Repurpose a pilly tee

Do you have one of these shirts? The ones you buy at Target and just love because they are soft and comfy and only $8. I have a bunch. They are a staple in my mommy wardrobe. But when you wear and wash an $8 tee, it starts to get pilly after awhile. Which is to be expected because what do you expect for $8, but still a little discouraging all the same.

I hate throwing things out. Well, actually I love throwing things out since I hate clutter, but I hate throwing out something if it can be useful. Especially my old favorite tee. It's like a good friend that has seen me through many a mommy catastrophe. And I just love the gray and white stripes! I decided to repurpose it somehow.

I peaked inside the tee. See that fabric in there? It's perfectly pill free! Who knew?

I cut the shirt into two pieces so that I could use it to cut out a tunic for Gracie girl. I just turned the fabric over, so that what used to be the inside of the shirt was now the outside of the tunic.

And then I cut out my pattern and sewed up the tunic. 

I used some light pink knit from my stash, because I am just loving gray and pink as a color combo right now. But this woman's size small tee was plenty big enough to make a complete size 2T shirt.

If you want a great tutorial for making a raglan shirt, I used this tutorial from Craftiness is not Optional. It's a great one!
I just lengthened it a bit so it would fit more like a tunic and last a little longer for little miss perpetual growth spurt.

I added a bow at the collar. It hides the seam where I sewed the neckline together, and looks cute to boot. :)

Now Gracie has a soft and comfy new tunic, which actually looks new! 

And it was free.
Free is good!

A Victorian Valentine's

This weeks theme for the Project Run & Play's Sew Along Challenge is a Valentine's outfit. And when I thought about what my outfit would be, I kept drifting towards the Victorian era...fancy dresses, lots of lace, fur coats, cupids on doily hearts.

When I spotted a roll of light pink stretch lace in the remnant bin at Joann, it was a done deal. So I made a modern and more playful take on a Victorian inspired outfit....

First let's talk about the dress! I sewed up a City Dress, using a pattern by Too Sweets Etsy shop. This is one of my absolute favorite dresses. The drop waist is just darling on little girls with a too cute belly like my little girl's. It's a cute and comfy dress made with stretchy knit, so it has a t shirt feel, but with much more style and cuteness factor. I highly recommend you pop over to Too Sweets and snag a pattern up for yourself!

To get the lace overlay look, I cut out 2 of each pattern piece, one with the lace, one with the plain pink knit. And then I just sewed the dress as though the two pieces were really one piece. It took a little bit of extra time to ensure that all the pieces lined up, but overall it was fairly simple.

The collar and sleeves are finished with knit bias and I used a zig-zag stitch around them both to add a little detail. {I learned this tip from another blogger I found through PR&P, but now can't find my link to them. :( Let me know if it's you!}

And to ensure the dress kept a youthful feel, I added this handmade polka dot fabric bow to the drop waistline. It may be my favorite part!

Or maybe my favorite part is the faux fur capelette? 

I mean really, who doesn't love a ridiculously cute but ridiculously impractical piece of children's clothing? I actually had this "faux fur" fabric in my sewing room from who knows what project. But there it was so I couldn't resist. 

I drew up the pattern myself using the dress as a guide for the neckline and length. I lined it with the pink polka dot, and added pink bias tape ties to the top.

And last but not least, I made some lace trimmed leggings to complete the outfit.

I just made white knit leggings and added a band of the stretchy lace to the bottom. And you can see that I tried to complete the outfit with a pair of sparkly mary janes. Because clearly nothing says Victorian more than glitter.

Apparently Gracie disagreed, because she wouldn't keep the shoes on.

But I think the rest of the outfit was a win...

Because a cute AND comfy fancy Valentine's dress? That's right up this busy little girls alley!

Now if you'll excuse her, she's going to go figure out what's inside that box...

Don't forget to check out this weeks link party!

Giveaway winner!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Share the Love giveaway! I was totally blown away by you all!

We had exactly 100 entries! But there could only be one winner, and rafflecopter chose....

#57. Rachel Brown!

Congrats Rachel, you should receive an email from me shortly!

Thanks again everyone for sharing the love!

