(For the record, I really don't take myself this seriously... I just had fun thinking of a name and creating that picture!)


 I was browsing inside the BabyGap store not too long ago, and saw this cute dress:

and immediately thought "Hey! I can totally make that!" 

I already had some lace trim in my stash from thrift store trips, and got the rest of the trims from JoAnn. 

I decided I wanted it to be shades of creams and whites, and different textures, too.

I took one of Mo's white shirts, a dress of Ava's, and got to work.

I already started chopping before I realized that maybe I want to take pictures for a tutorial.

Anyway, fold your shirt and dress in half, placing dress on top, and cut around the dress, using it like a pattern.

 next, cut the armholes and shorten length of the straps.

 sew the straps back together, rights sides facing.

Then, starting at the bottom of the dress, pin the trim you think would look prettiest hanging off the dress.

next, decide the order you want your trims to layer the dress. Once you have that figured out, pull them off to the side (keeping their order), and sew each trim, working your way up from the bottom. If you happen to have any trims that lay flat (not already ruffled) right across the upper belly, run them through your machine with a basting stitch, then pin them on the dress. I should have done this, but hindsight is 20/20, I guess! 

(why, yes, those are coconut cream Hershey's Kisses! best. treat. ever.)

 Once I had all the trims sewn on, I took a lace window curtain I picked up from the thrift store, and used that to cover the back. The BabyGap dress is just plain jersey in the back, but I didn't really like that, it just seemed too bipolar to me or something.

I don't have a picture, but when sewing the neck, you have to cut little triangles in the lace about every half-inch to inch or so, so that the lace doesn't get all puckered.

(at this point I think I just forgot to take pictures -it was late.)

Pin and sew around all the edges.

Then, put right sides of dress together and sew down both sides!

Done!

(I have many more pictures of this dress on the next post down)

faux-chenille baby blanket gift

I love making these adorable blankies.

 This is the third one I've made now, and my fave.

Off to Seattle, to cuddle sweet Baby Hope.

Christmas Tree Skirt

Okay, so don't ask me what this blog is, because I don't know. ha

I guess it's a conglomeration of anything that interests me. 

...On that note, here is a Christmas tree skirt I made today. I found the idea on  Joy Ever After (which is awesome, btw!), and had to try it out, especially since our poor tree has been crying out for one. Well, it's been crying out for more than just a skirt... We left all of our Christmas decor in WA, so having to start all over on an extremely limited budget, forces me to do projects like, well, this. Which is not a bad thing! I've had a lot of fun being more crafty than ever this past year. :)

So, without further ado, I bring you my post on how I made a tree skirt from window curtains (feel free to  now hit your browser's back button to go back to whatever it was you were doing ;)

I found 4 of these window curtains at Salvation army for I think about 20 cents each 6 or 7 months ago. I loved the texture of the fabric, the ruffled bottom, and the crocheted trim. I knew I could do *something* with them! So they have been sitting in the bottom of my fabric drawer since then, just waiting for a project deemed worthy to come along. (Although I did take the crochet trim off 2 of the panels to embellish a shirt for my sister. Those panels are at the back of the skirt, and is not even noticeable that they are MIA)

 I cut each panel in half, and made a petal shape out of newspaper. Then I folded each cut panel in half, and cut along the one side of the pattern. I also didn't end up using the bottom part of the pattern, I made it so the widest part of the pattern stopped right above the ruffling.

Sewed right sides together (I wanted it to look more finished than Joy Ever After's)

 And, there you have it! Finished tree skirt. I love love love it! And extremely easy, too. Yay!