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Girls· Patterns· Ugly Pattern Party

Ugly Pattern #1—A Tip Toe Through The Tulips

Ok, so when Elizabeth and I were planning out our ugly pattern party I scheduled myself to go first because I didn’t think that I could wait any longer to share my very favorite “ugly” pattern.
I bought it for a quarter (along with some other lovelies) in a strangers basement where Elizabeth and I ended up one evening.  (Long story.)  Anyways, when I saw this pattern I totally had to buy it.  That was a few years ago and may have actually been what sparked the idea for this series because we’ve been talking about it ever since. 
So without further ado here is my favorite ugly pattern:
I CAN NOT look at this pattern without laughing. 
Seriously.  Look at those kids faces.
I don’t know which is funnier—the girl hollering for us to save her from her mothers tragic taste in children’s clothing or the little boy who seems to be saying, “Well, if you think she looks bad you should see what my mother is working on for me!”
It’s bad and funny but there isn’t that much to work with. So I had to…
Sorry, I was laughing again.

Like I was saying, there isn’t that much to work with.  But I really do think that you can find something redeemable AND usable in just about any pattern—even if it’s a tiny tot tulip bikini top.

 So here’s what I decided to do:
First, take the bottoms and sew them up to use for bloomers.  (Which I did and I followed the original instructions which had me make them in a way that I had never made bloomers before so that was interesting.) 
Second, take the exact tulip pattern from the top and use it as an embellishment on something else.
And that something else happened to be the top from this pattern:
 (Which was coincidentally also purchased second hand and for less than a dollar.)
Now I had a top, an embellishment, and some bloomers.  And when I put them all together I had an outfit for Ruth to wear this summer that looks like this:
 I made it a size larger than what she currently wears because it’s only March and she won’t be wearing this little number for at least 4 more months but it fit well enough for a photograph today.
Which reminds me.  Originally I had planned to try to replicate the photo on the cover of the pattern but when we started trying to get Ruth to make that face this is what we got:
 A velociraptor.
Sooooo we quit trying to make her look like the girl on the cover and decided to stick with something a little less scary and a little more charming.  Like a tip toe through the tulips.
 Yea.  That’s much better.
Oh!  And I forgot to tell you that the tulip on the dress is also a pocket which will probably be put to good use this summer.

So that’s that.  My favorite ugly pattern and what I made with it.
I love thrifted patterns.  They have not only taught me how to sew but they have made sewing clothing affordable for me—at 25 and 50 cents a pattern I can afford to try as many different styles and techniques as I like. 

Especially if I combine a thrifted pattern with thrifted fabrics and notions, which I did on this dress.
(The main fabric cost $1.  The tulip fabric came from my scrap bin costing $0.  And, the buttons came in a random sewing junk bag for 75 cents.  Making the grand total for this outfit, after adding in the price of the patterns $2.50.  Not too shabby.)

Hooray for thrifting!  Hooray for sewing!
And…LONG LIVE UGLY PATTERNS!!!!
-liZ

PS—In completely unrelated news—I am writing this post the night before you will read it.  When you do read this I’ll be at the hospital with baby Ruth.  She’s getting tubes in her ears and I am freaking out.  I know, I know kids gets tubes in their ears everyday.  But those kids aren’t my kids and those days aren’t today and I just don’t like stuff like this.
I’m sure I’ll up date how she is doing later in the afternoon over on Facebook.
Wish us luck.



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Comments

  1. Welcome to the Mouse House says

    She is SO cute!!
    And I literally lol’ed when I scrolled down to see the little bikini top on that poor girl. It almost looks like frog handprints in a very unfortunate spot.

    Good luck with the surgery!!!

  4. 2littlehooligans says

    oh sweetie, we will be praying for you and ruth. and im the same way when it comes to my kids. and this post by the way is hilarious! oh those tulips. i guess kids clothes have always been risk-a. i never knew:) hugs!

  5. Mie@Sewing Like Mad says

    Ohhh THIS is funny! I have never seen anything like it…hilarious!
    And yeah I totally get what you are saying with tubes….so many of my friend’s kids have had them done but I would be freaking out for sure!! But it does help to think about it happens EVERY DAY to tons of kids and they are all fine afterwards!

  6. Mae says

    Surely I had to comment and commend both of you for finding SOMETHING redeemable about that pattern. I scrolled up to it about four times thinking there was no way anyone could possibly ever ever ever find that cute or useful, other than to make a joke of. haha But,as always, i was surprised! I’ll be scooping up the ugliest pattern I see to find out what fun I can have!

    Mae

  7. Sweetbug Studio says

    The photo looks like the kids are looking in a mirror. She is horrified at what she is wearing and the boy is saying “What in the heck did they put on you?” I love the morning laughs. Your daughter is so cute in these pics. The attempts to make her look like the pattern photo are too funny. You’re mighty clever to have come up with the cute outfit you did! God Bless Ruth during her surgery.

  9. Bratling says

    They still sell that sundress pattern. And I’ve seen uglier than the tulip bikini! 😀 One of my fav crack patterns is an 80s McCalls Enchanted forest pattern that features a jumper that the bib is a gigantic daisy. And lately, Grace has been begging for the 40s and 50s patterns that have decapitated animal heads as pockets and overall/jumper bibs. (To which my response is that they’re creepy and I won’t do it.) I could prob dig these up if you’d like ’em. The animal heads, anyway. Whether or not I can find the giant flower dress is a bit more dicey! Good luck with the surgery. 🙂

  10. Suzanne Winter says

    I am so sorry about the tubes – I hope you are doing ok this morning and you and sweet ruthie have a good rest of the day!!! Now onto that pattern – HAHAHAHAHAHA, love your remix of it… was the coverup robe and button up shirt included in the pattern – those are great staples in my book ;o)

  12. Dianna says

    That is the funniest pattern ever! I wonder what was going through the designer’s mind at the time . . .

