Pillow Case Little Girl Sun Dress

This has to be the easiest way to make a little girls dress! It's made out of a pillow case which means most of the sewing is done (that's my kind of sewing!)
Here's how it turned out:

See this for the first time, I would be like, "NO that looks way too complicated (for me!)"

But OH how I was wrong! Love it!

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First I started with a pillow case (I found these matching ones at the thrift store for $2...perfect!)

Then I put one against my daughter to see how much I needed to cut from the top (not professional, I know, but it worked)  :)

I love the edging

What I did was:

Cuffed the top to make a clean edge and sew with elastic thread

shirred the fabric on top:

read how to do this here or on back of the package that held the elastic thread--(at least that's what I did). 

You pretty much have the dress done (and it took what, maybe 10 min?), but I wanted to add a little bit of a sleeve. The easiest way to do this is make a strap and add a cap sleeve (I did two tear like shapes and made them into a tulip sleeve---made it up, so not perfect)

 Pin and sew to dress... 

Then your done!

 I know my daughter loves it because she didn't want to take it off. Good thing it wasn't hard to do or expensive because if it was.....She would NOT be playing in it outside!.... :)

Fun and Flirty Skirt Apron

Here's a fun/flirty skirt apron that is pretty simple to make! :)

Here's how you make it:

Cut your fabric:

Apron base 11 1/2 x 27 inches (need 1)

Pleated strips 3 1/2 x 54 inches (need 5)

Tie 2 x 27 (need two)

Hem and sew all edges of apron base (to avoid fraying)

 Fold apron base in half and in half again, press with iron (both ways). When open, it should look like this:

Hem and sew sides and bottom of pleated strips (to avoid fraying). Fold in half and half again (length wise), press with iron.

Reopen and match the creases on pleated strips to the creases on apron base (right sides together, raw edge of pleated strip to bottom hem edge of apron base)--sounds more confusing than it is!. Pin

Press down ruffle with iron to make a pleat

Sew together

Do the same to all the pleat strips: always going to the next crease line on the apron base (hope that makes sense)

Add the ties:

Take your 2 x 27 inch tie strips and fold in half right sides together. Sew the sides. Turn right side out and press down with iron. Sew edges if you like

Pin and sew tie to back of apron base (The open part of the tie). Sew

Turn around and your done!

Jean Skirt

Here's just another jean skirt tutorial. There's SO many out there in the blog world, but, here's my version of it :)

You start off with a pair of jean Capri's or pants (I used Capri's). Turn it inside out.

Take the inside leg seam apart all the way around.

Take apart the front seam (to the zipper)

Iron and take off extra thread with lint brush roller.

Sew the front: From zipper down, sew right sides together. To make a straight line, you'll have to cut the extra fabric right by the zipper.

Sew the back:  Cut up about 2-2 1/2 in just like this:

Tuck flaps in and under the middle seam strip (right sides together) and hand sew together

You should be left with a triangle opening in the back

Cut a triangle out of extra fabric and sew right sides together

Hem to desired length, add ruffles with trimming and extra pieces from the jean until you get a look you want

Then your done :)