Friday Firsts

Tonight will be Gracie's first night with a babysitter. Cue the "hallelujah" chorus behind me!

I love this little girl, but I love her daddy as well. And I am pretty excited for a dinner out with just him.

So to ease the blow for her, I made her a new shirt.

I don't think she sees this as a fair exchange. 

But I just love this heart print knit. I bought it to make infinity scarves for my shop, which sold out faster than I could sew them, so I guess others must have loved the print too! I had enough of a scrap left, which was destined to be a comfy new tee for my little miss. The cuffs and the collar I cut from an old ribbed tank.

I'm not sure what it is about a chunky toddler in a soft and cozy tee. But its pretty irresistible!

Maybe its the big belly? The chubby little baby hands? Mmmm. Just makes me want to snuggle her up.

Which I think I will get back to, because she will probably appreciate that more than a new shirt. ;)

Have a great weekend all! 
And don't forget to enter my "Share the Love" giveaway! You can find that post here!

200 Likes "Share the Love" Giveaway!

I am so thrilled to have so many new friends over at my facebook page, LittlePinkPeony, and to say my big THANKS! I decided to do a GIVEAWAY! Because who doesn't love a giveaway?

Want to enter? It's pretty simple! "Like" the Little Pink Peony facebook page to earn one entry. {If you already like the page, that still counts! :)} Share the Little Pink Peony facebook page on your own facebook wall to earn you two entries!

Enter through Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winner will win one "rose garden" Valentine's dress in the size of their choice! {3 months thru 5T}.

This giveaway will run now through Sunday, January 27th at 11:59 pm. Good luck!!

Oh BOY! PR&P Sew Along, Week 3

Here we are at week 3 of the Project Run & Play Sew Along challenge! BOY week! And I have a confession to make. Last week when I posted about the stripes and polka dots dress I made for Gracie, I may have said there is nothing cuter than a little girl in stripes. I misspoke. There is something cuter than a little girl in stripes.

It's a little boy in stripes.  

How have I held off on boy clothing for so long?

I get asked quite frequently by my mom friends & customers when I will start selling boy clothes in my etsy shop. Well, I have a second confession to make. Boy clothes scare me. How do I make an outfit my own without making it over the top? You can't just add ruffles and bows and call it a day.

I tried to keep it simple by making a couple of basic pieces, but also adding a few details to make them cute. Or am I supposed to say handsome? I am new to this boy stuff so forgive me while I figure out the correct lingo.

So for this busy little man, I wanted to make him a practical outfit that he could actually get some use out of. I thought some sweat pants would be perfect. I made a basic pair of sweats out of navy fleece, but added the green and white track stripe down the side. {Track stripe? Too 1970's? Again, still figuring out this lingo.}

It was a very easy addition, which I thought about doing a tutorial for, but really...it would be a very short tutorial. I just cut strips of interlock and sewed them down the sides. Just remember to do this before you sew up the legs. Since knit fabric doesn't fray, there was no need to iron the edges under. 

Then there's his top. I actually had made this as a traditional t-shirt. Well let me tell you, something went astray. When I brought it over to Blake's house to try it on, low and behold, no amount of stretching or pulling was getting that shirt over poor Blake's head. So I moved onto plan B. 

I raided the hubby's closet for a polo. After studying how the collar was constructed, I made a button placket on the front of the shirt, and out came a mock polo. 

I wish I could say this was easy for me. It was not. I had to redo the placket 3 different times. But I loved the challenge it gave me, and am happy I stuck with it. There are definitely imperfections, so don't look too close, but for making it up as I went along, I was excited at how it turned out. 

I love that I got to use two of my favorite prints - stripes and gingham. The fabric does all the talking with boy clothes! No need to add buttons or bows or ruffles or sashes. It's kind of like back to basics with the boys. And that was fun! The stripes may look familiar :) but I love that I had all the fabric for this outfit in my stash already! 

So I think I have officially gotten over my fear of boy clothes. My head is already spinning with ideas for a Little Pink Peony boy line for summer....so stay tuned for that! :) 

And stay tuned for the next few weeks of this Sew Along challenge...it has been so fun creating a new outfit each week that I can't wait for next week. Which is a Valentine's Day theme. So excited to show you what I have in the works! :)

Now head over to this weeks Link Party and check out all the other inspiring creations!

