more knit dresses

I love Spoonflower.  It's a great concept, and although I've only used it once - I plan to use it again for another special project.  I bought this rainbow fabric in the organic knit and used Patty Young's Morgan pattern.

I used an old tshirt for the yellow, and some scrap knits for the green and the turquoise.  I cut the fabric carefully to get a nice zigzag effect at the shoulder and neckbands.

I love the pockets peeking out a bit of yellow!

This version was made for one of my nieces using Patty Young fabric and some other solids from my stash.

Here's another peek at the pocket.

The tuck at the neckline is a cute detail.

I've made many of Patty Young's Abigail dresses before.  This is my latest version.

It comes together so easily now, especially with my serger.  Easy breezy!

knit upcycle + serger love

Like I said - my new serger has been getting a workout.  Here are a few Lil Blue Boo Sienna Dresses that I've cranked out recently.


The blue and green striped fabric is an old tshirt, the dots are left over from another project I did a couple of years ago for her.  Because of how I cut the sleeves, I didn't even have to hem them.  Woohoo!


The dragonfly fabric was a tank that never quite fit right in the armholes for me, and the pink floral fabric is Patty Young's design. I did a lettuce edging on my serger to finish off the short sleeves.


The calla lily fabric was also an old tank of mine - bought before I got married! It has held up relatively well, but was getting a little small for me. The green and white fabrics are just plain tees I had sitting around waiting for a new life.

The blue and white solids are just random knit scraps - the upcycled tee here was used in the skirt

I've also been using some of the knit scraps to make little shorts for under her dresses.  I LOVE my serger and being able to give my old t-shirts new life in my daughter's wardrobe!

warhol dress - the bigger size

I've been excitedly going through my knits and cranking out some new outfits.  The neckline on Dana's Warhol dress is a little too low for my liking, so unfortunately she'll be wearing it most of the summer with a tee underneath.  That is my fault though - I did not gather it enough before I added the yolk.  But this print is lots of fun, and it's a very light knit so she'll be wearing it a lot this summer!

little mermaid

One of my nieces happens to LOVE Little Mermaid.  I put together this spring top for her.

I added some watery shimmery ric rac along the bottom edge.  I love the sparkle!

It has an elastic back for a comfortable fit.

It needed a little something else - so I whipped up a pair of turquoise knit pants to match.

Happy Birthday, L!

vogue knit put to good use

I've been trying to get more practice with knits, so I got Dana's Warhol dress pattern and got busy.  You could easily use an adult tshirt, I wanted to use some more of my new knit fabric.

Once again, it was a new pattern and I just dug in rather than measuring my darling model.  So, lesson learned (for now at least).  Dana's pattern has a size 3/4 and a size 6-12 months, neither of which would fit Abby.  So I tried to just aim for somewhere in the middle.  I'm happy with the length and sizing overall, I just wish I had tried it on her before I sewed the yoke into place.  It's a little looser & lower cut than I would have liked.

She may not get much wear out of it this summer, however, it will transition easily to fall/winter with a tee or turtleneck underneath and to next summer as a tunic.  It would be easy enough to just cut it shorter for a tunic or shirt length if I was to make another one.  (which I probably will because I have a green striped knit and some other stuff to work with!)
As I'm looking at these pictures, I realized I need to do a better shoulder bow... next time.

I've been wanting to try some fabric paint, and Dana includes tips on how to do that, so we'll see what I can come up with!  Since it's such a simple pattern it's also easy to do an applique or something on it.