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5 Summer Dresses to Sew for Yourself
May 8, 2019

The summer is almost upon us (I can barely believe it!) and I’m already looking forward to watermelon picnics, pool parties, and wearing my easy breezy summer dresses every day. I’ve made many dresses over the years, and these five simple summer dresses are all easy to make, easy to wear, and will become favorites in your closet.

Drawstring-Box-Dress-One-Little-Minute-Blog-1

Tutorials + Illustrations

Each post contains a full tutorial, with illustrations or photographs, walking you through the process of sewing them up. All of these summer dresses make great beginner sewing projects, because of their simple lines and minimal design.

Five Summer Dresses to Make- One Little Minute Blog-51. The Drawstring Texas Summer Dress

This dress has been a long-time favorite of mine. I still get questions and comments about it every time I wear it, which is the sign of a good handmade piece. It’s best made from a lightweight cotton or gauze, and the tutorial teaches a pretty awesome little trick for finished interior seams.Five Summer Dresses to Make- One Little Minute Blog-42. The Pocket Tee Shirt Dress

Of all things easy to wear, a tee shirt dress comes up high on the list. It’s cozy like your favorite tee, without the complication of adding something on the bottom! This photo shows it belted, but I usually wear it without. I love this fun chartreuse  jersey knit with a chambray pocket, but any variation would be amazing. The tutorial shows another fun tee-shirt dress variation, too. Two-for-one!
Five Summer Dresses to Make- One Little Minute Blog-33. Drop-Waist Dress

This little number uses some fun, unexpected materials to make a fun and feminine summer dress. The drop-waist and paneled bodice give it a tailored look, while keeping it comfortable and easy to move and play in. 

Five Summer Dresses to Make- One Little Minute Blog-24. Summer Chevron Dress

This was one of the first full dress tutorials I published, and I still love the finished look. Doesn’t it make you want to take a beach vacation? The lines are interesting, the elastic waist simple and comfortable, and the tabbed sleeves finish it all off. You don’t need a special pattern to sew this one, because you use one of your own favorite tees as a starting place!
5 Summer Dresses to Sew for Yourself - One Little Minute Blog
5. Watercolor Caftan

Another simple sew, with big impact. I made this one last year and have worn it as a dress for a luncheon and a cover up at the pool. I love the lightweight fabric, and the loose, bohemian style. The interior tie helps keep some shape, and is a fun trick for other projects as well!

So there are some ideas to start your summer sewing off right! What are you going to make first?

5 Summer Dresses to Sew For Yourself- Live Free Creative Co
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    Welcome! I’m Miranda, the maker mama behind Live Free Creative Company.

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    May you find what brings you joy and love it boldl May you find what brings you joy and love it boldly. 
May you raise up yourself alongside your family, to seek wholeness and contentment in the present as well as the future. 
May you stay curious and engaged in difficult conversations, navigating relationships with yourself, others, and the whole of society with patience and grace. 
May you find the stillness that whispers a confirmation of the truth of your inherent worthiness, beyond and beneath anything you do or do not accomplish. 
May you serve as a soft landing and supportive launch pad for your sisters across the world, knowing that when one mourns, we all mourn. As one rises, we all rise. 
This is my prayer for you this Women’s Day. 💛

Photograph by the lovely @megancarsonphoto
    G I VE A W A Y⁣ 🎉 ⁣ One of our favorite way G I VE A W A Y⁣ 🎉
⁣
One of our favorite way to have adventures from home this year is reading, and the @lilyhuckleberry series by my friend @thislittlestreet is the best! Bright, hopeful illustrations, introductions to new cultures and ideas, and an overall message of bravery, courage, and love. 

Audrey and I thought it would be fun to join forces for an adventure giveaway this weekend. One winner will receive:

📚 The entire (3 book) Lily Huckleberry Series
💕A Less Stuff, More Adventure tee in any size/color
🏷 Handmade Leather Luggage Tag
📒Adventure Notebook 

To Enter⁣
✨Like & Save this post⁣
✨Follow @livefreemiranda +  @thislittlestreet ⁣
✨Tag friends in separate comments, each tag = 1 entry⁣
✨EXTRA Entries: Comment and tell us where you want Lily Huckleberry to travel next! ⁣
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✨Closes Sunday, March 7th @ midnight EST. ⁣
✨Open to US only, not sponsored or endorsed by Instagram
    You know what most mom’s want? More sleep. And t You know what most mom’s want? More sleep. And the chance to sit down to eat a meal. Also an occasional break for rest, relaxation, and personal development.

You know whose job it is to give that to us? OURS!

Who else is going to mother the mothers?

In today’s podcast episode, I share some ideas for how to get in the mindset to better take care of YOURSELF, so that you can be fulfilled in your daily life. It’s up to us to advocate for ourselves, ask for help, and maybe even adjust (or release) our expectations for more peace.

Listen in and pick one small way you can better take care of yourself this weekend. You deserve to feel whole and well.💛

#livefreecreativepodcast 

Photo by @hannahpaigephotography
    I know I don’t want to do it all. Sometimes, tho I know I don’t want to do it all. Sometimes, though, it can feel like if we’re not doing everything that our friends, family, neighbors, or people on social media are doing that we aren’t doing enough. 

Here’s the important truth: when everything is important, nothing is.

