Bitten by a rabid sewing bug

Ever since a month ago when  friend gave me some super cute fabric, I've been on a wild sewing spree.

Prior to receiving said fabric my sewing machine had laid dormant for many months.  Since I don't have a designated "sewing room" I have to haul the machine and all the necessary accouterments every time I want to sew.  That's no fun.  Oh, and I also have three busy children who like to try and "help" me sew.  And because I abhor giving up the precious golden moments of nap time, I often attempt a sewing project when they're all active.  And that's just pure unadulterated madness. 

For those reasons I have done almost NO sewing in the past year. 

Until now!  The sewing tide has turned!  Something about this funky bright pink material and the hope of spring has revived my love for sewing and repurposing.

I started with several long-sleeved shirts that Chloe has hardly worn this season.  After cutting off the sleeves and bottom band, I set to work on pairing the shirt tops with coordinating fabrics to make them into playdresses for Chloe.

The concept is simple.  Connect a shirt top to a gathered skirt and voila!  Aside from the inevitable sewing mistakes, the most time consuming part of these dress projects for me is the finishing.  I cut the sleeves off too close to the arm hole so I have to recover the arm hold myself.  Ugh.  Wouldn't be so bad if I had a stock of bias tape.  But alas, I do not.  So I've been making my own bias tape out of strips of complementary fabric.  Works well for the most part though it takes FOREVER.

And I tell you what, sewing clothes is so rewarding!  It's such a grand feeling to see something I crafted with my hands and creativity take shape into a practical wearable garment.  Now I get how Ma from Little House on the Prairie must have felt when she chose fabric, envisioned a dress and then sewed it into existence.

The other bonus to making clothing is the huge cost savings.  All of these dresses started out as unused shirts from Chloe's drawer.  The coordinating fabric for the bottoms I had in my sewing stash or spent a few cents on at the thrift store. 

That's what I've been busy at for the month of March!  I only wish I had more concentrated time to commit to fun projects like this.  Instead I've been sneaking upstairs when I have a chance and sewing for 10-15 minutes at a time and slowly seeing a project completed.

When do you find time to sew?  What have you been sewing or crafting lately?

This was my first project.  The shirt ended up being a tad tight on Chloe so I decided not to use it as a dress bodice.  Instead, I made it into a shirt/skirt duo.  That way when Chloe outgrows the shirt we can still get a few more years' wear out of the skirt.

This was project #2.  The puppy dog is too cute to go to waste in the give-away pile!  I paired the puppy dog top with a pink pillowcase I had in my fabric pile.  Yes, I said *pillowcase*.  Didn't you know you could make clothes out of bedding?  Not quite happy with how crooked the band is but she's an active girl.  Hopefully all her jumping and running around will distract the onlooker from seeing all the glaring sewing mistakes!

Another shot of Chloe modeling her new puppy dog dress. 

This was project #4 and it's my favorite!  You can't tell from this weird shot (Chloe was getting impatient with modeling) but it really is a cute dress.  I didn't have any matching fabric to go on the bottom so I scrounged the thrift store for a ladies t-shirt.  It worked beautifully!  The best part was that I didn't have to hem the skirt since it was really the bottom band of the ladies t-shirt.  And even after I had hacked up the t-shirt I still had plenty to make bias tape for the neck and armholes. 

This was my last dress made from Chloe's shirts and I don't like it much.  The spacing is weird.  I should have cut the shirt a bit more and made a fuller skirt.  And it's a tad tight on Chloe.  So, this dress might get a new home with one of Chloe's friends soon!

Obviously, the model is DONE.  Dress #3 uses a pink pin-striped top and the groovy swirly pink fabric that inspired this sewing run.  :)  I love this one.  Plus I love that it still looks little-girlish.  I can't deny that my Chloe is growing up but I still love to see her wear these innocent girly styles.