Sew Cute!!

After hemming and sewing ribbon onto Kaylee's princess dress late last week, I got the idea that I could make some dresses for her, too...how hard could it be, right? And maybe save some money at the same time? Sure! Thursday morning I impulsively went with Kaylee to Joann Fabric Store and bought a dress pattern and 3 different fabrics. Of course I stupidly went with her just before lunch, so she was getting cranky and wasn't happy to sit in the shopping cart. Oops. I bought what I had, but didn't get zippers or anything else (ribbon, etc) to go with the fabrics. I looked at the pattern again once I got home and decided to see if there was an even easier one (i.e. no zippers, elastic, buttons, etc. needed) online. Score! The pattern said it was about a 3T size...of course Kaylee fits into outfits/dresses that are anywhere from 12 months to 3T (mostly 24mo/2T) at the moment, so I wasn't sure how big it would actually be, but figured if she can't wear it now, maybe by the spring (it is more of a spring/summer dress anyway). So I started it last night and finished it tonight. Not bad if I do say so myself!! I still have the other two fabrics, too, and I think I will probably just use this pattern for those as well. The dress does look a bit big for Kaylee for right now, but I'll try it on her tomorrow and see for sure -- a lot of times lately I'll see a dress/outfit and think it'll be way too big, then it either fits now or is too small! Yikes - she's growing so fast I can't keep up.

Here's the dress, and a closeup of the fabric's pattern if you're really interested. :)


As for the saving money part of this project...not so much! I mean, it's a cute pattern and I'm not sorry I'm making them, but I usually shop at consignment sales/shops, discount stores or sales - in general $10 for an outfit is usually pushing it for me! I usually spend more like $2-3 on outfits and $5 or so on dresses for Kaylee. Sure they're used, but how many times do kids really wear clothes when they're this young? So as far as the cost aspect, I'm spending more than I usually do, but probably less than a dress like this would go for in a retail shop. (I could have hunted for cheaper fabrics, but these were $3.99 to 8.99/yard - so not super cheap!) Timewise...obviously way more time and effort!

I just got her some bloomers to go with dresses she already has, but also just for whatever she might have in the near future, too - they're all white and I had stuff put on them. There are 4: a red K, her monogram (KCJ) in pink, Kaylee in black with a gold/yellow bee, and Merry Christmas in red with a green tree. The red K bloomers will be cute with this dress (why I chose a red and white fabric). The other fabrics are a ladybug pattern and pink/red/brown retro dot pattern.

These are from breakfast the other day. Breakfast! And she smeared yogurt all in her hair!! She got to take a quick shower later that morning... By the way, as you can sort of tell, she sits at the table with us now and seems to enjoy it more. (She did sit by the table before, but with the tray attached, so her food was not on the table.) She really loves climbing up into the non-highchair/booster chairs and sitting at the table all on her own for snacks, but she often bonks her head on the table because she doesn't always pull the chair far enough away before climbing up.