cottington's so crafty: Paperbag Dress for a School Girl: Modkid Claudia

Remind me again why I have NOT made the Modkid Claudia since Camden was 3?????????? (Naturally, because I want to find it SO BADLY, I cannot find a photo of her first version.)

My bad, as I love the pattern. I need to make sure to make one more before she sizes out of this pattern. It is so cute, and for this one in particular, I put in quite a bit of work.

I had help from my ladies at Modern Domestic in picking the coordinating fabric, as I hadn't, for whatever reason, purchased any from the same line as the main fabric. The coordinating fabric is perfect!

Because it has been so long since I last made it, I can be sure I probably did a much better job this time around. For example, I likely sewed it up per pattern instructions last time, but this time, I went the extra mile. The bodice lining is first sewn to the zipper, then bodice outer is attached and top-stitched down to the zipper. I did NOT want top-stitching, as it isn't as class on a zipper, on my opinion, and I wanted the inside finished, rather than having exposed, serged edges. So, I had to stare at it a bit in trying to make it all work. I sewed the lining to the skirt first, then I had to later hand-stitch the bodice outer to the skirt and the zipper - AND hand-stitch the bodice lining to the seam of the sleeve and bodice. In making up this crazy plan, I hadn't accounted for the gap at the bottom of the zipper - on the OUTside of the dress. YIKES. There went the idea of being classy, aha. I ended up ironing a small bit of fabric and hand-stitching that into the space. I think it turned out well enough, though it clearly isn't idea.

See the bit of fabric under the zipper, to cover up the raw edge??

I will say the tie is incredibly too long for this dress. I get the idea of wrapping it around a few times, but I actually cut the width of the fabric three times to get the length, which was still technically 14 inches shorter than what the pattern called for. I personally would have even preferred cutting the width of fabric twice - and saved fabric.

I just think in its simplicity, it's such a fancy dress, and Camden loves it - yay!!! She will likely wear this on her third day of school this Wednesday. Such a fancy kid ;)

Some updates and what's happening: