More Summer Dresses for Little Girls - Suncadia

I've been busy making summer dresses for my 4 grand-daughters. Yes, that's right, number 4 has arrived! So I'm now making in sizes from age 5-6, down to 0-3 months.

I will do a separate blog on the baby clothes. This summer, I've had to be hunting for patterns for little girls who are no longer babies or toddlers. Here are some of the ones I love, and I'll tell you below and in my next couple of posts, how I made them, and any tricks or tips I can add.

           

All of them were made using free PDF patterns from the internet. Those shown above come from 4 separate patterns, which were chosen for their versatility. (Virtually all were modified from the original pattern.) These were all made in sizes 3 to 5 years old (for three grand-daughters, between 2 and a half, and a tall 3 and a half). Read on to find out more.

The first dress I made was for Rose, 2 and a half. The pattern is for size 3, and as Rose is not very tall, I shortened the skirt length slightly.

This was made from the Suncadia pattern by Abby of Sew Much Ado. For this dress, I did pretty much follow her tutorial, although I made the top of this dress from knit fabric and the skirt part from cotton - I just liked the combination. The knit is cream with rust zigzags, and the skirt fabric is rust with tiny cream dots. Originally, I thought I would use some of the cream stretch bias binding to bind the neckline, but finally decided on using the same bodice fabric.

This pattern was a delight to make (thank you, Abby). Really, the only things I did differently were minor - unusually for me.

Firstly, because the skirt was cotton, and not a stretchy knit pattern, I gathered it using a loose zigzag, and then attached it to some clear elastic. I attached this by zigzagging and slightly stretching the elastic as I went. This means that the waist does have some stretchiness, as well as the bodice. This is what the inside of the waistline looked like.

As Abby suggests, I made the skirt hem by zigzagging too. I used contrasting thread, and I think the outside looks quite decorative.

Having used the same fabric to make the neckline, I put a little tag in the back to make it easy for Daddy to see which way to put it on!

I also oversewed the neck binding by hand to hold it down. You can see my little stitches on the outside a bit.

Overall, very pleased with this project, it is easy fitting and comfortable, and easy to play in. It also washes well, so everyone is happy.

 Definitely a pattern I will use again - though I'd better get on with it, they all grow so quickly!

 To find out more about dresses for summer '17, and the free pdf patterns I use, see this post.