Simplicity 2874: When you wish upon a star

One of my good friends at work is throwing a birthday party for her daughter this weekend - a mere 3 days before we jet to Hawaii. Her daughter is turning 4 and is super obsessed with Disney princesses, most recently Tinkerbell. Even though I've got a ton of stuff to do before our trip, I still found a smidge of time to whip up a dress for her gift. I typically try to use a print or color scheme that isn't too cheeseball for baby/kid gifts, but I figured that at 4, her daughter would love the Disney print more than her mom would enjoy a more sophisticated dress. I did choose the purple colorway because it was much more subtle than the pink Tinkerbell fabric.

For the dress itself, I chose Simplicity 2874 I really love seeing jumpers on little girls as evidenced by the fact that most of the baby dresses I've made fall into that category - heh. Not only are they a classic silhouette, but I also like that it gives the parents options. It's warm and sunny - wear it alone with sandals. It's cold and rainy- thrown on a long sleeve shirt underneath and pair with tights and boots.

This particular pattern is drafted really well and went together very easily. The bodice is actually lined, a nice touch, but from the waist seam down, all of the edges are raw. Um, what? Instead of following their directions, I did french seams on the skirt, attached the inside hem band with a blind hem and added bias tape to the waist seam. These changes didn't add much time to the project, but the finished result was much more impressive than a bunch or raw edges hanging out. I completely realize that it's a bit nutty to use french seams on a casual kid dress, but it was easier/faster than using bias tape to finish off the seam. In addition, even if my friend and her daughter don't see the extra details, the grandmother is a design school grad/former seamstress and I know she'll appreciate the finishing touches. :)

The one note for this dress is it seems to run pretty long. My friend's daughter is really tall, so I don't think it will be a problem for her, but might be something to doublecheck if you're planning to make this dress.

To complete the gift, I added a long sleeve white shirt, a Tinkerbell metal tin and two pairs of socks (thank you Target dollar bin!). I know mom will like it, but I hope it gets the approval from the little girl, too. We shall see!

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In other sewing news, I'm on a last minute sewing kick for ME before our trip next week. I've finished 2 skirts, 2 dresses and have another dress and swim cover-up that are on the cutting table as I'm writing this. My photographer has been out of town for the past week and I just can't bring myself to get all gussied up again after coming home at night all sweaty and gross from the gym. So, I'm hoping to get pictures of stuff up later this week. The posts are mostly written, they just need pretty pictures to go with them. :)