toddler summer dress with silhouette heat transfer border

I had a piece of white cotton that I'd accidentally spilled some hot pink powdered clothing dye on. Not enough to ruin it, but enough to make it's use very limited. Then I noticed that the hot pink heat transfer material I got from Silhouette was the exact same color. Problem solved.

I've been wanting to use this shape/border on something for a while, so I decided to make a little girls' sun dress and use this shape as a border along the bottom. To save heat transfer material, I duplicated my border and cut both pieces along side each other. Next I weeded, or removed the unwanted pieces, from my plastic sheet with a sharp tool. Then I cut them apart.

For the dress, I measured my toddler model for the length, width, armholes, and neck I'd need. Then I doubled and folded my fabric in half and cut a simple dress shape out of it, which gave me two identical pieces. For the back piece, I cut a slit in the middle of the neck about 4 inches long. Before I sewed the dress together, I laid my heat transfer pattern on the front of one piece. The nice thing about it is that it is sticky, so it stays in place. I laid the second piece on top of the first and matched up the second piece of the pattern so they'd match when I sew the side seams.This was easy because I could see the first shape through the light-colored fabric. Then I ironed it on each piece the same way I applied the heat transfer material to my t-shirts the other day.

 I finished my dress by finishing the arm and neck hole and slit seams, then sewed the pieces right-sides together. I did a wide hem along the bottom and voila, sweet sun dress in less than an hour!

 

Ooh, wouldn't this shape be cute on a pillow? Or burp cloths? Hmm, I might have to put one more project together before tomorrow when the Silhouette heat transfer material sale ends! If you love this shape, get the Silhouette heat transfer material bundle, which includes the most amazing digital cutting machine and three rolls of heat transfer material for $219 ($125 savings!). Or if you have a Silhouette, all their heat transfer material is 25% off through May 25, 2011. Just use code LITTLEBIRDIE.