Today I am guest posting at Brown Paper Packages. Leisel has a great blog, if you haven't had a chance to check it out...well I'd suggest you go look...TODAY ;-) Here is the project I made. I think it turned out pretty cute...read the end and see what happened when I was making it though! The Project was part of Leisel's month of Pattern make overs
When asked to re-do a pattern, I started to think of what I wanted to make....well, with summer on it's way, we spend a lot of time at the splash pads around our house. So I thought I would work with a pillowcase dress pattern, and turn it into a swimsuit cover dress for my daughter.
With the pillowcase dress pattern, I decided to change it by using a different type of fabric and adding appliques.
Instead of a typical cotton fabric used in a pillowcase dress I used a knit material. (As a confession I have actually never used knit before, and it was much easier then I thought it would be!)
The bottom edge and armhole were a ribbed knit fabric (in the turquoise color). Both the bottom hem and the armholes where made by taking the ribbed knit material and making a bias tape. Need help making bias tape? Check here for help.
Doing something as simple as changing the type of fabric can make a huge difference.
The other change I mentioned was using appliques. The pattern for an applique can be found anywhere, clip art, a free hand drawing, I used my die cut machine to create what I wanted.
The key to using any applique is to remember to use Wonder-Under, especially on knit! The material shifts far too much, you need the Wonder-Under to help stabilize the design, then you can go around and satin stitch around the design......Changing your thread to match each piece of material will give you a much cleaner look.
I loved how easy and cute this simple dress turned out to be. I think that when you have a pattern you love, perhaps you don't need to look at making a major change to it, start simple by changing things like the fabric and adding appliques to your dress!
Summer here we come!
You know, I just cant seem to ever make a project with out something going wrong...and lo and behold this time was no exception.
When I was almost done with the project, I was multi-tasking (always a bad idea) I wrote something with a pen....not realizing it was leaking all over my hand and then picked up the dress...the WHITE dress, and the ink got all over the dress!
AHHH!
I quickly tried to remove the ink (Is that even possible?) All it did was make it seep through to the backside...
So I added some little circle appliques to cover the before mentioned pesky ink stains!
Problem solved!
When I was almost done with the project, I was multi-tasking (always a bad idea) I wrote something with a pen....not realizing it was leaking all over my hand and then picked up the dress...the WHITE dress, and the ink got all over the dress!
AHHH!
I quickly tried to remove the ink (Is that even possible?) All it did was make it seep through to the backside...
So I added some little circle appliques to cover the before mentioned pesky ink stains!
Problem solved!
Love,
