Little Geranium Dress in Double Gauze

I have a cute baby dress sewing project to share with you today. One of my good friends had a baby girl a little while ago, and I wanted to make her something I hadn’t made before. I hunted around the internet a bit and found the free Little Geranium Dress pattern from Made By Rae.

I also had just the right fabric–a 100% cotton kitty-cat polka dot double gauze from Cotton + Steel, left over from making this shirt back in 2016.

The Little Geranium Dress comes in one size–newborn (0-3 months).

Little Geranium dress, front view

It’s a great way to give this pattern a try, which can be purchased in larger sizes with additional details from the designer. In the newborn size, the pattern creates a sleeveless dress which buttons up the back and has patch pockets, whose sole purpose is ultimate cuteness.

Little Geranium dress, back view

This dress can easily be worn in summer as is or in cooler weather over a long-sleeved onesie with a sweater.

It only takes a little bit of fabric and sews up quickly. The bodice is lined, which makes everything look nicely finished.

I used some vintage buttons from my stash for the back, which seemed just right for this dress. I even put my knots on the outside so that they wouldn’t irritate sensitive baby skin.

I tried to sign the inside, but I think I need some finer point fabric markers.

I got a few recommendations from my mom, but if you have a favorite fine-point fabric marker for signing quilts or garments, please share in the comments!

Making this dress was a fun, quick project as well as a great scrap buster.

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Quick and Easy Baby Gift: Rae’s Basic Baby Pant

Today I have something a little different for you.  Baby pants!

One of my best friends is having a baby soon, and I wanted to make something special for her soon-to-arrive little boy.  I had just finished the coziest pajama pants for myself (yet to be blogged), and I had some leftover fabric.  It was perfect for some soft and cozy pants for a tiny baby.

A little search on the internet led me to this free pattern:  Rae’s Basic Baby Pant from Made by Rae.  It comes in a roomy newborn size, so I decided that I would make a few from any cute boy flannel I had, and would buy some little newborn onesies to go along with them.

I found two pieces of flannel in my stash:  the Cloud9 organic flannel I mentioned from Pintuck & Purl designed by Eloise Renouf and a faux bois flannel from Joann Fabrics.  Both are from several years ago, so the fabric isn’t around anymore (unless Joann’s has reprinted).  They are favorite prints of mine that I have been saving for just the right projects.

The pattern itself was really quick and easy to sew.  I changed a few things from the printed directions, but not many.  I used French seams, since I didn’t want any fraying on the inside that could wrap around little baby toes.

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Then I basted the side seam allowances down where the elastic casing would be at the waist to make it easier to thread the elastic through.  Finally, I hemmed the bottoms by pressing up 1/4″ to the wrong side, and then pressing up that much again to the wrong side, enclosing the raw edge.

If you follow the tutorial on Rae’s blog, she tells you to hem the bottom (it’s just missing from the PDF instructions) and includes lots of pictures for all the steps.  She talks about sizing, noting that these are roomy enough for babies wearing cloth diapers, and goes over ways you can adapt the pattern for slightly older babies.

This was a really quick, easy, and satisfying sew.  I haven’t been inspired to sew baby gifts much in recent years, but I think this might be my go-to sewing project for baby gifts for a little while.  The cuteness is real!  😉

Before I go, I have a question for any other bloggers out there.  Where do you store your pictures?  This blog is a free WordPress blog, and I ran out of picture space long ago. I’ve been storing my photos on Flickr because you could have a free account with unlimited space.  However Flickr has been sold, and in order for me to keep using Flickr (and not have half my photos deleted), I need to pay a yearly fee.  With the exception of about four people, the only people who save my Flickr photos or follow or message me on Flickr are definitely not people in the sewing community.  Let’s just say I’ve had to block a lot of sketchy accounts.  If I could keep my photos private and still have them show up on the blog, I would.  Because I don’t make money with this blog, I’d prefer not to pay to keep it going.  Is there some other obvious way to store photos?  What do you do?  Do you pay or not?  I will if I have to, but if I can keep blog production free, that would be great.  Thanks for any help you can give!