Upcycled Valentine’s Day Outfit

I saw a tutorial for making the ruffled heart on this Valentine’s Day dress recently and decided to check my stash of old t-shirts to see if I could make this.  Turns out I had a grey maternity cardigan and a grey t-shirt I could use for the dress.  And then I decided to make leggings to go with it from a pair of black maternity leggings.  I’m loving that this outfit is totally upcycled.  I like being able to reuse old clothes, and I get a kick out of knowing that baby girl is wearing my old maternity clothes.

For the dress, I used the city dress pattern from Babes of Sweets.  I really like the pattern, and the fit was perfect.  I find t-shirt patterns often need tweaking to make the neckline fit correctly, and dress patterns often need tweaking on the length.  But I did not need to tweak anything on this pattern, and it fit the baby girl perfectly. 

As I was working on this dress, I thought about a year ago when I was sewing with knits, and what a hard time I had.  I feel so much more comfortable sewing with knits now, and I’m actually finding knits much more forgiving than wovens.  A little tug here and there, and it somehow still works.  You don’t always get that with other fabrics.

My favorite part about the dress is the sleeves.  They are the bottom half of the sleeves from the cardigan, so I just cut them out and attached them to the dress.  No other sewing required.  I love that they work so well as sleeves on a baby dress.

My second favorite part of this outfit are the heart-shaped knee patches.  How crazy cute is that!?  (Not my original idea, mind you.  I saw it here.)

Btw, the skirt of the dress is a different shade of grey than the top part.  The cardigan and t-shirt were not the exact same shade of grey.  But I think it works ok. 

Knit clothes are so comfy; I put the kids in them so much more than the woven fabrics.  They are perfect for running around and having fun!  So, I will definitely be making more knit clothing this year.