A Pink Baby Outfit

Now here's an idea. This is how I created a pretty baby dress out of almost nothing.

I was about to give this old pink valance for a single bed to the charity shop, when, with my newly creative eyes, I saw that it would be perfect for little girl dresses - with the gathering already done! so, sorry, charity shop, you can have some other things, but in this case, charity is beginning at home!

I used the top of a free pattern to design the yoke, Amber's Crazy Little Projects Ruffled Tiered Dress.

This is a lovely pattern which I have yet to use as it is, but I used the bodice for my yoke. I used the 3-6 months size, which really came out smaller than I would have liked for Baby A, going on 5 months. I printed it as actual size, or 100%, but I still couldn't tell whether it printed out right. I did ask Amber if in future patterns she could include a grid square of 1" or 2.5cm or whatever - I hope she'll consider this. She did tell me her seam allowance was about 1/2". I used less than a quarter inch.

I cut the yoke twice: once continuing my cutting down into the already attached 'skirt',  and secondly, just as a yoke, to give a lining, as a separate piece. I left the hem of the dress as the bottom of the valance. This was really a bit long for A, who would be about 5 months old, but I wanted to finish it in a hurry - with the idea I could always shorten it later. (I never did, as she outgrew it way too quickly!)

 The only really fiddly bit was the curved tabs on the shoulders, I found it very hard to do a neat job round the tight curves. I think in future I might square off the corners.

I added some pretty pink teddy bear bias binding to cover the seam that was part of the original valance. Covers a multitude of errors! And how I hate sewing button holes. I cheated and sewed buttons on the outside, with press-studs inside.



And finally a little pink bunny.

Unfortunately I was lazy, and in my hurry to finish it in time for A's holiday, I ironed  the cute bunny on (as you can) and didn't, as I normally would, stitch it round. So first time in the wash after wearing, bunny came off never to be seen again - and the shop had no more the same. Serves me right. Fortunately, A was photographed once wearing the dress before it went in the wash. You can see it's a little cosy round the armholes.

And here she is again, showing her matching knickers.

There was plenty of material left in the valance to do other dresses. when I've time, but I did complete two pairs of knickers and a little bolero. For another blogging day!

So my only expenses were the bias binding (about half a metre) and the cute bunny. But later, I'll blog about how to save money on motifs, too.