Simple T-Shirt Dresses

Last summer I made quite a few dresses.  I find dresses cool and easy to wear, with a bit more style than shorts during the warm weather months.  Being short on sewing time (always) I have been trying to start with patterns I already have fitted, changing them to create a new look.  This time I started with my favorite t-shirt pattern, The Perfect T-Shirt by Pamela's Patterns.  This shirt has a bust dart which I like as well as numerous opportunities to adjust the fit.

I began with my tried-and-true pattern.

I drew a line perpendicular to the center front at the narrowest point of the waist; you can faintly see the line on the Front pattern in the above picture.  I did the same for the Back.  I retraced the patterns above the lines, adding a seam allowance.

The upper front and back are now finished.

I then worked with the pattern section that remained below the line I had drawn at the waist.  First, I added a seam allowance above the drawn line.  I determined the skirt length that I wanted and extended the center front line to that length.  I also extended the side seam to approximately the same point.  I wanted to flare the skirt but I didn't want to add all of the volume at the side seams (this creates an unbalanced silhouette and can make the side seams appear longer than the rest of the skirt).  Instead, I drew several vertical lines up to (but not through) the seam allowance at the waist, cut along these lines and spread the cuts open to achieve the desired amount of flare.  I drew in a gently curved hem (with hem allowance). When I had all of this complete, I traced a new copy of the skirt pattern.

Here's the first dress I made from my new pattern.  I considered this a muslin, but it turned out well enough that I wear it.  It's made from 4-way cotton/spandex jersey.  I bound the neckline with a similar solid fabric.

Several other dresses followed:

This one is made from a cotton/poly slubbed jersey.

Cotton tie-dye.

The next dress began its life as two XL t-shirts that I paid $2.00 each for. 

I added a braided trim around the neckline.

The braid looks more complex than it is.  I took advantage of the fact that knit jersey will roll along the cut edge.  The braid is formed from three strips of fabric cut on the cross grain.  I allowed the edges to curl in before performing a simple three-strand braid.  The two rolled edges of each strip make it appear that the braid was formed from doubled tubes.

I had one final dress in mind but it required some additional pattern work.  I wanted to add a pleat on either side of center front on the skirt.  I determined the pleat depth and cut the pattern vertically, adding in additional pattern paper to account for the pleat.

I hope this post will inspire you to use your own t-shirt pattern to create new designs with just a little bit of simple pattern work.

Patch Pocket with Bow

Several months ago, someone contacted me through my blog and asked if I could tell her how to make the pockets I had included on the Little Dresses for Africa I made in 2011.

It took some digging but I finally found the pattern piece and instructions.  I thought I'd write a tutorial on how to make this cute pocket.  I hope you find lots of ways to use it (and I hope the original inquirer sees these instructions!)  You can find the tutorial here and in my Tutorial section (link to the far right).

Slanted Pocket for a Princess-Line Garment

Hello friends.  My, it's been a long time.  I have missed my blog so much, and I'm hoping that I can get back into posting on a somewhat regular basis.  I find such little time to "make" these days; raising a young family is time consuming.  But I'm going to try my best to post more than I have in the last two years (that shouldn't be too hard).

I developed the instructions for adding a pocket to a princess-line garment many years ago after sewing a commercial pattern with a similar pocket, and I prefer this pocket design over any other on garments with this style line as it adds very little bulk. You can use this pocket on dresses, tops or jackets.

Last summer (or was it the summer before?) I hand sewed an Alabama Chanin-inspired dress, adding this pocket.  I also added a hand-pleated ruffle at the top of the pocket and around the neckline to add a little interest to the otherwise basic garment.  You can find the instructions for the Pleated Ruffle on page 109 of Alabama Chanin's book, Alabama Studio Sewing + Design.

Detailed instructions for drafting the pocket can be found here, in the Tutorials section of my blog. 

Winter Holidays

Every day that passes without a new blog post seems to sink me further and further.  So, in an attempt to get back on my horse, I'm writing this post and filling it will lots of miscellany which is what my life is all about these days.  I have been finding tiny chunks of time to sew, much of it by hand in the evenings.  I've got some projects that are *almost* ready for blogging and am hoping that I can keep a more regular schedule soon.  Much of my time recently has been spent in the ongoing project of organizing my studio.  I am finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and will share the "big reveal" here when I'm finished.

Technology is a wonderful thing, except when it's not.  My old laptop died a few weeks ago and I had to replace it.  Which also meant reinstalling all of the various programs I use.  Photoshop needed to be installed before I could hope to post any pictures so I set about that task today.  Except that my new laptop doesn't have a CD drive, so I had to download all of the necessary files and then spend an hour on chat with Adobe before they finally told me I'd have to upgrade to the latest program to be compatible with my new operating system.  Sigh.

