My Favourite (FREE) Baby Dress Pattern!

I've been obsessively whipping up Pretty Prudent's Snappy Toddler Top of late. The pattern is so simple to follow, and I adore the gathering at the front and back of the dress, as well at the pretty neckline. I am absolutely NOT a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination, so if this pattern was a success for me, it will be for you too! I even have plans to make at least three more of these dresses using this, this and this fabric from my faves at Tonic Living. 

The original pattern is for a top, but I easily modified it into a dress pattern by using a 12 month- sized dress I already had on hand as a template to add the extra length I wanted. 

Here's the final product:

^^I wish I knew the name of this fabric. It was a (perfect!) gift from a good friend^^

^^Wooden Horses Fabric by Michael Miller available at Tonic Living^^

These little dresses will be perfect for L this fall as she starts Montessori (::sniff:: I don't want to TALK about it) with a long sleeve shirt underneath and some leggings. Here she is modelling it from our WWWW post last week. I just love her little faces here...It's like she knows something I don't and she's laughing on the inside.

If you want to make your own dress, print out the free pattern and follow the (very complete and easy-to-follow) details here on Pretty Prudent.

Here's where I'm Linking Up:

Monday: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Oliver's Mad House, Flour Me With Love, C.R.A.F.T, Say Not Sweet Anne Tuesday: Crafty Confessions, Him & Her, Ladybug Blessings, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Hope Studios, Bebetsy Wednesday: A Life From Scratch, The Pleated Poppy, Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Because Shanna Said So Thursday: My Fashion Forward, House of Hepworths, A Glimpse Inside, Chocolate, Chocolate and More, Rhinestone Beagle Friday: Rattlebridge Farm, Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Thirty Handmade Days, Finding Fabulous for Less, While He Was Napping, Young and Crafty, Simply Designing, Serenity Now, The Best Blog Recipes Saturday: A Vision to Remember, Be Different, Act Normal, Angel's Homestead Sunday: Super Sunday 

What We Wore Wednesday

We are bringing this edition of WWWW to you from Niagara. My California cousin is visiting for the week, so Lili and I are in the homeland enjoying delicious food, beautiful wine and tons of family time (my fave!) The best part about being in Niagara is that my wardrobe doubles. My very stylish mother is luckily (for me) very generous with the contents of her closet. I almost always go home with at least one beautiful piece...on loan, of course...right mama? ;)

As always, I'm linking up with C at ALFS, and I hope you'll link up with us below!

On Mama:

top: Jean Machine (borrowed from my very stylish mama) // jeans: Costa Blanca // shoes: Toms

On Liliana:

top and shorts: The Children's Place 

Here's where I'm Linking Up:

Monday: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Oliver's Mad House, Flour Me With Love, C.R.A.F.T, Say Not Sweet Anne Tuesday: Crafty Confessions, Him & Her, Ladybug Blessings, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Hope Studios, Bebetsy Wednesday: A Life From Scratch, The Pleated Poppy, Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Because Shanna Said So, Get Your Pretty On Thursday: My Fashion Forward, House of Hepworths, A Glimpse Inside, Chocolate, Chocolate and More Friday: Rattlebridge Farm, Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Thirty Handmade Days, Finding Fabulous for Less, While He Was Napping, Young and Crafty, Simply Designing, Serenity Now

The Best Blog Recipes Saturday: A Vision to Remember, Be Different, Act Normal, Angel's Homestead Sunday: Super Sunday

Liliana's Playroom Series: The Inspiration Process

I have been planning Lili's playroom basically since her conception. I added "create a playroom" to my 30 Before Thirty list in an effort to ensure it gets done in a timely fashion, and that I don't go overboard, as I am wont to do. In this era of Pinterest, Houzz and all manner of home decorating blogs, there is certainly no shortage of inspiration, and I tend to err on the side of taking things to a whole. nother. level. 

I have narrowed my inspiration down to several "essential elements" that the playroom must have. The room is a little basement guest bedroom now. It has very low ceilings, and it still has to accommodate guests when we have them, which is often.

They playroom must-haves:

• space for guests to spend the night
• lots and lots of storage
• some kind of pretty tent structure
• a play kitchen
• a reading nook
• a chalkboard wall
• an art station
• some kind of puppet show structure

...I think that about sums it up. Now for the inspiration!

