Wednesday 12 March 2014

A Floral Frock for my Birthday Belle!

At the end of February, C turned 8.  I can’t quite believe that I have an 8 year old, how can time have raced by so quickly?!  It seems only yesterday that she was this tiny, toddling, cuddlesome bundle. 


Anyway, my bundle of joy loves nothing more than to dance around in a pretty dress, the more voluminous the better! 

I figure that every birthday girl deserves a new dress, right?  Having left it somewhat to the last minute, we wasted no time in choosing a pattern.  Options were given, but C was very definite in her choice, a sweet little pattern by ??

As much as I love to use vintage fabric, I don’t like to use it on anything I make for the girls who, lets face it, are growing taller by the day, so anything made will likely only last them one season.  Instead, a practical and easy to work with cotton was the order of the day, in perfect fresh spring tones.

Where one leads, the other often follows, and so not to be left out, M had to have a new dress too.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may recognise the fabric that she was lucky enough to end up with!  It’s a 1930’s reproduction fabric which I had bought with a view to turning it into a dress.  Right from the start, M had had other ideas, and as soon as it dropped on the doormat, she had claimed the fabric for a dress for herself. 

To be fair, it’s a very practical fabric for a child’s dress.  Being cotton, it’s really easy to work with, is pretty durable, something required in a fabric for M who is always climbing, jumping, skipping and falling over! 

Again, the pattern was a vintage one, but more simply constructed than C’s dress.  Not one for fancy collars or restrictive clothing, the sleeveless, open neckline design of the dress really suits M.

The fabric had no nap, which meant the pattern placing was easy.  The skirt construction was basically a run of 3 rectangles joined together and gathered.  The major plus point for M’s dress is that there is a 4” hem, so hopefully she will get use out of it well into next year. Teamed with thick tights and a cardigan, it’ll be perfect in winter too.

We still aren’t entirely sure how C managed it, but celebrations that would ordinarily have been confined to the one day ended up spreading over 3 days and she managed a meal out with my parents and brother, a day walking the coast at Dunwich with a buffet afterwards, and then a trip to the cinema with very special friends.  Think I might ask her for a few tips on extending my own birthday celebrations :o)











xx

8 comments:

  1. The dresses are so sweet, I love the petticoat. Your daughter looks likes she had a lovely birthday - treasure these moments, they grow so quickly!

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  2. Gorgeous gorgeous dresses or should I say keeping it vintage frocks - a word my grandmother always used. Children grow far too quickly these days.
    Julie xxxxxxxx

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  3. She's gorgeous :) her dresses look fab xx

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  4. She is so beautiful and what gorgeous hair! I love the dresses you made her, they are adorable! She's very lucky to have such a talented Mummy! XxxX http://thesecondhandrose.blogspot.co.uk

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  5. Your girls look adorable in their vintage style dresses; great choice of pattern and fabrics too. It's surprising how quickly they grow up, my Spudmonkey will be 8 this year too!

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  6. Beautiful dresses for beautiful girls :) Love the cake too x

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  7. Oh how cuuuuute!!!! Both the Bday girl and the dresses ;)

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  8. Lovely, lovely dresses. Perfect for birthdays.

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