Made By A Fabricista: Floral Spring Dresses & Swimsuits

Hi Fabric Mart friends! I’m excited to bring you my girls’ new spring outfits that I created with just $50 worth of fabrics from Fabric Mart! This month, I was drawn to two gorgeous florals - a floral border print cotton poplin, and a floral swim fabric. Once I settled on these two fabrics, I hunted for some coordinates and found some pink waffle weave sweater knit, and a solid pink and solid olive swim knit. It can be a little nerve racking while waiting for fabric to arrive, that your fabric actually does coordinate, so I’m thankful that Fabric Mart’s photos are always so accurate, and the colors all worked perfectly together!

I decided to work on the most time-consuming thing first, the dresses for my girls! I used the Peony Patterns Lantana Dress with a sharp collar and vintage length skirt. I spent a bit of time playing with the templates on the fabric, trying to find the best placement for the floral on the dress. I decided to cut the fabric on the cross-grain to achieve this, since the print runs down the center between the selvedges. I’m so happy with how this turned out!

Since weather can still be a bit unpredictable this time of year, I wanted to make a cardigan and leggings to go with it. Jalie’s Helene cardigan pattern was perfect for the waffle knit. I really love the ingenious pocket design in this pattern, and of course, my girls love that they have pockets! This waffle knit is super soft as well, so my youngest stubbornly refused to take her cardigan off during our photoshoot until the very end! (Lured with the offer of a piece of candy!).

I made each of my girls a pair of Jalie Stella leggings with the pink swim knit. This knit was a bit transparent, so it will be fine under dresses, but for other purposes it would need a lining. The leggings are very easy and perfect for beginners! With just one pattern piece, you’ll have lots of leggings sewn up in a few hours!

Finally I made swimsuits! I loved this floral so much - I just had to have it! I have always been drawn to the Boo Designs Infinity Leo - although it’s intended for gymnastics, it works just as well as a swimsuit. This is a more complicated swimsuit to make - I wouldn’t suggest beginners tackle it, but if you’ve made a couple of suits before, this is a super fun one to wear!

The Infinity Leo comes with various design options - I used the sleeved crop and high rise bottoms for my eldest, and the sleeved Leo for my youngest. The pattern has instructions for lining the front, but with the design in the back, it’s not possible to line it in the same way. For the back, I use quilt spray basting spray (one of my favorite things of all time!) to baste the back lining and main fabrics together, before treating them as one piece. The suit is sewn in such a way that all the seams are hidden inside the lining, so it should be really comfortable to wear!

I hope you’re inspired to create some lovely spring outfits this season!