^^via Design Crush^^

^^via The Handmade Home^^

^^via Houzz^^

^^via It's All So Funny^^

^^via Lover's Lounge^^

^^via Pinterest^^

^^via Etsy^^

^^via These Moments of Mine^^

I'm too excited to get moving on this project...but alas, I think it will have to wait until after her birthday party. My head is already swimming with all things party-related. I don't know if I can handle two projects of this magnitude at once!

Here's where I'm Linking Up:

Monday: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Oliver's Mad House, Flour Me With Love, C.R.A.F.T, Say Not Sweet Anne Tuesday: Crafty Confessions, Him & Her, Ladybug Blessings, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Hope Studios, Bebetsy Wednesday: A Life From Scratch, The Pleated Poppy, Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Because Shanna Said So Thursday: My Fashion Forward, House of Hepworths, A Glimpse Inside, Chocolate, Chocolate and More Friday: Rattlebridge Farm, Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Thirty Handmade Days, Finding Fabulous for Less, While He Was Napping, Young and Crafty, Simply Designing, Serenity Now, The Best Blog Recipes Saturday: A Vision to Remember, Be Different, Act Normal, Angel's Homestead Sunday: Super Sunday



     

Happy Friday and a Free Printable!

Good morning all! I hope you're sufficiently recovered/ing from your Fourth of July celebrations. Lili and I spent yesterday in Toronto's historical Distillery District with her baby besties. Since one of her little favourites is a half-American, we celebrated the day with shopping (of course!) and lunch at the Mill Street Brewery. 




To celebrate the fact that it's Friday, and this was such a fun-filled week, I am offering up a free 8x10 printable (my first one! yipee!) This would be adorable really anywhere, but I'm picturing it in a beach house...probably because that's where I wish I was! Ha! 

To download this printable, click here.

Happy weekend!

Here's where I'm Linking Up:

Monday: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Oliver's Mad House, Flour Me With Love, C.R.A.F.T, Say Not Sweet Anne Tuesday: Crafty Confessions, Him & Her, Ladybug Blessings, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Hope Studios, Bebetsy Wednesday: A Life From Scratch, The Pleated Poppy, Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Because Shanna Said So Thursday: My Fashion Forward, House of Hepworths, A Glimpse Inside, Chocolate, Chocolate and More Friday: Rattlebridge Farm, Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Thirty Handmade Days, Finding Fabulous for Less, While He Was Napping, Young and Crafty, Simply Designing, Serenity Now, The Best Blog Recipes Saturday: A Vision to Remember, Be Different, Act Normal, Angel's Homestead Sunday: Super Sunday

Super Easy DIY Strapless Maxi Dress

One of the items on my 30 Before Thirty list is to sew (and wear) a dress for myself. I absolutely adore sewing, but I'm still pretty novice. I'm so happy to report that this dress is absolutely easy-peasy. It's literally a tube made of jersey with two hems and elastic ruching.

The process:

N.B. I used jersey for this project. You'll notice with any knit fabric it stretches more in one direction than the other. You want the stretchy side of the fabric to run horizontally across your body. That way the dress stretches over you and acts as an elastic. Jersey is also usually reversible so as long as the stretchy side is running across your body, you're good to go. There is no "right" or "wrong" side of the fabric

1. I measured myself across the chest, starting and stopping in the centre of my armpits. Since the fabric is a stretch jersey, I didn't leave too much of a seam allowance at the top. This dress is strapless and I didn't want to use elastic to keep it up, or to add too much bulk. Then I measured from my armpit to the floor and added 2 inches for seam allowance and to account for shrinking in the wash.  

2. Then I drew my pattern directly on my fabric. First I plotted out my "across the chest" measurement at the top of the fabric, then I plotted out the length of my dress. I drew a diagonal line to connect the top measurement to the bottom. Effectively my pattern looked like this (x2 one for the front of the dress, and one for the back):      

The line down the centre at the top is where the elastic is going to go for my ruched top. This line is only on the front.

3. Sew the back and the front pieces of the dress together by stitching the long sides of the dress. You will have a long, conical shaped tube when you're done. Since this is not the stretchy side of the fabric, you can use a plain old straight stitch on your machine. 

4. Try the dress on. Is it nice and snug? If yes, continue to Step 5, if not repeat Step 4, taking out some of the width as you make a bigger seam.

5. Once the dress fits nice and snug, fold the bottom hem of the dress under and topstitch it in place. Do the same with the top, obviously ensuring that your hem will not be visible from the outside of the dress. Since this is the stretchy side of the material, be sure to use a knit stitch. Your machine will have one for sure, just consult the manual. It will ensure lots of stretch in the fabric. If you just use a straight stitch it will snap.