Christmas came and went.  Along with making multiple batches of my usual Salted Caramel Chex Mix and Rosemary Pecans with Cranberries I sewed my boys a couple of walking capes which can function as attire for Jedi, Hobbits, Medieval peasants or whatever takes their fancy. Here's a shot of the two capes, front and back.

The fabric was rayon/linen and very nice to work with. I flat felled all of the seams which makes for a nice, clean and sturdy finish.

I'm still working on a couple of "big white shirts" (think pirate) for them as well.  I've got to set the grommets still but they are nearly finished.

We had a big snow storm in January and the newest member of our family, aptly named Winter, really enjoyed it along with my kids. I, however, lost a week of my life. :-)

A few years ago I blogged about making King Cake for Mardi Gras.  This year I tried a recipe from Southern Living.  The Southern Living cakes (the recipe makes 2) are assembled jelly roll style rather than braiding like the recipe I've always used in the past.  I made a different flavor for each of the cakes.  The first was the traditional cinnamon-sugar filling complete with green, gold and purple sanding sugar.

The second had a cream cheese filling and cherry preserves (the recipe for the cream cheese filling is included in the Southern Living recipe).  I skipped the sanding sugar on this one.

This recipe was nearly as good as my original and much less work.  The best advice I have is to make sure you don't overbake the cakes which will dry them out. Also, the area where the two ends are joined together to make the ring is always a little skimpy so I used a bit of extra dough and wrapped the join to add a little substance to that area.  Make sure that all of the seams are well sealed so the filling doesn't leak out while baking.

I invited a group of my friends over to celebrate Mardi Gras and help me eat up these sweets.

Next up is Valentine's Day.  My kids are busy making cards for their friends and I'm gearing up to lead the craft at the class party (no surprise there).  We're going to make a cute card holder for the delivered valentines.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  Here's my version:

It's simply two paper plates, folded in half and then stapled together in a heart-shaped configuration.  Decorate as desired, punch some holes and hang with a ribbon.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Lace-Edged Baby Blankets

It's been a long time since I've done much heirloom sewing.  But a few weeks ago when I received an email from a church friend I knew it was just what I was intended to do.  I've been participating, sporadically, in the prayer shawl ministry at my church over the last year.  When a request went out for someone to make prayer blankets for twin baby girls with cystic fibrosis (CF) I knew pretty quickly that I was the one who was supposed to take on this project.  For ten years I worked in a hospital lab doing breathing tests on patients, and took a particular interest in the ones with CF.  During that time I met a college student, Chris, who was beating the odds and doing very well managing his disease.  We remained friends over the years and the miles.  I have a friend from my college years who lost his teenage daughter to this disease, and just this spring my family traveled to Richmond to attend a fund raising dinner in Lucy's memory.  CF has touched my life many times over the years.  Those of you who know me well will have also made the connection to twin baby girls.  I lost a set of twin girls at 30 weeks gestation almost 7 years ago.  You can see now why I was sure that I was the one to make these blankets.  At first, I hesitated, thinking about how slowly I knit.  Then I had the flash thought that these blankets did not have to be knit, I could sew them.  And I knew immediately what form they would take.

Years before my kids came onto the scene, I used to travel with my sister to various sewing events.  We attended lots of American Sewing Guild conferences together but our greatest times were spent in Huntsville, Alabama attending Martha Pullen's School of Art Fashion.  There I learned to sew delicate, lacy things in the heirloom tradition.  One of my favorite teachers at these schools was Carol Ahles.  Carol is a wonderful teacher who shares her knowledge and encourages students to do their very best.  One year my sister and I took a class from her on making a lace-edged, hemstitched baby blanket.  She provided luxurious cashmere flannel and Cluny lace for the project. The edges were corded and hemstitched, which gave a lovely and sturdy finish.

Here's the blanket I made in that class

and a close up of the lace edge.

I wrote to Carol and ordered several yards of light pink flannel for my project.  I decided that monograms on the blankets would serve to distinguish them from each other, and I used Hope Yoder's Fancy ABC's for the letters.  The Cluny lace came from my stash. 

The blankets measure 36" x 45" and have rounded corners. 

The edges are hemstitched using the Parisian hemstitch and a 100 wing needle. The cording is size 5 perle cotton.  Here is a close up of the hemstitched edge:

Carol's instructions for these blankets originally appeared in the November/December 2001 issue of Creative Needle magazine.  You can purchase the instructions, along with all of the necessary supplies, from Carol's website.

While I was working on these blankets last week my friend Chris lost his battle with CF at the age of 41.  He lived longer than many with this disease, and the timing of his death in the midst of my project was especially poignant.  I pray that the babies who receive these blankets will grow up in a world where there is a cure for this disease.  If you'd like to help support research into a cure, please consider donating to the CF Foundation.