Sweater Dress Refashion

I LOVE the DI! I'm so excited that we have such an awesome thrift store here, I really get the best stuff there. While children's clothes are a little harder to find there, I almost always find some great stuff to refashion and I've found some great toys for Tabitha there. We got her one of those Leap Frog Fridge Car magnet toys for $5! She loves it! I found some great tops to make into dresses and the like for Tabitha too. Today I pulled out a pink sweater I bought for her to turn into a dress. Its perfect for this weather since its getting a little warmer but not sundress weather yet. I got this Sweater for $3!
So I turned this:

Into this: 

The Dress itself took me less than a 1/2 hour to make, the belt took twice as long. go figure!

Would you like to make one? 

Here's what you need

Sweater (I used a women's size M)-- My daughter is 2 but wears 18 month. I made this a little big so she can grow into it. 

A shirt that fits your child

Wrapping paper (that's what I use for patters) or whatever you like to use for patterns.

Pins, Thread, a Streatch needle, Sewing machine, Hand sewing needle, scissors, beads, 

a belt buckle, a scrap of fabric for the belt (I used the edge of a fat quarter), fusible interfacing.

To make your pattern:

I took a shirt that fits my daughter and turned it inside out. I used a pj shirt that bells, it was easier to freehand the skirt that way.

I traced along the shirt and added length for the skirt. I should mention that I ended up having to take the arm holes in a lot so next time I'm going to make them much smaller that it would seem that I should. 

I folded the pattern in half and then cut it in half. 

Fold the sweater in half and pin, then cut the dress out. I cut a little high for the neck so I could use the original neck line. 

The sleeves:

Using the very scientific method of taking the existing sleeves and putting them on my daughter inside out then pining them where I wanted them to be on her. 

I pinned the sleeve where I wanted it.

Sewed the sleeve closed.

And cut off the extra. I know super scientific and exact right =)

Sewing the Dress:

This is a piece of the edge that I had left over. I folded the edges to the middle and sewed them down. Then cut them in half.

This is what they look like after being sewn. 

I pinned these into the sides of the dress where I wanted them then pinned the rest of the dress.

Next sew the shoulders seams. 

Then sew the side seams making sure to catch the belt loops, ( forgot and had to go back and rip the seam out and then re sew it, its a pain, remember to do it the first time)

Turn the sleeves right side out and pin the sleeve to the bodice right sides together. 

Then sew the sleeve to the bodice. 

If you didn't use the hem from the shirt you'll need to hem your dress now. 

The Belt:

I took a fat quarter and folded over the edge and cut two pieces from that. I sewed the two pieces together at one end. 

Cut a piece of interfacing that fit the belt.

Then iron the interfacing to the back side of the fabric.

Fold the belt in half inside out.

Sew along the top and then side of the belt.

The next part took the longest. Now is time to turn the belt right side out. (If anyone has a good way to do this quickly let me know, this always takes the longest!)

Once I had the belt right side out, I pined it to the ironing board and ironed the belt flat. I then unpinned it and flipped it over. Then I ironed it again. 

I then slipped the belt through the belt buckle and sewed it down. 

I then put the belt through the belt loops.

Now on to the Flower:

I cut out little petals of different sizes from the scraps of the sweater. 

I laid out the petals into the design I wanted then I sewed the flower in three layers. 

This is the first layer, I sewed each layer the same way then sewed all three layers together.

The next part I don't have pictures of, Sorry. 

Next I hand sewed beads to the center of the flower, I made sure to go though each bead twice with the thread in order to make sure it was secure, since my little one likes to pull on things. Next I hand sewed the flower to the dress from behind. 

Tabitha was a little distracted because she was watching Angelina Ballerina while I was trying to take her picture. =)

She really likes the flower, She loves the beads the best, although I think I'm going to add more beads later. Gotta give this kid a little more bling =)

Overall this Dress took me about two hours, start to finish including the beading. It was actually really simple and fun to make. The Sweater cost me $3, the interfacing was $1.98 a yard, I bought 4 yards of it to have on hand. The buckle cost me $0.30 and the fabric for the belt was free from a fat quarter exchange I did on sew mama sew last year. In total this dress cost me less than $5 to make! Thats my kind of dress!

Pretty in Pink Lace Dress

So for Easter this year I made Tabitha two dresses. Why? Because well for one, the first outfit I made for her just doesn't shout spring to me. Its just a little to dark. But I still love it. The second reason is that for Easter we are going to SLC for Morgen's Brother Tyson's graduation from BYU and his brother Trent's Endowments. We'll be there from Thursday thru Sunday. We are driving home on Sunday so instead, Tabitha will be wearing the first outfit I made, which I have yet to post pictures of, (I'll have to take care of that later) for Tyson's graduation on Thursday. On Saturday at the Temple she will be wearing the new dress I made for her which I have here. Introducing the Pretty in Pink Lace Dress.

