FROM MAMA TO BUBBA (1): A Handmade Dress

The pictures below are my proof that once you set your mind to something, you are very likely to achieve it! It was a day when I had so much time in hand that I didn't know what to do with and I am not a person who is extremely good at handling 'nothing-to-do' times. I had the urge to challenge myself with something and I took the plunge to destroy a never-worn shirt of my niece who has generously donated it to me for me to 'make something with'. 

I took out one of my daughter's much loved dresses and decided to make something similar to that. I had almost no idea how to make a dress but I had the courage to give it a go anyway. At the time, my daughter was possibly either not born yet, or a newborn as I remember the burgundy dress was never worn before.

Using the dress that I had bought for Miss Junior possibly even before she was born and some scrap paper that I found around the house, I came up with an amateur pattern. Basically, I laid the dress on top of a large piece of paper and with the help of a pen, I drew around it after deciding what parts of the shirt I wanted to use for the dress. I allowed approximately 1/2cm-1cm for seam (and correction if needed). In other words, I cut my fabric about a centimeter away from where the actual dress's lines were. While cutting the dress, I made sure that I worked with the buttons and the buttonholes that the original shirt had rather than working against them. I used them as an advantage to me as I didn't really know how to make my own. I used the same strategy with the hems on the skirt of the dress and the sides whenever possible.

I used some light blue binding tape that I happened to have a small amount of at home around the arm holes and just folded the neck line and sewed. I placed a soft velvety ribbon on top of the folded area on the neck for a better look and comfort.  I think it worked pretty well considering the only sewing I did was the binding on the armholes and the folded area around the neck.

With this particular project, the success was through some good planning and the amount of love I put in it knowing (or rather hoping) that one day, my little princess would wear it!

I tried this dress on the latest addition of our family just a few days ago and was thrilled to see that it sat beautifully on her. Definitely looking forward to making some good use of it sometime soon!