Her blog is so hip, I always look forward to her posts. Particularly her Monday Link Party, where she gets the best bloggers out there linking up their creations…
What? You didn’t know I troll Link Parties? HA! Its one of my favorite past times!!! And Sumo’s Market Yourself Monday is no exception!!!
But of course it gets better, because Summer always seems to have a little trick up her sleeve with her tutorials. Whether it be craft related…
Or sewing related…
Just take a quick stroll through her Tutorials Page, and you will get lost in all she has to offer!
So what, oh what could this fabulously rocking Momma be tackling for her New Years ReSewLution???
Welcome Back Summer!
Hello everyone!
I’m so excited/honored/happy to be posting over here. I just think Jessica is the greatest, and someday I wanna be like her! The line up for this series is amazing, and I’m not sure I should be here, but I’ll pretend anyway….
I’m Sumo, or Summer if you wanna get formal. (In case you are wondering, my husband nicknamed me Sumo when we were dating. Maybe I should have been offended?)
I blog over at Sumo’s Sweet Stuff.
It’s a blog I started to share my crafting and creating. I also like to host giveaways, feature other bloggers, and maybe share some crazy ramblings about how much I love Diet Coke, or my relationships with Veronica and Lucy (my sewing machine and CAMEO). Some other things you should know about me are that I’m kind of in love with my minivan, I think every seamstress should own a pair of Ginghers, and I would make a great professional fabric shopper.
I started sewing about two years ago when I was given a sewing machine for Christmas, and I haven’t looked back since! It’s definitely my favorite creative outlet, which is good since I’ve got three little girls to sew for!
When Jessica asked me to be a part of her ReSEWlution series, I figured that was a great time to get out of my new baby fog, and start getting busy with Veronica again. One of my ReSEWlutions for my sewing habit this year is to try new things; whether it be ideas I’ve got pinned on Pinterest, or sewing techniques that are new or scary to me, I just want to expand my abilities.
I pinned this dress before my baby was born, and was finally able to do my take on it. Don’t you love the lace trend right now?
My take:
So let’s get started! You’re going to need:
- coordinating fabrics (I did three)
- matching lace (found with the decorative edge at Joann’s)
- sewing machine/accessories
(Please excuse my flashy pictures. My camera {or maybe the operator} were really struggling the day I made this dress!)
I started off with the bodice part of the dress. I have this pattern, which starts at six month size. I just used the measurements to figure out what a 0-3 month size would be. I cut it out, using the fold (I always use the fold if I can!) and cut out armholes. You can eye ball this, or use pieces from another pattern you own.
Next, you need to cut out your three (or however many you’ve decided) layers that will go under the dress. You can measure your little lady from the chest area to where you want the dress to fall. I wanted it long. Then each layer decreased by two inches. For the width, a good rule of gathering is to do at least 1.5 times the width of what you are attaching it to. That’s what I did here (although I wish I had done more – double would have been better!)
You’ll also need to cut your lace so that it will fall a little bit above your top layer’s hemline.
Here’s all of my cut pieces before I started any sewing.
Let’s do some hemming, shall we? You can do your choice of hemming on your three main pieces. I am lazy and hate ironing things over, so I just zig zag the edge and then hem it up. Here’s how the layers all fall with their lovely hems.
Then you need to hem in your arm holes, as well as the top of your bodice. I wanted to do pillowcase style for the bodice, so I made a casing at the top to thread ribbon through.
Now it’s time to pin your three main pieces together with your lace piece. Stitch a gathering stitch along the edge, through all four layers.
Gathering time! Lay out your four layers flat. You can easily find the middle because that is where your fold or hem is. Take your bodice and pin it in the middle with right sides facing together.
Now you can easily and evenly gather each side to the bodice. Pin in place.
Sew the bodice and body together, zig zag the edges, turn out and top stitch.
Pin the two sides of your dress, right sides together, and sew up the seam. Zig zag the edges.
Turn the dress out and thread your ribbon through the top.
All done!
Like I said above, I wish I had gone more wide on the body of my dress so that it would have gathered more and not had such a straight look. Now I know for next time! (And I just may have another stack of fabric and lace waiting to be made into a dress. See, professional fabric shopper.)
Doesn’t little Miss H look adorable in her new dress?
A HUGE thank you to Jessica for letting me be a part of this among so many other talented ladies. Come on over to Sumo’s Sweet Stuff and say hi! We have a good time!
Bye!
Oh my goodness Summer, that baby!!! She is so adorable! Don’t you absolutely LOVE making little dresses for her? I love the way you used to lace in this dress, it is adorable!! Thank you so much for sharing!
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Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time…Happy Sewing!
Thanks for having me here, Jessica! You are just the greatest! (And yes, definitely long lost high school friends!)
This is sooo cute Summer!!! I love the lace on the dress – it’s so pretty with the different fabrics. And your little one is just darling.
okay Summer… I have to tell you, if you like Gingher scissors, you will LOVE Kai scissors. They make Gingher’s look like kid’s safety scissors… a-MAZE-ing! I was a die-hard Gingher lover until I found Kai.
You should totally check them out.
That is adorable! I might adapt that to skirts for my girlies (all school aged). Thanks for the great idea / tutorial!