Birthday Dress for a 3yo

Celeste turned 3 a few weeks ago (yes, I’m a little behind with my blogging!). Her birthday was on a Friday and on the Monday before, I suddenly realised I hadn’t made her a birthday dress. Aaagh! I can’t not make her a birthday dress!

I sorted through my patterns and Ottobre Design magazines, looking for inspiration, but nothing was grabbing. I wanted something easy to sew but still little special. I also wanted shirring on the bodice – I’ll say it was because it’s easier for Celeste to dress herself, but the real reason is I bought a ridiculously large spool of shirring elastic:

Since spring weather can still be quite cool, sleeves were also a requirement and I didn’t have the time or energy to draft something myself. I found just what I wanted: the Maia Dress by Petite Kids Boutique.

The pattern is rectangles with a cut-out pattern piece for the raglan sleeve. No printing out and sticking together 20 pages to make the pattern, but a bit of measuring instead. The instructions have plenty of detail and it’s a straight-forward sew (with a little play to get the shirring right).

The neckline was a bit higher on the picture on the pattern than the one I made. That might be because my shirring across the shoulders wasn’t as tight or because the sizing is a little large on Celeste. I made size 3 and she still fits into a lot of size 2 clothes.

The main fabric is Honeyfields Embroidered Cotton bought from Spotlight a month or two ago (in a 40% off fabric sale). The underskirt was a “Fabric to Create” fabric remnant in pale pink from Big W. It’s a much lighter cotton than I expected, but great for this project.

I got a little bored doing all the rows of shirring, but I’m happy with a sweet dress for a sweet little girl (who am I kidding? She’s a sassy, spunky kid with oodles of personality!).

And now my baby is three years old. Stay tuned for the birthday cake…