(Little) lady in red

May 07, 2016

It was a glorious day today here in Warrnambool and though I should have been outside, I spent some time behind the sewing machine and I sewed up this dress within an hour from start to finish. Bragging a bit, I know, but I have sewn up this style of dress so many times now that the steps now require very little thought! Shoulder seams, press, neckline, arm scyes, turn right side out, presss, kirt side seams, neaten and press skirt gather, attach bodice to skirt, press, instal zip, press, enclose zip seam with bodice lining, press, centre back skirt seam, press, dress hem, press and blind stitch bodice lining hem and press!

Juliette turned six this week! She is growing up. Loving school and making new friends and growing in confidence. I was feeling creative today and wanted to make her a dress in this red corduroy I picked up from the op shop a couple of months back. I decided to go with a simple style and used the Tinny pattern - plain bodice with gathered skirt. I did not use the skirt pattern piece - so it is probably more gathered than the pattern suggests, but since I had lots of fabric I decided to make the skirt full.

We walked a bit further down our property for photos this evening. Our proteas are in flower and are beautiful! I really think they look like native Australian flowers, but apparently they are native to South Africa. They have a very Australian look about them though! We fill the vase at our home entry with them - they last forever!

Not far from our protea bushes is our pine forest. We have about eighty pine trees that are about thirty five metres tall! The pine needles are thick and soft and it is a fun place to explore. We once found some spotted red toadstools...very fairy like.

I love how this dress turned out. It will be great for winter - layered with tights and a long sleeved top and of course a cardigan.

You can see below that I top stitched the neckline approximately four centimetres below the neckline. I like this effect on fabrics like corduroy.

I am grateful my girls still love wearing dresses. We are heading to my sister's for morning tea with my Mum tomorrow for Mother's day. Juliette explained her planned outfit to me while I tucked her in bed tonight..."I am going to wear my new red dress with my new birthday tights, shoes, my spotty cardigan and....undies! I nearly forgot the undies!"