Introducing....Sewing Sundays

In an effort to organize my life, I needed to dedicate some creative time for projects on a weekly basis - say hello to 'Sewing Sunday.' About two weeks ago I took out my sewing machine, a few of my husband's old dress shirts, and some elastic thread. After an hour or so of mild frustration and a few turns with the seam ripper - the first of several shirred tunic tops emerged! This turned out to be the easiest sewing venture to date and so cute to boot.

I love REPURPOSING things! I get excited by the challenge of taking something old and transforming it into something new and fabulous. I recall, while in 6th grade, taking a worn out red sweatshirt that my belonged to my Dad to make clothes for my Cabbage Patch Doll. I ended up creating and hand stitching an entire ensemble for my doll - complete with purse and headband. She was a wonderful model, I just wish I had a picture!

So last week, I was feeling giddy and grand with my sewing abilities and decided to tackle making a dress with the following materials - a tank top, some remnant of fabric (enough to make the skirt), and vintage embellishments. I created the pattern from an existing skirt. This was very easy to do, I simply laid the fabric down and pinned the skirt to the fabric and then made two cuts that would now become the side seams. I then pinned the skirt (right sides together) and sewed trying to stay and close to the edge as possible. The next step was to attach the tank top to the skirt, I pinned them beginning at the side seams and moved inward - to insure that the seams stayed aligned. The final step was to finish the bottom hem and add the embellishments.

I created two looks in the span of a few hours. For Harper's I used a remnant of linen fabric that I already had in my stash. Her pockets are made from a vintage handkerchief that was cut in half and sewn in place. Dublin's is made from a scrap of vintage fabric that I picked up at a local thrift store. Her apron is a repurposed crocheted table runner that is sewn in the waist of the dress. LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!