Tea Party Dresses

Stella celebrated her 3rd birthday yesterday.  I've posted about all of the homemade presents I made her but not the matching tea party dress and doll dress.  I made a size three and instead of piping I did a little eyelet ruffle trim. The fabric is Liberty Lawn and it is a lined with an off white cotton.  I used mother of pearl buttons.  I love this pattern and the Liberty Lawn and eyelet combo.  It is the kind of dress I have been wanting to make for a long time.  I thought it might be too big but it fits great and has enough room for t-shirt underneath since it is not really sleeveless dress weather here. 

Stella is not in a diaper anymore but I still wanted to do the bloomers.  I made doll bloomers once and they were really tricky so I thought learning to do it on an Oliver and S pattern would help for future ones.  The directions for these were wonderful just like both dresses and everything Oliver and S I have ever made.
 

One of the reasons I had selected the tea party dress was because I wanted to do a matching doll dress.  I had wanted to do something with sleeves but I was motivated to do the tea party doll dress for the Little Things to Sew Cover to Cover challenge.  I used the same materials and love it just as much as Stella's dress. I couldn't find a t-shirt (and I really looked) the same color as Stella's but the shoes I found were pretty close.


edited a little later in the day -  The pattern is from Little Things to Sew from Oliver and S.  I added a half an inch to each side so that it would fit Bitty baby who is a little wider than the 18 inch dolls.   It fit well enough for a doll dress. 

Stella didn't get most her presents until after dinner and I loved giving her the special outfits to wear in the morning.  I think I will have to do this for her every birthday.  She loved it as much as I did.  I can't wait to do some more matching outfits for the spring and summer. 

Birthday quilt and Bear Carrier

I finished Stella's birthday quilt about a week ago.  It is one of the easiest and least creative quilts that I have made but one of my favorites for sure.  I saw a sample of this quilt made in local quilt shop (Kathie's - a beautiful shop-click on the link and see how pretty it is) a couple years ago.  It was love at first sight and I knew I wanted to make one for when Stella is in a big girl bed.  The fabrics are from Cabbages and Rose Athill range and the pattern is Turning Twenty again.  It is such an easy and fast pattern.  Nothing has to match up and it really shows off the beautiful fabrics.  It is the biggest quilt that I have machine quilted so I just stippled to keep it simple. 

Stella is still in her crib so I threw this on our bed to take a picture.  I would have tried to take some better pictures and make our bed look nicer.  But I had to lock the door so Stella wouldn't see it and the kids were pounding on the door because they know when ever I lock a door and immediately decide they have to be in the room with me.  At some point I decided this would be one of her birthday presents since she does love quilts and blankets and things I make for her.  I can't wait to see what this quilt ( bigger than a twin but less than a full - I can't find the pattern to tell you the dimensions and I can't get it out right now to measure) will look like on Stella's bed when we get it.  I would love for her to have a bed like this (but in cream or antique white).

I usually don't make labels.  I have seen so many on Instagram lately that I was inspired to do one especially since the quilt is  for my best girl.  I am pretty sure that  I will continue making labels.  It makes the quilt more special I think. 

 

I also finished the bear carrier (which will likely be a baby doll carrier) from Little Things to Sew.  I loved the pattern.  It was quick and easy and I love how it came out.  It doesn't use much fabric so I used a small piece of Liberty Lawn I had with a solid from my stash.  It is for Stella's birthday but I had to have her try it on to make sure I put the Velcro in the right place.  I felt bad misleading her but I led her to believe that the carrier is not for her because I want her to be surprised on her birthday.  She did seem to like trying it on and I did get one blurry shot with my phone. 

 

Next post will have some matching tea party dresses in it and if I have time, a little lamb (more birthday presents) .  I am really excited for more birthday sewing and for Spring and Summer sewing too.  There is a lot to look forward to!

Winner

Well the odds were really good for the 6 people who commented on my last post.  I figured I would know all the people who commented through their blogs and other online places so I decided to wait to pick a prize out until I picked a winner.  That way I can pick a prize that I think the winner would really like.  Well my son just picked the name out of a hat.  And the winner is .....

Yayyy!  Cindy  - I'll be emailing you soon! I can't wait to pick out your prize.   Congratulations!