This dress is basically a "pillowcase" style dress (you can find many excellent tutorials for pillowcase dresses...here's a link to my fave)....except I've made a few modifications. One change I made was to give it more of an "A-line" shape. It's 2-inches narrower at the top than the bottom. The A-line is just such a flattering shape and works well on my skinny-mini daughter (she's a couple months shy of 5 and only 33 pounds sopping wet and in her clothes).
SIDENOTE: Can I just take a minute and talk about how jealous proud I am of my daughter's hair? It's just the right thickness, just the right mix of blonds, slightly wavy, and a nice soft texture. Mine is ultra thick (a blessing and a curse) and a coarse texture that frizzes unless laden with product. So not fair.
The other modification was to add pockets. My daughter LOVES pockets. She's always carrying "treasures" in her pockets...it makes laundry time interesting.
Another change I made from the tutorials I looked at was to cut the neckline at a slight "scoop," making it a little bit lower in the front than in the back. The front has the illusion of a drawstring, but is gathered by making a casing and then threading through a piece of elastic that is an inch or so shorter than the casing.
Like most of the tutorials, I used binding for the armholes and ties. I tried sewing a casing at the armholes then using ribbon for the ties, but I found that with the curve of the armholes, I had a hard time making nice-looking casings...I was never satisfied with the result. I cut 2 1/2 inch strips of my fabric to make a 1/2 inch binding. The binding was really easy, and you could always use pre-made binding.
I added some ribbon detailing to the pockets and along the hem just to give the dress a little bit of added charm. I happened to find this cute gingham check ribbon that was the same shade of green as the stems of the lemons. I think it adds a nice touch.
When all is said and done, I'm happy with the result. I will make a few "tweaks" to the next one (I think I'm going to change the pocket placement slightly). I hope to have one of these cute dresses up soon in my shop!
