Birthday Dress

Book:  Sweet Girl Clothes

Size:  120 cm

Fabric:  Cotton calico and white cotton pique for the yoke

This dress was a gift for my daughter's 6th birthday.  Just this summer we moved to a farm so I've been a bit busy for sewing, but she had to have a dress dress for her birthday and I had to try out this new book.  

I don't have my sewing room set up yet so most of it was done on the living room floor with young children crawling and running around and a on top of the workings.  This does not make for very accurate sewing or tracing.  It turns out I made a large error in tracing the wrong neckline for the dress, I traced  style S not D.  I did correct the mistake but it did cost me some time.  Speaking of time, I thought this dress would be a quick sew-up but I was wrong.  I had it cut out the night before and was hoping to sew it up in just two hours in the morning, it actually took me about 4 1/2 hours and kind of wish I spent more time playing with my daughter on her birthday than sewing.  But she was happy with the product and wore it two days in a row.  

I had originally planned to use a brown and white cotton pin stripe but the barely 6 year old girl objected.  I've learned to sew to their liking otherwise I waste both time and resources, she picked out the yellow calico from my stash and we both were pleased with the result.

This dress is two pieces, a straight line dress with yoke and skirt apron on top.  We used fabric covered buttons for the yoke.  I can't say it was a joy to sew up with limited time, but it was a joy to see her celebrating in the finished product.  I'm sure this dress will see many days of wear!