How to dress up these dresses

seeker

Thu, Apr 09 2015, 12:57 am

My girls were gifted matching solid lavender dresses. They are light cotton, summery, everydayish, and the right size. But SO plain! Literally solid t-shirt material with zero design or pattern or trim or anything. I am not the most fashion-forward but even I don't see how you're supposed to just stick that on a kid plain. Of course I don't have quite enough fashion sense to know what to do with it, though. Ideas please? Must remain comfortable to wear, kids are a bit picky about comfort.

DrMom

Thu, Apr 09 2015, 1:17 am

I'm not sure how old your daughetrs are, but I don't think children need loads of accessories to look nice. Can't they just use the dresses for playing/casual wear? They sound comfy.

If you really need to accessorize, can they wear funky hair accessories?

seeker

Thu, Apr 09 2015, 1:54 am

I was thinking maybe an applique, painted-on design (is there a fabric paint that won't make the fabric stiff?) or something. I wasn't thinking accessories, they're only preschoolers. But the dresses are REALLY plain. I actually had a bunch of solid-color dresses for them this winter but for whatever reason they didn't feel as blah, maybe because velvet/velour looks classy on its own, or dark colors don't seem as empty, but the plain lavender cotton looks bare to me.

amother

Taupe

Thu, Apr 09 2015, 2:20 am

When my girls were small I used to sew quite a bit.
Sometimes I'd find a pretty blouse & look for fabric to make matching skirts.

If I found a cute t-shirt with short sleeves, I'd add cuffs to match the skirt.

I'm wondering if you could add some trim to the cuffs & hem. You can iron-on some of them, or sew by hand or machine if you're handy. There are so many pretty ribbons.

There are also applique patches - flowers, butterflies etc which can probably be done as iron-on. You could even coordinate the patch with a trim on the cuff.

I'm remembering now, one really cute repair I did. DD had a cute dress with an overall design of small flowers. Let's say it was a pink tulip with green leaves. And somehow it got a bad rip or stain in a spot that could look cute with an applique. So I found some solid material in that pink and in that green (I think I raided my neighbors scrap bag) and I appliqued a large matching flower right over the blemish. I thought it was quite cute!

seeker

Thu, Apr 09 2015, 2:34 am

Wow, amother (why are you amother? So crafty and cool!) I never thought of putting a design over a stain/rip! How many favorite outfits could I have saved if I were a little craftier!

So where would I find iron-on trimmings? Is this the kind of thing I could get at Michael's on the cheap with a coupon? I don't know how much this project is worth to me, but it would be nice to have the dresses a bit less boring since we own them anyway.

Since you're so handy, is there any easy way to shorten sleeves without sewing? I don't have a sewing machine and I'm not very good with a needle. I find that all the dresses run very short (don't know if it's my kids or the styles?) so sleeveless dresses often look fine if I just size up, but long-sleeved dresses fit perfectly when the sleeves are a couple of inches past their fingertips. I don't really feel like hiring a seamstress to hem up every single long sleeve we own. I should probably ask this in a separate thread, but is there any better solution to this? I'm afraid of making the whole dress unravel if I try to chop them down.

amother

Taupe

Thu, Apr 09 2015, 2:42 am

Quote:

So where would I find iron-on trimmings?

I'm not sure, though Michaels definitely has a nice selection of ribbons. You can see if there's iron-on stuff in the sewing aisle, and ask the staff if it can work for ironing on an applique.

(Michael's is great for many crafts, but for most of my sewing needs I go to a more sewing-oriented place.)

As far as sleeves, depending on what the inside of the fabric is like, you can just make neat cuffs. You can tack them in two spots so they stay up, by sewing a few stitches between the top of the cuff and the inside.

I would also suggest looking into sewing courses - at your local Y or high school adult education etc. Just learning the basics like hems can save you so much money (and time going to the seamstress.)

(I'm anon because if you know me you might recognize some of my projects...)

zaq

Thu, Apr 09 2015, 2:54 am

For no-sew mending/hemming, use Stitch Witchery, a brand name for fusible web tape. It looks a little bit like very dense white spiderwebs and is used to fuse two layers of fabric, like a hem or an applique, using the heat of an iron which melts the web into the cloth. Fray-Check is essentially a liquid glue that you apply to raw edges of fabric to keep it from unraveling while you work on it. Both are available at craft or sewing stores.

For very easy decoration for a person of little artistic ability (like me!), draw something simple like a cartoon flower or butterfly with dimensional fabric paint available at craft stores. Practice a bit first to get the hang of squeezing out the paint as you draw. You can draw freehand or sketch the design first and go over it with fabric paint. If you like the look of embellished collar and cuffs, draw a geometric pattern like scallops, zigzag or Greek key first and then fill in more detail if you like it more elaborate.

kollel wife

Tue, Apr 14 2015, 11:54 am

If you go into a store like Michaels (in Lakewood Stitch and Sew is great) take the dress with you and look for applique or flowers that you can glue on with a glue gun (for no sewing).

amother

Taupe

Tue, Apr 14 2015, 6:02 pm

DD bought DGD a cream jumper with black lines. The zipper was, for some reason, light aqua, and she got a light aqua t-shirt and a rope trim, which she used to make a hair bow and a belt.

I crocheted belt loops for the belt out of fine black yarn.

(unfortunately she got black socks. I thought she needed matching light aqua...)

Lady Bug

Tue, Apr 14 2015, 6:35 pm

I would leave the dress as is and accessorize with fun socks, hair accessories, maybe necklace. I happen to love the clean, plain dress look. It had some fashion value as is!