Naptime Crafters New Years ReSewLution - Crazy Quilt Sweater Dress...

Amy from Naptime Crafters is one of the nicest bloggers, always being the first to raise her hand to help out! I secretly think that we share the same sewing schedule, and if I could check in on her at any random time during the day I would find her at her sewing machine with her adorable daughter playing by her side.

So much good stuff can be found on her Tutorials page, that it is always so hard to choose just which ones to feature…

And that is not even to mention her Women’s skirts that I fell in love with…

But Amy is no joke, because this Do-It-All Stay at Home Mom has been successfully running her own Pattern Shop for almost a year now, and her selection is INCREDIBLE! From boots to dresses to accessories, you can find it all at Peek-a-Boo Patterns…

Needless to say, I was so excited to see what Amy could possibly be sharing as her New Years ReSewLution with us. I mean, what could this talented Momma possibly have to conquer that she hasn’t already?!!! And of course she blew me away with her adorable Quilted Sweater Dress…

Welcome Back Amy!

I do NOT quilt… Ever… But somehow or another my incredibly large fabric scrap collection convinced me to compromise and I couldn’t be happier with the result:)

It keeps my little gal snug as a bug because it’s a sweater on top and the skirt is lined with flannel- finally a winter dress that’s actually warm! And I had so much fun learning new embroidery stitches and going to town with the hand quilting- turns out that’s what adds to the craziness of a crazy quilt:)

Let’s get started!

Materials:

Sweater: I had the top half of one leftover from making a toss pillow and it worked perfectly

Scraps

Flannel for lining the skirt

Embroidery thread

Ruler

Instructions:

1. Using a dress that fits your kiddo well cut apart your sweater so you have a bodice and 2 sleeves. I used the bottom 1/2 of my sweater’s sleeves and then narrowed them slightly.

2. With right sides together sew up the side seams of your bodice.

3. With right sides together sew the sleeves into your armholes.

4. Cut out a pattern for your skirt piece. You’ll want it to be the width of the bodice plus seam allowances. I opted for an A-line shape that hit mid-calf.

5. Grab your ruler and go to town drawing out some crazy shapes. There really isn’t any rhyme or reason to it, but I did read that it helps to start with a shape with an odd number of sides, so you might try that. I did a different design for the front and back but you could definitely do the same design on both sides.

6. Number your pieces and take a picture so you can refer back if you need to. Cut out each piece from a different fabric adding a 1/4″ seam allowance to all sides of each piece.

7. Sew all of your pieces together- I just went for it, but maybe some quilters will have some tips for us:) Iron it down nice and flat and then cut a piece of flannel backing to match and go to town with your embroidery!

8. With right sides together sew up the skirt side seams

9. With right sides together attach the bottom of the bodice to the top of the skirt. My daughter did not like the feel of the serger seam (well at least I think that’s what she was trying to tell me…) so I just have her wear a tee under it, but if you don’t want to layer you might consider a different seam finish.

***My dress is fairly fitted and I can get it on and off my daughter with only a bit of a tug:) But… you might consider adding a zipper if your kiddo isn’t very cooperative when it comes to getting dressed.

10. Finish the bottom hem with a strip of bias tape (sorry no photo).

Thanks for having me Jessica!

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That is INCREDIBLE Amy!!! Thank you so much for sharing with us. I absolutely love how you pieced together the pieces for the skirt. What a great tip!

You can find Amy from Naptime Crafters hanging out at:
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Thank you so much for stopping by, and until next time…Happy Sewing!