Pintuck Dress

What I'm about to show you has been quite an experiment/learning process for me:  the first pattern that I have ever designed and drafted myself.  And somehow, it seems to have turned out exactly how I imagined! (With the exception of the wrinkles.  There were no wrinkles in my imagined dress).

For now, for the lack of a better name, I'm just calling it the Pintuck Dress, because, well, it has pintucks. Lovely pintucks that I'm quite proud of.

So just a few notes on the details.  It's a narrow A-line dress with pintucks, Peter Pan collar, and flutter sleeves, and piping.  It is constructed in three main sections, the bodice, skirt, and hem band.  My other version is color-blocked, with the skirt portion a different fabric from the bodice and hem band.  I love the simplicity and straight lines of the dress, as well as the vintage feel.  The dress was drafted using size 2 measurements, but is really about a 3T.

And here's the dress in action!

It fits my daughter perfectly, and is even comfortable enough to run around in.  I have to say, I'm really proud of how this dress turned out, and I can't wait to do some variations on it.  I'm also in the beginning stages of making it into a retail pattern, but it will probably be some months before it would be ready.  So if you would be interested in being a pattern tester and/or purchasing this as a pattern, please continue to follow our blog and look for future announcements.  And please, these are all very new skills for me, so any encouragement is appreciated!

Kids Clothing Week Sewing

The spring Kids Clothes Week sew along is this week and I completed two summer tops for the kiddos and a top for me this week.  This top is a vintage pattern, Simplicity 9095 made from Anna Maria Horner voile and chambray.  

The lines remind me of the Made by Rae Ruby top with the exception of a button down placket in the back.  My daughter picked out the buttons.  

This voile is so light and airy, perfect for summer tops.  I hung on to this fabric for about a year for some crazy reason and thought it was about time to cut the fabric!  That's a motto I have to say to myself sometimes "cut the fabric, cut the fabric!"  Another motto of mine for nicer fabrics is "enjoy the fabric, enjoy the fabric!"  

For the 21 month old I made this little dress.  Its Simplicity 3509 and is out of print now.  Thanks to my tendency to buy a couple of the same patterns when they're on sale I had an extra copy for this dress.  Its the 18 month old size which fits my daughter perfectly, she's kind of trim but tall.  

We went on a picnic and took these pictures.  My girls love to find a water source and chunk rocks and sticks into to it but as my Mom would say "I never saw a kid that didn't like to do that."  My littlest ended up in a pile of washed out rocks digging with a stick...in her new dress no less!  But I'd much prefer my children to be happy at play and dirty than concerned about their clothing.  

We spent part of our time eating, part of our time in the creek and the rest of our time feeding this beautiful (but territorial) swan.  

I made a top for myself as well out of the same voile.  Its the Made by Rae Ruby top I mentioned earlier with the Made by Rae Washi expansion pack sleeve.  

 I shortened the sleeve and next time I may try to take some of the fullness out of it.  I've made several other Ruby tops before in rayon challis and I think I prefer the drape of those over the voile.  I once read that if rayon challis drapes like water, voile drapes like air and that makes a lot of sense to me.

The top turned out very floaty and very light weight which will be great for our hot southern summers.  

This girl can always get a big smile out of me, she was a little tired of wearing her matching shirt and resorted to this comfy t-shirt dress.  Well what can you expect from a modeling staff that works pro bono.  These are probably going to be my only entries into the Kids Clothes Week pool.  I usually have such high hopes for that week but I'm pretty proud that in the midst of sewing Easter dresses I completed these tops too.  So are you sewing for Kids Clothes Week at the same time that you're working on Easter dresses?

Linking up to Frontier Dreams, The Life of Jennifer Dawn and  Peekaboo Pattern Shop.