About a year ago I found a sheet set at the op-shop that was CLEARLY from Ikea. You know how you can look at fabric and it just screams Ikea at you? This fabric was doing that. Being me, of course, I didn't think "Oh cool. Brand new sheets and pillowcases, just what I need". Nope. Instead I thought, "SO MUCH FABRIC TO MAKE STUFF FROM!"

Originally I was thinking a little Mod dress for myself, even though the fabric is so not me at all. Sometimes I betray my style and try something new and then never wear it. So maybe it was a good thing I never got around to it.

Instead I found I had some remnants of blue cotton poplin left over from Monster's backpack and noticed that the blue matched pretty well enough with the blue on the sheets.



I ended up with two little shift dresses. I made the pattern up myself, just a basic shift with a loopy {totally the technical term} section at the back as an opening. I don't know how little girl clothes are supposed to work, but after studying the mountains of pink in her nursery I had a good idea. They both fasten with a press-stud at the top.



I love press-studs. I mean I love buttons but the con is that I hate button holes. Buttons are purely decorative for me at the moment, at this stage in my life. Snaps/Press-Studs however are my love. I order them in bulk off eBay so I always have about 100 on rotation.


The first one is a shift dress, lined in the same fabric. I made bias binding out of one of the pillowcases. Have I blogged about the AMAZING bias tape maker you can DOWNLOAD AND PRINT FOR FREE at The Scientific Seamstress? You print it on cardboard, cut it, glue it and TADA. It seriously works. I made one in each size and I am SO IN LOVE. She's so amazing. I am typing this shaking my head at her genius, even after using it about fifty times.


Anyway I made some bias binding using the maker and stitched it to the bottom of the dress and around the neckline and back opening. The collar is made from the scraps of the blue poplin and I embellished it with an off-white ribbon I found in my ribbon box.




The second dress {which I made first}, is made from the blue cotton poplin and lined in the Ikea bedsheet fabric. I made the lining longer than the front, so the hem isn't bias binding at all. It's just the lining folded over twice and stitched down.


This one doesn't have a collar, but has a little ruffled gathered strip down the front. I was originally going to have three, but I liked the simplicity of just the one.


These dresses are very... not my style at all with the colours and the fabric. I guess I'm being influenced by all the mama bloggers I've been reading? I'll be making a pair of matching bloomers to go with these dresses

Check out The Scientific Seamstress blog here. You can download her 0.5" bias tape maker here and the 1" bias tape maker here.