Tuesday, May 21, 2013

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...

7 comments:

  1. Oh that's wonderful Shannon! Lovely material and the butterflies are the perfect finishing touch.

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  2. This dress is so pretty! I love the butterflies above the hem. I am sure your little girl feels very cool and comfortable in the linen, and looks lovely. : )

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  3. Such a lovely little dress. I have lots of linen in my stash and often wonder when I will get to it. Looking forward to more inspiration from you.

    Congrats to your husband on graduating. I noticed in your previous post that your dad had been there....I also was in Newport, Rhode Island at the age of six(1968). Lots of wonderful memories, especially our first winter, we were snowed in for two weeks. My dad finally took my brothers outside and starting digging his way out. Oh it was funny.

    Hopped over here from another blog...glad I did.
    blessings, jill

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  4. Lovely job, Shannon. The butterflies are a very sweet touch!

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  5. Lovely!!! Will you let us know in a future post how the Bubble Jet Set worked to prevent bleeding ink after you washed the dress? I would love to try printing fabric for my own clothes or for making pillows. :)

    Warmly,
    Alyssa

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  6. Thank you for your kind words!

    jill, I'd love to go back to Newport and spend more time there -- there's so much history in that part of the country, and the scenery is so gorgeous!

    Alyssa, I just washed the dress a little while back, and noticed that the ink may have faded a touch, but it didn't bleed. It's totally fine for my purposes; I'm not sure how color printing would turn out.

    Blessings,
    Shannon

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