Birthday Dresses

It's been a while since I have blogged - partly because I've been super busy, and partly because I haven't been doing anything worth blogging about.  I had a break from sewing for a while, and then found that I just couldn't get back into it.  But I'm pleased to say that this week I made two dresses!  One for my niece Emilia, who is turning 4 in a couple of weeks, and one for Ellie, who is 1 on Wednesday.

I used the Oliver + S Jumprope dress pattern for both (since having some success with one for Katherine earlier this year), and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Emilia's was made out of some pink polka dot fabric I purchased at Lincraft. I'm not totally happy with the fabric choice. It's very plain, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. But overall it's a cute dress, and I hope she likes it. She's a tiny thing, so I used the size 3 and just added in a bit of extra room here and there.

I wasn't going to make a dress for Ellie, but I found that I just couldn't help myself.

I've had this Pachyderm Parade fabric by Robert Kaufman for a while now and kept thinking that I would use it for Ellie. The problem was I only had 1/2 a yard so had pretty much resigned myself to making a skirt for her in the Spring. But then I got to thinking, maybe I could use a contrast fabric trim, like with the polka dot dress, and I might just, just have enough for a little Jumprope dress for her as well. I used some Riley Blake Red Quite Contrary Dots for the trim at the bottom of the dress, as well as the sash and the sleeve tabs. I only had a fat quarter of this fabric! The collar, placket, cuffs and belt loops were made out of some white scraps I found in my scrap bin! I am very happy with this dress, and quite proud of myself that I managed to piece it together with what little fabric I had on hand.  Now if only Ellie would get up and walk so I could dress her in this without fear of her tripping on it!