red :: apple :: spots
"Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees. Please."
I was singing this song last night, in my head, while finishing up my sewing and watching the rain outside and trees blowing and casting shadows.
Two new dresses - completed. Both yesterday. One for Mishi, one for a little friend.
Mishi wore her little apple shirred dress when we went out visiting our friends. And we spent a lovely day in the warm of their kitchen; warm house, warm hearts. Away from the rain and wind. Simple apple cotton, with little green leaves and black stems. Shirred bodice; same as this dress (which I thought I had blogged about, but can't find).
A fairly easy dress style to make, as it doesn't have to fit perfectly. And it can be worn as a dress, a skirt or a shirt over pants when she gets bigger. Plus it looks super cute on her, with the skirt part flaring out - lots of fun dancing shapes.
The soft red baby-cord dress is a made-up pattern. I roughly traced a dress of Mishi's, but basically made it up step by step as I went along. I did a fair bit of unpicking yesterday, but I think I got that all out of my system and can now make a few more like this without the hassles.
I sewed an invisible zip - and now know how best to do that for future! I made my own spotty binding. It's not bias binding, as I really didn't have the energy at midnight (....1am) last night to measure, cut, sew all that extra. It works just as well being straight-grain binding.
I always figure that for children's clothing you have a bit of leeway in fit and things like that. Maybe for myself I might make the effort of bias binding, but in all honesty I think it worked pretty well the way I did it.
I am so super pleased with this dress. The binding makes it look "real" - as in something that professionals make. It's not too messy; yes it does look handcrafted, but that's the idea isn't it. I know next time I make this dress style it will be neater, bit better, easier, quicker (not an hour to sew four binding parts; neck, two arms, hem).
And, there will be a next time. Quite soon, I think! Yesterday when I told Mishi that the red dress wasn't for her, but for our friend (who's birthday was a few months ago), she got very upset. Mishi stood there, in her new apple dress (!), and pouted and made grumpy noises at me. Not a happy girl. I told her I would be making her one out of the purple cord, and she hugged the fabric and smiled. So, I'll be up late tonight making more dresses.
Hopefully I'll have something to show you after the weekend......
We're going to deliver the new dress today, so maybe I'll manage some photos of people in the new dresses; rather than hangers.