Project #4: Infant Peasant Dress

Who: For another baby shower gift

What: I used the pattern from Sew Much Ado to make the Infant Peasant Dress.  Between her pattern and tutorial, Abby makes it super easy to create this stunning dress.  And it uses hardly any fabric at all, so I was able to buy the fabric for this dress from the remnant bin.  Love that!  Overall, I only made one change and that was to add the band at the bottom of the dress.  I used what I learned while making the Cottage Mama Party Dress to finish the skirt this way.  Oh and I added the flower with some scraps I had around.

Cost: I bought the fabric from the discount bin at Joann's and used some elastic I purchased in bulk.  In total, I think I spent about $1.50 to make this dress (but it could be less).  I'm definitely planning on making more soon.

Sew Cheap Summer Challenge Update

So... it's now nearly the end of June and I think it's time to update how I'm doing on this list of summer sewing projects.  Here is the original list of my to 10 sewing goals for the summer updated to show the changes I've talked about making and the projects I've already finished.  So far, I've completed 3 projects and spent a total of $25.

1. Tiny Curtsy Skirt  Completed 6/21
2. Itty Bitty Baby Dress
3. Infant Peasant Dress
4. Summer Stripes Skirt  Completed 6/5 ( was going to be the Reversible Wrap Top)
5. The Party Dress  Completed 6/13
6. Gobble Gobble Turkey Shirt
7. Gathered Clutch
8. Mooshy Belly Bunny  Will probably replace with a tree skirt (see below)
9. Lamb Pillows
10. Pillow Cover

Favorite Tree Skirts:
Felt Fringe Christmas Tree Skirt from Prudent Baby (with tutorial!):

Source: Prudent Baby

Ruffled Tree Skirt from The Crafted Sparrow (with tutorial):

Source: The Crafted Sparrow

It's been a fantastic, crafty summer so far and I'm looking forward to crossing off more of these projects in the next month.  And it's not too late for anyone else who wants to join this Sew Cheap Summer Challenge!

Thoughts

Project #3: Tiny Curtsy Skirt

Who: For a baby shower gift

What: I used a tutorial from Sewing in No Mans Land (so many cute kids clothes!!!) to make the Tiny Curtsy Skirt.  Based on the tutorial, I wasn't completely sure how big to make this skirt, so I found a few size charts online and used them as a reference.  Ultimately, I cut 2 strips of fabric 8 x 34 inches (one white and one yellow) that I sewed completely together to make a fully lined skirt.  The original tutorial has them joined at the top and hemmed separately at the bottom which I changed simply because I don't like hemming.  

Cost: I bought a yard of white cotton fabric at the beginning of June and I found the yellow fabric in the discount bin at Joann's.  Altogether, the fabric and elastic (just the amount I used) cost me about $2.50 (maybe less).

Project #2: Cottage Mama Party Dress

Who: For my 3 year old niece

What: I used the pattern and tutorial from Cottage Mama to make this Party Dress. I'm so impressed with this pattern- it's easy to follow, includes a lot of size options and the final result is a very professional looking dress! Love it! The fabric was from Hobby Lobby's spring line.

Cost: I spent about $20 to make this skirt. The fabric was more than I expected, but it was pink and has sparkly Eiffel Towers on it (hard to see in the pic, but cute in person). I also had to buy the gray fabric and buttons for the back. But the results are totally worth it!

More Project Ideas

Right after hitting publish on this post, I realized I had left off a couple of other projects I want to work on around the house this summer.  I've been so crazy about sewing kids clothes, that I had totally forgotten about these.

#1) Throw Pillows for the couch.
This one is mentioned on my list without any details.  Right now, our couch is in desperate need of throw pillows.  I started a couple of crocheted pillow covers back in January that I'd like to finish.  In addition, I want to also sew some pillow covers that I could change depending on my mood (and thus, the Martha Stewart link).  Right now, I'm leaning towards sewing a mix of holiday pillow covers (like this or this), quirky pillow covers (like this or this) or travel related pillow covers (like these).  The tough part of completing this project will be narrowing it down and keeping it within my budget.

#2) Framed Maps for the dining room wall.
This should be easiest of my additional projects since I have most of the materials already.  Six months ago, I bought a set of frames at a garage sale.  Next up, I want to stain them espresso and put in new pictures.  I'm leaning towards maps like this, this or this, but nothing is finalized.

and finally, a biggie...

#3) A Tree Skirt.
I know it's only June, but during the holiday season, I simply have no time to sew.  Thus, it's been several years of me simply throwing some loose fabric under the tree and calling it a "skirt."  If I'm going to be ready this coming Christmas, I need to start now.  The problem with this project is that I haven't seen any one tree skirt that made me say, "yeah, that one!!"  I've seen so many great ideas that I'm just not sure which direction I want to go in.  So far, I'm loving some sort of combination of this, this and this.

Definitely, some of my original projects may get bumped in order to give me time and money to focus on these ones.  But that's ok because I'm super excited to tackle these... if I can ever make up my mind!

Project #1: Summer Stripes Skirt

So my first project of the Sew Cheap Summer Challenge isn't from my top 10 list.  Fail.  But it was something that didn't require I buy much and used up some of my favorite fabric scraps.  That's a win in my book!

Who: For my 3 year old niece

What: I used the tutorial from Elegance & Elephants and fabric scraps to make this skirt.  My first purchases of the summer were this white cotton and the 3/4 inch elastic I used in the waistband.
Cost: I spent about $5 to make this skirt because I needed to buy the white fabric and elastic.  Everything else I already had on hand.

Skirts are easy to make, but can be a little boring.  At least that's how I feel when I make them.  With this skirt, I appreciated that I got to use several sweet, summery fabrics as stripes.  It's just a little different detail, but I think it makes all the difference.  This skirt was quick and fun and one that I already have plans to make again.