Woodland Summer Dress

Lucy has really shot up over the last few months and hardly any of her summer clothes fit. She is more than two years younger than Anna but is only about an inch shorter! The first thing that was on my to do list after we got back from our Vietnam trip was to sew up some new summer dresses for her.

I've used this pattern a few times before - I bought it last Christmas when I made this dress for Anna. It's the Tie Dye Diva Fair & Square pattern. It's a lovely and simple style that works well for summer. I love using solids for the bodice and hem band to contrast against a feature print fabric for the main dress. I sewed up a size three due to Lucy's height but it's way too big for her in the bodice. Never mind - that means she will get a couple of years wear from it.

Lucy calls this her "fox dress" because of the foxes featured in the fabric, which is Jewel from the Norwegian Woods range by Michael Miller. I got it from my lovely sponsor Fabric Fusion. The colours are a lovely change from the usual pinks and blues I tend to go for, and it would be equally gorgeous for a girl or boy. If you need unisex colours for a gender neutral baby gift, this range is a great choice.

For the back I used one large button as a closure, and chose a yellow one to pick up some of the yellow tones in the fabric. It's hard to see in the pictures but all the top stitching is done in bright orange, which looks great against the green and complements the foxes and other orange features in the print. The dark green / aqua solid is some left over homespun I used on a recent quilting project. It matches nicely with the tree trunks and flowers in the woodland fabric.

Even though this dress isn't Christmas specific, it does have a festive feel to it and Lucy actually wore it today to an early Christmas celebration we had with my side of the family, so I'm going to add it to the 12 Days of Christmas Flickr group, which features all the gorgeous creations from the series of the same name which is being hosted by Sewpony and Craftstorming. It's been a great series so far with lots of handmade festive kiddo outfits.

I made another one at the same time as I sewed this one, but in completely different fabrics so it has a really different look - I love how that happens! I'll share that one soon.