The Vintage Crafter's Challenge. Danielle from My Sparkle.

Today's guest poster is from Danielle at My Sparkle.  We found her blog through a guest post at No Big Dill where she made this darling romper.  And her photography is a-maz-ing.  Really.  Go see her.


Here's Danielle....
So when I was little I really loved vintage things. Clothes, jars, houses.

I thought I was maybe the only one-- like vintage treasures were my little secret. Ha.

Then I grew up and realized I am not the only one who loves treasures from the past. Duh.

And then I meet girls like Elizabeth and Liz and realize not only I am not alone in my love for all things vintage, but that there are folks out there who are so much better at gathering and creating beautiful things with vintage inspiration and supplies in their everyday lives. These girls somehow capture the essance of what makes vintage special and bring it out beautifully in a modern way. These girls are good.

And as you can imagine I was quite pleased to play along with this challenge. Thanks girls!

So here's what is fun:
Opening your mailbox and finding an envelope full of vintage fabrics and notions.
Like Really fun.

My package included:
1 fat quarter of white floral fabric (a vintage sheet I am guessing)
1 vintage brown and white polka dot handkerchief
1 8x10" piece of pink crinoline (I think?)
1 8x10" piece of green and brown gingham
1 package of pink rayon bias tape
1 package of green cotton bias tape
2 adorable brown buttons

When I first opened my package I was immediately drawn to the brown and white polka dot handkerchief, the buttons, and green bias tape. Something about their muted vintage colors just got me. I knew I wanted these to be the stars of my outfit and set to it, dreaming up a way to use them to their maximum advantage. I kind of wanted to just use these and make something for my little guy, but I also wanted to use as many of the supplies I'd received as I possibly could (what fun would the challenge be if I didn't?!) and there were pinks and florals dying to be included.

Inspiration is a funny thing. The color palate in my little package reminded me of the green and brown eggs our chicken lay and just couldn't get chickens and eggs out of my head.

So a chicken dress it was. Plus I thought an applique would a great way to pull in all the fun (but little) fabrics I had to work with.

And if that chicken looks familiar, its because I totally nabbed it from Boden.

And on the back, a gathered pocket for gathering eggs. Makes perfect sense right?
(I basically used this method for making the pocket.)

The dress is essentially a pillowcase dress. Sorry no tutorial! But I am confident that you can find one if you try;) I will say that the secret to making a cute pillowcase dress is to curve the neck instead of cutting it straight across. It will make a huge difference in how the dress hangs.

The egg pocket works like a charm!

I ended up using all of the materials I was given except the pink bias tape because rayon isn't very washable and clothes made for three-year-old girls need to be washable. I also added a small amount of white linen from my own pile to the bottom, and a tiny piece of gray cotton to the chicken to pull out the gray in the floral fabric on the main body.

My daughter likes it. The chickens like it.

Success.