A Minnie Mouse Inspired ~ Free American Girl Dress Pattern

Today I am sharing a American Girl Doll pattern that I created.  The bodice is lined and sleeveless.  The gathered skirt is made of two sections of fabrics connected with bias tape.

I added a wide sash ~ think Minnie would like that!

The hot pink variation of the pattern can be found at the bottom of the post.

Materials needed:

Dress bodice template

squares for main bodice and contrasting lining (red)

Two 3 1/2" x 22" contrasting fabric (red) for sash

One 6 1/2" x 28" rectangle for skirt top

One 4" x 28" rectangle for skirt bottom

28" length of bias tape maxi piping (red)

4" pieces of thin Velcro ~ I love this one

Optional applique:

Small free clip art of Minnie Mouse

Small square of Heat N Bond adhesive

Notes:

All seams are 1/4" unless indicated

Seams can be finished by serging, with a zig zag stitch, or pinking shears

Reinforce seams by backstitching 

Directions:  

Cut out the bodice pieces

Optional applique

Following the directions on the Heat n Bond package, trace your "Minnie."  Iron onto your fabrics.  Note: I show red for the bow, but I changed it to white with black dots to match the skirt.  Cut out your appliqué pieces, and iron onto the bodice,  sew (I use a zig zag stitch).

Bodice Construction:  With right sides together, pin and sew the shoulders.

Repeat for the lining.

Fold each sash piece in half right side together, and sew along the long edges and one of the short edges.

Turn the ashes right side out ~ I use a chop stick!

With right sides together, pin the lining to the bodice.  Stitch along the back and neckline, then around the arm holes.  Clip the seams.

Turn right side out by pulling the lining through the shoulder on one side.  Repeat on the other side.  Press flat.

Pull the lining out of the way.  Pinch the unseen edge of sash slightly to form a small fold.  Pin the sashes to the right side of the bodice, 1" from the bottom.  Baste in place.

Open up both the fronts and backs of the bodice.  With right sides together, pin the fronts together and the linings together.  Sew ~ catching your sash in the seam.

Turn right side out, and press

Skirt construction:

Pin your bias tape face down along the lower edge of the 6 1/2" x 28" piece.  Using your zipper foot, baste in place.

Place your skirt bottom piece face down covering the bias tape.  With your zipper foot, stitch as close as possible to the cording.

Your finished piece:

Press a 1/2" fold on either side of the skirt.

Hem the skirt bottom by pressing a 1/4" fold.  Then fold 1/4" again.  Press and top stitch.

Your dress pieces at this point:

Gather the top edge of the skirt by sewing long basting stitches ~ Remember to leave tails on your thread to pull.

Distribute the gather evenly.  With right sides together, sew the skirt to the bodice using a 1/2" seam.

Sew Velcro to the back of the dress.

Sew the back of the dress (below the Velcro) 7" from the bottom

Your Minnie inspired dress is complete!

Hot pink dress variation

Omit the appliqué
Reverse the skirt pieces by sewing the bias tape to the bottom of the 4" x 28" piece

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Summer Bucket List - End of the Year Craft

She is Back ...  at least for today's post!  With two busy little girls, Kendra has not had the time to write for our blog.  Hopefully, we will see a lot more of her creativity in the future!!

I'm one of the room parents for Layla's first grade class and for their end of the year party her teacher wanted a few summer-themed crafts for the kids to do.  I saw this Bucket List idea on Pinterest and decided to tweak it a bit to make it easier to print out and use.

