Happy Independance Day

This may be the Bug's new favorite dress. Which is good because her old butterfly dress is beyond worn and needs to be retired.

I used the pattern for the Josie dress in the book Girls World.

The thin straps are one of her favorite parts.

That and the length. I think she feels very fancy in this dress.

This one is a size small which the book says would be about a 4/5 but you can see that The Bug, who normally wears a size 6 has room to grow yet in the bodice.  Moment of truth: This is the second version of this dress I made. The first time I made a 6/7 without taking her measurements just assuming it would work. She LOVED the dress but it fell right off of her. Thank God I had enough fabric to eek out a second dress the next size down.

The butterfly fabric is a bit heavier than I'd normally use for a dress like this. You can tell in the bodice gathering, it's just a bit thick. It was a bottom weight I found on clearance at JoAnns.  The stripe is a remnant my grandma purchased for me at a garage sale.  I'm glad I had it on hand to help stretch the butterfly fabric. I know the Bug would not have liked this dress nearly so well had it not been maxi dress length.

I like that she has a sweet little festive dress to wear this week that's not so over the top patriotic that she can't wear it any other time. Because I think this little dress may be in constant rotation. The pattern may be too. It comes together easily and the finishing is quite nice with a fully lined bodice and invisible zipper. Goodness knows I could use some zipper practice. The instructions are quite clear, I'm just beginning to think I'm zipper impaired.

At any rate, Happy 4th of July to my readers in the States! Enjoy the extra time with family celebrating. I know I will.

~Lindsay

Happy Easter!

I made a set of Easter dresses for a friend's three girls a month or so ago and I've been waiting to share them with you until now. This past Sunday was Easter for those in the Orthodox tradition and these sweet girls had a lovely day for modeling.

Aren't they adorable?

Little sister and middle sister both have dresses made from an adaptation of the Party Dress pattern on The Cottage Home. I added the gathered overlay on the bodice, skirt lining and zippers in the back.

Very similar to the Bug's Easter dress last spring.

Big sister got a slightly different design.  It's the Josie Dress from Jennifer Paganelli's book, Girls' World.

It already had a gathered bodice so no alterations were needed for this pattern other than putting in a skirt lining.

This butterfly fabric is so cute and so springy.  It's very light weight and a bit slippery and stretchy to sew with but it's also surprisingly forgiving.  I bought it from JoAnn's on clearance last spring. I bought all they had around here and then found 4 more yards on eBay so that I'd have plenty for these three dresses.

It was totally worth it.

The Bug still loves to wear her butterfly dress so I hope these little ladies will enjoy theirs for a long time as well!

Happy Easter!

~Lindsay