Don’t worry, everything I post this month won’t be about my kids. There has been some making going on...not as much as I’d like, but there has been some making. In fact, there are plenty of things I’ve made that I never blogged about and some things in the works that I started a looooong time ago that I never did quite finish (the story of my life!).
What I’m currently working on is a dress for Ceci. It was my goal to have it finished for her 2nd birthday. She turned 2 last Monday, the 28th. It’s still not finished. The sad part is that it’s soveryclose!!!
Guess what? I finished it!! I really was so very close. It literally took me about a half hour to finish it. Why I couldn’t do that last Sunday afternoon the day before her birthday I don’t know. For some reason I had it built up in my head that it was a huge thing. It wasn’t. It still needs a button closure, but I'm still calling it finished.
My inspiration for the dress was the Mini Boden Everyday Jersey Dress. Love that dress! It looks so comfy and easy. I couldn’t find a pattern for anything like that, so I used elements from various patterns, sliced & diced, blah blah blah, and came up with this. The closest thing I did find was the Ice Cream Dress by Oliver + S, but it's not quite what I wanted. I didn’t have that pattern and was too cheap to buy it so I made do. I must admit, I like the challenge!! It isn’t exactly like the Mini Boden dress, but close enough. I already have some mods in mind for next time.
Y’all know how much I love hand stitching & applique, so I had to come up with a little design for the yoke. I think it turned out sweet. Really, can you go wrong with french knots? I did learn that my embroidery stitches need some work, but oh well. I guess I’ll have to work on that! I’m always up for more practice in that department.
The dress was made entirely from stash & scrap fabrics, all knits. After getting it mostly assembled I decided to line the skirt because the gray jersey fabric was super thin and needed some weight. It feels nice and durable now. I wasn’t planning to line it in a contrasting fabric, but that happened to be all I had on hand. A happy accident :) It was my original intent to add some simple stitch lines along the bottom and around the sleeve and neck, but after trying out a test row, I decided that it was too much. I think it looks fine just as it is.
All in all, I think this little dress will get lots of use. She can wear it over a long sleeve shirt & leggings in cooler weather, or by itself when it’s warm, which it is about 95% of the time here. It’s so satisfying to come up with an idea and carry it though, don’t you think?
Okay, on to the next project...in case you were wondering, she LOVES it!!!