All you'll need for this project is:

• Colored Paper - I actually had the buckets and shovels printed at Staples since they had a huge variety of colors.  It also saved me from going out a buying a ream of paper when I only needed 50 sheets.
• Scrapbook Paper - for the rim of the bucket.
• Scissors - you will be cutting A LOT.  The shovels are especially fun: )
• Ribbon - for the bucket handle. I used curling ribbon.
• Stapler - to staple that ribbon on.
• Printer - for printing out the bucket list, list!
• Templates:  bucket, summer bucket list, shovels

Once you have all your templates printed and cut out you will staple one end of a small piece of ribbon to the top of the bucket.  Then "string on" the shovel by poking the ribbon through the hole at the end of the handle.  For this part make sure that the "good" side of the shovel is flipped over - the shovel template has a black line on it so you want the blank side of the shovel facing forward.  Then staple the other end of the ribbon onto the top of the bucket.



Scrapbook Paper Rims - cut same length as top of bucket.

Good Side and Bad Side of Shovel: )

This is the back of the bucket once the ribbon and shovel have been attached.

Once that part is together have the kids choose one of the scrapbook rims and lists.  These can then be glued on with a glue stick.  The rims should cover the staples.  Then they can have fun coloring and filling out the list.

Pretty simple and pretty cute!

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Found Friday - Make Your Own Cross Stitch Patterns

For those of you who like to cross stitch as much as I do (here, here, and here), I have found an incredible site that lets you take a photo and create it into a pattern.

I know that my granddaughter Hadley loves bunnies, and Kendra has incorporated them into her big girl room.
So I took a discontinued PB photo and saved it onto my desktop.

Then I went to www.myphotostitch.com.  From there it was easy.
I downloaded the picture, and entered some information:  the Aida count & cloth size, the number of colored threads, and pattern style. 
Photostitch did the rest!!

Here are two pages of my new pattern with floss suggestions.

Looks like I will be kept busy for awhile (:
Have a wonderful weekend ♥

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Fabric Transfer Tea Towel

I have written about my "strangely obsessive" love for tea towels here and here.  Now that I am stuck inside due to another snow storm, I decided to try a different technique for making one.

I purchased Avery Fabric Transfer paper and found a design that I liked from clip art.  I pasted the design to Word, and printed it using the directions given with the paper.  Just remember, if you are using letters, print backwards using the "iron on transfer" setting on the printer.

I cut my fabric 18" x 28".  I made a 1/2" fold on each raw edge, pinned to my ironing board, and press on a cotton setting.

To make a clean edge, I folded another 1/2", pinned, and pressed.  Now I sewed each with a 1/4" seam.

To add a little additional color, I pinned single fold bias tape 3" from my bottom edge leaving an overlap of 1/2" on each end.

Now I was ready to add my transfer.  I followed the directions on the package carefully.

I topstitch the bias tape using yellow thread, but I kept white thread in the bobbin folding under the extra on each end.

I carefully pulled the paper away from the transfer.

And, I have a lovely new tea towel!  ♥

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Easy Table Runner

"Cabin Fever" ~ this frigid weather has really curtailed outdoor activity!  I keep looking for projects to do inside the house.  When I happened to see this modern geometric fabric, I thought it would make a great new table runner for my kitchen.

Table runners are a great way to add color, but they can be expensive.  The perfect option is to do it yourself.

My finished project~

Supplies needed:
1 1/2 yards of two fabrics ~ one for the top and one for the lining
Thread
Sewing machine

Initially I was planning to use matching brown fabric for my lining, but I thought it might show through.  As a result, I change to white.

Cutting:
I needed to add 1/2" to both the width and the length.  My table is 70" long, and I wanted a few inches of table showing at each end.  I cut my two fabrics 62 1/2" x 17 1/2"  ~ allowing for 1/4" seams.

Sewing:
I pinned the fabrics right sides together.

Using white thread, I sewed a 1/4" seam around all the edges, leaving about a 3" opening on one of the short ends.

I trimmed the corners and turned the fabric right side out.  Using a chopstick, I pushed out the seams and ironed carefully.  I wanted all of my seams to line up as perfectly as possible.

 

I changed my top thread to brown (but left white in the bobbin).  I top stitched a 1/4 from all the edges (carefully folding in the seam allowance on the section that was left open).

Press again, and  ~ my new table runner! ♥



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