Friday, May 27, 2011

Ribbon, Tags, and Dresses Oh My!

Well, Greta (my sewing machine) has been hard at work this week.  I've been whipping up a few pillowcase dresses.  Let me just say that I see lot's more in my future...they are so easy and fast!  After sewing 5 this week the time of completion is just under and hour!   Talk about instant gratification!

Let me show you a few pics...




So a few weeks ago a friend of mine was telling me about how she had purchased some fabric and a pattern to make dresses for her girls.  My friend is NOT a seamstress, actually she detests sewing, however after seeing a kids magazine offering pillowcase dresses for sale at $19 a piece she decided that she could make them for less.

Well, the fabric sat in the bag from the fabric shop.  Her girls pestering about when she was going to make them their 'pretty' dresses.  Yet she couldn't convince herself to sew them up, easy as they were going to be.  Enter in a discussion with me and my offer to make them for her.

You all know how I love to sew and how I love to help a friend out.  So this last Sunday she brought me everything she bought.  The fabric, the pattern, the ribbon, and thread...the whole bag plus the inspiring picture of what she wanted the dresses to look like.  She said I could have everything that was left over because she was never going to use it.
She may have even mentioned the possibility of a yarn bribery...though nothing was promised ;)

I took the fabric home, washed and dried it and traced out the pattern piece (yes singular, 1 pattern piece).  I thought I'd have to iron the fabrics but they appear to have a low polyester/man-made fiber content because they didn't wrinkle.   In about 2 1/2 hours (including the washing and drying time) I had 5 dresses cut out and a little dress for a dolly.
she was so excited about the new dress


I even started on a dress.  I didn't get it completely finished the Sunday night, but at nap time on Monday it was done and another dress started on.  All 5 dresses were finished by Wednesday night!  I still have to whip up the dolly dress but it is started, I have only a few seams to finish up.


I made a few tags for the dresses, I just love adding a personal touch to gifts I make.   I simply printed off the information on transfer paper and then ironed it onto some scrap fabric.  With pinking shears I finished up the edges to prevent fraying, then sewed the tags in the dresses.  I'm planning on packaging up the dresses all pretty like for the girls because we all know that the wrapping is just as important as the clothes!

What do you think of Made2Give?  Well it is a name I'm testing out for my soon to be shop...Yup, that's right I'm going to do it and open up an Etsy shop.  I'm still in the middle stages of planning but I promise to keep you updated as I get closer to opening up.  Husband and I just found out that we'll be getting a little extra $$$ soon and it is a possibility to use that as capital for the shop.  I am excited about the shop and some of the other details, but more on that later.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Lincoln, Samuel, Elsa & I are taking a road trip tomorrow to meet up with my sister and mother so that Lincoln and Elsa can spend the weekend with them.  I'm very excited because on the way back home Samuel and I are going to try and find as many yarn shops as possible!  I promise to show you any souvenirs we might pick up along the way.

{{hugs}}
Buffy

So what are your plans for the weekend?  Anyone going camping?  What do you think of the pillowcase dress fad?  Any projects you want to share?  Just leave a Friendly Thought and let's chat!

2 comments:

  1. The dresses are adorable! I love the ribbon on them! How exciting you're working on an Etsy shop. You can do it!

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  2. I think the made2give idea fits perfectly:)

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