the one about pretty pink ruffles

So where have I been? Here...and really busy. Making stuff even. But it's really hard to blog when your

iMac decides to keep you from getting at any of your photos. And I figure it's tough enough to be interesting without trying to do this without pictures. 

This whole thing started when I moved up here and brought a whole lot of fabric with me. Embarrassingly enough, I had more than an entire car's worth of fabric to donate and still had plenty to spare. Case in point--partial bolts of my favorite "Darla" and "Ava Rose" collections--which I'd been partially hoarding for the last few years. Of course I could make quilts...but to be honest I wanted to do other things. I wanted to get back to the place where I enjoyed sewing. Just for the pleasure of it.

I also decided it could be fun to make things to sell--both from my own patterns (I'm quite fond of them, after all) as well as patterns designed by others. 

As these ideas began to come together, I started looking for patterns. Little girl dresses seemed a logical place to start since I had oodles of pretty fabrics. And a ruffler foot. 

I'm not going to get into copyright issues here...but at the risk of opening a can of worms will address that some one of these days. But...turns out there is a world of patterns out there where the designers not only permit you to make things to sell from their patterns, but they actually encourage it. But more on that later. 

So far these little dresses have been a blast to make. For the most part, anyway. I figure I'll go ahead and praise those patterns I've really enjoyed using--because if you're interested, you might want to check them out for yourself.  I've discovered a couple of really horrific patterns as well...and it's probably best that I just don't talk about those. 

So without further ado...

This first dress is called the "Grace Ruffle Dress" and it's by Funktional Threads. I only made one

of these since it really does eat up the fabric, but I'm totally in love with the tiered back of the dress.

The pattern was effortless to follow and I'd have no problem making more. And just might--the dress is very versatile.

Next up? The "Darla" jumper made out of (duh) "Darla" fabric! This dress is by Kati Cupcake.
This one was really fun to make...but if you don't have a passion for ruffling, it might be a little
tedious. Instructions were fantastic. Took a bit longer to make than the amount of time I figure I should spend...but if I had an actual little girl to sew for? I'd be choosing this dress for sure.

So I got introduced to youcanmakethis.com which is a great site for PDF patterns. And wow did
I ever get into trouble there. Some of the patterns are...ummm...a bit simpler than the first two...in
terms of construction and finishing techniques, etc, but I figure not every dress has to be an heirloom. Some can just be cute dresses, you know?

One of my favorite pattern discoveries is a company called Little Lizard King. The patterns are idiot
simple to follow and I think fall into that category of just cute fun clothes. If you're a stickler for bodice linings being neat and tidy, this might not be the dress for you, but you can't deny it's adorable. And after making the littlest one? I had to make one in each size up to 4T. Just because I couldn't stop.

Another company I've tried is Pink Poodle Bows.  More simple yet really sweet garments. I was
smitten by the way this dress ties in the back. Made 5 of these as well--each slightly different.

 Here's another Little Lizard King design--loved the little apron but plain didn't seem right. The rick rack, which I tend to count on to save the day--well, it wasn't enough either. So I made this patch and love how it turned out.  Just the right little touch.

So here's the end result of all that gathering and ruffling and ohgoodgrief SEAM FINISHING!