Daisy Dresses

Searching online for my first dress to make for the girls, this pattern jumped out and screamed “Make me!”  Thank you to The Cottage Home for your generous pattern and tutorial. 

The little girls are so excited about their dresses made by Mummy.  It is so gratifying to sew for this age: they are old enough to have input over the details and make choices about fabrics, yet young enough to want to wear Mama-made clothes with dresses their daily choice of garment.

I compiled a short list of online fabrics then gave the eldest her choice.  I wanted them to have the same dress in different colours.  Turquoise is her favourite right now and I chose the orange for the littlest one.

It came together quite quickly and I even figured out the whole shoulder attachment process (genius!)  Instead of the sash, I sewed contrast bias binding around the waistband before I attached the skirt.  It hasn’t come together beautifully there because I was not keen on topstitching, preferring to keep the whole bodice stitch-free.  I should have just gone for it because it is pulling up a bit at the front and the inside is not as stable, since it secured by hand.

I didn’t make the contrasting hem, I couldn’t find anything as nice as that raw silk from the original, so I just lengthened the skirt by an appropriate amount.  I love, love, love the covered buttons!  I will definitely be making them again, they would look amazing on children’s knitwear.  I got a plastic kit from an ebay seller, 18mm, I think a smaller size would be quite a challenge to cover neatly.   The buttonhole loops look lovely but I think I’ll stick to buttonholes in future since I don’t mind making them and pulling those loops the right way out was a pain.

Overall, I am delighted with the results, and so are the girls.