Living Large in the Little Girl's Skater Dress by Kitschy Coo

This is a new favorite for Camden - the Little Girl's Skater Dress by Kitschy Coo.  She so far has two, and I have plans to make ONE more for the season!  This is the third knit dress pattern I have tried in the past six months.  The first was the Sew Straight Patterns Uptown/Downtown dress, and I love that one, then I sewed the VFT Kensley, which I wasn't a fan of - maybe because of the gathered skirt???  Anyway, I love the Skater!

I used a recent-ish purchase from Joann Fabrics - another Doodles Line knit.  It isn't my favorite knit to work with, and you DO need to wash and dry it a good three times, but it works, and Camden clearly loves it.  She wore it today for her birthday party, too!  The other version was a good use of stash - albeit a nerve-wracking one!  I totally checked to make sure I wasn't playing fabric chicken, but that turned out to be a lie.  There was definitely a flattening-out and an ironing of the rolled edge to eek out enough room for the front bodice piece, but I made it!  It makes me happy to use this remnant, too, because I first used it in a Modkid Penny dress for Camden years ago (and which I can't find a photo of).

I don't have anything earth-shattering to say about the pattern, except that I printed out the pdf and traced the pieces onto my usual Swedish tracing paper.... in the largest size, which almost seems silly.  I'm crazy bummed that this pattern doesn't go up to at least a size 10.  I'll have to see if I feel bold enough next year to try and grade it up.  The Lady Skater seems to skip a few sizes, so, I don't think I could make her the smallest version of that, sadly.

Anyway, I did lengthen this pattern - only the skirt portion and only by an inch, but it's a great fit for now.  The directions may or may not be great, LOL.  I'll assume they are fine, but it's a straight-forward pattern, so, I didn't use them, and I did make the cuff at the sleeves a bit wider, as I like that look better - and thought I'd prefer sewing it on if it was bigger, LOL.

A cute, simple pattern - and I did short sleeves on both, but I could totally make a version this fall, before she's too big for the pattern, hopefully, with long sleeves.

And some time in the life of....

Such a good dental patient!

Little guy never stays in his own space, LOL

A Book Report on Floral Fashion

You must know by now my undying love of this dress.  I daresay I like the pattern more than Camden does, as it isn't the first dress she ever reaches for.  I have sewn a few Book Report Dresses by Oliver and S - shown HERE and HERE.  It, like the Seashore Sundress, in my LAST post, is a relatively simple sew that you can turn into so much more.  I clearly don't get crazy with the pattern, but I think I love how there are different "blocks" of color, in a way.

The pattern goes together easily.  The only thing that may slow you down are the loops, and even putting those in isn't a chore.  I am sure it's fun for kids to have hidden pockets, too, though Camden never seems to make use of them.

I made a size 8, and I think I lengthened it, because this pattern makes it easy to do so.  And because it has so much positive ease, I do like to get extended wear out of it by making it longer.  

Anyhow, this puts me at dress number 5 for Camden's new school year!  Another is hot off the hand-stitching needle, so to speak, and I have plans for pants and a top AND a vintage pattern I have never sewn before.  After THAT, y'all???  Oh, jeez - so MUCH!!!

After the next dress blog post, though, I hope to be blogging about a finished cardigan, so, we'll see!

A few moments in the life of...

Writing comics

Helping dad sand

Even babies are welcome to their shack, lol

Seashore Sundress....Sewn Up for the First Time in Forever

I love this pattern and have no idea why I haven't made one in so long!

The Seashore Sundress by Oliver and S is super simple to make and has a nice fit!  You can add piping to mix things up - or color block, if you're into putting effort into things.  The effort I put into this dress was in adding flat piping on the front, so, I clearly went the extra mile here, folks.  And it looks like I have done that before, aha.

I did sew a size 8 and wish I had lengthened it, but as with the last dress, I was being lazy.  I just want it to last that much longer.  As it is, I feel I could have placed the buttonholes a tad lower, as the dress rides up high on the chest.

It is super cute - and strangely, I have never made one in such a dark color, so, I am glad I went with this gorgeous fabric.  And other than adding flat piping, I changed nothing about the pattern, so, this is a simple post, aha.

And... we have made use of Camden's prairie dress already!  She wore it to the Fort Vancouver Reenactment night, and actors were trying to rope her into the game, but she didn't know to play along, LOL - asking her if she came in on the wagon train, etc.  She was pretty fancy while we were there, and photo credit for the first two photos below goes to my friend, Elissa, and her fancier phone ;)