This sweet new fabric collection called Songbird Serenade from Poppie Cotton has the loveliest soft colors and prints. Of course my three-year-old was entranced by the “birdie” fabric, so I decided this would be a good time to try an idea I had in mind. An idea for a challenge. Could I make a dress out of a fat quarter bundle?

I picked the light peach color way, set aside two FQ for the skirt, and cut the bodice front and back out of two different FQ. I used the same pattern as I did for her sailor dress for the bodice, but with different sleeves.

The skirt I didn't use a pattern for, just gathered the width I had into the waist. The collar I cut from a 5^th FQ for a bit of contrast.

When assembled, I think it was a success! Using the same color palette keeps it from being too crazy, but the patchwork element is still there, and super cute for a little girl. It's fun to get a garment of this size out of the smaller quilting cuts, just as a fun little challenge.

As you can see from her face, she quite likes her new dress.

Showing mommy the birdies.

But there are so many other pretty prints and colors in this collection, I had to showcase more of them, so I also made a table runner.

I've seen vintage quilts with applique petal fans and always think they are so cute, so that was my inspiration. I cut out my own chunky orange peel shaped template, and attached them to background blocks with a dense zigzag on the raw edges. Super easy and fast.

The diamond shape was appliqued by hand.

I hand quilted it, which went pretty fast. I wanted to quilt it as larger blocks of 4 instead of individual blocks, so after going around the petals and doing the decorative corner bracket, I added a few rows around the exterior.

It's a generously sized runner, with 8” blocks. I just love the soft pastels.

It was a great pleasure to make these two ideas come to life in such pretty fabric. 

Check out the other lovely stops on this blog tour – and make sure to ask your quilt shop about this beautiful fabric collection!