Get Creative 4006: Little Girls' Dresses - modelled by Princess S

As the title suggests, I've gotten Princess S to model the dress I made for her not too long ago.

Note the model-ly pose on the left. Love it!

Feedback was that it was a bit of an effort to get her arms through the armholes and that the dress could really do with a zip somewhere so it would be easier to put on. Obviously this wasn't part of the original pattern but I'll look into it when I make the next one.

Seeing as the pattern size I used was for a 4-year-old and she's 3.5 years right now, I'm both surprised and grateful that it actually fits her. A previous size 4 dress that I'd made for her is now too small to fit so if I'm going to make another dress from this pattern for her, it better happen soon!

iPhone Snapshots - March 27

Bondi Beach, Sydney

Get Creative 4006: Little Girls' Dresses

Using the same pattern as I did for the little girl's top/pinafore I made previously, I went ahead with my plans of making a some dresses for Princess S and Little Miss M.

Being housebound for a week with the flu gave me time to cut up the fabric and make up the dresses, but I must say they were a real effort seeing as even picking up the scissors was super tiring in the state that I was in.

After sifting through my stash I decided the dresses were both going to have polka dots. I started with the smaller dress first for Little Miss M - the top/pinafore I previously made for her using the 6 month old sizing fits her perfectly right now, so I decided that since winter is approaching I'd be better off making it for a 1 year old so it'll be ready for her to wear when the weather warms up again (or when she moves back to the tropics, whichever comes first). Instead of the typical pink combinations that lots of little girls wear, I thought I'd make it up in a bold blue/brown fabric.


I then moved on to the 4 year old version for Princess S in her favourite colour pink, accented with a variety of gelati coloured spots.


Here's my rundown:

Material
I used 100% quilting cotton with polka dots for both dresses. The pattern called for ric-rac to edge the dresses, but I went with no notions (mainly due to being unable to leave the house to go shopping!)
Plain white/pale blue thread was used for the stitching, depending on the dress colour.

Pattern (Get Creative 4006 : View B)
This view of the pattern was fairly easy to follow, with the only exception being that some of the steps were misnumbered in the instructions. I finished the blue dress as per instructions, but I have to say that I really didn't like having to finish off the sleeves with bias-binding. I made the binding myself, but ended up doing a long and messy job of it. I probably need more practice with this, but to speed things up with the pink dress, I omitted the binding and instead zig-zagged the armholes and finished them with a narrow hem. I also omitted the ric-rac as mentioned above.
Note the inside and outside of the armhole, done my way
(excuse the slightly crooked stitching *ahem*)
Would I do it again?
After making this up twice, I'm a lot more confident in what areas of the dress I would change if I made it up again (i.e. changing the armhole finishings). I'm sure you will all agree that making something up the second time around can make a big difference in how long it takes and what it ends up looking like - unfortunately for me I tend to get bored of making the same thing over and over - but in this case I'll probably try this again with the ric-rac trim to see how it looks if it looks good on the girls.

***EDIT*** (31/03/10)
The dress looks pretty good on, but apparently it is a little hard to get on and off. I think the next one may need a zip added.
***END***

Greedy

Is it bad that I want Stylish Dress Book 3 when I have both 1 and 2 as well as a few other Japanese pattern books plus a million other patterns I haven't touched?

Posts from make something and verypurpleperson are really not helping me in any way...

Housebound.

This fake flu of mine has really hit me hard. I have hardly any energy to do anything - even watching tv is a bit of a struggle :( Not only have I missed out on some busy times at work, I've also missed out on Mally's thesis submission picnic and a baby shower for the soon-to-arrive Baby Nooby.

Lucky for me some lovely friends have been visiting to drop off food and groceries to me - I think I'd starve otherwise.

Got a trip up to Sydney next week to see Princess S and Little Miss M so I'm planning on making up a dress each for them - I figure if I split up the fabric cutting and the sewing I should be able to rustle up enough energy to get the job done. I'm thinking dresses made up using the Get Creative pattern I used previously for a little girl's top. I'll need to work out the difference between View A and B and then decide when I can utilise some brain power.

Seeing as I am house bound, I'll be making use of cotton from my stash... I'm thinking polka dots... or maybe those are spots in front of my eyes from concentrating too hard ;P

Time for another nap I think.

Stupid vaccination

Being the responsible employee I am, I went and got a flu vax shot on Monday. They were offered to everyone at my workplace and seeing as my entire team is made up of contract workers (no work = no pay) I decided that even with my fear of needles, it'd be bad form for me to not get vaccinated, get the flu and make everyone in my team sick (as I said, no work = no pay).

There was mention that you may feel some slight flu after-effects, but I was doing OK for a whole day and a half with nothing but a sore arm to whinge about. All changed last night though - now I'm stuck at home with a throat so scratchy I just want to rip it out. It hurts to talk so I'm working remotely from home when I can concentrate enough between naps.

I wonder if the universe is trying to tell me that I should just be less considerate next time... Did I mention no work = no pay?

Still I guess this time at home has given me and opportunity to work in close proximity to my stash - I'm eyeing off this great length of viscose that I had initally bought to make some cute PJ pants (it is sooooo soft) but since it's been such a warm day I'm getting ideas for a summer dress (even though it is now technically autumn over here).


I'm looking at Simplicity 2663 which seems to be a fairly new pattern - unfortunately there seems to be no reviews on this one anywhere in the blogosphere so I might just have to try my luck!

Bikram Yoga

So I bit bullet and went. And before anyone says anything, yes, yes, I was asking for trouble.

I don't think I have sweat that much in my life.

Ever.

90 minutes of balancing, stretching and pulling my muscles every-which-way in a 39°C room (102.2°F for those of you who calculate it that way) is definitely a unique experience, and I have to say that even though I didn't really enjoy myself while I was in there, I think I'll be continuing on.


My experiences may not be quite as life changing as some of the testimonials I've read but I'd like to quote someone called Charlie Hubbard, who said

'I am still unsure why spending 90 minutes in a hot room doing Yoga produces such stillness of mind for me. I just know that it does.'

After only two sessions (and I really had to drag myself to the second one because I am naturally averse to exercise) I would have to say that I can't argue with his statement. It might be because the exercise is so challenging that all I can manage to think of for the entire 90 minutes is how my body feels and how I can push it more - I can't say for sure. All I know is that I'm feeling more balanced inside.

Now I'm just hoping my actual balance will develop in time.

Watch this space.

Ruffled Skirt Take 2

I had another bash at the ruffled skirt for Princess S since the first was way too small for her. I guess I'm not used to estimating how big a 3 year old is since I don't have any kids and I was in such a hurry to make it I didn't have time to go to the shops and work it out from there.


As you can see I changed the colours up a little bit. Apparently when she got the last one in the mail she wanted to put it on immediately *yay* but it obviously didn't fit *booooo* so I'm hoping this one does or I'll be going for a Take 3 on this one.