6. Take your piece of elastic. I used about 4 inches, but if your bust is larger you may want to use more...conversely if it's smaller, you may want to use less. Line the elastic up with the top hem of your dress, right in the middle of the bust. Fold the dress in half to find where this is, if you're not sure.

7. Pin your elastic vertically (as in the picture of the pattern) and drop your presser foot. Drop the needle into the elastic carefully before you begin sewing. Once the needle has secured the elastic, pull it tight (ONLY the elastic, NOT the fabric). Keep that tension on the elastic as you sew it in place. The tighter you pull, the more ruching you'll have.

8. You're done sewing! Now to Ombré-fy. I used these instructions, by RIT. The effect wasn't quite as "Ombré" as I'd like, but I think if you use more than one package of dye and vary the amount of saturation as you prep the dye, that would be more effective.

^^Without the belt this is the perfect "buffet dinner" dress^^

^^With a belt. I worked with what I had...Brown would have been preferable.^^

Here's where I'm Linking Up:

Monday: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Oliver's Mad House, Flour Me With Love, C.R.A.F.T, Say Not Sweet Anne Tuesday: Crafty Confessions, Him & Her, Ladybug Blessings, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Hope Studios, Bebetsy Wednesday: A Life From Scratch, The Pleated Poppy, Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Because Shanna Said So Thursday: My Fashion Forward, House of Hepworths, A Glimpse Inside, Chocolate, Chocolate and More, Glued to my Crafts Friday: Rattlebridge Farm, Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Thirty Handmade Days, Finding Fabulous for Less, While He Was Napping, Young and Crafty, Simply Designing, Serenity Now The Best Blog Recipes Saturday: A Vision to Remember, Be Different, Act Normal, Angel's Homestead Sunday: Super Sunday

What We Wore Wednesday

I call this edition of WWWW "Black and Navy." I've been seeing this combo everywhere and I'm absolutely loving it. There's something about rocking a former fashion faux pas that makes me want to really own it...Like "red lipstick own it." And so I did, and I do. I'll admit when I wear red lipstick I always worry that I'm coming off more "Steve Buschemi in Billy Madison" than "Marilyn Monroe" but I figure if I look like I know what I'm doing, I can fool most people.

As always, I'm linking up with ALFS, The Pleated Poppy, Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Get Your Pretty On, and Because Shanna Said So.

                               

                                       

On Mama: 

Shirt: Old Navy // Shorts: Cost Blanca // Necklace: Stella and Dot // cuff: vinatge // 

shoes: Aldo // lipstick: Rouge Coco in Monte Carlo

On Bébé:

Dress: Handmade by mama (tutorial to come!) // shoes: Tiny Toms

Weekend Rewind: Happy Canada Day!

This long weekend we celebrated Canada Day in Niagara with my family. It's lovely to be able to get out of the city and enjoy a slower pace of life. Below are some scenes from our weekend, which included a little bit of sailing, (well, almost...darn batteries!) a carnival and a ride on the beautiful carousel in Port Dalhousie, a little bit of sewing, and (naturally) a whole lot of baby. Hope you enjoy! 

^^Rainy Day // Sippy Baby at Breakfast // New Hat // We're on a BOAT!!^^ ^^Lakeside Park Carnival // Vintage Carousel // Candy Apple Excitement // The Zipper^^

^^Marina // Sunset // Pre-Carnival Date // Little Mouse^^

^^Canadian Baby // Festive Breakfast // New Dress Made by Mama // Maple Leaf Bum^^

New Helmet // 10 Months Old Officially!^^

Not quite from this weekend, but so cute I had to share!

Here's where I'm Linking Up:

Monday: Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Oliver's Mad House, Flour Me With Love, C.R.A.F.T, Say Not Sweet Anne Tuesday: Crafty Confessions, Him & Her, Ladybug Blessings, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Hope Studios, Bebetsy Wednesday: A Life From Scratch, The Pleated Poppy, Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Because Shanna Said So Thursday: My Fashion Forward, House of Hepworths, A Glimpse Inside, Chocolate, Chocolate and More Friday: Rattlebridge Farm, Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Thirty Handmade Days, Finding Fabulous for Less, While He Was Napping, Young and Crafty, Simply Designing, Serenity Now

The Best Blog Recipes Saturday: A Vision to Remember, Be Different, Act Normal,Angel'sHomestead Sunday: Super Sunday