Apron dress for toddlers

So, I made another apron dress! I can see hate mail coming my way soon for neglecting all the boys, London in particular, but I figured I had the pattern on hand and material at the bottom of my stash, so I just went with it ...  Click HERE for a winter version of the same dress made from upcycled sweaters.  

I don't have a tutorial, because there are so many other great momma crafters, who do that much better on the internet (check below for the list of free patterns you can download) ... It's more about the idea and showing you how you can re-use and recycle stuff that's already in most closets. With that said ... the green corduroy is from Walmart and I am not sure about the cost, but I remember it being really cheap. I wanted to line the dress, for which I used daddy's old work shirt, otherwise destined to the garbage bin (I also cut off the buttons for future use). The applique is made from scraps and the ribbon on the top of the birdhouse is from the handle of an Anthropologie shopping bag. (I am trying to resist becoming a pack rat, but I couldn't throw out such a pretty piece of ribbon :)

Here is a full view of the dress  ... 

 Work in progress ...

Bird detail

I wake up excited at 7 am, give Lola the surprise dress I've worked on all night, she takes a look and swishes it right then left and says with a disappointed face: 

"Mommy, this dress no good! It doesn't twirl" 

My favorite model and hard to please customer. 

Toddler dress patterns I lolove from Prudent Baby:

* Pillowcase toddler dress 

*Snap wrap dress  (I adore this dress! It's on my sewing list)

*Party dress 

And another free (similar) pattern by snazzlecraft 

If you'd like the applique pattern, please leave me a comment!

See you later alligator! 

Have a lolovely rest of the week, 

LV