Easter Dress Makeover, plus DOLL DRESS!!

Wow so it's been a little while since I've blogged! Well I'm back and I wanted to share my latest make and talk about some future plans.

First, I'm gonna go backwards a bit in time. Last year, after the rush of Christmas was done and I had a little space to breathe, I started dreaming of making a bunch of girls' dresses for Easter. I made a plan and hoped that over the 6 weeks of Lent I'd be able to crank out 6 dresses.

I did the first, S8306, with an adorable cropped jacket.

I did the second, B6046, with a sweet bow.

I did the third (bodice NL6205) with some gorgeous floral fabric and a lovely large self drafted pleated circle skirt.

I started the fourth, S1508,  and got most of the way....and then ran out of time.

So that fourth Easter dress has been sitting for a year waiting to be finished, but I kept looking at it and thinking it was just too much skirt. So, I decided to pull it out and hack off some length!



I also felt like it needed something to make it pop and decided to create a bolero to go with it, so I used S8103 and left off the collar.  I just love a cropped jacket!!





But it gets even better. With the length I chopped off of the skirt, I decided to indulge my latest obsession...MATCHING DOLL DRESSES!!! And a matching bolero of course, both courtesy of B6265.

I can't tell you how excited this makes my inner child. Why is everything tiny so irresistible? I don't know but I can tell you I want to make every human sized dress I ever make in doll size too now. I won't don't worry...I mean I probably won't.

Anyway, so I got the Fourth Easter Dress FINALLY finished with a little bit of a refashion, and a matching doll dress for 18" dolls (American Girl size or any of the equivalent store brands.) They're both available in my Etsy shop now! Girls Dress and Doll Dress



I hope to be making a lot more doll clothes in the future, whether with matching girl clothes or not, as it's the perfect scrap-buster for me and they are so quick and satisfying to make. Hopefully this is just the beginning of many more to come!

Halloween Regency Dress

It's hard to miss all the Halloween fabrics and patterns in the fabric stores along with the influx of people venturing into the world of sewing around this time of year! I love it (though admittedly I avoid fabric stores on the weekends during October if I can help it!)

I've loved the possibility present in costumes since I was a little girl, I always loved dreaming about what I could be for the next Halloween! Usually this involved some form of pretty dress. But now that I can make my own clothes and costumes, it means I can make my dreams reality any time I want. This is what I love about sewing!! I'm in the process of helping my niece with her costume dreams, which I'll be blogging about once finished. It is going to be amazing!

One of the costuming dreams I'd had since beginning to sew was to make a regency dress, which ended up being my first dress using a pattern! A couple years later, one of the first years in our new home (and where we have TONS of trick-or-treaters!) I thought it would be fun to whip up a quick Regency dress in a blue ticking stripe to hand out candy in. It was a quick job, with raw seams on the inside, but it did the job as a wear-once kind of costume!

I did add elastic to the sleeves, which gave it a cute little ruffle on the hem which I loved!

I made it as a pullover dress, so without any buttons or any closures. In order to pull it in a bit under the bust, I just grabbed a pin, stuck a bow on it, and used it like a brooch.

 In cleaning out my closet I decided I really no longer needed this one, and it would make a great quick Halloween costume for someone else, so I'm selling it on Etsy!

Red Pindot Tent Dress - Vogue 8807

This is another dress I made for a trip to France, this time it was for our trip in 2014.

In Burgundy, modeling my new bottle opener which happened to match the red pindots.

This is Vogue 8807, a very simple dress, essentially a kind of tent dress that you can cinch with a belt.

There's a belt included in the pattern, but of course you can use a store bought one just as easily.

It's fully lined with a light white cotton, and had pockets on both sides!

It was an easy make and a cute dress! Unfortunately, I didn't have quite as much fabric as I needed to make it longer, so it's just a bit short for my personal preference. (I like those pasty white knees covered!!) So it's going up for sale in my Etsy shop. :-)

Toile Aprons...Need I Say More?

Tie One On Apron - Havana Nights

I know it looks like I'm just making the deadline, but I really finished this last week and am just now able to post about it, lol.

The theme for the Tie One On apron this time around was "Havana Nights." I actually wasn't sure what I was going to do or if I was going to do it at all, and then I remembered a fabric in my stash that I hadn't gotten around to using yet and was inspired!

Ta-da!











Aren't flounces just so much fun? I think they just make you want to twirl around!

This apron is available for sale at my Etsy shop here!

"Regency Inspired" Aprons

I've been touching up my design for my regency inspired aprons here and there, and in the process I made several which are now for sale! The first adjustment was to add pockets, one on each side.

In my first apron, I actually sewed the criss-cross straps to the waist, and the ties were sewn on separately, so it wasn't very adjustable.

Then I realized I could make it more adjustable by simply having the criss cross straps go through a buttonhole on the waist, and then tie. That's how this one is done:


Blue and Yellow Floral/Gingham 1

(Because this was still an "experimental phase" apron that has buttonholes instead of D-rings, I'm reducing the price to $25.)














A closeup of the fabric, it's a bit hard to see but the gingham is blue and yellow:





I thought the buttonhole was good, but then I decided to simply sew a D ring on each side for the straps to go through, which I thought gave it a nicer finish. The rest are all using D rings.



Blue and Yellow Floral/Gingham 2 - SOLD


















Springtime Pink and Green - SOLD

















Country Blue and White Floral - SOLD

















Regal Red - SOLD

(Ok I admit it...this one is my fave. Red is just my weakness...)
















Sweetheart Pink - SOLD
















All of these (but the first, which is $25) are $35 each, plus shipping. Email me at mllevaleur(at)hotmail(dot)com if interested! I'm also willing to do customized aprons, if any of these spark a different idea or color scheme you'd like!

UPDATE: Most of the ones listed above have been sold now, but keep an eye on my Etsy Shop for more coming soon!