I’m excited to make a crafty post again – it’s been so long! I’ve recently gotten back into sewing now that I have a baby to make cute clothes for. 🙂 I used to sew tons of quilts and small projects growing up, but I never really explored clothing. I have learned so much with each piece for sure!

Today I wanted to share the projects I’ve done so far since you guys said you’d be interested in seeing them. 🙂 Read on for baby clothes, a few pieces for myself, and some cute embroidery ideas.

The first piece I made was a quick little jumper for Sophia out of a pair of Sully’s old jeans! I got it into my head one day to try it and whipped it up in an afternoon or two. This is the best picture I could find of it, unfortunately, and now it’s too small for her, hehe.

But basically I cut off the widest part of the leg, near the seat of the pants, and trimmed out curves at the top for armholes. I cut out straps and a pocket separately. The side seams were already sewn for me which was great! Otherwise I used a blanket stitch with embroidery thread on all other raw edges. I also sewed on two buttons and embroidered some cute daisies. 

After making that jumper on my own, I wanted to try following a pattern. I went with this adorable free dress pattern, and used Sully’s old work shirts for the fabric. Let me tell you, the learning curve for this one was STEEP, having practically never used a clothing pattern before. There are lots of mistakes I made and sketchy areas if you look closely, but everyone is surprised when I tell them I made it so that’s a good sign, haha.

I might make this again in a different size, but it would be much better with stretchier, thinner fabric I think. The collar especially is very tricky with thick fabric and this tiny size. Speaking of the collar, I couldn’t resist adding more embroidery – one of my favorite details of the dress! And I made a hairbow to match, but it’s not very stretchy so it’s kind of meh.

The next endeavor was also from my imagination instead of a pattern, but it was not “from scratch.” Sully’s grandma gave me a box of random sewing and supplies, which I discovered included some scraps of smocking projects. The skirt of this dress was basically complete, and all I had to do for the top was trim it and hem/bias tape the edges. I also attached some flutter sleeve pinafore straps. This is another piece that’s cute in pictures but pretty messy if you inspect it up close. It worked for the family photoshoot from this post though!

Next I felt ready to tackle a pretty ambitious project: matching dresses for Sophia and I! I started with my dress, and although it only took me a few days (of pretty intense work), it took WAY longer than it should have because I had to rip out what felt like every seam like 5 times. :'(( So frustrating. That’s what I get for making up my own pattern again. I did learn a whole lot and the end result is wearable, though not quite up to my desired standards.

Sophia’s dress was SO much easier and faster since I already knew what I was doing and it was tiny. And the quality of hers turned out a lot better, though I really wish I had made the little top piece wider and larger. I sewed the hem super deep so theoretically I can let it out as she gets taller. 🙂

After finding a lovely stretchy sheet at Goodwill, I decided to make myself a lounge set. I’m pretty proud of the shirt because it looks quite store-bought unless you’re the one who made it and can list all its flaws. XD But yeah, I would recommend this shirt pattern I used.

The shorts turned out okay, but not quite how they were supposed to. I added the ruffles myself, which are cute. The nice thing about working with stretchy knit fabric like this is that it doesn’t unravel! So I didn’t have to hem the ruffles.

After the lounge set, I took a break from sewing because I didn’t really need anything else and wanted to save my fabric for when Sophia grew to the next size. But recently I did make a couple little accessories for her, including this sunhat from a vintage pattern my grandmother gave me. 🙂 It’s a bit too big for her, but still absolutely adorable. I used it in her 10 month photoshoot.

My last sewing project was this little diaper cover, also from a vintage sewing pattern. She needed a neutral, simple one of these to go with various outfits. I made these from our old linen sheets. I LOVED the sheets and was very sad when they started to get threadbare. :(( At least I can repurpose the good parts of them!

I also wanted to throw in a couple of embroidery projects. If you’re not into sewing, embroidery can be a great way to spiff up a boring piece of clothing or give something new life. I embroidered a “pocket bouquet” on this shirt years ago and still wear it.

This is maybe my most complicated embroidery project. The cottagecore decorations turned out super cute! Unfortunately I have a habit of choosing almost-worn-out clothing to transform with embroidery, and this tunic keeps getting holes in it, eheh.

Don’t mind the wrinkles from my drawer, oops. This piece took forever but turned out really cute and (deceptively) simple. It’s an oversized shirt so it’s super comfy, but I added little flowers around the collar and hems to really turn it into something cute. I call it “mom core.” 😛

That’s it for my collection of handmade or hand-decorated clothing! If I make a bunch more perhaps I’ll have to do a second part to this post. Meanwhile, would you guys be interested in seeing some crafty home decor and non-sewing projects I’ve made recently? Let me know in the comments if you want another post about that stuff!

Which project is your favorite? Have you sewn or embroidered clothes before?

Thanks for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***