The Girl's Birthday Dress -- and a Poncho

There was much agonizing over E's dress for her third birthday.  I'd decided weeks ago to make a Modkid Kyoko, but after several shopping trips, I couldn't find just the right fabric.  Hate it when that happens.  On to Plan B, which involved some turquoise velour and my handy-dandy collection of Ottos.  I settled on the "Pine Green" Jersey Dress from Ottobre 6/2008, in neither green nor jersey -- although I did line the skirt with jersey.  E. is in a 3T in RTW, but really only for the length, so I traced a 92 for the width and 98 for the length.

Skirt lining

It went together pretty quickly and easily, which was fortunate, since I sewed it up the night before her party -- of course.  It does seem to run a bit short, but it's hard to tell for sure, since she can't stand independently.  If I were to make it again, I'd add 2-3" to the skirt portion.

I may or may not have made the dress just to go with these tights.

I really like the shirring detail on the bodice.  I was intimidated by shirring for much too long.  It's so easy!  Don't fear the elastic thread.

I tried to match her bee cake to her dress and came pretty close!

She was also in need of a bigger poncho, so that was one of her gifts.  The Sew Baby Poncho Pizzazz pattern is easily my all time most-sewn pattern (excluding diapers).  As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of the poncho as outerwear.  This one is made from some yummy Windpro -- love that stuff! -- with my usual mods of adding elastic the hood and overlapping it at the neckline.  I made it a size too big, but it's still wearable, and I know she'll outgrow it soon enough.  *sigh*