Button Bracelet

I've seen these around online before and wanted to try my hand at one. It was amazingly easy and not so expensive to make. I had the elastic on hand and the little bag of buttons I got at Walmart for about $2.

It was all hand sewn and the whole thing took about 30-45 (interrupted) minutes! The bag of buttons I got only had 4 colors and varieties. It would be really neat to get a bag of really random buttons and see what turns out. Also, if you have a little button collection, this would also be a great project. 

Happy hand sewing!!

Into Dresses

I never really used to be a dress wearer. I was more of a skirt girl. Mostly because I didn't like the way I looked in dresses. But then, I changed my mind. I found a few dresses that were really nice and now it seems that's all I want to wear. However, dresses are pretty pricey. So I went the "make my own" route. Equally hard. Until I found an amazing and super easy pattern. And best of all, it was on sale for $.99! WooHoo!!! So here are 3 dresses I've made from that pattern.

This one was exciting. The top portion is a remnant I found a while ago but didn't know how to use it. The bottom part was also a remnant that was on super sale. Altogether, this dress was about $3!

This one was slightly modified. Instead of sewing the upper portion, I just used an old white long sleeve shirt. I cut the bottom half off, shortened the sleeves, and changed the neckline. The green part was also a remnant. With the leftover bottom half of the shirt, I made pockets for the dress. This in all cost about $5 to make.

This fabric was not a remnant. But I had bought it with a coupon months ago and just never used it. This dress is also sleeveless but I like it better with a little cardi.

HERE is the McCall's pattern that I used. I made some modifications:

• I didn't use the skirt pieces that it gave, I just measured my own hips :) 
• Also, the neckline on the bodice was a little lower than I like so I cut it about 1 and 1/2 inches higher on the gray dress than the brown dress.
• For the bodice, instead of ironing and sewing a small seam on the neck and sleeves (curves are so hard) I cut two pieces for the front, and two for the back. I sewed them right sides together on the neck and sleeves and turned them inside out. This gave a much neater seam and also added an extra layer. The material I used was pretty thin. 

The material has to be a stretch fabric only like jersey which is a pretty tricky material to work with. The pattern says it only takes an hour, but honesty, your first time will take a lot longer. Plus, if you're sewing machine goes on the fritz, it will take you all day! grrr. HA!

Happy Dress Making!!!