Sweet and Simple Baby Dress

30 minutes is about all you need to pull off a dress like this. Unless your sewing machine decides to hate you. Sometimes that happens to me.

This was round 2 of trying to use up some knit shirts I have stashed. Which by the way, I was blown away by all the nice comments on my first dress. Thank you all for being so kind and encouraging.

I cut off just enough for the skirt section from this shirt I swipped from my sisters donate pile. I'd say it was a noble donation.

Then I snagged this one dollar onesie I come across. Can't beat that (unless its free, I suppose). I chopped it just below the armpits.

I gathered the top to fit onto the onesie.

And stitched them right sides together.

To make the waistband I cut off some fabric from a white ribbed knit t-shirt and stitched all around the waistline. It was double layered and I left the edges raw for the look.

I made and applied the fabric rosettes using fabric-tac. I love the stuff, but to be honest, I've never used it on things that would need to be laundered. I'm hoping it will be okay. The package did say washable.

And of course the girl will need a headband because even though she wears pink and a dress, people will still ask if it's a boy :)

And wearing such a cute dress, big sisters give her plenty of smothers and love. Who can resist little baby hands?

And now that baby is equipped with a super comfy knit dress also, biggest sister is begging for hers. She wants it to look like a rainbow. Hmmm. My stash is only so colorful. Any suggestions?

Business in the Front - Party in the Back

Important Edit 
To see other version's I've made of this dress, click here.

Strange title right? That phrase seems to be my husbands favorite for defining a mullet. I made a dress that reminds me of a mullet - well, rather my husbands definition of one.

Business in the front.


Party in the back.


It was made completely out of old T-shirts of mine I've been stashing.


To think, I almost sent them to the thrift store.


This cutie wears them better than I ever did. (Don't you just want to kiss that neck?)


You can do amazing things with knits.


I'm on a mission to find out all the possibilities. Why, you might ask. Because my significant other keeps complaining about all the t-shirts I have to save that could be tossed out. (You'll see even more in the background of the above picture).


Just so happens I used up 6 t-shirts with this dress, and I even threw away the leftover scraps. Well, at least I will, eventually.

If you are interested, I'll show you a basic "how-to" to make this dress. I wouldn't call it a step-by-step tutorial, because it was really late and I kept forgetting to take pictures. So I will assume if you are interested in knowing how I did this, you know the basics of constructing a dress.


First I cut out the pieces I would need based on the size of another dress of hers.


This removed the neck edge for the back piece so I made some binding with scraps and finished the neck edge.


I also cut some 1 1/2 strips for the waist tie.


I grabbed another old t-shirt and cut it the same size as the bottom skirt piece. I only used one layer of it. This will be for sewing the ruffles on.


I cut as many 4 inch wide strips as I could of 4 varying pink colors of t-shirts.


Then I ruffled the tops.


Then I sewed on the top ruffle,


Flipped it up and proceeded to sew on the rest, alternating colors. I didn't leave to much distance from the last ruffle because I really wanted it to puff.

Once I got done doing that it was time to put the dress together. I ruffled the bottom skirt front and attached it to the top piece.


To construct the back, I cut out a triangle piece and threw it away (yay). I kept the outer pieces


and hemmed the edges.


I overlapped the center.

Laid it on top of my ruffle section and basted them together at the same time ruffling them together. Then I trimmed the sides so they all measured up the same.


I attached the bodice back to the back skirt.


Then attached the sleeves.


After I stitched the side seams all together, I sewed on the waistband. It was made from those 1 1/2 inch pieces I cut earlier. I double layered the strips and stitched it to the dress on the waistline. I pulled on the exposed seams to make them curl up.


There is probably a better way to do this next step, but I had to deal with odd length scraps. I left the back open like so,


then stitched on the top and bottom of my other strips.


The strips were attached to the remaining seam allowance on the waistband, and tied into a bow.
Then I added the rolled flower, pink buttons on sleeves, and some raw edged knit to the neckline.


Little one doesn't want to take her dress off, and I love that.


She also had to teach her little sister how to misbehave while mom is trying to take pictures.


It's so fun making something cute, for FREE! Oh, and if you are wondering how I made the headband, I just braided 3 narrow strips of knit. It's so comfy, I'm thinking I just might wear a headband one of these days. I think she even forgot it was on her head, hence the reason it lasted in there the whole time I was taking pics.

It felt so rewarding de-stashing my pile down 6 whole shirts, I now feel totally justified for going to the thrift store and adding more junk to my house.


If only my husband could see it this way :)


Seriously though, who could pass up this cute old school little people lunch box for 1 dollar. Yum.

I think I have a disease. sigh.

Thanks for stopping by!

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