Magenta Pink Summer Dress

I was looking at some clothes I made in the last few months and I guess I have been really drawn to deep pink or purplish colors. I made a skirt with similar color to this dress and a lavender color linen dress. When I found this magenta pink light weight fabric I immediately pictured a summer dress.

I decided to use the pattern Butterick 6451. I love relaxed flowy style to wear around house and I noticed that tiered style is back. This was a perfect pattern.

The original pattern showed sleeves with elastics in them, but I decided to leave it as is (I left the openings just in case I change my mind, I have an option to put elastic through).

I think it would be cute to cut the sleeves short to make a short sleeve dress.

Magenta pink is a bit of a strong color, but it sure is fun to wear! What are you going to sew this summer?

Purple Dress

I have been participating in a sewing challenge called "Sew that pattern now" during the month of March. Emi, Olga and Mijke encouraged people to sew with the patterns and fabrics that have been sitting in your closet or sewing room forever and just get it done. I am totally guilty of having such stacks and I decided to join the fun and knock some projects off my list. It is actually really motivating and fun to go through my stash of fabrics and patterns and finally do some. I made other garments, but this dress is the only one that I took picture of with a real camera and I decided to write a blog post. I promise that later I will upload pictures from my phone and share other clothing I made.

I used linen blend I bought years ago in San Jose. for the longest time, I couldn't decide what to make with it, but I am really happy with how it turned out. The pattern I used is from one of my Japanese sewing books.

I love the pleats and V-neck on this dress and I am thinking about making it with different colors (yes... I have more fabrics in my closet. This is what happens when you shop faster than you sew!).

I was suppose to have surgery done at the end of this month, but last Friday, the doctor's office called and they needed me to reschedule my surgery to the beginning of next month. To be honest, I was pretty annoyed about this at first because that would affect everyone's schedule around here. Also, I thought I wuold be recovering, I didn't plan our Spring Break trip, otherwise we would have been on the road. :( But, now I am thinking I can sew a little bit longer before the surgery and organize my house too. Do you think I can squeeze in some more projects??

Summer Day Top Pattern and My Dress

Hello! I hope you are having a great summer. Seems like some people I have talked to are having a hard time finding the time to sew (or anything else for that matter) between family vacations and all the other activities with kids at home. If you are itching to sew something simple and quick with satisfying results, you should try Summer Day Top by Dana of Made Everyday. I was given a chance to play with her pattern and I was blown away. She pays close attention to detail and guides you through from choosing the right fabric and size to other sewing tips.

This pattern gives you five different versions of tops. I had a hard time deciding which one to go with and I almost made the tunic, then I found fabric in my closet I bought a year ago. I decided to extend the tunic a wee bit longer and make a dress.

I am in love with this dress and I wore it on our anniversary date! Ladies... It conformed what I knew all along; I have the best husband when he doesn't mind taking some pictures of me for my blog as part of our anniversary date!

I love this dress so much and I am thinking about making a top next. Check out Dana's pattern shop for Summer Day Top and other great patterns!

Have fun sewing everyone!

Simple Knit Dress from Thrift Store Fabric

What would you make if you come across a 20" x 2 1/2 yard of fabric at a thrift store for $3? I assume it was originally 50" or 60" wide fabric, but someone used a long strip and gave away the rest. I thought this would make a perfect summer lounging dress for my preteen: which is very hard to find a good size in a cute style. It took me only a couple hours and viola! The dress is done.

I added a sleeve on the back waist to put the ribbon through. This way the ribbon won't fall off and if she wants to wear it as a more relaxed boxy style, she can simply remove the ribbon.

She usually doesn't like to dress up and prefers to wear pants all the time, but she is wearing the dress all day long and even relaxing on the couch! I won't make a big deal about it, then she might stop (grin).

This was a another great find at a thrift store. It is a great time for yard sales and garage sales. Have you found anything good lately?

Blue Summer Dress

I don't know about you, but I love dresses and skirts. Especially light and airy Summer dresses made out of cotton. I found this blue cotton fabric a few years ago for really cheap (I believe it was around $3 a yard) with the intention of sewing a Summer dress and I finally did it. I guess the hardest part for me is finding a pattern that I love.

I looked through my pattern bins and nothing caught my attention for this particular fabric. I started going through my old sewing pattern books I brought from Japan. If I remember correctly I bought the book 20+ years ago. Does that qualify for being called "Vintage"? Anyways, I found a dress made out of small floral prints in the book. I loved the shape of the dress, the pleated skirt, lots of buttons from top to bottom in the back, and the manipulated pleated front!

Measuring and creating the pleats was definitely more work than I normally do with other clothes making, but it was fun. I couldn't be happier with the results. I know I am going to wear this dress a lot this Summer.

Whatever you are working on right now, happy sewing everyone!

