Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Dressed in Full Bloom


I have a little sewing confession to make.  It's taken me two years to finally get around to making a pillowcase dress.  When I first found out we were having a girl I put it on my to-do list (2 years ago).  Other little dresses flew off my machine, but somehow the little pillowcase dress kept getting bumped lower on the list.  Which makes no sense, since I've made all kinds of crazy, elaborate stuff in the meantime, but a simple pillowcase dress has taken forever.


Poor little thing.  But now it's finally blossomed.  Literally that is.


I figured I'd keep my first attempt pretty simple - just plain cotton muslin that is self-lined, but to give it a little flair I added some flower details.


I picked apart a silk hydrangea and layered two blooms per flower and machine sewed them in a cascading shape down the front of the dress. But it still needed a little something, so I hand sewed small beads to the center of each bloom with some heavy duty thread, so they'd stay on tight (safety first kids!).


I threaded some matching wide grosgrain ribbon for the shoulder tie and now it's garden party ready.


The dress itself took me minutes to throw together & the hand sewing was an evening in front of the TV.   I made it a bit long so my little peanut can still wear it next summer too.  I think it was worth the wait/extreme procrastination and am now tempted to make a slightly larger version for myself to wear as a swing top.  Hopefully I'll get around to it in less than two years this time.

Sharing this creation with my FAVE LINK PARTIES too so click HERE to check them out!

19 comments:

  1. Hi Sew! I'm visiting from Passionately Artistic, I saw your link up there! What a wonderful idea I love this dress! Thanks for sharing.. you can find me here:
    http://onestopbabygifts.blogspot.com

    Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

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  2. Do you have a pattern for this dress?? I made my daughter a pillowcase dress for her first birthday but wasn't really pleased with the pattern that I used!

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  3. This is so beautiful, it makes me wish I had a little girls. How cute would a duplicate Mommy skirt be? Ooo, and Crafterhours is having a Skirt Week competition this month. This would totally win!

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  4. This is the cutest dress I have seen in a long time! I absolutely love it! Of course, it helps to have a beautiful model! :)

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  5. I looked at a lot of tutorials and kind of worked up my own version (instead of cutting a separate lining I just folded the fabric at the hem when I cut out the back & front).

    The best template I found was over at Prudent Baby http://www.prudentbaby.com/2010/03/diy-pillowcase-baby-dress-pattern.html

    I scaled mine a bit longer, did my folded cutting, used double fold bias tape at the armholes & made the casing a bit wider for my wide ribbon. Hope that helps!

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  6. How adorable is this?! I too have had pillow case dresses on my list for ever! This makes me want to move it up on the list! I think that your idea of a shirt is fantastic! I would love to see how to do that.

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  7. Beautiful! I love the blue on white!

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  8. How cute is that?? I love the flowers, makes it perfect! Thanks for the inspiration :)
    jandms.blogspot.com

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  9. Ridiculously adorable - the dress and the model! Love it!

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  10. What a doll!! You did an awesome job on her dress!! Love the blooms!

    Here's my linky :)
    http://jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com/2011/06/gift-bag-redo-diy.html

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  11. You did such a great job! Maria
    raising4princesses@yahoo.com
    http://caribbeanmissionarywife.blogspot.com/

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  12. How cute is she!!! Love how the flowers look! THANKS for sharing this lovely on Fancy This Fridays!

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  13. Beautiful! I am goign to have to try to make one of these for my princess. You are very talented!

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  14. Definitely worth the wait! What a fantastic idea to use the silk flower like that! Just adorable!

    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  15. Super cuteness, Cheryl! Thanks for linking with Air Your Laundry Friday! ~Jami

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  16. I've made several pillowcase dresses, but never thought of doing anything like that. Your idea is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your creation with everyone. How did the little dress hold up to washing?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Debbie. Washing on delicate and air drying keeps the flowers pretty nice.

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Getting your comments brightens my day. I'd love if you left one:)

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