These dresses are for a dress swap I'm taking part on at SewingMamas. I send in four dresses and get four back, my girls are eager to see what arrives! First up I dyed a load of cords then let my girls help me pick out the fabrics for each dress.
The dyeing is really easy, I use Dylon machine dyes and just chuck the dye, salt and fabric in to the washing machine, run a normal wash cycle and voila! Lovely colourful fabric. I decided on two old favourites for the dresses, first up was Ottobre 04/06 #10 which I have made several times before. I have added a dark green satin ribbon to the bodice seam since taking the pics, Princess is modeling and the dress is technically a size too small for her but still fits pretty well.
The back, there's an invisible zipper in the centre back seam and I don't like how short it is. When I make this again I will extend the zip right down to the bodice seam instead of cutting it off where the instructions say to.
The next three all use the same pattern, 04/04 #12, but are different sizes. My older girls were not allowed to see the pink/purple ones when they were finished as they are in their sizes and wouldn't have made it out of the house! I love this pattern, there are small darts at the back shoulder and sleeve seam which gives the nicest fit and the shaping of the dress is just lovely. It's closer fitting than most Ottobre dresses but still loose enough to play in and covers a huge size range, 86cm up to 146cm. I will be making this pattern for years to come and plan on making matching sets for all three girls for as long as I can get away with it :D There's another two ways to make it in the magazine too, I highly recommend getting this issue if you don't already. Here's Princess modelling the 116cm which is again a size too small for her, she is 120cm tall.
I hope their recipients like them! Just one more to see for now, this is a pinafore dress for Toddler (she is nearly two after all, Baby really doesn't suit her any more so she has graduated to the next level :-). The fabric is a Royal Stewart tartan (looked for ours but they didn't have it so went for a generic non-clan one instead) in a poly viscose blend. Silky soft, very drapey but frayed every time I so much as looked at it. Easy enough to sew though, the pattern is Ottobre 03/04 #7 which is one I have wanted to make for all of the girls but never quite got round to until now. It's just as well I didn't wait too, Toddler is in the largest size so I nearly missed my chance!
I cut the front and back as one piece instead of with the panels, trying to match the tartan would have given me a migraine. The side seams have elastic gathering at the hem and large pleated pockets. I lined the pockets (much quicker and looks better than trying to curve up a seam allowance) and added a fabric rose to each instead of the pattern's suggestion of a ribbon with a bead.
I used a dungarees buckle instead of a normal button and hole, the straps just happened to come out he perfect width for them and it lets me adjust the strap length much more easily than having to take off and move a button as Toddler grows.
And here's a couple of modelled shots, Toddler was very pleased when she found the pockets. Perfect for apples and Little People toys!
That's it for now, back to work for me!
