diy dolman

I haven't had the best luck at making myself clothes. I have 4-5 skirts that I made last year, but every other attempt has failed. Earlier this week, I received yardage of jersey knit I had ordered from The Fabric Fairy {btw, Meg at TFF was amazing and helped me get just what I was looking for!!}. I had ordered light blue & red striped jersey and yellow & white striped jersey after I saw {this} tutorial at Make It & Love It. Looks super easy, right?! Well, I started off using the light blue & red striped jersey and attempted a dolman top twice and failed both times....badly. The part that was tripping me up was tracing around a shirt of mine - I couldn't get the shape right or the neckline. I realized I am more of a measurements girl rather than an "eyeball it" kind of girl!

I didn't want to waste all the jersey I had ordered, so I stopped and found {this} pattern from Fabric.com. Meanwhile, I had emailed another sewing mama to see if she had trouble with the tutorial. She passed on {this} link to another dolman top tutorial!

I had a few hours, so I decided to try it again! I used the Merricks Art tutorial for most of the shirt, minus the sleeve cuffs and I added the band at the bottom from the Make It & Love it tutorial. The neckline is wider than I anticipated, but I actually love this shirt!!! Along with the pattern I bought from Fabric.com, I also ordered four more yards of different jersey knit...I can't wait to make some more!!!

Mother's Day Gift To Me!!

Tuesday, I received a lovely little package from {sewmamasew}!! It is the fabric I ordered for my bag!!

All three of these were folded up nicely and tied with a cute fabric bow! Here are the fabrics I chose - Four Petals Jelly, Trees Tonal Raspberry & French Lace Sprout! LOVE!!
The pattern I used is from {ithinksew}. I chose the #91 Cross Over bag. It was really easy to follow and had a lot of pictures!! I didn't have a lot of consecutive time to work on it, but it took an hour or two, three nights in a row.

Here's the finished bag....

I added a few things that weren't in the pattern.

#1 - two outside pockets with elastic on the tops. My Vera bags all have outside pockets and I use them A LOT!

#2 - two inside pockets without zippers...the pattern called for one with a zipper and since I never zip my interior pockets, I scratched the zippers and added another pocket!

#3 - FABRIC ROSETTES! Love them, enough said!!

#4 - a piece of cardboard to the bottom, in between the exterior and lining for support. {I will have to seam rip the lining to remove this should I want to wash my bag.}


So I am in love with my new bag and I've decided it is my Mother's Day gift to myself!

Clutch, much?!

I recently purchased a bag pattern from Sewingwithme3 on Etsy and with my purchase of an $8.00 pattern, I got 6 FREE patterns! The bag project is on hold because I just ordered my fabric from Sew Mama Sew...however, I couldn't wait to try the FREE Caroline Clutch pattern! Lil miss has been carrying a purse around for awhile now, but recently her collection of lip glosses/chap sticks has become quite large...so I thought that the Caroline Clutch looked like the perfect solution!

She picked out the fabrics from my stash {they just happened to be on top and totally coordinating!} and I think it turned out super cute!!

The finished dimensions are 6.5" wide by 5" tall with a 2" depth. It's the perfect size for your license, credit card/cash and cell phone or makeup or your kiddos' stuff!

I originally used a magnetic clasp that I picked up spontaneously at Joann's a while back....however it was junk! And since the clutch is for lil miss, I needed something kid friendly and durable, so I went with Velcro.

She loves it! {Don't mind the random Easter tattoos and marker all over her arms & hands!}

Superbowl, what?!

I do not have an athletic bone in my body...never have and probably never will! So when my husband decided to take lil man to a friend's house to watch the game, I was relieved!! What to do with lil miss??! Make a dress, of course! I thought this would be a great time to try out my new pattern! I recently ordered the Amelia and Caroline dress patterns from Froglegs & Ponytails. I hadn't tried a pillowcase dress before this point because sometimes they can look really homemade. I have bought a couple from etsy.com that have been decent. I have seen many that just look cheap. I was searching etsy one day and stumbled upon Froglegs & Ponytails' shop and I really, really liked the construction of her pillowcase dresses! I like that she has you make bias tape from the fabric of your dress for the underarm seam. I like that there is a definite underarm cut-out. I like that she has you use your trim fabric for the neck-tie closure. I also love that she has an adult shirt version!!!

So on this Superbowl Sunday, I made the "Caroline" version. I used the Nuovo Dot fabric from this post {because I love it the more I look at it} and for my trim fabric, I used a cream eyelet fabric....LOVE!! I did not use the eyelet fabric for the tie closure, but a coordinating ribbon instead. I didn't think the eyelet was a good choice for the tie.

