Today was Annaliese's first day of preschool, sniff, sniff...I made this dress for her. It turned out alright, but not what I had originally envisioned. I embroidered the "A with apple" design from Artistic Threadworks on a blue t-shirt, and then sort of used the EZ2Make Twirl pattern to complete the dress. If I could start all over, here are a few things I'd do differently...
* use more fabric in the skirt. I was being cheap and didn't buy 45" of the fabric I needed to make it gather like it should. I realized after the fact that I could have pieced the skirt since the pattern repeated on the yardage... oh well.
* Do a better job tacking the elastic down on the skirt. I had never sewn elastic to fabric like this before (remember I'm new to garment construction) and I didn't space it out very well. So one half was much more gathered than the other.
* Use less elastic. By the time I got it stitched to the fabric and then to the shirt, it wasn't tight enough anymore.
* Don't use a shirt with 5% spandex. Not only did the elastic stretch and not return to it's original length, the edge of the shirt stretched as I added the skirt to it.
To try to fix all of that, I added the ribbon around the waist with a tie in the back. That helped me make it fit her waist better.
Oh well, live and learn. She got lots of compliments from the preschool teachers and seemed proud of it, so that's what matters most! :)
Oh, and the beautiful hair bow is compliments of Ms. Valerie!
It may not have turned out as envisioned, but I think it is absolutely precious and she looks awfully proud to be wearing it. I can't wait to hear how her first day went!
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