Happy Girl

I rediscovered these when putting together my last post.

Sure do love my happy little girl.

A Trio of Sundresses

It was about a month ago.  We were freshly returned from vacation and made for kids month was drawing to a close.  I had come so far in dressing her in something different each day, but was worried about running out of handmade summer clothes that last day or two.  What to do?  Make a sundress, of course.  And when your fabric scraps start bickering about who has been waiting longest to be made useful?  You make three sundresses.  Naturally.

The first is my favorite and indescribably soft.  Seriously - there are no words.  The bodice is made of an old tee of mine that I've held on to for way too long, and the skirt is make from the rest of the fabric I used for a swing tee I made just before vacation that has yet to be blogged (it's this fabric from Girl Charlee).  Please excuse the waviness where the bodice and skirt meet.  I'm still mastering my serger settings - they got better as these went through the assembly line.

The pattern is super simple and self drafted.  I actually used the bodice and front neckline from my scoop back dress.  The back neckline is the same as the front, except I split it and added a loop and button.  Turned out that was unnecessary and they would have fit over her head just fine without, but who wants to take that chance, especially when sewing in triplicate?

This second dress is some left over polka dots I think I got from fabric.com way back when, and some barely stretchy pale pink yardage my grandmother gave me a while back.

Each bodice is a slightly different length, but turns out you can't really tell the difference.  The first two skirts are about the same length and hemmed.  This third one was left long and un-hemmed, as I was undecided about shortening it.  I decided not to shorten it, and not to hem it either.  The bodice is the rest of the star fabric I used on what is probably her favorite shirt ever, this modified Bimaa.  She still pulls it out weekly, but it is, sadly, not a very practical wear in August in Connecticut.  The skirt is from Girl Charlee - I think this is the one, but I'm not 100% sure at this point.

I realize they have a bit of a "nightgown" feel (especially when accompanied by a baby doll), but I do think the buttons help with that.  They're comfy and she loves them - that's enough for me.