Spring Pinafores

 

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I am an unabashed Instagram junkie and I love seeing all of the amazing projects and products put out by the small shops and crafters I follow.  These amazing makers inspired me to try sewing the things I’ve been admiring- little pinafores and bonnets in particular.

To get started, I found a pattern on etsy. I did a little bit of modifying so that the pinafore would come down a little farther. I wasn’t ready to tackle making bloomers or diaper covers quite yet. I used several different fabrics from Gossypium Quilt Shop.   It’s hard to choose which fabric is my favorite, but if I had one it’d be the sweet sleepy sloth design by Blend Fabrics– So CUTE The rainbow print fabric is by Moda, as well as the pink retro design.

Here are a few pics of one of the pinafores in production and finished. This one was my first attempt and it came out reasonably well.

Lucky for me, I have a super cute niece to sew for. Here’s DOT in her little pinny and matching bonnet.  They’ve been so fun to make that I’m continuing to sew more, even as I run out of little girls to make them for. Maybe I’ll add some to my etsy shop soon.  What Instagram posters inspire you to create?

 

Pillowcase Dress

When I was living in Clarksville, MO there was this amazing little shop called The Bent Tree Gallery.  It was family owned- ‘dad’ made amazing, rustic furniture, ‘mom’ created all kinds of handicrafts and their daughter had her own shop making beautiful leather purses and other goods. Some of the many beautiful items I loved in the shop were these delicate little dresses made from vintage pillowcases.  I never bought one but kept them ‘filed’ away in my mind as something I’d love to make if I had a little girl to make them for. And voila! I not only have a lovely daughter of my own but a pretty cute niece to make all kinds of girly things for.  I’ve also been collecting vintage linens for a few years now= for no other reason than I thought they were pretty to have around.  So all of these things finally came together recently and up to my sewing room I went!

I used this pattern from Bumblebee Linens and it was surprisingly easy.  It suggested measuring your kiddo from her/his shoulder to where you want the hem to fall, but it also had a nice measuring guide if you didn’t want to measure,  or like me forgot to measure your kid and just wanted to get started(@!) The trickiest part was working with the vintage fabric. The first pillowcase I chose was pretty brittle and I had issues with it tearing. I made a second dress that came out much better. I also wasn’t quite sure how to hem the armholes so I used a combo regular and zig-zag stitch.  Here are some pics of the pillowcases I used:

I’ll be adding photos of the finished dresses soon but wanted to get this post up while I had the time. I’m thinking of adding some to my etsy site. Would you like a little pillowcase dress for a girl in your life?