Christmas Sewing

Love this pattern...well, not really. I like the end result from the idea of this pattern. It's Simplicity 2306 if you care. But after all was said and done, I totally threw the pattern out the window. It's terrible! They normally are. Why I bothered with it in the first place is beyond me...it's so simple I've made oodles of dresses just like this by free hand cutting.

The size 6 I cut the first dress at was way too big and the skirt...I could have cried about its lack of fullness. I pilfered the buttons from it to finish this dress since I made this one a few hours before church on Sunday. I ended up cutting the bodice way down from the pattern. I took out literally about 3", doubled the skirt width at least (which is hard to tell in the photos how full it really is since it's windy) and lengthened the sleeves. I also flared the sleeve ends a little which made them bell shaped a bit. The pattern called for elastic at the wrist, I liked it much better without for this particular fabric.

This dress was for the children's church program this past Saturday and I made it from start to finish (cutting to sewing the last button on) in exactly two hours with approx. 15-20 minutes thrown in to go out and feed the goats. The bodice is lined, all seems are sewn and serged. It's a quick quick pattern and come summer (since this dress' sleeves will be too short for her next winter more than likely) I'll cut the sleeves to make them short and she can wear it for summer.

I love little girls in dresses and she doesn't mind them either but she especially likes the skirts full so it makes it fun to twirl in. I'd like to take a stab at making one with buttons all down the front which won't be difficult, I just need to buy enough buttons!!