The Third Birthday Dress

I finished K's birthday dress, two weeks early no less!



I wasn't going to post pictures of her wearing the dress—I wanted the big reveal at her birthday party—but she was so excited when I brought it downstairs she wanted to put it on right away and I couldn't deny her. Plus it was a good time to double-check my hemming. She wasn't exactly cooperative at the last dress fitting and I was praying that I guessed right at the length.



The timing is also right to take pictures in front of our just-blooming cherry tree. I love all the little flowers on this tree but the first bit of wind or rain and they'll all be on the ground, so it doesn't last long.



The pattern I used is Simplicity 2231 and it came together pretty easily. The only difficult part was inserting the elastic, which I talked about here. The neckline elastic didn't go as badly as I thought, although I did have to pick apart one little section of the casing in order to get the elastic through. I added a couple of inches to the length of the skirt for a few reasons: 1) I'm not very good at making narrow hems and so I end up using more fabric than intended, 2) the skirt looked a tad short in the cover photo and K has long legs, 3) K is not exactly lady-like in her movements (as I assume most 3 year olds are not) and a little extra length is needed to keep her modest.

The fabric is a Little Lisette design I found at Joann's. I just can't get enough Oliver + S/Liesl Gibson! I thought the little ice cream cones and bars were just perfect for a birthday dress. Here's a little closer look at the fabric, and the photo in which she's telling me I can take 2 more pictures and then this photo shoot is DONE.