Kids Week Clothing Challenge! Day 1

It is day 1 of the Kid's Week Clothing Challenge!


If you're thinking, "what the heck is that?", just check out this post here.
I mentioned about a month ago that I was excited about sewing clothes for my kiddos, and now I've completed my first project for this fall's clothing challenge.

Here is what I made today:

Jersey and Cotton Peasant Dress

I really like how it turned out!

This was my original inspiration, that I found on Pinterest awhile back.

Source

That little dress is just adorable! And no longer for sale. (sad face.)
 Nor was there a tutorial, so I had to modify my idea a bit. I'm not sure I could've pulled it off even if there was a tutorial.

Enter the plan b...


I had already made the skirt part of Eliana's dress back in the spring, and put a different bodice on it.
Sadly, Eliana hated the first dress and would not wear it more than one or two times.
I think I made it too hard to get on, too tight in the bodice, and you know how panicky kids get when their shirt won't come off over their head smoothly. The straps kept falling off of her sweet little shoulders too, which drove me crazy! And to top it off, the dress was too long on her- she couldn't climb up on things like she wanted to. It definitely needed improvement! Thankfully, my sewing has improved over the summer, so I was able to figure out a way to re-fashion the dress into something that Ellie would actually enjoy.

This is the first version of the dress- and a very serious look from my little lady!

I really wanted to re-work the dress into something comfy and wearable even in the fall or winter, so I used Jersey (out of an old sheet) for the sleeves and also to line the skirt to give it some drape and help keep her warmer as it cools down.
I used this tutorial as my inspiration, so I could figure out the sleeve measurements. From there, I just kind of winged it!  Thankfully I had enough fabric to make a new bodice that matched the skirt part of the dress. I really like the neckline and sleeves of this pattern and think that I may use it to make a few tunics for Eliana as well.

The dress did turn out a little bit wider in the skirt than I had anticipated, so I added the sash to cinch things in a bit.
Eliana loves this dress, I think she likes that it is soft and since there is elastic around the neckline, it is way easier to put over her head. She looks so cute running around in it!
I had a hard time getting her to try it on because she recognized the fabric, but once I put it on her and ran around with her in the back yard a little, she decided that she does indeed like to wear the sweet peasant dress.
I still need to work on the hemline a bit, but other than that, it is finished!

If you want to join in on the Kids' Week Clothing Challenge, check out Elsie Marley's blog. She is the one who started all of this fun, and I'm about to hop on over there myself to check out what everyone made today!

I'll be back tomorrow with (hopefully!) another completed project.  I don't even know what I'm making yet, so it's a surprise to me too!