    Good luck with the tubes today. Sometimes I think these things are harder for the moms than they are for the kids!

  14. Rachel says

    Very cute little dress, I also like to put pockets on things for my little girl, thinking she will like them. She is usually excited there are pockets, but she doesn’t tend to put things in them unless I remind her. Kids are funny.

    I had tubes when I was little; I got them when I was about 2, because my dad didn’t want me to get them sooner. My twin sister got them the same time as me, and we went from not talking to starting to talk. I had to get them replaced when I was about 10, and it didn’t hurt then at all. Good luck with the surgery, and I hope your little girl is back running around soon!

  19. Simple Simon & Co says

    Ruth doesn’t talk either right now and we are hoping that the tubes are going to help! Thank you for sharing your story!
    -liZ

    PS—Grace likes pockets to—on everything but then she doesn’t use them either….

  20. Simple Simon & Co says

    Ruth doesn’t talk either right now and we are hoping that the tubes are going to help! Thank you for sharing your story!
    -liZ

    PS—Grace likes pockets to—on everything but then she doesn’t use them either….

  21. Sabra says

    bwahhhahahahhahah! That pattern is.awe.some. I’m kinda disapponted you didn’t make a tulip bra for your baby, but I guess the dress is pretty cute 🙂

  25. Gina says

    Ohmy goodness, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse than the Easter bunny tie shirt you pull out 2 tulips on a shoestring bikini!! You sure did cute it up! Ruth looks more like her big sis everyday. Hope the tubes went well and you are all home recuperating!!

  26. Christi says

    Liz, you crack me up! I love the tulip pocket, great job. Hope that Ruth is doing well and that you had a good doctor for the surgery!

  27. Christi says

    Liz, you crack me up! I love the tulip pocket, great job. Hope that Ruth is doing well and that you had a good doctor for the surgery!

  29. Christie says

    Oh wow, that pattern! The tulip bra thins is hilarious!!! You did great with it:). I hope everything went well with the surgery today!

  30. Mary Jo says

    Velociraptor. haha! I totally lost it there! Such a surprising and appropriate descriptor! (But how can she still look so cute roaring??) The dress turned out beautifully. Love how you wrote up this post too. Hope everything’s going well tonight at the hospital. 🙂

  31. Falafel and the Bee says

    My favorite photo is the velociraptor one-LOL. She is absolutely adorable.
    I saw that everything went well with her ear tubes on FB. I am so glad for you all.
    It is really scary to see your little one be put under. I freaked out and sobbed uncontrollably when my little one needed an MRI. Gah. So rough on us, and she didn’t remember a thing.

    I couldn’t find an ugly (enough) pattern, yet, but I did find a pattern for MC Hammer pants for kids!!
    I am so very tickled by it. I am going to sew it up (making a few adjustments because it is too large for my youngest and too small for my oldest), and work out the kinks.
    Eeeeeeee!
    ~Michelle

  32. Laura @ ON{thelaundry}LINE says

    Ahaha how could you not make her baby tulip pasties?! 😉 Love the velociraptor face!
    Saw your fb post, I’m all nervous now for Nicole to be put under next month (ok I totally was already nervous) for a sleep dentistry appt… she needs caps on all her bottom molars and she has panic attacks in the dental chair so sleep dental it is. She’s pretty emotional so I wouldn’t be shocked if she woke up fighting now that you’ve mentioned it!

  33. Michaela @ coveredinmodpodge.blogspot.com says

    I love the velociraptor face. My little one makes a similar face and it just makes me giggle.

    I know exactly what you mean when you said that not your kiddo does this everyday so its scary as all get out. I think all moms feel that way when their kiddo is going through something medical like this. My little miss was up and running like her energetic little self the next day. I hope its the same for your little Ruth!

  35. LiEr says

    Liz! Am late checking in, so hoping your little Ruth’s procedure went perfectly and that she’s all comfortable and good now? Where do you FIND your crazy patterns? They’re a hoot! And am I the only one who thinks the fine print is the funniest bit? This one reads, “Towels not included” because, yeah, you’d want them if you were wearing the itty bitty tulip bikini. That said, the first thing that came to mind when I saw the pattern cover (when I’d recovered from rolling about, guffawing, I mean) was, “Hey! Mermaid bra! Change tulips to seashells and add mermaid tail!”

  36. Mel says

    I have two shoe boxes of ugly patterns I deemed too ugly to redeem. Going to have to go thru them now… will probably pick something less than unredeemanble and just blog it…

    But I can tell you what that boy is saying! Hey! Are those booblets?

    And she’s saying, Ooh the horror!

  37. Jessica at Me Sew Crazy says

    oh my goodness, I was dying laughing over that tulip top!!! How did I not know you were running this ugly Series?! So happy to be able to read blogs again! This is FABULOUS!!! ANd PS – Ruth got so big! Such a cutie!!!

  38. Stef says

    Yes, Ruth is so big and adorable. I don’t see velociraptor at all – it’s all cuteness!! And I love what you came up with – that pattern is bad, really bad.

  39. Sew Much Ado says

    Okay seriously, that tulip “thing” is hilarious! I wonder how many little girls actually wore it back then?! This is such a great series!