little grey dresses for a special occasion

So this week I sewed THREE dresses!! It was a crazy, frenzy of sewing but I actually got all three done in just three days! Which is really hard because I really only sew at naptime and after the kids go to bed (aside from sleeves which need to be fitted). The first one was the grey knit dress for me from the previous post.

This one came from Made. This Shirt Dress is fairly simple and turns out really cute! Plus, it involves repurposing, which is excellent. I used a coordinating fabric for the sleeves. Like she says in the tutorial, it really does fit a skinny 2T-3T EXACTLY. Which was perfect, because that's what I needed!

I didn't elasticize the arm part of the sleeve because I liked the ruffly sleeve look.

Just another shot of the top part. Elastic is amazing, isn't it?

This dress cost approx. 10 CENTS to make---recycled men's shirt + scrap for sleeves+ elastic. Not too shabby!!

This next one is of my own design. It's basically a knit skirt with the elastic casing folded OUT, not in, as I have been doing lately. I did the same basic sleeve as the the other one, but not as ruffly. I think it's kind of couture-y looking...maybe I'm just used to the simple, non-embellished stuff I normally make. Maybe it's because of this odd, non-chalant, model-like pose my daughter struck in this photo:

Now this pose is more like herself!

Oh yeah, and I added a HUGE bow! I don't know why the oversized bow appeals to me so much on kids' clothes...but it does. Maybe it's because I'm a child of the 80's...?

I also figured out how to do this little gathered pocket using 1/4" elastic on the inside. No casing, just sewn on the inside. I'll be using this technique in the future because it is wonderfully simple and gives a nice even gather--quickly! I'll give a tutorial on it later...

Pretty fun! Now we've all got dresses for my Grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary!! YIPPEE!!