Small Town Stitcher: Pop, pop, popover

My girl has always been a skirt and dress kind of girl. A girly girl, if you will. But the kind of girly girl who will also hang upside down from the monkey bars and run you down in a race. I mention this to show why I love to make her dresses, but that these dresses must be recess and PE appropriate, because she won't just sit out and watch! For school this year, I decided to make her a couple of new dresses, well, skirts too, but I still haven't gotten that far... And, I promise, I do make things for my son, but has anyone else found that it is much easier to find things for girls… He'd rather just have me make cookies with him anyway. Faster and much tastier than clothes! ;)

Anyway, back to the point, for this dress I used the free Popover Dress pattern from Oliver + S. I completely LOVE her patterns!! This one is a pillow-case style dress, but with a cute “yoke” piece along the top. I used a dark denim I found on sale at JoAnn’s one day (actually bought for me, but I sacrifice once in awhile) and wanted to pair it with something bright and cheerful. I laid out a few fabric choices, and let Emma choose. I knew before I showed her what she would pick. The rainbow-striped fabric just jumped out next to the denim and I knew she’d pick it right away!

Notice there is no denim in this picture...oops, well it was there at one time!

I know I have a tendency to mention how easy things are, please take that as a sign that I pick easy projects and not how great of a seamstress I am. But, honestly, I had this baby whipped up in a day from picking fabrics to Emma wearing it. Leisel's patterns are so detailed and user-friendly, you couldn't ask for better directions. I chose to add pockets because I thought it would be really cute, and who doesn't love pockets, so I used Rae’s pleated pocket tutorial from Made by Rae. And then, since I had the cute bias strip stripes along the arms and straps, I went for a bias-bound hem. I thought it would help pull the dress together and add one more punch of color. I had originally planned to just finish the hem with the bias strip on the inside, but then when I saw what it would add to the dress, I listened to my husband and left it showing. Sometimes, it turns out, he is right about things! ;)

I am really pleased with how this dress came out. When Chris saw Emma in it, he said “That’s your first day of school outfit, right there!”

What a model...she loves to pose!!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I also finished the edges with Hong Kong seams. I know it wasn’t necessary, I could have just zigzagged them or actually gotten my serger out of hiding to finish them (haha--that's a whole other subject...), but I thought it would be that added little “I love you” every time she wears it. I showed the seams to her and said I wanted the inside to be just as pretty as the outside. That’s what we always tell her, that she God made her just as beautiful on the inside as the outside.

Here’s a few pictures from the first day of school. They are not great as we were running a little late, imagine that, and I didn’t want to take a bunch at school. Look at the joy on her face. My girl was one pumped first grader!