Want to know what to do with all that quilt fabric? Well – out of all the myriad projects that could be made – why not some baby clothes? Most people have a family member or friend who has a baby…somewhere.

• And baby outfits don’t take much time.
• And the baby outfit doesn’t take up much fabric.
• And babies don’t care too much about the color choices, although the parents might 😉

My great-granddaughter Amiyah [yes you read that right; no I’m not old enough] just turned one recently and I wanted to make something for her that she and her parents would enjoy. Naturally I had to be able to whip this up in a hurry as well. I decided I wanted to use a bunch of quilt fabric I had in my stash along with some ribbon and trim.

After digging through my patterns, I found this gem:

It’s been awhile since I actually sewed an outfit. And this was so much fun!! Anyone who knows quilting and sewing – the best part of the project is picking out fabric! Well, at least it is for me. I have all kinds of design possibilities dancing in my head. Oh the options of delight!

I wanted to combine several fabrics – each one being one or two pattern pieces. The key with any outfit or quilt project is pulling fabrics that will work together, especially with what I was considering. So I pulled together this pallet:

My granddaughter happens to have been choosing pinks for Amiyah to wear lately, so I figured, why not? I practically never use pink in a quilt project (it’s just not my thing). Plus I had plenty available from a recent project that didn’t get used. (Okay, I do use some pink in a quilt.)

Here’s the ribbon and trim:

This is vintage rayon grosgrain ribbon trim and rayon hand-dyed ribbon.

Once I had all the parts picked out – I could get into the pattern pieces. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve made it a practice to cut out my pattern pieces and then iron them flat with a cool-ish iron (no steam). Plus I wash and press out all my cotton fabrics with a steam setting to get out all wrinkles before I start pinning pattern to fabric.

Now that the pattern prep work was complete, all that was left was to cut, mark where directed, and sew!

I’m really happy with the results and so if my grand-daughter and her mother-in-law 😀 — Woohoo!

Here’s the dress with the little pantaloon shorts:

Here’s the Pinafore with the pantaloon shorts:

Okay – just a couple more images – both dresses side by side:
 
I liked this pattern because you could combo the dresses together or wear each one separately, plus the pantaloon shorts go with both. It’s great for several seasons – even though Amiyah will probably outgrow these before winter this year. I went with the largest size in the pattern to allow her room to grow, which turned out perfect.

I hope you enjoyed my stroll into using the quilt fabric stash in baby clothing. I know one can go nuts with piecing out fabric to make up the pattern pieces, similar to what Rachel Clark has done in her quilt outfits. And if you ever want to do that for the fun of it – go for it! For me, I felt that for a baby outfit, and the short time it would be worn, it wasn’t worth it to me to put in that much time and effort. AND – I’m sure Amiyah will have fun in the outfit, regardless. [She’s sooo cute! Can’t wait to get a picture of her wearing it!]

😀