Today, as I was measuring my daughter for another as-yet-to-be-made skirt, she said, "Mommy, are you making another dress? I think you sew over 100 dresses a year!" I think she might be right. And she's brilliant. Plus, she is the recipient of most of them, so she notices these things.
The first one from last week was inspired by the post from Sew Much Ado. Like I e-mailed her, I refashion a lot of t-shirts (and even made something similar to this last summer) and I make a lot of things with ruffles, but for some reason I never thought to put them together. This just proves that they belong together.
This is, I believe, the perfect little girl's summer skirt. It's simply the bottom of my husband's 2009 Old Navy July 4th t-shirt; the bottom is cut off, the waist is elasticized, and ruffles are added to the bottom. Plus, I wanted an excuse to use my serger again, so I made a cute flower to go on it, too, from the same fabric as the ruffle:
My daughter has worn it a few times already, and she loves it. The jersey is midweight, so it hangs nicely, and it's perfect with her crocs and a t-shirt. I liked it so much I made one for myself, out of a red t-shirt with some green and brown ruffles. I've worn it a lot already, too.
Next comes the sundress made from the pillowcase. I found this pillowcase at the thrift store several weeks ago and considered buying it but didn't. When I saw it was still there last week when I visited, I knew it was fate. I love the dark purple, and I really love the ribbon embroidery at the bottom:
(Purple Adirondack chair, one of my favorite things in the world, is a Mother's Day gift and was painted by my beautiful husband).
A few rows of shirring, some straps made from the cut-off part of the pillowcase, and it's a great sundress:
I used the entire pillowcase for it. I cut off about 2" under the folded edge and serged the raw edge (now the top of the dress). Then I just added my rows of shirring, made straps from the cut off pillowcase, and here it is! It's a little long now, so she'll probably be able to wear it next summer, too.
I am clearly enamored of making clothes from upcycled, recycled, and cast-off materials; it inspires my creativity, saves my family money, and lets me reuse materials that would probably end up in the garbage. However, one of the biggest benefits for me is the fact that my daughter has become an avid and outspoken proponent of using otherwise "undesirable" materials for clothes. She loves that fact that much of her wardrobe used to be curtains, pillowcases, and sheets, and she is excited when she tells someone, "This used to be a pillowcase, but my mom made it into a dress." When the friend says, "Really?" and is truly impressed, I can see the pride in my daughter's face, which makes me proud. That has been an unexpected but welcome benefit of Wardrobe Refashion.
