Twirly.

I made Charlotte a new dress for Spring.  It is from the same pattern I used for her babydoll top and ruffled pants. (McCalls 6065, if you are curious)

I went in to this project feeling pretty confidant since the shirt went together so well.  I got a Karmic smackdown in no time.  I had to rip apart and sew the bodice on this dress twice and the second time I didn't leave much left in the seam allowance so I think I brought the top down a full size.  It fits Charlotte's narrow torso better than the first top did, but it brought me many problems when it came time to fit the skirt in.  For some strange reason, the skirt fits the outside of the bodice perfectly, but when it came time to sew the lining down, I had too much skirt.  I have absolutely no idea how I managed to pull that blunder off, but by the time I had realized it and spent the better part of an afternoon, machine sewing it, then ripping it out, then spending the evening hand-sewing it back in, I was done with this dress and starting to resent it.  What is a crafty person to do?  Why slap a big flower over the weird bunchy bit at the front and call it a day.

Aside from the challenges I had with the construction of the dress, I did make a couple of modifications on purpose:  I added four inches of length to the skirt so that it would be long enough to last through a growth spurt or two.  I also left the sides of the outer skirt open to make the dress extra twirly and to allow the pretty lining fabric to peek through a bit more.

The dress was put to the twirl test on our walk to school this morning and passed with flying colours.

I think I need to sew something for myself now.  My mom was very kind and got me a discount card for my local fabric store, and the gorgeous Laura Ashley patterns are calling out to me.