Little People Clothes

I have been on a sewing rampage the last couple weeks, making some little things for my sweet niece, Avery. If you hadn't guessed from this blog by now, I'm just a tad bit obsessed with that little girl. That, plus the need to bust out of my sewing slump, plus some free online patterns led to this little burst of creative energy that I thought I would share with you all.

First, my roommate was looking to clean out her closet and get rid of some clothes that she hasn't worn in (about 5) years. There was one skirt in particular that she didn't want anymore and she asked me if I wanted it and rather than say no, I told her that she could just put it in my sewing box. For some reason it struck me that the print would make a cute baby dress. So a few days later, while watching a movie I sat and unpicked the whole darn thing. Here's the fabric that I got:

And here is the little dress I made out of it, using the free Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern from Made by Rae, which I enlarged to fit Avery's 1-year-old measurements, instead of the newborn size. Also, for this dress I had an unfortunate scorched fabric incident that led to this dress being two-tiered, instead of just one. It's cuter in person, I promise.

Sorry the picture is blurry, I didn't get a better shot of this one before I sent it off to Texas. Since that dress came together so quick and easy, I decided to make a second one the same night, using the same pattern.

It's hard to see but it is a cute little greyish-brown and off-white stripe. I also used off-white for the piping around the middle and the bias tape around the bottom. This one is definitely my favorite of the two. I'm a sucker for stripes.

Getting both of these dresses done in one night inspired me to keep sewing for the next few days. I've never made a lot a baby clothes before, but they are so fun to sew!

So next I decided to try out the Runway Shortie Romper pattern from It's Always Autumn. Fortunately my baby is just the right size for her free pattern download, so I didn't even have to follow the part of her tutorial that explains how to make your own pattern. (Those things always tell you to use clothes that you already have that fit well and I don't have a lot of baby clothes just lying around). Thinking of summer in Texas I got the lightest weight fabric that I could find and made this little romper:

And then I decided it was too plain, so with a little advice from friends on Facebook I added a pocket and a little flowered belt and some beltloops. Here it is all dressed up and ready to run off to Texas:

Pretty cute, huh? I thought so. I think there are definitely more rompers in Avery's future! The romper inspired me to want to make some shorts...so I found the Box Pleat Shorts Tutorial from Crafting Zuzzy. While I found that the sizing on the patterns she offers for download are WAY off, I did like some things about this pattern. I ended up buying this Bubble Shorts pattern from the Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop, and making these little cuties:

I love the way they turned out, but I do wish I had incorporated the little pleat in front from the Zuzzy pattern. Oh well, next time.

Next, I used this pattern hack from Prudent Baby and the shorts pattern pieces from the romper pattern to make these little shorts:

Right now I only have one more thing to show you- this top I made using the Geranium Dress Pattern, which I also bought, which was also from Made by Rae. Here it is, front and back:

I think I would like the fullness better if it were a dress, but I didn't have enough fabric to make it long after I used this fabric to make the ruffle shorts. I am afraid that it is going to be too small, but I am just trusting in the pattern sizing and hoping it works on my little model.

I am hoping to have some pictures of Avery wearing these clothes soon, but a one-year-old kinda does things when she wants to so I wish my sister luck playing photographer. Plus some of them haven't even made their way to Texas yet!

The moral of the [very long] story is that baby clothes are a great slumpbuster and are really really fun to make! I can't wait to make some more!