Playing in Polka Dots: PR&P Week 2

So this week the theme for PR&P is Polka Dots and Stripes  I made a goal on January 1 to use all of the fabric in my stash in the upcoming year.  The only fabric shopping I will allow myself is from the remnant basket at Hancock.  The.  Only.  Now, combine that with my lofty goal of sewing along for PR&P and that's a pretty tall order.  Why is it I love fabric when I buy it only to bring it home and have it be not what I was looking for?

A quick review of the stash revealed polka dots in Christmas colors (red and lime).  Let me clarify--a quick review of the knit stash.  When making play clothes for the kids I almost exclusively use knits.  I hang out in knits, so shouldn't they?  Isn't climbing on top of the piano much easier and more fun in knits?  I also do not sew for the sake of sewing.  If I make an outfit, I intend for it to be worn.  Over and over again.  But I digress. 

I just love this princess castle knit which I originally bought for a nightgown for Princess but thought maybe Zuzu should get some too.  I decided to make a bodice that would read polka dot by reverse appliqueing circles.  Hmm.  17 reverse appliques later and I guess it's okay.

My favorite aspects of the dress are the sweet lettuce edge bow and the details at the neck and cuffs.  The bow is made from two strips of jersey laid on top of each other and then run through the serger using wooly nylon on the rolled hem setting.  Helga and I are still getting used to each other but she's definitely falling into line better.  Woolly nylon is awesome in a rolled hem.  The ladies at the store said to only put it in the upper looper and leave all the other threads alone.  I tend to put the wooly nylon in the upper looper and the same color regular serger thread in the lower looper.  I think next time I'm sewing a colored rolled hem on a colored fabric I'll change the needle thread too.  There's a little bit of white peeking through.

The cuff/neckband are my new favorite way of finishing a knit edge.  It is a combination of two different techniques I read but didn't pin.  I'm so sorry that I can't provide you with the original sources--let me say that these were not my ideas.  I finally found the original author of this technique here.  Scroll down to item 2C.  This time I pinned it and saved it under my Peachy Things.  To make the bands I folded my band piece in half and sewed it to the inside of the garment.  Then I flipped the band to the right side of the garment and set my zig zag to a wide and long stitch with a crazy high tension setting.  You allow one of the legs of the stitch to fall just off the outer edge of the band.  The high tension draws in the stitch and scallops the edge of the band.  I love it.

I made the leggings with an upcycled tshirt and some ruffle knit from the remnant basket (both from the stash).  I think I have like $1.50 in them.  Love me a bargain. 

I thought I had planned my photo shoot so well--I finished the dress last night so I would have an awake model in the daylight.  It has actually stopped raining after floods of epic proportion and the light was okay.  I collected the baby's favorite toy as a prop and enlisted sister to help make her dance and laugh.  No dice.  Here are some of the lovely shots I got...

In the end she stole Sissy's Barbie (and Brother's tablet) and played on the steps.  And I couldn't shoo the dog away from the steps.  That's her favorite lay in the sun spot.  Okay.  Our cupcake set will have to wait.