$1 Comfy Shift Dress!

I'm back to my comfort zone--sewing without a pattern.  I am totally in love with this little dress I made for Little Sister!

I would make one for myself if there was any more of this fabric!

I picked up this fabric remnant (3/8 of a yard) for next to nothing, and hoped there would be enough there to make something for Iris.  It's cool, because it's really soft t-shirt material, except that it's double-layered, so it's a little thicker, plus it's got stripes on one side and polka dots on the other.

$1.20 for the fabric--pretty good price for a dress, I'd say!

I followed the general idea of this boat-neck dress tutorial from the Make it and Love it blog, making my own modifications as I went.  The main thing I did differently was to take advantage of the two-sided fabric:  instead of folding under a traditional hem, I rolled the hems at the neck, sleeves, and bottom of the dress OUT so that the inside would show and stitched them down before sewing the pieces together.

Also, I made the pockets a bit smaller and left the buttons off.  What do babies need pockets for, anyway?  Oh yeah, this:

I made this little guy out of extra fabric to fit inside the pocket.  It was
supposed to be a cat.  Hmmmm...

Since the fabric and style seemed like it would be good for fall, I used a dress that fits Little Sister now as a template but went a little bigger all around.  Turned out just right--she can wear it now on chillier days, but there's enough room to take her into the fall.  Oh, and I made the whole thing during the commercials in the season finales of The Office and Parks and Recreation (too noisy to use the machine during the actual show), and maybe a half-hour afterwards.  What I'm trying to say is, it was quick.  And I like TV.

Anyway, I just love it!  I followed Little Sister around admiring her outfit all day.