Sunday, September 21, 2008

A Handmade Dress for Esme


I love how the light catches her eyes here.


I saw a handmade dress similar to this one on Etsy - but it was far out of my price range. Plus, I can sew... so I found a pattern similar to it at the local store and made this up out of flea market fabric.

The buttonholes are handsewn, which was the most difficult part. I could do them on the machine if I could figure out which parts to interchange. Somehow I never get around to that and instead spend an extra 10 minutes to an hour handsewing them.



It is a 'swing dress', that is put on over her feet and then brought up and buttoned over the shoulders.



and, even in a 'real-world shot' (not the best lighting etc) you can see the dress still allows her to move around, standing or sitting and playing with her toes. She can even crawl in it without it hindering her movement - although the middle looks a little funny in some positions. It should fit her as a dress for another few months and then graduate to more of a shirt with a simple alteration of where the buttons are placed.

Also: The pants I made Esme a few months ago are still fitting and are in and out of the wash all of the time. Soon I'll need to make a few more pairs in the next size up! I also bought some Alexander Henry dragon fabric like the dress I saw online -- and hope to get a dress and a pair of pants out of it for a nice outfit :)

6 comments:

Andrea said...

nice! she looks so cute...

Rhiannon said...

Very Adorable.

It is these things that make me sad for a boy. You can't make as many cute, quick clothes for them. Little girl clothes, so sweet!

That's not to say I don't adore having a son!!!

Just Me said...

whatta cutie-cutie!!! I cant wait to see the dress you make with the yummy owl fabric!!

h2odragon said...

rhiannon: sure you can make cute skirts for boys... just don't let them or their friends find out about it later...

Anonymous said...

Looks beautiful! I love the fabric choice, it's a lovely colour.

RheLynn said...

Yep it's a shirt now (3 months later) and still fits her well :) It looks really cute with jeans.