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Twirling in Teal: A Winter Dress

Last year, I took on a big coordinate-the-family-for-Christmas project. Nothing at all like that happened this year. We were well into December before it even occurred to me that I'm often sewing new Christmas clothes. After a quick closet assessment, I decided that my older daughter was really the only one who needed anything new right now. And what she needed was more of just a winter dress rather than a holiday dress.

I did a bit of thinking and came up with a plan before going to Fabricland. The "let's just see what we find" sort of trips always leave me overwhelmed and disappointed. Also, I had a limited amount of time and had to be quick and focused with a list. Thankfully, they had what we needed and my plan worked!

Christmas Dress

The fabric is a teal ponte knit so it is both comfortable and washable. The pattern is a heavily modified Ottobre T-shirt pattern and a 3/4 circle skirt. I used Kadiddlehopper's tutorial for drafting the skirt part.

Christmas Dress

I put a zipper in the back because the waist seam is very fitted and I didn't think the dress would stretch enough to go over the shoulders.

Christmas Dress

The organza flower (tutorial here) is pinned on and the velvet ribbon belt closes with a snap under the bow so both are removable before washing. Thread chain belt loops at the side seams keep the ribbon in place.

This is a more sophisticated looking dress than I've made for my daughter before and I really like how it looks on her. It doesn't get any better than a circle skirt for twirling, so she really likes it, too. Winner!
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Comments

  1. LisaJanuary 9, 2013 at 8:29 AM

    Beautiful dress. I love the color, and the "twirl factor" is an added bonus. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. KarinJanuary 9, 2013 at 8:30 AM

    She looks lovely! It's grown up looking, without going to far. Just perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JoyceJanuary 9, 2013 at 2:14 PM

    Beautiful dress! I love the color on her.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 9, 2013 at 6:12 PM

    It's perfect! Just the right combination of sophistication and twirl factor!

    Taja

    ReplyDelete
  5. AudreyJanuary 13, 2013 at 10:46 AM

    The dress is lovely and fits perfectly. The blue color really highlights her blue eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Reese DixonJanuary 24, 2013 at 2:31 PM

    That dress is gorgeous!! The flower is such a perfect grown up touch.

    ReplyDelete

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