summer dresses

Nesting. That's what's happening 'round these parts these days. 

For me, nesting includes plenty of sewing. And I'm happy to report that my list of items 'to sew before baby' is all crossed off!  I'll spare you the pictures of bassinet sheets and burp cloths, and instead share the specs for a couple of toddler summer dresses.

First, the one I loooove:

Using some Japanese fabric I've been hoarding for a while now, I made a 'pillowcase' dress, using this pattern, but the yoke from this pattern (which I've used before).  I'm such a newbie to garment sewing, even the simplest construction techniques are new to me. Like this was the first time I've used single-fold bias tape to shape and finish arm holes -- a trick I'm sure I'll use again.

And in a distant second place:

I love this green paisley fabric, but the resulting dress is a bit more 'pajama' than I expected. I used this peasant dress tutorial, just shortened the sleeves. I thought this would be the easier of the two dresses, but all that elastic casing was a bit fiddly.

Ok, enough sewing talk for a while.  I just made some tasty new scones so I'll hook you up with the recipe soon.