Testing....The Hanami by Straightgrain!

Do you follow An from Straightgrain?  She blogs from Belgium, and makes the most adorable clothes for her daughter.  I think she likes the same type of fabrics and style for her daughter as I like for mine.  Her Tinny pattern is being "Flipped" over at Frances Suzanne this month - there's some amazing flips, and great creations in the Sew Along....there's still time to enter - and I happen to be one of the judges!

Well, An put out a call for testers for a new top/dress pattern that she was working on, and I was lucky enough to participate!  Here's the top, modeled by her absolutely adorable daughter - in some beautiful Nani Iro fabric no less:

 

She sent us off the pattern, and I got to work....so, what fabric to use?  Well, I knew that I was for sure going to be doing the flutter sleeve dress version for Julia, because that's what she likes.....no tunics for her!  

I chose a Japanese fabric from my shop - it's from Westex, and it's totally cool - there are bears, owls, squirrels, birds, mushrooms, bats....but, at the same time, it's very tastefully done.

Anyways, here's the modeled shots of my version of the Hanami dress - this is a size 4, and she definitely has room to grow, so this will last a while:

 

The dress, while simple to make, has two sleeve options, the length option, and ties on the sides.  I decides on a screaming orange contrast, mainly because, well, I like orange, plus my kid has some orange sandals.  She LOVES the dress - so much, in fact, that I made another:

 

This time, I used an aqua baby-cord that I had in my stash.  I added pockets on the sides, and a really bright pink bias contrast.  I was, again, very pleased with the result.  I think my favorite detail of this dress is the sweet "v" in the back. 

So, two dresses that my kid really loves - success!

Thanks An for letting me test the Hanami!  I bought the Tinny pattern before it was even getting "Flipped" at Frances Suzanne.  I'm going to make the circle skirt version real soon - just have to decide on fabric!

My Final Roller Skate Dress...

Well, for now.

My kid now has three Roller Skate Dresses, and two Roller Skate Tunics.  Enough already.

This one is meant for the first day of school - this year, Julia is going to a new school.  She's spent the last two years at a great school, but now she's going to head off to the Montessori school that her brother attended.  I'm really a believer in the whole Montessori thing, especially for a kid like mine who has a November birthday, and won't be eligible to attend kindergarten until she's almost six.  I worry that she'd get bored with yet another year of the same pre-school stuff.  I hope I'm making the right decision....

Anyways, I decided to make a dress based on what Julia's working on right now - writing her letters.  She can pretty much write her name so that someone could recognize it, and she can identify a few letters, every once in a while.

The dress, again, is the Oliver + S Roller Skate Dress.  This is made in a 3T, out of a lightweight stretch corduroy, lined with a bed sheet that I'm now using to line just about everything.

So, I can make this dress with my eyes closed.  For this one, I decided to add a practice writing paper border which I painstakingly satin stitched over a couple of days.  The letters are not perfect.  But, neither are my 3 year old's!

It's really soft and comfortable, and since I know my kid likes this pattern, I was pretty sure she'd be up for a modelling session...which, she was!

The back has a really cool pink button with little beads that go around that I've been hoarding in my button stash forever....this was the perfect project for it!  Again, I used a little hair elastic instead of trying to make a button loop out of fabric - it's much easier, and looks really cute.

Here's a close-up of the satin stitching - hardly perfect, but does work.....

I've got a bunch of other back-to-school projects piled up and ready to go....ready for a new school year!