Girls Tunic Dress - TUTORIAL

 I've had this tutorial in draft form for over a week now!  I've got a few variations that I wanted to add, but I think I'll share them in a separate post. 

In an effort to whip out some fast and functional back to school clothes, I came up with this sweet tunic dress.  It's super easy, so grab your supplies and let's get started.

You'll need:

a shirt that fits

craft paper for making your pattern

cotton jersey fabric

1/4 inch elastic

amounts will vary depending on what size you're making

 Lay your shirt on your paper and trace all the way around.

 Add your preferred length and angle the sides out a few inches.  Add whatever seam allowance you prefer to all sides, then cut out your pattern.  Fold it in half to make sure that it's symmetric.

 Cut the pattern in half to make a front and back pattern.  On the pattern piece you want to use for the front, drop the neck an inch or so.

 Cut one front piece and one back piece, with the pattern on the fabric fold.

 With right sides together, sew one shoulder seam.

 Since jersey knits often roll and can be a little tricky, I'm going to show you a trick.  There's a wonderful product called Steam-A-Seam.  It's basically a double sided tape that you can use on fabric.  It's sticky on both sides and you can choose to permanently fuse it or not. 

 So, to finish the neck, cut a strip of fabric that is 1.5 inches wide.  The strip should be an inch or so shorter than the length of the entire neck, front and back.

 Notice how the fabric wants to curl.

 On the wrong side of the neckband, apply the Steam-A-Seam.  Don't iron it, just stick it.

 Remove the paper backing.

 Fold the neckband in half, with wrong sides together.  The beauty of this is that if you don't fold it perfectly, you can unstick it and redo it.  Once you have it folded nicely, lightly iron it.

 With the raw edge of the neckband aligned with the raw edge of the neck sew the neckband in place, gently stretching it as you go.

 Press the neckband and sew the other shoulder seam.

 Hem both sleeves.

 Sew both side seams.

 On the inside, measure down about 3.5 inches from the sleeve.

 Draw a straight line across the front and back.

 Mark the center of the front and back.  As a side note, I use this pen.  The line disappears with heat.

 Cut a piece of elastic that is about 2 inches shorter than the total width of the dress front and back.

 Sew the ends of the elastic together to make a loop and mark the elastic in quarters.

 Pin the elastic to the dress matching the quarter markings to the side seams and center markings on the dress.

 Using a long zig-zag stitch, sew the elastic to the dress, gently stretching the elastic as you sew.  You don't want to stretch the fabric, just stretch the elastic so it is flat on the fabric.

 You should end up with a nice gathered waist.  Hem your dress and you're done!  My dress took me less than an hour from start to finish and taking pictures along the way. 

The dress is really easy to wear, light and breezy. 

Paired with leggings and a cardigan it transitions to fall really well. 

Like I said at the beginning, I've got a few little variations that I'll share in separate post soon.

Happy almost long weekend!

My New Favorite Dress

The girl who said she won't wear dresses......wore a dress! I've had an idea to do this peasant style dress with a tie neckband instead of elastic, but hadn't done it since my 4 year old says, she doesn't like dresses. But recently she's been more agreeable with clothing, so I gave it a shot.....

Sorry about the photo quality, I've been having issues with taking photos in low light lately....which will hopefully be resolved when I get my new digital-SLR this weekend. An early b-day present to myself!

I think it looks really cute. I did have to bribe her to get the photos, and she got a little upset putting it on....a little tight in the chest. But when she got to school this morning, there were many oohs and ahhs from her little friends.

This is my new favorite dress to sew, so.....we'll see how long I can keep the little one off the dress boycott.

Cleaning out the Stash

Over the past year or so, I've dedicated more and more time to sewing. With all the amazing blogs and craft books, I've felt so inspired. But I've learned one thing about myself, I'm a bit scattered and find myself dabbling in different things. I get bored with a project quickly and can't stick to one thing. As a result, my sewing space is full of bins and shelves of different kinds of fabrics and supplies. So, I've decided that I NEED to clean out a little and work with what I've got and try try try to not buy too much new stuff. It's really hard....but so far so good. Here are a few things I've worked on.

I started my craft fair life sewing a simple tunic jumper dress. It's a very fun and easy project, but needed an update. So I added a box pleat to the top and made this cute dress from some red corduroy on my shelf from last Christmas. I especially like the polka dotted facing.

I made another version with a more summery fabric and decided to add a decorative button tab. Can you tell I love polka dots!

Since I've discovered re-purposing, anytime I hit the thrift store, I usually return with armfuls of sweaters for felting and shirts for making shirts for the kids etc. Another new item I've discovered is making onesies from old T-shirts. I love that you can find colors that you might have a hard time finding in a fabric shop. And the elephant applique is really fun!

With all the destashing, I did treat myself to a little bit of new fabric. I bought a yard of this heart print on sale with the intention of making a tunic for my 4 year old, but was also feeling the onesie inspiration. I've got the tunic cut out and should have it sewn up soon....unless I get distracted by another project.....

And now for the shameless plug. All these items are for sale in my esty, shop: www.zaaberry.etsy.com. Click on over and take a look!

A Vest for the Boy

The fall weather is in full swing and the kids and I have been decked out in our vests. My son has been wearing this old vest that is a hand-me-down from his sister and really starting to be too small......but I LOVE it!


So, since the vest I made for my daughter was such a success, I decided to try my hand at a boy's vest. This posed a challenge since the one thing I avoid like the plague is sewing zippers.

I had this old blanket I'd found when cleaning out a closet. Yes, we had a Patriots blanket for our babies.....yes, we love football.....


And here's what it became....


I don't love the way this came out, it's okay. It's been worn and it's functional, but not exactly what I was going for. Oh well....sewing for boys is sometimes harder than it should be.

My own Kid's Clothes Challenge

Last week was a busy week between my husband's birthday and getting ready for an upcoming overseas trip where I'll be leaving my babies for a whole week....so I didn't participate in the official Kid's Clothing Week Challenge. Instead, I set forth on my own challenge: to start using up my stash of clothing bought second hand to re-purpose.

Here's just a tiny bit of my stash.

And here's what I made:

I forgot to take a before picture of this next top, but imagine a giant, ugly tube top, turned into super cute little girl tank.

And, I am in love with Kai's shirt from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. A fun shirt for a fun little boy.

I made a lot more clothing that I didn't get around to taking photos of, but I'm proud that I am actually making a dent in my stash, resisted the urge to go to the Salvation Army today on 1/2 price day, and my kids are looking cute and enjoying their new clothes!