As promised...

Okay, as promised yesterday, here is the Bit's newest dress.  My, it's a good thing she loves dresses!  The pattern calls for piping around the waist, but I didn't want to fight with piping while dealing with a perpetually cranky baby and an active toddler.  So instead, I used the same Dritz commercial quilt binding that finishes off the bottom.  I lined the bodice with pink, redrafted the back so it's a smidge higher than the front, and added a pink ribbon bow to the front as well.  Oh, and the skirt is a bit longer than spec (Bit needs 23 inch long dresses to hit her at the knee)  and wider because I was being lazy--rather than measure to their width, I just cut off the selvedge edges and sewed it together.  Should be great for twirling!  

Bit is tall for her age, so lengthening it was a must-do, as it is with most of her clothes.  I've learned not to rely on the original patterns for length because they're based on average, and she's the product of my 6'6 brother and his 5'11 wife.  Some of her RTW dresses are actually 4T just for the length!

And I made one for Baby Bit as well!  Actually, it was the one I made for the shower last week that made this a must.  Joanna looked at me, looked at the dress, looked at Nikki and then pouted.  She wanted one, and she knows that I'd do anything for the girls.  Luckily, I had the fabric on hand because I bought it in place of paying for shipping over on fabric.com.  The only changes to the 1-3 month version is raising the line of the back and putting a ribbon bow on the front. Lengthening it isn't necessary just yet, but it might be by this time next year. I would recommend labeling the pieces, though, because they look exactly the same!

And now our girls will match once again.  When I can get the patterns in the right sizes, I just can't resist making coordinating and/or matching outfits!

My project for today will be converting some footie PJs for Lizzie in the spirit of Make and Mend.  She's a year old and gets mistaken for a six-seven month old baby all the time.  We got her some brand new clothes off Target clearance, but she's so slender that unless I do something, they'll be horrifically baggy.  Lucky for me, buttonhole elastic is a great invention!


Lots of commercial baby and toddler clothes have adjustable elastic waistbands.  I examined some of Bit's last year and figured out how to convert clothes so that they have similar waistbands.  I can adjust RTW clothes with some judicious use of my seam ripper so that they can have adjustable waistbands, too.  I got the buttonhole elastic off ebay, and I have plenty of buttons the right size in my collection.  (Joanns in my area doesn't sell it; Hancock used to, but they closed down in my town.)  So today, I'll be adding elastic to the back of the PJs, and I'll take pictures.  Tutorial, anyone?