Little Red Riding Dress

 

I am really enjoying sewing little baby clothes.  I have about 5 patterns that are waiting in the queue for fabric and time.  (Time being the limiting factor...who knew having a baby would be so time-consuming....oh yeah, everyone!)

I did manage to make a Little Geranium dress by MADE BY RAE.  This pattern for 0-3 Months is free on her website.

The instructions were great and the dress came out very cute.  I do have to say that I wish the neckline was not so "boxy." I feel like it goes too far up on baby girls chest so that you can't see that she has a neck.

The good thing is that MADE BY RAE does offer a Geranium dress pattern for sale that includes additional options for necklines as well as shelves.  It also is for additional sizes.  I will most likely be buying the full pattern as I really did like the way the dress came together.  I even got to use my button hole maker settings on my machine for the first time.

The material is from the Little Red Riding Hood line from Riley Blake.  There are some really cute fabric patterns in that line.  I have some other patterns that I am trying to figure out what to do with.  They are just too cute not to use.

I also made another little pair of pants using the same pattern that I used for the Easter outfit.   I really do like that method for making leggings.  They are really easy to whip up and she has gotten a lot of use out of them.  I am ordering some fun knits online so that I can make some additional leggings for the fall.

My next clothing project is most likely going to involve making some shorts.  It is finally warming up around here and will soon be too hot for little pants.

I have not been able to find a pattern online that I really like.  Most seem too involve for infant shorts.  I don't want to spend a bunch of time with pleats and darts when the little shorts are going to be bunched up sitting in a bumbo or kicking around on a playmat.  I will save the super cute time consuming stuff for when it can be toddled around.

I think my plan is to approach the shorts in a similar way to the pants.  I am going to use a pair of existing shorts as a pattern.  Hopefully I will be able to post a tutorial soon. 

If you don't ever see a BABY SHORTS post...it means they did not turn out. Don't hold your breathe.

Really all of this baby clothes making is just an excuse to take pictures of baby girl.  She is an adorable model.

Little Girl Clothes

Call it nesting, call it keeping my mind off of the fact that I am STILL pregnant, call it whatever you want.  I made my first little girl dress this past weekend.  This is actually my first attempt at clothing period, baby or otherwise.

I will admit that as soon as we found out we were having a girl I started getting excited for all of the little clothes I could make. 

I have really enjoyed sewing but until now it really has been limited to craft projects which are a bit more forgiving as far as fit.  I was a bit nervous to try my hand at clothes but at least they are baby things and don't have to fit perfectly, right?

I really like rather simple styles without a ton of fluff and flounce.  (Although I do have a bit of a weakness for ruffles on baby behinds...).  I like my dresses with straight lines and not a ton of ruffles. 

I came across a Butterick pattern at a JoAnn's sale I thought it fit the bill.  In addition to the pattern I found this super cute seersucker fabric in the red line clearance section for half off.  It ended up being a dollar a yard!  Score.  Plus it seemed perfect for summer.

There is no tutorial here as it is not my pattern but I will share some things that I learned along the way.

1) I have become a bit spoiled by online tutorials.  Working off of a pattern is not my favorite as you are left to make some leaps of faith when the instructions don't necessarily make sense.

2) When in doubt go with your gut.  When I was working on the arm holes I didn't like one of the instructions as I felt it was going to turn out a bit bulky.  I decided to try it as written on the first side...  Guess what it turned out really bulky so I made an adjustment for the second side and I liked the result much better.  Maybe I didn't read the instructions correctly...or maybe I am just really awesome and my way was better (let's go with the second option).

3) Basting is for suckers.  Holy cow I have never seen so may basting steps.  I decided early on that I was not going to waste my time basting every 2 seconds and I would "honey badger" it using pins and such.  Potentially my lines would have been a bit sharper if I had done the basting but I honestly think it came out great in probably half of the time it would have taken me if I had followed all of the basting craziness.

4) Baby girl may be wearing this dress in the dead of winter vs. summer.  I think I ended up with a 9-12 month dress vs. the 3-6 month I was shooting for.  I am not sure if this was due to me or just the sizing in the pattern.  If she doesn't end up a chunker-nutter/Michelin Man baby she may have to wear a baggy dress or plan on being in a cardigan in the winter.

All in all it was pretty easy to put together and I will definitely be making another one.  I am really excited to start making some clothes and I already have my next project picked out...however if baby girl decides to actually come out it may need to wait for a bit!