Summer Blossom Dress Tutorial ~ 30 Days of Sundresses Series at Melly Sews

Guess what? I was asked to be a part of such a fun series: "30 Days of Sundresses" at Melly Sews. It is the 4th year and there are always awesome ideas and dresses. I am honored to be a part of it!

I came up with this relaxed and flowy dress for Rachel for this Summer and am loving the result! In fact I am thinking about making one for myself... of course in a bit bigger size.

It is a very simple dress to make and if you are not big on applique you can skip that part; then you can whip up the dress even faster!

When I found these fabrics and ribbon at one of my favorite local shops, I was so excited. It was very close to what I had in mind! I created this dress for my daughter and she is almost 10. Because of the nature of the dress, I assume it should fit most of the 8 to 10 year olds.

So, here is a list of things you will need to make this dress:

Shot cotton -- 2 yards
Large Flower pattern fabric -- 1 yard
Interfacing -- about one yard
Matching thread
Ribbon 2 to 3 yards

* Note --- Shot cotton is woven with two slightly different colors, creating a subtle shimmer of light and beauty! I feel like it is slightly lighter weigh than regular cotton fabric and falls nicely when you sew clothing. You can find them at Purl Soho incase you want to see more color options;

{How to}

1. Print out the PDF pattern for the top portion of the dress and for the bottom line. You might want to print out two top portions, since there are two different necklines for the front and back. Cut them out. The pattern includes the 1/2" seam allowance.

2. Right sides together fold the fabric in half vertically. Place the pattern onto the fabric; line up the straight edge on the side with folded edge on the fabric. Trace around the pattern around the neckline, shoulder and sides with washable marker or chalk. Half inch seam allowance is already included in the pattern.

3. Measure 25" from below the bust line on the pattern and mark. Extend the diagonal line on the side and use the provided template to mark on the fabric so that the bottom seam of the dress has a nice curved line.

4. With zigzag stitch (or a serger), sew on the shoulders, armhole and sides to prevent fraying.

5. Put right sides of the fabric together, sew both shoulders with 1/2" seam. Open the seam and press with an iron.

6. Sew the sides. Stop at the mark below the arm hole. Open the seam and press with an iron.

7. Fold the seam around the arm hole and press with an iron and stitch.

8. Cut 1 1/2" W x 23 to 25 inches long fabric strip in bias. Make bias tape for the neckline.

9. Line up one side of the seam to the edge of the neckline on the right side of the fabric, pin and sew.

10. Fold the bias tape towards the wrong side of the fabric, pin and do top stitch.

11. Fuse interfacing on the fabric you want to use for applique.

12. Cut out flowers...

13. Lay the flowers on the dress and pin.

14. I did free motion stitch to do this part. You will want to make sure all the outer edges are sewn (I try to stay close to the edge... about 1/8"), then you can kind of follow the design on the flowers and stitch away.

Now, the dress is completed. It is time to enjoy!

As I said in the beginning of the post, this dress has a relaxed silhouette. It is perfect for hot summer days looking pretty but super comfortable.

Psst... she is wearing short leggings underneath, she can be as active as she wants and play around too.

With a ribbon tied around her waist, the dress can transform to a different style. I honestly love both, with and without the ribbon.

When she was trying on the dress she was super excited about it and exclaimed, "I always wanted the dress like this, mom!" That, ladies...made me so happy. :)

Melissa is running a wonderful giveaway on her blog right now, make sure to hop over to see the details. Thank you for visiting everyone!

Maxi Knit Dress Fun

Hello everyone! Spring break started for my kids this week and I am in full gear of "what can we do together?" I don't believe in entertaining them all the time, I would love to spend time and have fun with them. I know I won't be spending much time in front of my sewing machine this week, but I wanted to share some pictures of the knit maxi dress I made a couple weeks ago.

I found the knit fabric at Joann's and I was so excited! I don't really find pretty knit fabric where I live, so an encounter like that is a sweet surprise. Ah! How I wish I could go to the fabric district anytime I pleased. Of course that could create some problems too.

Here is the dress,

and the side view...

I created a very simple style dress. I always loved this style; it gives me the illusion that I have longer legs...

Besides this is made out of knit, there is an elastic in the waist line. I love clothing that looks nice, but is also comfortable. If it's too restrictive I don't want to wear it. I would love to sew a couple more dresses with solid fabrics.

With cardigans and some accessories, I know I can dress this up or down. This dress will be one of the most worn clothing this spring. :)

Top 100 Project at All Free Sewing

My JCrew inspired dress made it in to their top 100 projects at All Free Sewing Thank you so much!

This was a tutorial I did back in 2011 but, if you are new to my blog, you haven't seen it yet. It is a pretty simple dress; not to mention inexpensive. It might be fun to work on it during the cold season while thinking of Spring. I haven't sewn clothes for myself for a while, Hmm... maybe it's time to come up with something new. ;)

Happy sewing everyone!