Birthday dress

I was commissioned to make a birthday dress for my niece who will be 3 next week!  And since she is getting a Bitty Baby as a present I also made a matching dolly dress! 

I wanted to use the fabrics leftover from KK's strawberry breakfast dress since I loved the fabric combo so much!  And I also wanted it to be twirly and ruffly.  All the things that my girls love!  So I found a bodice pattern that would work and then just kept adding tiers to make it long enough! 

Little Avie is a tiny thing so I have to use Ottobre pattterns in a size 80, which is about an 18mo.  But because she is about as tall as most 3 year olds I have to adjust the length.  Originally, the pattern had 2 tiers and then a tiny ruffle around the bottom which was about 1 in tall.  I didn't have enough to make the ruffle, so I just added a full tier instead.  Speaking of tiers, the original ones were supposed to  be about 2 3/4 in. tall, but I made mine 3.5 in tall. 

Pattern:  2/2005 Ottobre size 80 bodice

The thing I loved most about the dress were these cute little petal shaped ties!





I didn't have a pattern that would work for a dolly dress and I am kind of opposed to paying $6 for a pattern to make a dolly dress so I just kind of winged it.  I free handed the ties and then added a bodice piece to them.  I kept trying the paper pattern on KK's American Girl doll and cutting down where it needed, or adding too it when it was needed.  You should see the pattern I created!  I couldn't find scotch tape, so I had to use blue painter's tape so the pattern is a mess of tracing paper and blue tape!

This one got the bottom ruffle since I had enough fabric!

What a fun project!

Next up I have a pair of shorts that I made for Nin's birthday which is today!  I had them on the embroidery machine while I was sewing Avie's dress!  I am sure I looked like a mad woman switching back and forth between 3 machines every 4 seconds.