Choose what feels right for YOU, and settle into a life that meets your needs, fills your heart, and inspires your soul. ✨

It’s meant to be an experiment, a work in progress, an unfinished journey. 

What means the most to you, today? What will you make space for?
    We’re looking forward to a whole week of sunshin We’re looking forward to a whole week of sunshine in Richmond, and I am so excited to spend more time outside! We have tried to get out, even in the cold and rain, and it’s so much easier when it’s ☀️💃🏻🎉. 

Here are a few of my favorite places to adventure with the kids (or by myself!) in and around the city: 

• Pony Pasture Trail
• Forrest Hill Park Trail
• Maymont 
• Belle Isle (have you seen the 🚲 course?!)
• Buttermilk Trail 
• Beaver Lake Trail (in Pocohontas State Park)

What is your favorite way to get outside?

#lessstuffmoreadventure

(Adventure Tees available for kids and adults in my shop!)
    My new approach to homeschooling: Have fun with My new approach to homeschooling: 

Have fun with my kids. That’s it!

We’ve worn through the systems, rhythms, and schedule of all being home, together, all.the.time. Something has to give, and so the new goal is just to try to stay connected, hopeful, and enjoy these next few months as much as possible. 

Learning can happen anywhere, doing anything. It has been fun to watch what the kids want to do when they’re no specific plan. (Stop-motion videos! Paper puppet shows! Neighborhood bike rides!)

Admittedly, I’m super jealous of all of the kids going back in person all over the country while we are not. So, just trying to hang on for a few more months...

What’s happening with school in your neck of the woods?

#ourrichmondfixerupper
    Now —> Then 3 years later and I love our little Now —> Then

3 years later and I love our little house more every day. (And after 12 months of staying home all. the. time, that’s saying something. 🙃)

When we choose #ourrichmondfixerupper we decided to experiment with LESS square footage, and LESS storage space, choosing instead to be MORE intentional about what we owned and how we lived. We’ve never felt more at home with ourselves. 💚

Now, if my kitchen could always stay this clean, I’d really be onto something 💁🏻‍♀️
    Do you ever wait to FEEL like doing something befo Do you ever wait to FEEL like doing something before you actually get started? I’ve learned how often, leading with ACTION inspires the MOTIVATION! 

This simple script flip helps me move forward even when sometimes I don’t totally feel like it— and I often find the fulfillment and excitement in the doing. 

This is step 6 in the six-step process for Making It Happen that I shared in this weeks episode of Live Free Creative Podcast. 🎉

If you haven’t yet tuned in, give it a listen and let me know what you think! 

I’m curious if you are more of a thinker or more of a doer first? What motivates you to get started? 

#livefreecreativepodcast
    Feeling wrapped up in hope after a week with a lit Feeling wrapped up in hope after a week with a little sunshine☀️, a little socialization 💚(in-person at the park and online for book club), and a shot in the shoulder. 💃🏻

For book club we read Anne Lamott’s Notes on Hope and these little bits stuck in my heart: 

“As we develop love, appreciation, and forgiveness for others over time, we may accidentally develop those things for ourselves, too.” 

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

“Life is richer when it is simple.”

“Hope and peace have to include acceptance of a certain impermanence of everything.”

“We have all we need to come through. Against all odds, no matter what we’ve lost. No matter what messes we’ve made over time. No matter how dark the night, we offer and are offered kindness, soul, light, and food, which create breath and spaciousness, which create hope, sufficient unto the day.”

💛
    Our #littlefreelibrary is open for visits! 📚💙 

The sunshiney days of this week were just the push we needed to finish this project up and plant her in front of the house! We’ve been giddy every time someone walking by has stopped to browse and take a book. 😍

I’ll have a full rundown blog post up next week about how we turned an old kitchen cabinet into this cute lil bookstop. In the meantime, today’s podcast is all about how to Make It Happen, and I use this LFL as an example of the steps I use to bring an idea into reality. Listen in to #livefreecreativepodcast episode 133 on your favorite podcast platform. 💃🏻

(ps I was SO excited to find the perfect place to use up the final couple feet of cactus wallpaper from #ourrichmondfixerupper hallway. Isn’t it perfect out here? 🌵❤️)
    Dusted off the old RN license, and it’s my first Dusted off the old RN license, and it’s my first day back at work! 👩🏻‍⚕️ I’m super excited to spend the next couple months administering covid v*ccines a couple days a week so we can wrap 😷 this 😷 pandemic 😷up! 

Between the quarantine fatigue, social isolation, cold winter, ongoing homeschooling, and generally upside-down life this last year I am READY to get out and do something that feels like direct positive movement forward. There is light at the end of the tunnel. ✨

Wish me luck (it’s been 6 years since I donned a pair of scrubs, and they feel a lot like the athleisure I’ve worn this whole year 😂💁🏻‍♀️).
    Learning to look inside for the answers is one of Learning to look inside for the answers is one of the keys to a joyful, fulfilling life. 👀

It’s something we aren’t often taught— we learn to look for answers online, in research, by consulting friends and family and even social media. But those answers might not be the best for you. And only you will know.

Wake up to the power of believing in your own intuition, intention, and inspiration. ✨

Here are a few of my favorite ways to learn to listen to myself: 
• quiet walks alone without headphones
• guided meditation (I use @headspace)
• journaling (I use @promptlyjournals)
• occasional shopping pauses
• masterminding with friends who help me reflect on my own, personal desires
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