The dresses

I have sewn quilts and other things, but I have never followed a pattern except when I was younger, making clothes with my Grandma Gard. Back then, I thought it was so complicated, although I loved spending the time with her. I avoided patterns when I started teaching myself to quilt, because I thought they would be too difficult. But now I decided to challenge myself, and bought a couple of little girl dress patterns on sale. I've been inspired to try it after looking at the clothes on Etsy.com which are adorable, but cost way to much. I made these dresses for about $15 a piece, and for being my first attempts, I'm pretty proud of them. Although, I have to say that I have no idea how to sew in a zipper nicely. They are functional and that's about it right now. If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate the lesson. Now, if only I can get my model to hold still while I take pictures.


My first and favorite of the two. It took me about 8 hours to figure out how to follow a pattern and make a few mistakes learning how to do things like ruffles and the gathering around the sleeves. I figure for a first try, 8 hours wasn't too bad, start to finish. I just did it while watching TV after the kids went to bed for a few nights. It ended up being too big, so I can't wait for her to wear it in the spring. My second one plus the sweater I found at Children's Place. This one took about a week of TV nights, but only about 6 hours of work. I'm getting faster. I think it just took so long, because I'm still learning the basic concepts of how to get everything to line up just right. The flowers in her hair and on her waist were from my friend Megan's blog tutorial. There is gathering at the top of the neck and above the waist band that is one of my favorite things about this pattern, but I think with the busy fabric it doesn't show up well enough. Also, my model was VERY SQUIRMY and running all over the place, so I never got a good shot of it anyway. By the time I got to this picture, she had pulled her bow halfway out and gotten quite the snotty nose, but I think she still looks precious. :)