Pillowcase dresses

Right, so going to give this one a go anyway.  

Today I sewed something!  Well, two somethings actually.  I had this terrible homemade skirt that I bought at Buffalo Exchange last year for $5.  I loved the fabric, but the skirt was awful.  Elastic waist, boxy, too long, and too big.  Made me look like a whale.

I set it in my fabric box and promptly forgot about it.  Since I've been thinking about sewing things since last week, I've also been going through my fabric and notions to figure out what I have (not much, really), and I came across this skirt again.  I initially thought to make a blouse for myself, but set-in sleeves are very difficult for me, and I wanted to make something easy since I've not sewn anything for a long time.  I decided to cut the skirt in half and make two pillow case dresses for the girls.  I probably should have started with a tutorial, because it would have saved me a lot of time, and I probably should have ripped out every seam in the original skirt and started fresh, but I was feeling a bit lazy, and so there are some things about the finished dresses that aren't super professional, but they'll work for now.

The little addition I made was to attach a onesie underneath the dress so that they don't need bloomers.  I just took a white onesie, cut off the top with the sleeves, and attached the bottom underneath.  I did something goofus when attaching Birdie's in the back, so it poufs out more than it should (and I'll probably try to fix it tomorrow), but they are wearing them now!

The bonus was that the coral of the fabric exactly matched my calypso coral ribbon, so I used up what was left of the roll on these dresses.  I started to make self-ties and decided life was too short.

But for not having sewn in ages, and not using a pattern (I'm pretty pattern dependent usually), and upcyling something (I've tried and failed at that in the past), I think they came out pretty cute.  I just have to keep Birdie from trying to untie the straps constantly.

Oh, and happy birthday to me!  I thought that spending a good chunk of the day working on something tactile was a good start to disengaging with technology.  We are going out for dinner with the kids to Shake Shack, and then dessert at an ice cream place to be determined (so many ice cream places, such a small stomach...)  I'm just happy I don't have to cook or bake anything in this heat (which sadly, hasn't broken much yet--tomorrow, perhaps?)