What all that binding was for

I am lucky to have a little god-daughter who has given us many of her old things, including this wrap jumper:
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That is special to me because V wore it the day we went wedding dress shopping. After pulling it out for Tuesday I realized that it really is quite simply constructed. So I decided to try my hand at drafting up a pattern using this dress as a guide. Not quite as easy as I had anticipated, but I did learn a lot!
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All is fabric is from my stash, and there is the bias binding I made out of shot cotton. Of course it looks even cuter on Tutu:
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My neighbor let Tutu toddle around in her yard since ours is still a disaster zone (but only for a few more weeks!).
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It was so beautiful out today! I’ve been working hard at getting Tuesday to leave on her sunglasses, each time she leaves them on for a bit longer, but eventually they come off.
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Over all I am super happy with this, I’ll probably make at least one more in this size and then see if I want to figure out how to size up (scary!). Tuesday liked it, but maybe that was just because I let her put on her favorite shoes to go outside:
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She cries when I take them away. A girl and her shoes…
A couple of details for Carmen who didn’t have a chance to finish hers while she was here:
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(really it’s a hack job on the button hole. It’s only on one side (the finishing) because I couldn’t figure out how to get a small piece of fabric like that to feed right into the machine. Maybe baste it onto something?
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The lining is from the lining of one of the Target Liberty dresses I pulled apart. I want to get a slightly bigger bias binding maker. This one was cutting it close and I had to go back on the inside and hand stitch a few places where the machine didn’t catch. To make the dress I laid the two pieces together, pinned them, and then took the pins out one by one as I fed the edges through the machine with the binding on, it’s what’s holding everything together. I’ll let you know how it holds up in the wash! It does give me the confidence to try and copy a few more of my favorite ready to wear designs. Have you ever tried this? Tips?

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14 Comments

  1. Very cute! Perfect for spring, and to carry into summer as well!
    Like I said on FB, I can’t show Clara those pics, because she will be super jealous of the shoes 😉

  2. This dress turned out just lovely.
    I am a new quilter and I am having issues with my binding techniques….I have to go back and hand stitch some places too.

  3. ohhhh Tuesday those shoes are killing me…. too gorgeous for words I would cry if parted from them also. I am in love with your wrap dress fantastic work 🙂

  4. What an adorable dress (and shoes and girl!) and I have to say I like your version better than the original. Can’t wait to see your next creation!

  5. Very cute!! I just made one of these for Georgia recently. I sewed it as a reversible dress by using another print on the other side. I just turned it right side out after I was done and topstitched. No bias binding, although for my next one that would be so super cute!!
    For a reversible one, instead of doing a buttonhole tab inside I did another set of ties, that way the ties are the same when either side is out. 🙂
    These are so fun!

  6. What a sweet little dress! I”ve been on a dress kick as well lately. I’ve decided that Daisy will have all handmade dresses this season. Pillowcase dresses are a dream to sew — I’m having so much fun! I love this wrap/cross-over design that you did. Might give it a go. Tuesday is SO CUTE!!

  7. I’ve been looking at those (and being bad not commenting because I’m usually browsing on my iPhone, and I can’t comment on your site with it for some reason), I love them! I have to do some simple ones like that for summer. They seem like they would be nice and cool, I hope you put up the tutorial!

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