavy.  The blanket is made from two layers of super soft embossed flannel without the traditional batting sandwiched in the middle.

These flowers were not in my project boxes but they were hanging around my studio waiting for me to do something with them.  I finally found the time to create some floral arrangements for my Mom’s grave site for Mother’s day.  I did not need to do very much with them since they were already very pretty.

Last but not least were some standard size pillowcases in fun girly prints.  They were so quick and easy to make, about an hour, each one has its own personality. Check out my Paisley Pillowcases Tutorial from the October 2011 archive file if you would like to make your own pillowcases, you can also join the One Million Pillowcase Challenge, details and the website are also listed on the tutorial.

Another unfinished project was the painting of our kitchen/family room and our front door, which we managed to complete this last weekend, multi-tasking all they way.  It felt great to finish the project we started last spring, now it looks more like home; just three bathrooms, the laundry room, the hallways and two bedrooms left to paint, yikes, that’s still a lot, oh well, progress is still forward movement.  I should have the posting for you in a few days as soon as I take the after photos and format everything, watch for that one probably early next week, Monday, I hope. (The fabric shown here was the jumping off point for the kitchen and family room paint colors)

Thanks for letting me share my completed projects with you, maybe it will inspire you to dig through all your UFO’s (unfinished objects/projects) and make some progress of your own.  See you soon.

Laurette

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