A Runaway Bunny & a Snowman For Taylor: Reversible Children's Corner 'Lucy'

Taylor: Soft & Sweet & Quick

 Like a Bunny!

Here I am again with another cute little dress made over a year ago!  

The blog may not have been active but I sure have been! 

This sweet little dress was made for darling Taylor, the daughter of my friend and school team-mate Kristin.  She was just a year old when she wore the bunny side of this dress.  It is a well designed lined jumper dress that makes adorable reversible dresses!  The appliques on this dress were hand cut and machine blanket stitched.  The bunny eye was hand embroidered.

Pattern:  'Lucy' by Children's Corner Patterns, size 1  

Peasant Blouse Pattern:  Australian Smocking & Embroidery Magazine

Fabric:  by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller Fabric, white batiste,

 and white satin batiste for bunny from my stash

Applique:  vintage quilt pattern

Notions:  whip-stitch piping, vintage pink shell buttons, 

 French Lace and rick rack:  my stash

The reverse side of the jumper has a snowman from a clip art collection I purchased ages ago with button eyes and hand cross stitched mouth.  The fabrics on this side were all in my stash and I have no idea where I got them.  The only thing I know is that I made my 25 year old son a Christmas vest using the blue fabric more than 20 years ago!

Oops! Buttoned the wrong way!

I think this reversible 'Lucy' came out almost as cute as the little one for whom I made it!

Thank you for visiting!  Blessings from me to you for joy!

A Forgotten Project Run & Play Season #17 Sew Along

Harper's Blue Birds of Happiness

"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels, 

bending beneath her;

still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings"

Victor Hugo

Edited:  This post was written back in September 2018 but never posted.  

This sweet little dress was to be my entry for the Sew Along Challenge Contest for week #2:  "Flights of Fancy" but I didn't get it finished in time.  If only I had just two more hours in each day!  I decided to enter it into this week's Signature Style challenge as it fits some of the criteria for my style. (See this POST for an explanation of my two 'Signature Styles'.)

I really did love this challenge and sketched out several different designs that I would really like to make.  However, most were more time consuming than I have as a full time kindergarten teacher so I decided to use what was in the stash and go for a more simple (but I hope charming) design.

Patterns:  Ruby Jean's Closet for Simplicity #8565 (also known as D0911), size 4.

Ruby Jean's Closet PDF pattern (on Etsy) "Pretty Bird" (pockets)

Fabrics:  1748 Heartwood Songbird by The Henley Studio (Makower UK)

Unknown Stash Scraps for Pockets and neckline frill 

Changes to the pattern:

*Omitted the ruffle on the bottom, thereby shortening the dress to above the knee.

*Omitted the frills on the sleeves and the bodice/skirt seam line.

*Finished the bottom edge of the bodice lining and left it free, only tacking at the vertical seam lines and the center front.

*Switched out the bunny pockets for the "Pretty Bird" pockets.

 The pattern has lovely sleeves that have plenty of room to move about without constriction.  I love that the designer chose to have them lined.  (I would have done it anyway.  :) )  I also love the sweetheart neckline and shaped lower bodice with a corresponding shaped front skirt piece.  It would be easy to make this a high/low dress if one just made a straight rectangle for the front skirt.

The little recipient of this dress is my dear friend and co-worker Rachel's daughter, Harper.  Harper is a petite five year old with a thirst for learning.  She is already phonetically writing little stories with beginnings, middles, and endings!  

When I brought the dress to school to give to Harper she was wearing another dress I made this past summer.  She immediately hugged this one and shouted, "I love it!" and asked to change and wear it right then.  Warmed my heart!  

Harper really loved those Blue Bird Pockets!

What a cutie!!!

"Be like the bluebird who never is blue,

For he knows from his upbringing what singing can do."

Cole Porter

Project Run & Play Season #17 Sew Along: Inspired by Art

Inspired by 'A Girl With a Watering Can' 

by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

The theme for week three of the 17th season of Project Run & Play is "Inspired by Art".  This theme tickled my creative fancies!  Among my most favorite artists are the French Impressionists, particularly Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  I love the brilliant colors and the way he plays with light making his paintings appear to glow and shimmer.  The romance of pretty garden scenes, innocent children, and lovely ladies in many of his works make me relax and smile.

There were so many of his paintings that inspired me that I sketched out about 12 different dresses/outfits.  I finally decided to narrow my design down to what I could make entirely from my stash of fabrics and trims and to make the dress for my 6 year old friend, Tatum.

Inspiration:  The blue dress, wide white lace, flowers in the garden, and pops of red in the painting

Pattern:  "Luna" by Violette Fields Threads, size 6

Fabric & Trims:  Mottled blue cotton (unknown origin), scraps of cotton for appliques, plastic rose buttons, wide white lace purchased at an estate sale several years ago, DMC floss, and red lace hem tape.

Changes made to pattern:

*Omitted pockets

*Inverted box pleat in center skirt to visually divide the lace like the lace is divided on the coat dress the little girl is wearing in the painting.

*Added a bias bound continuous placket in the center back to allow for easier dressing.

*Added a second set of ties at the back waistline.

*Added appliques on the bodice front and right back shoulder to bring in the flowers from the painting.

*Hand sewed the bodice lining down and used French seams for a smooth inside finish.

*Used red lace hem tape on the hem.

I do not have an embroidery machine so all my appliques are hand cut and zigzag satin stitched.  The leaves are three dimensional and the centers of the flowers have a touch of hand embroidery.  

  

The bound placket was sewn with a piece of red bias to add another little touch of red to the otherwise plain blue of the dress back. 