{52 Dresses} Feature...and a GIVEAWAY!

I am so beyond excited to share this with you! Amy Earle from Simply B Photos contacted me a while back with an invitation to join her {52 Dresses} project. After hearing about the project, I gave her an enthusiastic YES!

You can go to her blog to learn more, but the general gist of the 52 Dresses project is that Amy is collecting dresses from different clothing boutiques, and photographing her darling daughter in them. One per week, hence the title.

And at the end of the year, the dresses she collects will be donated to little girls in need in Johannesburg, South Africa! It was an amazing feeling sewing this dress knowing it will light up a little girls life just a little to have a pretty new dress made with love.

Amy chose my "Miss Betsy" dress for her daughter to wear for this photoshoot. {This specific dress is sold out now, but am working on relisting it soon!} Considering her daughter's name is Betsy, it was a perfect choice!

She was kind enough to share with me the photos from her photo shoot. Simply stunning.

And the awesome thing about the {52 Dresses} project? Each week Amy includes a GIVEAWAY, and this week you have the chance to WIN a FREE DRESS from my Etsy shop. Who doesn't love free stuff?! It's super simple to enter. Just hop on over to Amy's blog, HERE, and follow the rafflecopter instructions on how to enter! 

[And then be prepared to spend hours on her site drooling over her gorgeous photos. I totally just did!]

Thanks so much Amy for the gorgeous photos and for 

including me in such a heartwarming and wonderful project!

Stripes & Polka dots {Project Run&Play Sew Along}

Let me start off this post by saying how humbled and honored I was to learn this morning that I had won Project Run & Play's sew along challenge last week! {You can see the Anchor trench coat here.} I had so much fun creating, sewing, and blogging again. It was just the jump start I needed to dust off this little blog! So thank you so much for all the kind words from everyone! There were so many great entries, so please make sure you pop over to the link party and check them all out. So much inspiration!!

This weeks challenge was to create a garment using stripes & polka dots. Oohhh, now they were speaking my language. I just adore stripes and polka dots. And a little girl in stripes and polka dots? I couldn't even contain myself.

I have to confess that I actually started creating this dress for the first weeks challenge, the pattern remix challenge, using  the Party Dress pattern from the Cottage Home. But after I paired the stripes with the dots, I decided it was actually perfect for this week's challenge instead.

I made the dress out of a jersey knit with wide navy and white stripes. It has the perfect amount of stretch for this little busy body to run and play in. 

I made the dress the same as the pattern, except because I used jersey knit, I only used one button in the back, as the bodice can stretch while dressing. I just love a big ol' fabric covered button, don't you? {I also think I need a lesson in how to tie sashes on a toddler who refuses to sit still for longer than .3 seconds!}

The red and white polka dot sash and bow on the neckline and fabric covered button in the back are such a fun contrast to the big stripes! It's like the fourth of July in January! And since this IS January, and it IS still winter here in PA, and despite my desperate attempts at keeping my little girl little, she might not fit into this dress this summer {sniff, sniff...} So I decided we should probably find a cardigan to go with it, so she could get some use out of it now.

I found this red long sleeved shirt in our hand-me-down box, and thought it would be a perfect knit cardigan. So I simply cut it down the middle, hemmed the edges, and voila! It literally took me less than 5 minutes! 

A great use of those extra hand-me-downs or thrift store finds. {I might even look for a few shirts in my own closet to do this to!}

I also made the headband to match. I happened to have the red polka dot elastic in my drawer. I bought it months ago at Hobby Lobby on clearance. It is baby elastic and super soft, which is the only way my girl will tolerate a headband, so it really was perfect for this project! It was almost easier than the cardigan. I just sewed it together and made a quick bow out of ribbon.

So that's that! Thanks for stopping by and sharing Gracie's new outfit with us!

I had so much fun putting together this sweet little outfit for this sweet little lady! 

Next up...BOY week!

Don't forget to pop over to this weeks PR&P link party to see all the other awesome striped and polka dotted entries!