Sewing: Easter Dress for Scarlett

This ensemble for Scarlett may be my favorite of the Easter outfits! I love the way it turned out. This is of course with out the benefit of trying them on the girls--it never seems that possible to do so before they really need to wear them. Too difficult to persuade them to stop what they're doing and change into an outfit just so mommy can admire them! And that is the main reason for not using them as the models for the Easter dresses, at least not yet. I have actually been working on the dresses while preparing for a trip abroad (doesn't that sound old fashioned? "Abroad") and intend to pack them along for some imagined good location shoot in the Easter dresses. We'll see! If that doesn't work I'll be packing them back and they'll be wearing them Easter Sunday of course--it's just that Easter in our yard typically isn't quite as spring like as I'd like. (Recalling these pictures on the lawn that had not quite perked up.)

Since I was trying to use this plaid for all three girls but didn't have very much of it I decided on a jumper for Scarlett. I love the look of a jumper on a little girl her age and the idea of it being different than Audrey's skirt, but still not requiring too much fabric. I used Burda pattern 9564 but made the dress sleeveless. I also changed the back from a zipper to a button placket, which seems to be what I always do when I come to a zipper. I just prefer the look of buttons down the back. And I found some I thought worked really well with this. Such a great angled oblong shape!

For the blouse I used the same pattern I used for Audrey's Little Red Riding Hood Blouse, and made the sleeves long again. This time I also added the piping on the collar. I love piping! I thought it would be nice to have the collar the same as the one on Audrey's jacket. In fact, it's the same medium weight linen as Audrey's though the rest of the blouse is a tissue weight--both gorgeous fabrics! Both from JoAnn.

I lined the jumper, just as I did Audrey's skirt, because it seems to help discipline the silk just a bit. And it avoids the need for a slip, which sometimes is one layer too many when dressing a busy two-and-a-half-year-old. Not to mention that I just like the finished look of lined garments.

So here it is for Miss Scarlett: a bit of tailoring on the jumper and a bit of flouce on the blouse and it just may be the perfect balance for her. Sounds a lot like her in fact, although she is probably more flouce than restrained!  I am imagining her blonde curls bouncing above that peter pan collar.... I hope I can keep her still long enough for some photos.