Simplicity 2377

Myra isn't desperate for clothing, but I didn't want to leave her out of KCWC, so I made her a quick peasant dress with my favorite pattern of this style, Simplicity 2377.

The fabrics are "Tutti Frutti" plisse from Joann. They are a cotton poly blend, and I am really a fan of them for children's clothing. The cotton allows them to be cool and comfortable, but there is just enough poly to make the garment wrinkle resistant and hard wearing.

I had a really hard time capturing the color accurately today. The sun washed the color out in the modeled shots, but they aren't quite as dark as the hanger shots. Myra chose the fabrics, herself - sort of. There was a sample dress at the store and she went crazy. She actually brought me the bolts of fabric and insisted that she had to have that dress.

I added a little polka dot ribbon to the bodice. I am pleased with the layout, since I managed to center the floral butterfly nicely at center front, and could frame it with the ribbons. I also deviated from the pattern for the sleeve finish. The pattern calls for cased elastic at the sleeve hem, but I like a little ruffle, so I hemmed the sleeve and used two rows of elastic shirring to gather the sleeve 3/4 inch above the hem.

I also lengthened the dress a total of three inches. I added 1 1/2 inches to each tier to balance the addition and keep the proportions even. Myra likes her dresses long and twirly and I like that it'll take a while to outgrow it.

This is the last garment I had planned for the Kid's Clothes Week Challenge, but I still have a day to go! I'm thinking I'll start on another pair of shorts for Duncan and see how far I get.

Simplicity 2377

August is a crazy birthday month around here. Myra is on the 10th, then Mitch on the 14th, Rina (my sister) on the 26th and Logan caps the month on the 30th. Although I sew for the kids all the time, so they pretty much take for granted that they have hand sewn clothing, I still like to have something special made for their birthdays. This year we are aided and abetted by Oma, who got them both some adorable fabrics when we were visiting her last.

Myra has outgrown her the pattern I have used for peasant dresses of this style, so this time I used Simplicity 2377. It is a basic raglan sleeve bodice with elastic at the neckline and sleeve openings. There are 2 skirt options, one a gathered dirndl and the other is tiered. There is also a second sleeve option - a small ruffled sleeve - that is pretty darn cute. I really like this pattern, as it comes together quickly and the end result is a comfortable, easy to wear dress that is really adorable.

Even with a busy fabric, I always find the bodice a bit plain. To this one I added a big organza ribbon bow and two ball buttons. The  pattern includes quite a few cute embellishment suggestions as well. I've made this style dress enough times that I didn't even take the instructions out of the envelope. I realized later that this pattern also includes ties at the waist. I don't think I'd have used them if I'd realized they were there, but perhaps for an older child they'd be cute. Myra doesn't really have any waist definition yet. The only other change I made was to use elastic shirring for the sleeve opening rather than a fold over casing. I like the little ruffled edge it creates. The pattern includes up to size 8 in the envelope, so I'll get to use it for a few years yet!

And Logan finally wore his helicopter shirt!! It's been nearly 2 weeks - I was starting to worry. He says he really likes it though, and so do I.