The dress is sewn perfectly straight.  My poor mannequin has a permanent little tilt.   

 To add a little interest to the back of the dress I appliqued another flower with a 3D leaf.

The red lace on the inside hem is just a little 'happy' for Tatum.  

I plan on adding a better final photo tomorrow when the sun is out again.  (I was racing against the clock again!) I hope you liked my Renoir inspired dress!

For more wonderful art inspired clothes for children, please check out the Project Run & Play site HERE and HERE.

Project Run & Play #17 Sew Along: Willy Wonka!

A Sugar Sweet Dress for Sweet Rory

Here I am being a "Last Minute Lucy" with my entry to Season #17 of Project Run & Play.  I have just about 35 minutes to get this posted to meet the deadline!  

School has started and I have 19 little five year olds in my kindergarten classroom.  It is the time of setting routines and procedures and getting to know one another.  It is one of the most exhausting times of the year!  I have been too tired to sew at night and only got this put together today.  Needless to say, I have no modeled photos of sweet three year old Rory wearing her new dress.  Perhaps next week!

The photos are not the best.  It has been raining since I completed the dress and the colors are just not right.  The closest to the green in the actual dress is in the photo of the caramel apple pocket.

Pattern:  Portabellopixie Petal Knot Dress, size 3 (1/4 inch added to bodice sides for ease)

Fabric:  Green embroidered polycotton (stash), white satin batiste, & old white sheet for skirt lining

Trims:  inherited vintage brown piping, stash scraps for appliques,

 white cotton lace edging (skirt lining)

Inspirations:  1971 version Oompa Loompas:  green hair, 

white & brown outfits, and candy, of course!

The lollypop, candied apple, and wrapped candy appliques are hand cut

 and zigzag satin stitched.  I do not have an embroidery machine. 

However, the caramel apple and the lollypop were copied from images

 on Pinterest of beautiful machine appliques from planetapplique.com. 

The wrapped candies were inspired by a gorgeous pieced quilt made by Greg Jones using "Sugar Candies" by Nadra Ridgeway.

Changes to the pattern:  

*Piped the bodice

*Piped the hem band

*Added pockets

*Added a skirt lining

*Added fullness to the skirt (72 inches around)

The dress pattern was chosen specifically for Rory because she loves a
Dr. Suess Petal Knot dress I made for her sister that she has inherited.  

She even wore that dress hiking in the mountains this summer!

Lining:  Dress on the right is inside-out.

Must link up now! :)

Please check out the other sew along entries as well as the official contestants for this fun challenge at Project Run & Play!  (HERE and HERE)

Chloe's Second Bunny Dress

Once You are real

you can't become unreal again.

It lasts for always.

Margery Williams The Velveteen Rabbit

I seem to have a big desire to see my friend Kaye's little girl, Chloe, in bunny themed outfits!  I made her first bunny dress 3 years ago (blogged HERE) (which she was able to wear for two years) and recently I made a detachable bunny apron outfit for her (blogged HERE).  Each one has been unique and a lot of fun to sew and to see Chloe wear.  This pink dress was made two years ago when Chloe was four.

Dress Pattern:  Simplicity #1208 (Designer: Ruby Jean's Closet).

Dress Fabric:  teddy & bunny print over toile by David Textiles and pink gingham. 

Bunny Pocket Applique':  Adapted from Mary's Patterns "Pet Pocket Jumper", remnants from my fabric and trims stash.

Back loop closure.

The cute bunny hides a pocket behind her skirt!  Lift the arm/bodice flap and you have a place to carry a hankie, candy, or a little toy.  Chloe loved this pocket!

The sleeves on this dress are so sweet!  They have the perfect 'puff', are lined, and tie so that the lining makes a cute little bow knot.

In the Spring a bunny came down the road.
He was going to find a home of his own.
A home for a bunny,
A home of his own,
Under a rock,
Under a stone,
Under a log,
Or under the ground.
Where would a bunny find a home?
A Home for a Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Kayla's Easter Dress

Spring is nature's way of saying,

 "Let's party!" 
Robin Williams 

Two years ago, a year after I made my first bunny head dress (blogged HERE), I made another  friend's little girl a bunny dress in blue to match her beautiful blue eyes.  Kayla's mommy also teaches at my school.

I used a sweet print I found at JoAnn's years ago.  I loved it so much that I that I bought several yards of it in both the blue and pink color ways.  The blue for the bodice was another sweet print I had in my stash.  I again used the pattern pieces from Ruby Jean's Closet design for the bunny and another pattern for the dress (Petite Poche' Jennie Carra).

I love how the bright pink of the ears is set off by the sky blue!

At last Peter Rabbit 

made it back to the cozy burrow

where he lived with his family.

He was a very tired rabbit indeed!

Beatrix Potter

Chloe's First Bunny Dress

Spring is in the Air!

When my little friend Chloe was three, I was enchanted by some little dresses I saw on Pinterest.  They featured a bunny head on the bodice with 3-D details.  I followed the link to Ruby Jean's Closet on Etsy and purchased the PDF pattern.  (The pattern as well as some others from this designer ccan now be purchased in paper form from Simpicity.)  I used the applique and pattern pieces for the bunny but did not use the dress pattern.  Instead, I used a pattern I had in my stash and knew would fit her:  "Jennie Carra" by Petite Poche'.  The fabrics were some Susan Winget prints I had in my stash.  I loved how the dress came out and Chloe and her mommy were asked often where the dress came from.  It was a hit!  She wore that dress until it was way too short and I knew I would have to make her another!