Dolores's Christmas Dress

Here's some makery for you. I started this cute little dress for my little lady whilst I was still pregnant, a time that feels sooo far away now but was actually only just over 4 months ago, and picked it up again to complete and give to her for Christmas. This garment is for a baby of about 1 years old so there's still ages before it will see action. My main issue with it is that I want to wear it myself! 

Pattern:

I'm not sure if it's Burda magazine or me, but for ages now I haven't liked any of the women's patterns in it. However the above edition (9/2013) had some baby's wear patterns that I definitely felt belonged in my pattern-arsenal. I imagine I'll come back to some of these patterns again and again, tracing a bigger size each time. If you want to get hold of this dress pattern you can find it on the Burdastyle website here (along with the other baby patterns from the magazine edition). 

Fabric and Notions:

Like the majority of my makes these days, this dress is comprised of 100% stash stuff. The navy fabric is some poly/cotton bought in Shepards Bush market years ago that just won't seem to disappear despite having made several things from it now. The contrast polka dot fabric that I used for the yokes and pockets came from my last 'proper' job. The heart braid was bought from a tiny shop in the Gothic quarter in Barcelona that sold only braid (!). I really love how these randomly sourced elements look perfect together. 

Construction:

This was a relatively simple garment to whip together, although I overlocked all the raw edges inside to give it a clean finish. The only problem I encountered was my own laziness and reluctance to figure out the old school manual method of making button holes on my new (to me) sewing machine, so I cheated and stitched poppers down the back instead! To be honest, with seven sets of tiny poppers to stitch on, it probably would have taken the same amount of time to just sit down and work out how to use the machine, but at least popper stitching can be done on the sofa whilst enjoying a small vino. 

Conclusion:

Sewing baby/children's clothes is frikkin' awesome! Who knows if it'll fit (if you're making it as far in advance as this one) but when it takes as little time and fabric as this project, you're unlikely to mind so much if it doesn't work out. Plus there's not so many fit issues to consider so the likelihood of it not working out is reduced as well. So, who's up for the challenge of grading this pattern up to an adult-lady size?! I've still got some of that damn navy poly/cotton left...