Toddler Dresses

Ok, I don’t have kids, I have cats. But there are an abundance of children in my life. Most adorably, is my year-and-a-half old niece, Alice. She gives purpose to my crafting, as evidenced by this afghan I designed for her when she was born. It’s extra big so she can enjoy it her whole life. 🙂

 

Now that I have a sewing machine, I’ve been looking for ideas for things to make Alice. Therefore, I am delving into the world of dresses! My sister-in-law told me that she liked the style of pillow case dresses. Having never sewed clothing, I enlisted the help of my little neighbor Mia to be my tester. She didn’t know it though – her dress was a surprise. I followed the pattern with an actual pillow case for Mia. I did this mostly because she loves Doc McStuffins and I found a Doc McStuffins pillow case. So let me say this, child dimensions are foreign to me. I have zero clue what they mean or what size those tiny little bodies really are. This resulted in me misunderstanding something, whether it was the pattern, or that at 4 Mia is smaller than a 4T….something. Not sure what. The dress reached her feet. Uh, nope. Not cool. This was my first attempt at her dress.

 

Since her dress was so long, I invited Mia over for a play date last weekend. She played with my LEGOs (I keep tons them in my sewing room because grown ups should play too!) and I hemmed her dress several inches shorter. Once I cut off all the extra fabric, the best part was I had enough left over to make straps! I didn’t like the ribbon I had originally used, so I was really pleased with the new look. Little Miss Mia was kind enough to model for me, so now I am confident that I understand enough to make dresses for my niece that will fit!