I made this for my sister's birthday this year. I was totally surprised at how it turned out. I found a stick horse pattern at a friend's house and used it to make the head. i just couldn't see buying a stuffed animal to throw most of it away. I mounted it to the board using upholstery tacks. I had so much fun with it and it seems like she likes it, too.

      I have been collecting patterns, hitting the stores on 99 cent pattern day. This is one I picked up because there were very few pieces and it claimed it could be finished in an hour. The front drawings are not very attractive but I thought I could update it. Of course it sat in the pattern drawer for some time before I attempted it.

      The fabric is stretchy so I didn't need to bother with the zipper.

      I added pockets using in the How-To section on the Burda site. The sleeve fabric matches the pockets, which really only serves to please me. Oh, and that's a silver pin at near the neck. I was heading out to the grandparent's party.

http://www.burdastyle.com/howtos/show/170

      This the pattern envelope. It is not from a garage sale or thrift store. It was bought this year. Some of these seriously need a re-vamp.

I bought this fabric at Hobby Lobby because it immediately made me think of some posts I had seen here. (I looked her up and her name is Vivifromage and she makes awesome stuff and this is the link to her posts,  http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=75181;sa=showTopics )

Anyway, I've been working with the same basic combination of bodice + band + skirt = dress. This time I added sleeves and quilt binding at the bottom. I had picked it up at the thrift store a while back because it was shiny and 29 cents.

The sleeves are from McCall's pattern 5626.I like them on this dress, but I'm not sure if I want flowy sleeves all the time.


Photo Booth caught a little twirl while I was trying to back up into frame. Please ignore the uninspired footwear. It's just the backyard.


And one last one. A close up of the fabric.

I made this for an outing tonight and I was so excited that I got it done before work that I had to share.

This dress has only a few pieces.
I used the top of a dress for the bodice pattern.  I then measured how long the waist band should be and last added lots of skirt.
The thing I am most proud of is the zipper. I have been working a lot with knit because it can be pulled over your head and doesn't require zippers or buttons, just the occasional drawstring or elastic. But I realy wanted to make more fitted items. So I dug through my closets looking for the secrets of an easy zipper and I found an old dress with the zipper down the side. When zipped up it creates the armhole.  Absolute genius, folks.

I was trying to find a way to show y'all this with out flashing. I hope you get the idea. Oh, and I know the green zipper doesn't match, but I didn't have navy, black or white and I have been on a "use what you got, stop buying junk" kick lately.

This was a sweatsuit top like this one, only with horizontal rainbow stripes. (one day I will remember a before photo) Why they make clothes this unflattering I couldn't tell you.
I cut it apart and turned the stripes vertical.


Then I opened the sleeves and added them on the sides. It is finished with a black knit yoke and wide elastic.
The hem was next to impossible, but totally worth it.
If you look in the bottom right of the last photo, you will get a glimpse of how I do all my schoolwork, have a full time job, and manage time for this stuff.
Please comment away!

Great job! I use the tshirt from this pattern. It is the perfect length and it was easy to alter after making my first one.
This was one i made using a different fabric fro the front and back. It was kind of a scrap and boredom buster for me, but it has turned out to be one of my most complemented items.
It's not really a flattering shot, but I didn't wanna overload your post with front and back pics.

 Both hancock fabrics and hobby lobby have 99 cent pattern sales. There is usually a limit to how many you can buy, but they have patterns for everything- doll clothes, civil war era undies, slipcovers, and of course anything you wanna wear. It's taken me a while to be able to read patterns but I am getting much better. BTW- If anyone knows anything about interfacing, I have a question. If I attach interfacing to a stretchy fabric, will it stay stretchy?

I used McCall's pattern 5474. I bought this pattern because the skirt was the right length and it had a yoke. I now have a flawless yoke that I can attach any skirt to.

This was clearance fabric from last year. I don't think I will have to limit this skirt to just St Patrick's. Do you?

Please ignore the purple shirt. That's what i was sleeping in.

I used view A, yoke and gathered skirt, but I used a knit waistband so I wouldn't have to set a zipper. I can't find my zipper foot.

This isn't actually my daddy's shirt, but my friend's dad. It is the typical men's dress shirt. I basically messed with it until it submitted. Before y'all start going nuts on the large sleeves, check out the second photo. See how cute they look the vest?

I am reconstructing an old-school, super-soft sweatshirt into a dress. The bottom band is now an empire waist and i am adding white sweatshirt as the skirt.
What I need help with is the sleeves. I am COMMITTED to the neckline because I want it to look like it came from an old sweatshirt. But the sleeves aren't as important. I was thinking I would leave them long until it got warm here in east Texas (should be about 3 days) and then chopping them off. Or maybe I need to finish the skirt to have a better perspective? I am completely unsure.
I will listen to anything y'all have to say and later I'll post it in completed projects.

Reply it up, folks! while I work on the skirt.

I finished his last night while taking breaks from studying. I have three tests in the morning and a paper due. It's like the teachers get together to crush our spirits before spring break. If you sat down to do it all at once it would probably take about an hour at most.