Hobbies and Crafts

Finishing the July 4th Baby Dress

I got red thread and started with the ribbon
I got red thread and started with the ribbon

 

So, I finished the dress I started for my baby’s first 4th of July! It was rough. I became really frustrated with the ribbon. First, I pinned it in place, then I stitched around it. Not only did my stitch not come out straight, I managed to somehow sew the bottom of the Onesie™  under the skirt in an odd way.. It wasn’t pretty. THEN, I realized that the ribbon was fraying. GAH!

 

I took a deep breath and got out my seam ripper. I played a game of Pandemic with Tiger Boy and Wining Husband while I removed the ribbon. Then I tried an experiment on the ribbon I removed, which was now too short to resew because the freying was so bad.

 

Alright, now the ribbon is in place!
Alright, now the ribbon is in place!

 

I recalled, from the depths of my memories, that my mother would use a lighter to prevent the ends of ribbon from fraying. I got the lighter out, created a flame, and heated the end of the ribbon – success! The deterioration stopped. I remeasured out the ribbon, burned the ends, and pinned it carefully to the dress, ensuring that the Onesie™ snap section underneath was free to hang. Then, I sewed along each edge of the ribbon. Success!

 

Finally! The belt is finished!
Finally! The belt is finished!

 

My next source of frustration was the flower, which initially I had planned to sew on. I decided that was a really bad idea really quickly. So, like the ribbon, I removed it. I decided instead to use my handy glue gun set to low heat. It took forever to heat up (can you tell I get impatient?), and then I used it to put the glue on the bottom of the flower, then positioned the flower on the ribbon. Now things were getting really close to done – yay!

 

I pinned the template into place.
I pinned the template into place.

 

Since I was back on a roll, I decided that I wouldn’t wait too long to paint the dress. I cut out the star pattern from the

 

I used a pencil eraser as a paint brush.
I used a pencil eraser as a paint brush.

 

Cutsey Crafts post on eraser-painting. Then, I realized, “I don’t have freezer paper.” Oh well, I just used straight pins instead. Once I had the pinned star in place, I went and dug out my paint. I followed Jessica’s directions, and soon, I had the star painted.

 

The dress is finished!
The dress is finished!

 

I wasn’t sure whether I liked the finished project. I looked at it. I squinted my eyes at it. Then, as the paint dried, I realized I did, in fact like it. I hung it up on a hanger so it would finish drying. If I had it to do over, I would have waited to hem the dress until after I’d sewn the ribbon on, since to me, it appeared to be a bit lopsided.

 

The last challenge was when I was trying to take a picture of Baby Girl modeling her 4th of July dress! She was so active and hyper! So, I took a bunch of pictures of her.

 

Here’s one:

 

Wearing the DIY 4th of July dress I made her
Wearing the DIY 4th of July dress I made her

 

Here she is when she decided she wanted to stand:

 

Standing up in her Independence Day dress
Standing up in her Independence Day dress

 

And again, looking surprised, when I forgot to turn the flash off:

 

2014-07-03 19.50.44And here she is, looking attacking the stars on her swing:

 

2014-07-03 19.57.50

 

And finally, there’s this one:

She is having so much fun in her new dress!
She is having so much fun in her new dress!

I think she likes it! I do too! She’s all ready to celebrate her first 4th of July.

 

 

Ronda Bowen

Ronda Bowen is a writer, editor, and independent scholar. She has a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Northern Illinois University and a B.A. in Philosophy, Pre-Graduate Option, Honors in the Major from California State University, Chico. When she is not working on client projects from her editorial consulting business, she is writing a novel. In her free time, she enjoys gourmet cooking, wine, martinis, copious amounts of coffee, reading, watching movies, sewing, crocheting, crafts, hanging out with her husband, and spending time with their teenage son and infant daughter.

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