Daisy's Dresses

Sunday night I finished the pink party dress for Daisy. I think it turned out so darn cute.

Finished party dress, ignore the mess in the background

I ended up adding the lace to the neckline and the cuffs. I also changed the order sewing the lining pieces together so that all the seams would be enclosed, especially the scratchy net petticoat seam. The lining is hemmed with a machine narrow hem. The outside of the dress however, I could not get my blindhem stitch on the machine to cooperate, so I blind hemmed it by hand. Tedious but worth the results.


In my stash I also found some cute green-blue cotton with embroidered fishes. A little heavier than the cotton I use for my sundresses, perfect for a fall dress for little girls.

It's a bit more blue than the camera is showing.

For this dress I used McCall's 6273.

I mixed up the elements of the dresses. Used the a-line skirt like the yellow image, but with the round neck and the little sleeves. I also left off the ribbons and the petticoat ruffle. The dress was lengthened 5 inches to be a little more modest, and the ties I cut 4 the full width of the fabric, then sewed them in pairs, and turned rightside out. I've found that the ties on most of the patterns I've used are downright wimpy. An easy fix though. The ties are super long, but now she can either have a really big bow in the back, or wrap them around the front for a bow there. The dress is lined with brown broadcloth and has pockets, like the pink one.

Aren't those little sleeves so CUTE?

You may have noticed, I like big bows

Nana also gave me a slip Daisy had outgrown and asked if I could make a bigger one. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of it, but its a basic white slip. Wide shoulder straps, ruffle on the bottom, and shirred side panels on the bodice part for wider range of fit. An exact copy of the one she'd outgrown, but a size bigger. I used white cotton I had on-hand, but the neck and armholes were bound with bias tape, and that I did not have. Not in white anyway. So, as anyone stuck would do, I googled.

Making your own bias tape is not hard, you just need a bit of patience. This is the first link that came up, and I found it quite helpful.

All-in-all, I was quite pleased with the dresses I'd made for Daisy. Nana loved them and said Daisy would too. :)