Monday, April 21, 2008

as much as i love my young man, i'm always thrilled when we're invited to a little girl's birthday party, or one of our friends spawns a little girl, so that i can shop for or, more often, make some girly goods....

i bought this (adult-sized) dress at the salvation army a few months ago:

dress for james

i had momentary delusions of wearing it, but really knew that i had just grabbed it for the wonderful fabric...

dress for james

...and put it aside until i figured out what to do with it.

then wile got invited to james's 4th birthday party, and we needed a present. (yes, james is a girl). the dress's time had come. i decided to make a little babydoll dress/shirt, so first i made a simple bodice with straps. i just took in the existing bodice and straightened out the seams in the front that had been curved to allow for, you know, boobs:

dress for james

i had sized it based on a size 4t shirt that i had bought for wile, but it looked a bit small, so i put a hook and eye in the back to space it out a bit. i figured it would be fine, and even look cute, for the back to be open a little bit.

dress for james

then i took one of the skirt layers, cut it a bit thinner, and pinned and then basted in some pleats:

dress for james

all that was left to do was attach top to bottom, and....

dress for james

done and done. (please ignore the stray thread at the bottom....) best part? by using a part of the existing skirt, i didn't have to hem—woohoo!

1 comment:

sjg said...

i love it! fingers crossed, someday there will be more little girls for you to make dresses for!

xo
s