Guest blogger ~ Kelly from Sewing in no man's land

I'm beyond excited to say who is my First guest on my blog today she is my all time favorite blogger she is amazingly talented, kind hearted, and her babies are the cutest little kiddies I've ever seen. It's Kelly from sewing in no man's land if you haven't checked her blog out yet you just have to she has some AMAZING tutorials for girls, boys and women. You will not be disappointed she is also an amazing photographer, I can not thank you enough Kelly for sharing this with me and my followers today..




here is Kelly...



Hello readers of If Life Was Like a Cupcake! I am Kelly from Sewing In No Mans Land. I am so excited to be able to share a tutorial today. Isn't Amanda a sweetheart? I am soooo glad everything turned out alright with Sora, that sounded super scary. When Amanda asked me to be a guest blogger I wanted to put something together that she could make for her two adorable girls. But since it is 95 degrees here and cold most places in the states it provided a bit of a challenge. I decided to go for a dress that could be worn in both Summer and Winter, a Swinter Dress (name inspired by Phineas & Ferb ha!).

If you are in colder climates you can wear it with tights (she is totally wearing them you just can't see them) a little under shirt and a sweater. If you are like us and in a warm climate year round you can plop on some sandals and be out the door:


What you will need:
1.5 yards Main fabric (the fabric that will be seen)
1.5 yards Lining fabris (should correspond with your main)
Sewing machine
Iron
Scissors
The pattern for the top can be found HERE. The dress bottom I will describe how to make but you don't need a pattern. This is for a 18 month toddler. To enlarge I would copy it going up by 20% for every year you need (aka if you have a 3 year old I would copy it at 120%). Obviously before you cut fabric hold the pattern up to your chica and make sure it looks right. Once you have it the right size and cut out you will need to cut 2 of your main and 2 of your lining on the fold. Once you have done you can cut your skirt bottom. How I did mine was the waist was 3 times the length of the waist portion of the bodice. So I measure the bottom of my bodice, times'd it by 3 and that is how long the skirt needs to be. The length is up to you. I wanted mine longer so that it kept her little leggys warm should she need it. But you can do it tea length or knee length per your needs. Just measure your cuties legs and go with it! You will need to do this on both the lining and the main. With the remaining fabric cut 4 long thin rectangles. These are going to be the  straps/ ties. How thick and how long is totally up to you. If you want to really go wild you could do two on each side for a total of 8! I am going to do that next time.
Now that you have all your fabric cut out lets get sewing! Take your bodice top piece of both your man and your lining. Pin them right sides together:

Once you have them pinned sew the side edges together. Nothing else just the side edges. Now grab your two skirt pieces. One at a time fold your skirt pieces in half so that right sides are facing each other:

Once you have it pinned sew up the side. Repeat with your second skirt bottom. Now along the top raw edge of your skirt sew a gathering stitch. Gather up the skirt until it is the same circumference as the bottom of your bodice. Do this with both skirt pieces

Now, with your skirt right side out and your bodice wrong side out, slide your bodice top over your skirt bottom so that the top of the skirt and the bottom of the bodice line up (these parts will be right sides together).

close up it should look like this;

Sew along the raw edge, attaching the top to the bottom. Repeat this with your second set of pieces. Now you should have what sort of look like 2 dresses

Now we are going to make the straps. grab your four pieces rectangle pieces:

Fold over the bottom of one of the edges

Now fold over and iron both sides

Now fold the entire thing in half and iron. Now sew along that open edge closing it. Now you have a strap. Repeat the process with the other three long rectangles. Once you have all four, take your "two" dresses. Turn the dresses so that right sides are facing each other. Line up the top of the dresses. Youa re going ot sew straps in all four corners. Slide a strap in between the two dresses on each end of the top

Continue doing this with all four straps and pin everything into place. Once you are done sew all the way around the raw edges.

Now all you have to do is hem your dress and you are done!!! wasn't that super easy!

I really love how it turned out. I was worried at first that she wouldn't be able to run, but she does just fine:

Hopefully your cutie will be a little less grumpy when she gets to wear her's ha!

I hope you enjoyed making it! Come on over to Sewing In No Mans Land and enjoy our 12 days of christmas that is starting Monday! Thank you Amanda!!!