Dressing It Up

The creative log jam has finally broken and I'm sewing again!  I love making little girl dresses.  Unfortunately, my little girl isn't that little anymore, so my Etsy store, Pretty Pretty Cindy, was born as an outlet for the "little girl" sewing (and crochet and whatever else I want to make).  I'm especially tickled about "upcycling," or using existing items to make new ones.  Without further ado, I'm excited to show you what I've been doing:

This is a pretty little cotton A-line I made in a size 4.  I added a little hot pink tulle at the hem.  I love these little A-line dresses.  I know I've mentioned it before, but Wendy Gratz has an adorable book "Absolutely A-Line" that will open your mind to lots of new ways to improve on a simple A-line pattern.

Although I do love the A-lines, I did try a couple of new things:

This is a pretty peachy cotton long dress in a size 5.  I will probably end up shortening this for someone because it's pretty long - the lace ruffle added a little too much length except for those tall girls.  I love the Peter Pan collar, but I can't say I liked making it!

 

Continuing my quest to do something new, I tried out a twirl tiered dress.  A friend of mine said it reminded her of Provence in France because it's so sunny and bright.  I think if I did another, I would make the straps knotted so they are a little more adjustable.  This one is a size 6.

I felt pretty clever with this little A-line dress.  This dress is made from two pillowcases.  The clever part is that when I cut the dress initially, I accidentally left a pillowcase seam right down the middle of the front of the dress.  That resulted in the pattern pieces being pushed aside for a long time.  When I finally found them again a couple weeks ago, I decided to give the dress a faux front closure with little buttons.  Staying with the closure theme, I devised something a little different for the back closure:

I created the largest button holes my machine would make and then threaded a sash through them for this cute tie.  This little dress is a size 3 and definitely one of a kind.

If you want to see any of these dresses as specific listings on Etsy, click the small pictures on the right -->

When the creative streak gets started, it's hard to know when it will stop, so I'm still working on more dresses.  Watch for them on Pinterest on my "Things I've Made" board or on the right Etsy column here.

cindy