Using the same sleeveless dress block I used to make the Gypsy dress, I changed the style a little bit and made a round yoke dress. I remember seeing this style in Boden and really liked it, especially the ones for babies, but I could never afford those. (Uh oh, they don’t even carry this style anymore. I must be at least 2 years behind the latest baby/toddler trend.)

Anyway, I think I’m the last person on earth who hasn’t made this…until now. As for the name, I’m calling it Ginger because the fabric is from Ginger Blossom by Sandi Henderson. (Yeah, I know I should have tried harder.)

Front of the dress.

Back of the dress:

Front detail - there should be 2 snaps on one side, but my snapsetter is playing hide and seek with me… I know it will come out as soon as I buy another one. I tried to make the yoke wide so that it could cover R’s shoulders. She loves going to the park and that means more chance to be under the sun.

I should have sewed the side seams before the armhole facing (is that what you call it?) so that it could be a continuous piece from front and back. Oops, I haven’t finished cleaning up all the loose ends.

The dress was very easy to make. For some reason the armhole came out to be just fitting R, compared to the Gypsy Dress that was too big. I don’t remember changing the location of the armhole. Maybe I messed up when I attached the yoke to the skirt. I think I’ll have to change the pattern a little bit to increase the armhole so that this will fit R for at least 2 years.

R has 2 size 3 Room Seven tops (yes, if you’ve been reading my blog you can figure out by now that I’m a Room Seven fan). Unfortunately, both tops have very small neck openings and after washing both became ridiculously short. Don’t they know that they need to wash and dry their fabric before they sew with it??? I didn’t really pay money so that I can shrink all these clothes. (Wait, I think I did exactly that…) Anway, I really like them and decided to turn them into t-shirt dresses for R.

I found the knit jersey fabric for $1.95 per yard from fabric.com. I made the fabric covered buttons a while ago.

Verdict:
They were easy to make but they just came out not as nice as I imagined them to be. They both look like they’re too wide and do not fit that well on R. I wonder if it would look better if the body is not so wide. I might take this apart and change it again for the summer.

This is my first attempt to draft a pattern. I followed directions from a book, took the typical measurements of a 3-year-old directly from the book, and then drafted this sleeveless dress. I originally took R’s measurements but saw that they were pretty close to the standard 3-year-old measurements and decided to use the standard. I think the only thing I used from R was the waist-to-knee length. I first did a regular dress block, then made adjustments to make it a sleeveless dress, and finally made the final adjustments to create gathers in the front and back.

I used a very light weight Amy Butler Gypsy Caravan cotton print. I believe this is her first line. For some reason it’s not listed on her website. I got this from eBay a few years ago.

The bodice is self-lined and I used an invisible zipper. I haven’t figured out how to make it so that the self-lining would cover up most of the zipper so the seam would not be showing.

Here’s what it looks like on R. She was hesitant to let me put it on her and kept saying “too mall, too mall”. After bribing her with chocolate graham gold fish she became very cooperative. It’s obviously a little (ok, a lot) bigger than I expected. The armholes are way too big and the length is too long. I just hope a growth spurt will happen between now and the summer.

Sometimes you get lucky, even when the odds are against you.

The day before I could give my friend the ripped up JETS baby dress before leaving for her cruise I decided that I had to find the thread I needed and put in those ruffles. I would take a half day from work, go to the garment district and buy my thread (and maybe some fabrics), and still have enough time to take the bus to pick up the boys from school.

Then the half day ended up much longer than expected. Scratch the gartment district. There is a store called Sew Right Sewing Machines near my kids’ school. Maybe I could go there before picking them up. Why didn’t think of that earlier? I got out from work late, so late that I didn’t think I could get to the school on time. Forget about getting the thread. Will I have to go to the police precinct to pick up my kids? Will they think I’m the worst mother in the world for not being on time?

The bus, as expected, was late, but there was not much I could do at the time, so I slept all the way. The bus driver must realize that I was in a hurry or he was also in a hurry. I would have enough time to walk to the school. I must have dozed off again because when I opened my eyes I realized I just went past the stop I was supposed to get off. Ok, I had to remain calm. I rang the bell, got off at the next stop, about 10 blocks past my kids’ school. I walked quickly toward the school and there it was, the sewing supply store. I walked in and found my thread and went to pick up the boys. To make the long story longer, here’s the much better version of the JETS baby dress: