Flutterby

As I anticipated, little Rosa has provided me many excuses to sit down at my sewing machine. Baby dresses are so sweet, so rewarding, and so inexpensive. When you only need roughly a yard of fabric, it's easy to get those creative juices flowing!

This dress, for instance, cost only a dollar -- it used to be a linen skirt, but I had other plans for it when I rescued it from the thrift store.

I love babies in linen. It's such a pure, natural, soft (when washed) fabric. I had some white covered buttons in my stash which matched perfectly and saved me both time and money (hurrah for salvaged butons!). And a linen tie from the skirt was easily fashioned into a little bow.

I had to do a bit of creative piecing, since the skirt was straight, long, and divided into four panels. Also, I decided I wanted to try my Bubble Jet Set, a product that allows you to wash inkjet printed fabric without risk of bleeding ink. It was easy enough to use (you pre-soak the fabric in the solution and let it air dry), though I don't yet know if it worked, since I haven't washed the dress yet. The printing worked quite well, once I figured out a technique for printing on fabric that worked (I'll have to share those tips in another post).

The butterflies were all free images from The Graphics Fairy. I love the simplicity of the black and white, and I was surprised by how detailed they came out. I can't wait to try some other projects with printed fabric! 

The pattern is my own concoction, using Simplicity 3656 as a very loose base for the bodice. The skirt is divided into six panels. I was afraid my piecing had left the skirt too short, but luckily I had enough fabric left to create an extra band of fabric along the bottom. I tend to like long dresses for babies -- not for modesty, but because I like to have enough fabric to cover my little one's diaper when I'm holding her! Granted, cloth diapers make that a little harder. 

Now, to figure out how to refashion the rest of the linen in my stash...


Update: After washing the dress on delicate and line drying, the butterflies have faded slightly -- but I'm still very happy with the result! I'll have to try printing something in color to see what happens...