A Little Dress

More Nani Iro fabric. Can you tell that it’s my latest obsession? This time I made a dress for my 6 year old. I started with Simplicity 3859, but of course made modifications.

First, I added the yellow gingham trim between the layers and then opted for buttons in the back instead of a zipper (wish I’d made this decision before I cut the back of the dress into two pieces). I also added some outline stitching for a bit of texture. Every time I make a dress from a pattern for my pip squeaks, I have to modify it. Granted, my kids are puny, but is everything made to fit a box-shaped child? I’d be willing to bet that the dresses pictured on the pattern package are pinned a good 3″ in the back.

Oh, and if you want to know about the butterfly garland pictured above, I didn’t make it. But you easily could. Just cut from paper and sew the butterflies together. This one has a felt pom-pom at one end to weight it down.

20 Replies to “A Little Dress”

  1. I so agree with you about box shaped children! I think some pattern companies use the same 2-3″ “ease” for kids patterns that is standard for adults (which is way too much in my opinion) but that makes a much larger percentage of ease in those small clothes! The dress is beautiful, I love that fabric and the yellow trim is so perfect.

  2. Darling! I have had better luck with patterns from smaller companies fitting. “Oliver and Company” and “Children’s Corner” are probably my favorites.

  3. I love that dress, the fabric is so perfect! Cheerful and girlish but not too sweet and the colors are wonderful. The yellow gingham is just perfect for it. What a lovely dress!

  4. What a sweet dress…and the duck with ducklings hanger so reminds me of childhood. I think my mom still has a few of these in our old closets!

  5. My favorite line in this post: “I started with Simplicity 3859, but of course made modifications.”
    I love modifications and love them even more when I document them so I can do it again.

  6. So sweet! I love the trim. It’s so nice to see one of the “big 4” patterns done up in some nice fabric. I can never seem to visualize this when I’m looking through the pattern books.

  7. I love Nani Iro so, so, so much! And I totally agree about the big box-shaped patterns. I made my daughter a nighgown last year and it was practically square. My other daughter keeps asking when I am going to make one for her, but I have been too lazy to go through the trouble of modifying it.

  8. I love the dress and the Nani Iro fabric! I’m curious to find out if you purchased at the same place as your other Nani Iro fabric?

  9. you are dead on about pattern sizing for kids. every time I sew for my girls I have to make them at least 3 sizes smaller and then just lengthen. In other words, for my 10 year old I make her a 6 and lengthen a ton. Ridiculous.

    love that dress. off to check out that fabric.

  10. Beautiful dress! I’ve been sewing more from vintage patterns lately and they seem to be cut more narrow. In fact, some even say, “Not for chubbies”–exact quote! Can you imagine??

  11. Simply adorable. I can tell why the fabric is your obsession! And the garland is very bright and “happy” 🙂

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