Here's the finished product....

I'm thinking about making these for my nieces for Easter. I think this will be lil miss's Easter dress for sure! I love how dainty it is! And if you've ever met my lil miss, dainty is not an adjective you'd use to describe her!! ;)

I made another dress yesterday, based off of a tutorial found on I am Momma - Hear Me Roar

Instead of using old t-shirt strips, I used coordinating jersey knit strips. I am pretty pleased with the outcome. If I were to do it again, I would make the strips even longer as they go down to give the dress a little more shape. {Lil miss can't do narrow!} I made each strip 1" longer than the one before it, but I think I'd do at least 1.5" or 2" next time. Over all, I like the dress!

I like that she can wear it this summer as a tank dress & can wear it now with a long-sleeved tee under it and leggings!!
By the way....Old Navy has their tanks on sale right now for $5!!! My friend and I went on Friday and stocked up! She has asked me to make 4 tank panel dresses for her daughter and I have tons of plans for the tanks I bought!!

Lil Helper Apron Tutorial

I'm hosting a Pampered Chef cupcake decorating party for some of my friends and their kiddos. What better party favors than lil aprons for the lil helpers?! I made up a pattern for what I wanted the apron to look like and I'm going to share it with you!!

Here's what you do:

-Right click on the next two pictures (pattern pieces) and save the files to your computer and print them out (full page print).

-Tape the "a" and "b" together to line up the pattern. There are two ways to make the apron...the simple version or the ruffle version.

-Cut out your fabric using the pattern. Be sure to follow the directions for the fold.

- Cut lengths of ribbon according to the pattern for your neck straps and waist straps. My neck straps are pink and waist are green in this example. Make sure you treat the ends of your ribbon before starting. I run a lighter past the ends quickly to seal them. Fray Check also works well, just allow for drying time.

-If you are adding a ruffle, cut a length of coordinating fabric that is 50" x 3".

-Zig zag both short ends and one long side of the ruffle fabric.

-Fold those same sides in 1/2" and pin. Sew a hem on all three sides.



- Change your stitch options to the longest stitch possible. Stitch down the length of the unfinished side. Do not back stitch before or after this stitch or you won't be able to gather your ruffle! This is your gathering stitch.


-Pull one piece of thread on one end of your gathering stitch. Push the ruffle down to the other end until you have a uniform ruffle throughout the length of the fabric.

-Pin (right sides facing) to the bottom portion of your apron, from underarm to underarm.

-Pin the straps (right sides facing) to your apron also. You'll have a ribbon, ruffle & pin mess!


-Stitch your ruffle to your apron. I used a 5/8" seam allowance.


-Zig zag the edges of the entire apron. You'll finish the ruffle edge as well as the rest of the apron's edges in one step. Be aware of the ribbons! There were a few times when I *almost* stitched a ribbon end to a ruffle or side of the apron!


-Your apron should look similar to this by now:

-Fold down the upper apron edges 1/2" and pin. Make sure that you've notched the neckline (in the pattern) so the neckline hem lays down smooth.

-Top stitch the whole apron to finish it off. Make sure that the ruffle edge is flat and your topstitch secures it to the apron, like this:

-Voila! You're done!!

So far I've had RSVP's for eight lil helpers to be at this party...here's the eight aprons I've made:

I love that this apron does not take a ton of fabric. I was able to make four simple version aprons out of one yard of fabric! This is the perfect project for scrap fabrics or (in my case) fabrics that I had purchased without a project in mind. Those fabrics usually end up sitting in my bin for awhile!

I also like that you can be super creative with your straps...all four different colors, same colors, prints, solids, thin, wide...the possibilities are endless!! If I was making this for an adult (not only would I have to make the pattern larger) but I would add some fabric rosettes, and possibly a pocket to spice it up a bit!

**If you are having trouble with saving/printing the pattern pages, please shoot me an email at bierbaur {at} hotmail {dot} com and I'll email them to you in a PDF!**

Holiday Dress

After the fabric drama mentioned in {this post}, I went back to Hobby Lobby looking for the next best combination. What I came up with isn't as whimsical as the first, but I still really like it! I used a different pattern, See & Sew #3889. As with the last holiday dress, I added the apron myself. I did it differently this time though, making the apron completely separate and then stitching it on at the end. The apron took awhile, though!! It is sewn on until the side seams and then left to tie. I really like how it turned out!! Paired with her Matilda Jane PR Tights and her sassy boots, she ready for the holidays!!

From the front:

Side view:

From the back: