Made By Lex

I saw this western-y dress for kids the other day and it inspired me to do this one. Let’s get started! Grab a men’s shirt.
Cut off the sleeves.

We need to create a chest band for the dress. Measure your child at the desired width. I like to make it a couple inches larger then normal, and account for the small amount you will loose when you sew it together. I cut out two pieces, about 4 inches wide.

Sew the two end pieces together so it makes one circular piece.
Fold it over, with the right side out and iron in half. This is your chest band.
Now we need to cut out the straps. Measure your child from where the chest band will be, from front, over the shoulder, to the back. Cut out 4 strips, about 2 inches wide.

Sew the long pieces together and turn them right side out. Iron them flat.
Now for the dress piece. Figure out how long you want the dress. Measure from the bottom of the shirt up and cut it where you need it.

Trim the bottom hem so it is straight.(Some shirts, like mine did here, had that rounded trim but I wanted it straight.)
Now for pockets. These are optional. Another thing you could do is if the shirts have preexisting pockets, you could cut those out and use those.

I cut out two pockets and two strips for hemtape.

The first thing i do is get a lining for the pockets. You could use the same material, I just love contrasting pocket lining. Pin it, inside out, to the pockets.
Sew them around the sides, leaving the top open. Turn them right side out. Then press them with an iron. I slightly gather the top in the center.
Get your hemtape.

Fold it over once in half.

Then open it up and fold the two ends in towards the center. Then press it closed and it will look like this.

Open it up and pin it to the top of the pockets, as shown.

Stitch the hemtape onto the pocket as close to the edge of the hemtape as you can get.

Now find where you want to put the pockets and pin them in place, and sew them on.

Now we are going to attach the chest band to the dress. We need to gather the dress. I do this by lengthening my stitch and setting my tension to the highest number.(like ruffling) you can also do it by hand.

Pin your chest band to the dress, right side together. Sew it on.

Here’s what you’ll have.

Now for the straps. Place your dress on your child so you can mark the placement in the front. Pin them where you want them to go. Then stittch them in place.

Now find out where you want them in the back. I did a cross over, but you can do them however you want. Stitch in place.

The last thing you need to do is finish the hem, if needed.

Here’s how it came out!!

I love the angled pockets.

It looks really cute, too, with a shirt under it, like a jumper.

The back.

Happy in her new getup!

I made this for my little Ava today. The skirt was made one of my dad’s old shirts. I love how it looks like a tweed, but it’s a flannel. I wanted big pop-out pockets.

The are really in for adults right now, but I thought it would be so cute for kids, too. I lined them with an old shirt of Zach’s.

I had gotten this fabric from Harts and I fell in love with the polka dots. This fabric reminds me a lot of the European lines, like Catamini. I didn’t know what I was going to do with it, but I finally figured it out.

I did the detail with the same old shirt of Zach’s.

I gathered the sleeves at top and added the alternating bias trim.
I also did a pleated detail at the 3/4 sleeve and added the trim there, too.

This is my favorite part. I love the detail of the fold over flap and these awesome snap buttons that I found.
And here she is in it!

With a lemon- zucchini cookie. (It was my bribe to get her to pose.)

Ava LOVES pockets. She has to have pockets in everything. So that’s what inspired me to do these for her.

Doesn’t she loo sweet in it?

I’m so happy with the way this came out. It’s so fun working on something ad then seeing where it takes you. I might work on a pattern for this one. I also think I”m going to do these pockets on a grown up version.

I also have the BEST women’s dress refashion coming up. So easy, interchangeable and you’ll LOVE it!

Here was what I did today. Isabel graduated to a booster seat so, of course, I had to recover it. I got this Anna Griffin fabric a while ago and loved it but didn’t know what I was going to do with it. It’s funny that I loved it because I, actually, hate the circus. I think I was drawn to the whimsy and colors. Here’s how it turned out.

Then I finished making her lunch box. I used oilcloth for the inside and outside. I put an ‘i’ on it for ‘Isabel”.

If you haven’t seen some of the oilcoths and vinyls they do now, do yourself a favor and check it out HERE. I used the dots and floral because it’s what I had, but they come in some unbelievable prints now. Here’s the inside.
All ready for school next week!Wednesday I will be doing the random number generator for the pattern winners/testers. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long! My husband and best friend threw me a birthday party this weekend(pics to come tomorrow) and getting Isabel ready for school has been so distracting. So it’s almost done. Wednesday I will announce the winners!

This was the dress I made for Isabel’s 5th birthday party.
I smocked the top and then added puffy sleeves.

I loved the color of these polka dots.

Aren’t party dresses fun?

These are the dresses that I made last week for the girlies. Emmy is always asking for the girls to wear all white in their photo sessions that she does with them so I decided to finally make something that worked. I used a white cotton for the shift dress and then a slightly varying color of white for the pleated neckline and hemline. I think they are so simple and beautiful.

Here’s a closeup of the neckline.

I gave them jars at the beach to collect their shells.

Under the pier.

Can’t you just tell Giselle feels loved here?

Looking for fishies!

Sissies hands.

A tender moment.

After a long walk, a little rest on the stairs and a sister hug to end our great day.