Ottobre 03/2011-31

Of course, after her baptism, her white dress was all wet, so she needed another one. I found this amazing cherry blossom lace at fabric.com, and I knew it was the one.

Since I wanted the lace to be the star, I went with a simple style. This is a combination of patterns from the 03-2011 issue of Ottobre. This basic dress is done three different ways, so I went with the lined dress, full shirt and straight (non-puffed) sleeve. I also added quite a bit of length - 5 inches, I think. Myra likes her dresses long.

The skirt is nice and full - perfect for twirling. The underlining fabric is duchesse satin in a slightly paler pink than the lace. It makes the lace really pop. The dress is lined in hang free polyester lining, with some ruffles added to the hem for fullness.

It closes in back with an invisible zipper, which I'm pretty happy with. It's been a while since I've put on in, and it behaved on the first try. Whew! Picking it out of that lace would have hurt.

Since the lace had a lovely scalloped edge, I used it for the sleeves and hem. You can see the lace a little better in this pic. It really is so pretty and dainty. Just perfect for a girl's dress.

Even though she is a big, grown up 8-year old, her dresses still need to be play friendly, and this one passes with flying colors. It felt really nice to get back into something a little more complicated. I've struggled lately to tackle complex projects since my sewing time has been so erratic, but finishing this lined, underlined lace dress has really reminded me how much love to bite into a big project. Next up - jeans.

Kitschy Coo Skater dress for a very special day

In our church, children are eligible to be baptized when they turn 8 years old. Myra turned 8 last month, and she couldn't wait to be baptized, so we began making arrangements, and I got to sewing.

The first dress I made was for her to wear during the ordinance of baptism itself. She needed a pure white dress, simple and sweet. I chose the Kitschy Coo Skater dress for its simplicity and comfort.

Myra wanted a long skirt, so I lengthened it about 8 inches, but kept the skirt slim. We baptize by immersion, and I didn't want it floating out of the font! It's still quite hot here in Tennessee, so I used the short sleeve. The fabric is a scuba knit from fabric.com, which was just the right weight and nicely opaque.

Even though the dress was simple and white, I still wanted it to be special, so I added some embroidery to the front bodice. It was very difficult to photograph, since it's tone-on-tone, but looked very sweet in person.

Myra was very happy with her baptism dress, and I was so happy I was able to make such a special dress for her. Of course, she needed another dress for after the baptism... I'll post about that one tomorrow.

Simplicity 2369

It's been several weeks since I made this, but somehow or other I just hadn't gotten around to blogging about it. Perhaps because I'm still on the fence about how I feel about it.

The pattern is new to me, Simplicity 2369. It's been in my pattern stash a while, and I really like the lines of it. The front is a true wrap, just over the bodice. The left bodice and skirt are one piece, with the right wrap tying on the side. It sound more complicated than it is. Construction was pretty straightforward.

The back is sleek with a center back seam for fit precision. I added a little width through the hips and the fit is fairly good.

This is view A, but I omitted the sleeve elastic for a more angel-type sleeve as seen on view C. I also lengthened the skirt by 7 inches. It's not shown on a model on the pattern envelope, so I guess they intended it to be a midi-length? It was quite unflattering for me as drafted, but I do love a good maxi dress, so here we are.

So far, so good, but I think the fabric I chose is a bit thin for this. It's a lightweight ITY. There is no lump and bump coverage in the design, so I'm wearing pretty substantial underpinnings here. Had I used a firmer knit, that mightn't have been an issue, but as it is, this will have to be a church dress rather than the casual, running around dress I had in mind.

I do like the pattern though, and I think I'll try out the top version, but if I make the dress again, I'll use a more substantial fabric to minimize the need for Spanx.

The Avengers in a dress

When I made the boys their matching Avengers tee shirts, Myra wanted to know when I was going to make hers. But, you know, as a dress. Because Myra.

Since I wanted to do a similar look to the boys, but with a girlie twist, I went with the Mini Penny Pinafore by Kitschy Coo. I used the Avengers pattern knit for the side panels and sleeves, and the solid black Laguna knit for the center front and back, as well as the neckband.

I did Myra's decal in a metallic HTV (Fashion Film Electric in Firecracker Red, if you'd like to know). Of course, as Myra is an active girl, she also got a pair of matching undershorts, also detailed with the Avengers logo. A superhero likes to preserve her modesty when saving the world.

Suitable for kicking bad guy butt? Yep!

We've made the Mini Penny a few times, but she's sized up since the last one, so this is a size 8. The only alteration I made was to make the sleeve elbow length. I just folded the long sleeve in half and added a hem allowance. This will be a nice all-season length here in the South, so Myra will be able to wear the dress a while.

I love the way this dress looks and fits from the back. So ladylike! Even in superhero fabric.

I actually finished this last week - I'm so behind on blogging - but Myra has already worn it three times. As soon as it comes out of the wash, it's on her body! I'm so glad she's happy with it, and I love that I can make her a superhero dress, since sometimes it's a bit hard to find them in stores. Yay for sewing!