Reversible Summer Sun Dress

 

 

 

 

I finished the summer dress to match a yarn cloth diaper cover (soaker) knit by Aimee at Jade Gaia. I used Amy Butler fabrics in her Lotus line and made the dress reversible. It was quite a challenge to make the top reversible. I have a couple of things that I would do differently next time. But, overall, I am pleased with how it turned out. Hopefully if will look OK with the knit diaper cover. If they don't look good together, I will remake the dress in a different fabric and sell this one in my online store by itself.

Summer Sun Dress Design

 

Aimee of Jade Gaia and I decided to put together another set of clothing to sell online. I am going to sew a summer sun dress and she is going to knit a diaper cover, also called a soaker. Aimee gave me a strand of the handpainted yarn that she wants to use for the soaker so I can find some fabric to match. My first thought was Asian inspired. I couldn't find anything that I absolutely loved at the first local fabric store that I visited. The second farbic store I visited specializes in Amy Butler prints. I had to give the strand of yarn to a lady who worked there to try and find matches for me because my almost 2 year old son was throwing a huge fit. She remarked that I was the first person to ever bring in yarn to match fabric with. She pulled a few different bolts to look at. I was immediately drawn to this print, so I went ahead and bought it for the sun dress. If you look closely, you can see the yarn strand on top of the fabric.

The next step is for me to draft a pattern for the sun dress. I'll post pictures of that project next!

Sew Joyful Living Explained

This fun spring twirl shirt was made to match knitted wool capris made by Aimee at Jade Gaia. The fabrics are designed by Sandi Henderson as part of her Farmers Market series, sold by Michael Miller. The shirt is a size 12 month. I love this design as it has a more fitted bodice and lots of twirl!

It was actually this item that inspired me to create Sew Joyful Living. The week before this item went live, my bible study on finances challenged me to "Look for an opportunity to meet someone's needs this week as a way of sharing Christ's love." The whole study is centered around how we use money. My WAHM income from Joyful Baby is the only income that I really have that is "mine", so I decided that the money I made from the sale of this item would be the dedicated to "something" special, but I didn't know what at the time.

Today, I decided the "something" special would be to "buy" a sheep through World Vision. This is the description from their Gift Catalog, Item #0117 Warmest Wool, cost $105: "Send a sheep to keep cold children cozy. For impoverished families, a sheep's wool can yield soft, warm, long-lasting clothes. Sheep often give birth to twins or triplets, which can be sold at the market. And, sheep's milk is up to twice as rich as cow's milk in nutrients like protein, calcium, and B vitamins that growing kids need." What a perfect gift considering how valuable my fellow WAHM's and I find wool!

Now, the sale of that one item did not give me the full $105 to "buy" a sheep. I am going to designate some other items that I have for sale. And, those all of those proceeds will add to the start that I have right now. Come back to check on the progress!