Tabitha actually really loves it which is a rarity around here. Its usually a fight to get her into anything I make these days. But such is life with a two year old!

Want to see more?

 I think part of the reason she likes it so much is that I made it with some pink lace that has been in my stash forever. Whenever I go to Jo-ann fabrics, I let her pick something from the remnant bin. That way she has something to play with while I'm shopping and she usually gets something pretty out of it. I've been holding onto this lace for about six months. Tabitha fell in love with it but I haven't known what to do with it. PArt of the Reason I like it so much? It cost less than $10 to make! the Lace from the remnant bin was $4.50 and the muslin was free (given to me by a friend who had a ton!)

She loves the twirly skirt, and the see through sleeves, which happen to be my favorite part too. 

Do you want to make one too? 

Well your in luck. 

Lately I've been working on new shirts for Tabitha. I made a pattern for the top by editing this pattern from the project runway line of Simplicity. To make the skirt for the dress I used the circle skirt pattern from  Made. 

For the shirt pattern I used the bodice front and back and the yoke front and back. I traced them on paper and then taped them together. I also cut some off of the bottom to make it the length I wanted. The first time I used this pattern the arm holes were way to big. In the picture below where I cut it out, you can see where I cut it, there is a little nub that works as the perfect place to cut the armhole short. 

So here is what you'll need.

Supplies:

Edited Shirt pattern from above.

Circle skirt pattern from Made (only add one extra inch instead of two.)

1 yard of lining fabric (I used white muslin)

1 yard of lace

Thread

Sewing machine

pins, scissors, other sewing necessities.

Step 1. Fold your fabrics in half and then in half again. Making a 90 degree angle. 

Step 2. Place the fabrics, one on top of the other. Making sure to line them up evenly.

Step 3. Place the pattern for the circle skirt on the fabric make sure the rounded cut out for the top of the pattern in the corner where all sides meet. 

Step 4. Pin and cut out your pattern

Note: I cut the bottom a little long just incase

Note: This is what your skirt will look like before cutting the top out.

Step 5. cut top off. Cut as close to the pattern as you can, you don't want this to small, you can always take in but it's a little hard to add more space once its cut. 

Now for the bodice

Step 6. Lay out the lining and the lace folded sides together. Lay out your pattern, pin and cut. Cut out just the yoke again out of the lining. 

another view before cut out

As you can see the arm is cut at the nub in the patten rather than the arm hole. My daughter is small so I have to edit a lot of patterns, I would suggest making a muslin top to try on your child first. 

There is a nub in both the front and the back. This made it easy for me to figure out where to cut the arms. 

Step 7. Place the lace ontop of the muslin lining them up.

Step 8. Pin the two layers together

Step 9. Sew the entire bodice, Keeping the two layers together. Sew as close to the edges as you can. 

  Step 10. Lay out the back pieces

Step 11. Pin the layers together like the front

Step 12. Sew all the way around the back pieces staying as close to the edge as you can 

Step 13. Lay the bottom fabric down and slide the lace ontop making sure you line the two pieces up. 

Step 14. Pin around the top circle. 

Step 15. Sew along the top circle.

Now the lining

Step 16. Sew the front and the back lining together

Step 17. Pin the lining to the dress front sides together. 

Step 18. Sew the two pieces together and fold over.

Step 19. Iron the two pieces together, be very careful not to melt the lace!

Step 20. I free handed sleeves and cut them out. 

Step 21. Sew around the arm holes

Step 22. Fold the sleeves in half. Pin the folded half to the top of the arm holes.

Step 23. Pin the sleeve to the arm hole. 

Step 24. Sew the sleeve to the bodice.

Step 25. fold back the seam and sew it to the bodice. 

Step 26. Sew the invisible zipper to the bodice. I use this tutorial, It's easy to follow and simple. 

Step 27. Sew up the back of the top to right above the end of the zipper. 

Step 28. Sew down the seam.

Step 29. turn the skirt inside out and place the skirt and top fronts together and pin them together. 

Step 30. Sew the skirt to the top.

Step 31. Iron the hem down of the lining. 

Step 32. Sew down the hem.

Note: The lace I used doesn't rip or fray easy. I didn't hem it because I think that it would make the skirt heavy. 

Thats it! I know this Tutorial was long and a little picture heavy. Thanks for bearing with me!

Now for some Cuteness of Tabitha in her dress!