Mommy and Me Knit Dresses

I’m so excited to share my newest dresses with you!  If you follow me on Facebook or twitter you saw a little sneak peek last week.  I thought it would be super cute to make Ami and I some matching dresses for spring and as an early birthday present for her.  Hard to believe my little girl will soon be 4! I spotted this fabric awhile ago on Marcy Tilton’s website and snapped up the last 3 1/3 yards when it went on sale.  I love the ikat print and colors and so does Ami.  She kissed the fabric when it first arrived and I told her my plan to make matching dresses.  Such a cutie!

I didn’t want the dresses to be too matchy-matchy, so while I did use the same base pattern, Kitschy Coo’s Skater + Lady Skater Dresses, I altered the patterns first.  For my version I wanted to copy the bodice of my fav lavender Michael Stars top. I love the scoop neck with half cap sleeves. I also lengthened mine 2″.   For Ami’s I left the neck high but added a wider band.  I also upped her size to a 5T (I modified the pattern) so that this will fit longer.  Her 3/4T versions are already quite fitted now.  I’ve made many versions of these dresses so I won’t go into all the details again.  You can check out my earlier versions here, here, here and here!  It’s one of my favorite patterns!

My biggest dilemma was the fabric itself.  It is SO DRAPEY,  4 way stretch, and was quite difficult to cut straight as it was shifting all over the place.  I think my husband thought I lost my mind with me yelling at the fabric while cutting!  I matched up and centered my fabric front and back as much as possible but it’s not perfect.  I may go back and recut the waist on my dress to straighten it at some point.  It’s not very noticeable when worn since it moves quite a bit.

Both dresses were meant to have a natural waistline but again the fabric just sank with the weight.  I was going to raise them but actually love the effect of the dropped waist. I went to show Vic and he told me not to change a thing-it’s perfect! :)  These are so soft and comfy to wear.  Ami didn’t want to take her’s off after trying it on for fit.  Really lightweight which is perfect in Florida. I love these dresses but won’t be making them out of a similar fabric any time soon.  I’ve learned my lesson.  These dresses work much better in a more stable knit.

One last tidbit- If you want loads of compliments matching dresses are the way to go.  It helps having a super cute daughter as well!  Everyone stopped to compliment our dresses when we took these pictures at the Naples Botanical Gardens.  We went to see the new show that’s up right now, Dinosaurs in the Garden!  Ami was a bit scared of the replica’s.  Her favorite one spit water at us! :P

I’ve been super busy lately.  We’re hoping to list and sell our condo soon so I’ve been cleaning and organizing like a madwoman. Trying to plan out what I want to work on for the next few months since I’m packing up much of my stuff and need to keep the place spick and span.  It really made me realize how much I’ve been skimping on the cleaning lately.  I only have so much time to myself and would much rather use it to sew then clean.

I also just switched my blog over to WordPress.com with a guided transfer.  So worth the extra money, it made transferring a breeze plus I have 2 weeks of support on my site. I’m really not all that computer savvy.   I also did a small website makeover- I’m still working on my logo and header for branding. So let me know what you think.  I’m hoping to add some unobtrusive advertising/affiliates (only things I already love and use) to help pay for the site itself and maybe my fabric-wouldn’t that be lovely-and then launch my business in the fall when Ami starts preschool.  Just working on getting my business licensing setup.

Stay tuned later this work for an extra post.  I thought I’d share how we celebrate spring with naturally dyed Easter Eggs!  The kids and I are doing some leaf wrapping and then dyeing the eggs in beets, onion skins, basil, etc.  Hoping to get that up for Thursday!