Josephine: A Lovely Name for a Lovely Dress

Clearly, the Josephine dress by Violette Field Threads is one I enjoy making Camden.

I promise, btw, that I tried to pat the dress down, but I don't know what happened

But...let's not get hasty!  I love the end product, and I love the pintucks, and I love the fun button ruffle - but WAIT.  I do not love sewing buttonholes on the TOP of the button ruffle tab.  It makes me want to stab my eyes out, though, because, as mentioned in the other Josephine post, I can't sew the top buttonhole far enough UP that it keeps the placket against the other placket - because my machine hates me and often doesn't like to do TOP buttonholes.  I should go back in and sew in a hidden snap, as that'll help, and I believe I have done that before.

She wanted to do this post, LOL

I sewed this dress up months ago, but it definitely had a nightgown-type look to it, though I hadn't felt that way about previous versions.  I know Camden hasn't grown that much at all in the past several months, but it seems fine on now!  She definitely wanted the cuff folded up, so, it's a good thing I never did sew buttons on the cuff, like I normally do - whew!

The pattern, as usual, works up nicely, and I actually had also started a blouse version, as I always like to do a couple-few at a time, but I need to finish it up and pair it with some more Whitney trousers, also by VFT....I suppose I should find fabric for that project!

This dress insists on sticking out at that placket, LOL

I finally have new shoes for Camden (shout out to her grandma!), so, that worked out nicely, and I did end up buying tights, but the fun purple socks stayed on because you can't go wrong with purple on purple, y'all!  And I may end up taking photos inside of her school building, because the light is so glaringly bright outside (big problems, right??  LOL), and you know I'm not a fancy photographer, much less a photo editor, aha.

Camden is enjoying her once-a-week class through her charter school, and she is taking both choir and guitar, which is great!  I'm so happy she gets to have fun with friends, even if it's just for a few hours.  MOM FAIL ALERT, though:  Some moms pick up their kids LATE at the end of a school day.....I accidentally picked Camden up an hour earlier than normal.  As it is, she is only able to attend 2.5 hours of the school day, because she leaves half an hour early for ballet.  For some reason, I was SO OFF last week (partly because I didn't have Tiberius with me, and I'd just had a massage and a rushed work-out - which clearly didn't need to be rushed ) that I showed up and grabbed her at 2:30, rather than 3:30, and I didn't realize it until we'd changed clothing at the ballet studio.  I felt so bad that she'd missed so much class time...and bad for myself, LOL, because it was the LAST of the totally kid-free 20 ours I had!  Tiberius was staying with his grandparents up in WA, and I was able to sew HIM two shirts and a pair of pants while Camden was at a sleepover, which was awesome!!  Anyway, that will not happen again - oops!

In fact, stay tuned for the blog post detailing Tiberius's new duds - and hopefully one in the not-too-distant future about the Whitney trousers and Josephine blouse!!

Days in the life...

Matt whipped up a wee rocking chair for her doll!

Our date night with a friend!

I was able to have a sewing date with Matt's mom!!!!

                                   

Weird kid!

Wearing a hat I haven't yet blogged...why???

Matt also made a Star Wars heavy blaster for Tiberius!

Truffula WHAT??? A Modkid Quinn!

So, first things FIRST:  I think this dress is beeeeeyond cute!  Second things SECOND:  I think there some details/construction ideas left out in this pattern, which is a first for a Modkid pattern for me.  But I could be nutso; there is always that.

I did do the size 4 in the Modkid Quinn, as chest size-wise (23 inches, finished measurement), it should have been the right choice for Camden.  However, this sucker isn't going to fit her for very long, sadly.  (Interestingly, I feel the back fits quite well - just that the bodice pieces should have come in more, and I'll remember this - I hope! - when I make her next version.)  It's quite snug, and one thing I did to try and fix that problem, though it may have been silly, I suppose, is to widen the button band that is attached to the main dress.  And speaking of this very button band, I do think the attachment method is weird.  From what I understood in the pattern, it is to be attached, right sides together, then turned out, away from the dress - the seam serged...?  Not sure if that was clear.  I chose to attach the button band, widened, as I mentioned, pressing down the back side of the band and top-stitching it closed, after fold it to meet the original seam line.  That is much neater in this sort of situation.

Also, I do think this dress should have called for interfacing, which it did not.  If I had been foreward-thinking when constructing the bodice, I just would have added it, per the norm.  Not sure why I didn't think of it.  I DID think of it when I stared at the skirt, which is ONE layer, and realized I would be attaching BUTTON HOLES to that sucker!  :O  Well, that's no bueno at all, in my humble opinion.  So, I created a wee facing, which isn't the prettiest thing, but it'll do.  My machine would have eaten the fabric ALIVE, wasting Seuss-like resources, if I'd added button holes to ONE LAYER.  (Not sure if you are reading my amazement at this oversight in pattern construction!!!)

So.

Other than those issues and the fit issue, it is SUPER cute.  I'd had this Seuss fabric since the early Spring, I believe, and I'd used some of it on another Modkid pattern, the Bailey, which Camden loves.

I do prefer adding elastic in the arms to get the desired ruffle effect, rather than using elastic thread in the machine - it's longer-lasting, and neater, I find.  The general construction of the dress is clearly super easy, and I have actually had the dress done for a couple weeks, buttttt.....!!!!  I was moping about, thinking I HAD to suck it up and buy buttons from a big chain store, when it came to me!  I messaged Tessa Ann on Etsy to order Lorax buttons - holla and hello!!!  They were able to make some super cute teeny Lorax and truffula tree buttons for the dress, and they came out soooo well-done!

So, I squeezed Camden into this sucker, and she had a grand time, jumping about in the melting snow!

And.....looking at these last several pictures, you can't TELL there is snow, aha!  Maybe a wee bit ;)