It's safe to say: this is my new favorite pattern. I am already imagining fall versions of it: made from corduroy and fleece and made to be layered over bright colored long sleeved shirts. Raina loves it, too, and that's key. She has some definite opinions when it comes to her clothing, and the number one factor is COMFORT. The number two factor, as of late, seems to be that it is emblazoned with the face of a character she is on love with.
...Which is why this dress is made from Minnie Mouse fabric. Nothing I would ever have picked out on my own, but I don't see things through the eyes of a 3 year old! Last week, I dragged both of my smalls to a new fabric store I discovered. The tall of the smalls (raina, that is!) walked through the front doors, took a look around, and sighed, "ANOTHER fabric store?" To quell her disappointment about the fact that we were indeed at a fabric store and not an indoor trampoline park, I said, "But LOOK! They hace lots of fun things! Pink buttons! Shiny purple fabric! You can pick something out for a dress if you want!" Her response? "Where do they keep the princesses?" :)
The minnie fabric is jersey knit, and was a compromise. She picked out a few hideous prints that I vetoed - giant Care Bear faces, Bratz, sparkly spandex... just to name a few. It was down to Minnie Mouse and a pink cotton with cupcakes and donuts. We finally settled on Minnie, and Miss Raina dragged the bolt up to the cutting table all on her own, shouting something about "awesome gowns" and "strong muscles!" I love her so big. So did the girl at the cutting table. Her stories and sense of humor are pretty hard to resist. We also made a stop at the button wall, where Raina picked out the pink bow buttons that adorn the bodice right below the straps.
I was slightly nervous about sewing this pattern with a knit. I had the pink and white stripes in my stash already (60% off one day at JoAnn! I bought 4 yards at that price!), and decided to just swallow the nervousness and get on with it. It's a mouse dress for a 3 year old who doesn't even REALLY like to be dressed anyway.
Turns out, my timidness was not necessary! It came together fairly easily, with some wonkiness here and there on the long straight lines, but not really anything to be ashamed of! :) It seems very comfortable, and it is most certainly covered in character faces. WIN!
I did end up doing some unintended top stitching. The bottoms of the straps, and across the top of the bodice in the back and front. The jersey lays flatter when hanging if it's topstitched.
Here's what I discovered I really love about sewing with jersey: inside seams don't really need to be finished! The just roll right up! Hurrah!
One thing I've forgotten to mention in my past posts about the knot dress: I've made the bodice a lined bodice. That means no visible inside seams. Everything is tucked away, hidden, topstitched. No itchies to be found!
There is a pair of ruffle pants in the works, but from a different pattern this time. I am still in love with the ruffle pants pattern, but on Raina the 3T is just TOO wide for her skinny minny legs. I know I can adjust them to make them narrower for her, but I haven't done it yet. (they work well on Luscious Lucca, though!) In the meantime, I traced a pair of her current pants on the minnie fabric, and made ruffles from the pink and white stripe. They aren't done yet, but should be soon. Hopefully they pass the comfort test! This is Raina, sittin comfy in her extra wides:
I feel like I'm back in high school, buying super wide leg pink pants at Hot Topic. (Seriously. I had, like, 4 pairs. One was so wide, and had pockets so big, I could literally carry around an extra pair of shoes and all of my books without needing an extra bag. Memories are scary.)
