amelie's dishtowel dress

"You're becoming quite a sew-er." the Sugar Daddy remarked the other day. Mostly because he doesn't use words like seamstress.

"Oh no no no." I replied. "What I'm doing isn't really sewing." I explained.

"Oh really? Cuz that dress looks like it was sewn to me."

He's such as smart aleck.

I guess I have been dabbling. And if I call it dabbling then my major mistakes don't count. And no one can expect anything really great from me.

So here's the scoop on the dishtowel dress. A person doesn't have to look very hard to find vintage embroidered dish towels in antique shops.  And they are cheap cheap cheap and oh so very sweet.

I bought the dishtowel for this dress for $3. It is a large gauzy cotton towel that is 30 X 34 inches. The embroidery is impeccable. It is in great condition.  I knew I wanted to find a way to turn it into something for the Bird to wear.

I sewed a linen ruffle along the edge of one end and a pink trim along the other end. I folded the towel in half with the linen end a little longer.  I sewed along the fold leaving a one inch seam to thread elastic through.  Then I placed right sides together and sewed the back seam together but I made sure the top layer with the pink trim was left open so the dress had a certain apron feel to it.

Then I found some fabric scraps and made ties. I sewed the ties onto the front of the dress and they tie behind the neck.  I used up the rest of my scraps and made a bow for the back.

It took me about a half hour. Maybe less. Again- I only sew super easy.  This is almost more simple than the pinafore dress.

And cheaper.

You could easily leave off the ties and use this for a skirt for an older girl or trim the fabric to make it shorter for a little girl.

It is going to make the prefect little beach dress this summer. I love that the whole project only cost around $4.  I'm itching to get out and find more dishtowels!

Happy sewing! Share your photos with me if you end up making one!