It's Raining Cats...and Fish?

It seems like so many of Cordelia's dresses had been in rotation for about two years or so. Sure they kept getting shorter, but they still fit on her torso, so they stayed in the closet. Well Miss C must have gone through another growth spurt because it seems like all of a sudden none of her old dresses would button. 

Luckily, I love sewing dresses. This is my second Vintage Grace Flutter  Dress- I reviewed the pattern and showed off the pictures of the first one in my last post. 

The second dress went together even smoother than the first, and this is the final length of the size six dress- just for reference.

I only made two changes to the pattern when I made this Dress. First change was that I lined the flutter sleeve because the backside of this fabric was very underwhelming. Lining the piece was super simple, I cut two pieces of black fabric the same size of the flutter sleeve, then I placed them right sides together and sewed along the bottom edge. Then I trimmed the curve, flipped right side out, and sewed like normal. 

My second change was to add side pockets. I personally love having pockets in my skirts and dresses, and Cordelia has become accustomed to them as well- which I guess is a perk of having mommy made clothing. Jess from Craftiness is Not Optional has a great tutorial on how to add side pockets HERE.  Its a really simple addition to any project. 

Normally I avoid letting Cordelia pick fabric for things- that might make me sound terrible, but you can end up spending hours sewing fabric you hate when your five year old picks it out. However, I gave Cordelia full choice in the fabric store on fabric for a new dress and she picked this darling cat fabric. 

The best part was that her choice gave me the perfect opportunity to use these little fish bowl buttons my sister found at a yard sale last year. 

Thanks for stopping by- and do us a favor and cross your fingers for sunshine for us- well yesterday we were lucky enough to see the sun, but we had been hammered with rain for days and we are back to rain again! Rain is beautiful and wonderful but It sure is making for a cranky mamma and a cranky kid. 

Vintage Grace Flutter Dress- Pattern Review

Pattern testing has given me the opportunity to get to know the style of some really great PDF pattern designers. One designer I can recommend without even knowing what pattern you are talking about it Melissa from Bella Sunshine Designs. Every pattern I have worked on from her has just been totally top notch- and I am a big fan of how thorough her testing process is.  

The Vintage Grace Flutter Dress is Melissa's latest pattern (and one I had the pleasure to test). This pattern is sized six months to girls size 12, and features a great flutter sleeve with optional lace trim. The bodice has a great wide, flat, simple, front which makes for a great place to feature some super special fabric, or you could decorate it with a heat transfer design or applique. I love that the bodice is also lined so all of the seems are inside and not left where they can be itchy- which would especially be a plus if you appliqued the front!   

This is my first version of the new Vintage Grace Flutter Dress- It is also from one of the early stages of the pattern, so keep in mind that two inches were added to the length of the dress on the final version. I made this dress using my favorite black and white stripe cotton, and super awesome blue octopus fabric from Cotton and Steel.  I have been really obsessed with all things black and white- a trend that Cordelia hates, but the blue in the Cotton and Steel fabric made my fabric choices  five year old approved. Instead of opting for lace on the flutter sleeve I used black bias tape on the edge to repeat the black and white theme. 

The dress went together quickly- probably about an hour and a half not counting the cut out time (I take FOREVER to cut things out). The instructions are very straightforward and great for any confidant beginner. I like that Melissa includes cutting instructions for the skirt so you don't have to print and tape the entire pattern - you can just print the bodice and sleeve and then measure and cut your pattern. She also includes helpful tips on blending sizes and adjusting for length- and her size lines are marked with the size on them which makes it easier if you have to print multiple sizes at once.   

The last dress feature I want to mention is the adorable button back. I love a good button back, and I have such a large stash of buttons! I love buttons because it is such a nice extra touch in a little girl's dress- and Melissa's instructions on the buttons and the skirt placket get an A+.  So now that I am done gushing (for now) I want to mention that the Vintage Grace Flutter dress is on sale until Thursday!  

Goodbye to the Dinosaurs

As I have said before, I really like that Cordelia takes interest in things I do not. I love learning about new things and I love watching her become her own person. Dinosaurs were never my thing, old and dusty with unpronounceable names- maybe if Dinosaur Train was around when I was little that would have been different. However, Cordelia loves them and the Natural History Museum is (well it already has, because it took me two months to write this post) closing down it's Dinosaur bones exhibit for five years while it gets a face lift. I hope Cordelia still likes Dinosaurs in five years so she can appreciate how magnificent the renovation is- but she will be eight years old then, and who knows what eight year olds like.

In true Katie fashion, I made Miss C. a dress appropriate for the occasion (the night before because I thrive on last minute it seems). My sisters picked up this fabric at some point- because we can't resist a novelty print, and it seemed destined for this very purpose. The fabric is cotton, and I accented it with light blue speckled cotton for the hem and sleeves, and store bought red piping for some pop. 

The exhibit is pretty old and dusty, but I always enjoyed that there were things to touch and that you could watch people work in the Fossil Lab. Now it's very common to have touching and interactive aspects to museums, but I got to go to museums fairly frequently thanks to my sister and it wasn't the case when I was younger. 

Pictures were pretty hard to take because of the lighting and because Cordelia just wasn't feeling them that day. Museum trips with small children always go smoother the less crowded the museum is (or at least they do with my child) and the day we went fell within spring break for many places. But she was well behaved enough that my sister got her a cute little Brontosaurus that Cordelia had lots of fun walking all over the place.