Sewist’s Name: Emily Stortzum from Louisville, Illinois
Type of Project: Dress
Name of Pattern: Original Design
Featured Date: 06-05-24
My name is Emily Stortzum and I am from Flora, Illinois, but I have lived in Louisville, Illinois for the last eleven years with my husband and 3 children. I taught myself to crochet from pictures in a crochet book when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, now 10, and absolutely fell in love with the process of making things with some yarn, a hook and my two hands. Shortly after, I wanted to broaden my horizon and taught myself to knit. I have crocheted and knitted many items for my kids over the years and have enjoyed every minute of it, but I have always wanted to sew as well.
I have had a crochet yoke dress picture I found on Pinterest saved to my phone for many months now that I used as my inspiration and really just “winged it” when making this dress for my 14 month old daughter, Hattie. I first made the yoke by crocheting 6 granny squares with a cotton/bamboo blend yarn and slip stitched those together. I then extended the front upward with alternating rows of double crochet and crossed double crochet to give more coverage. As for the sewing, I watched many tutorials before I began and finally dove in with a light cotton bed sheet that was thrifted. I knew I wanted thicker straps that I could tie into a bow so I roughly made a pattern by taping together 3 pieces of cardstock end to end, using a yardstick to measure and a dinner plate to trace the rounded ends haha! I cut this out and pinned it to my fabric on the fold. I did this twice for 2 straps. These are not sewn to the yoke, but rather pulled through the double crochet and tied so that I can extend the dress as she grows.
For the skirt, I simply doubled the width of my yoke and gathered it with 2 basting stitches and sewed this onto my yoke. I estimated the length by comparing it to a dress already in my daughter’s closet. I did a small rolled hem at the bottom. This was my very first sewing project and I am so pleased with how it turned out! My lines aren’t the straightest and my measurements might not be the most exact but I had so much fun making this and have so many more projects planned.
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Great job, Emily! The dress and the baby are as cute as can be!
absolutely love this dress design. your story of teaching yourself to crochet and knit are wonderful. moms can do so much to lovingly add to their children’s wardrobe.
love that you thrifted the material, i do that all the time, and even cut apart and repurpose larger clothing items. keep going, baby Hattie is the cutest of models.