twirly dress

On Friday I went a little crazy at Joann's - well, crazy for me, which isn't that bad. I had a few patterns in mind and went seeking some fabrics to make just a few more winter items for Daughter. While there, Daughter and I picked and chose several really cute things, and I just decided to buy them rather than agonize over spending the money. All it amounted to was 2 cuts of corduroy, one interlock knit, and a cut of flannel, along with notions, but I had also placed an order at fabric.com for coat wool (dress coat for Daughter) and double sided minky (for her bathrobe).

Unfortunately my bro-in-law's wedding has us spending money like coked-up rock stars this month, so this will likely be the last of the fabric purchases for 2007 (*sob*). See, I do the finances for our family, so there's no one to stop me but me. And stop I must, or we'll have no cash for Christmas. Yikes.

Of course I washed and dried everything immediately and during naptime managed to cut out several items. First up, twirly dress:


This was my first real knit garment, and while it is far from perfect, I am fairly pleased with the result. I really dislike gathering, and gathering a knit is even more tedious than gathering a woven fabric, but I did it. There are some puckers and tucks but for a first effort, it's acceptable.

I will definitely make this pattern again. Each size is printed separately - NO tracing! - so Daughter can have these dresses till she's a size 6. Awesome! And the pattern is written for a knit bodice & sleeves and either a knit or woven skirt. The smaller sizes have 6 gores for the skirt, the larger sizes have 8, so you could do some really creative stuff with fabrics. I've had some great Laurel Burch Christmas fabrics stashed for a number of years now...I bought them to make something home-decor-ish, but they really aren't my decorating style. They might look great as skirt fabrics in this dress, though!

Another great thing about this pattern is that it runs true to size. I made the 2 and it fits my kid! A miracle!

My only real problem was with my twin needle. I guess you can buy a ball point twin needle, but I didn't see them at Joann's, so I got a regular one (for wovens) and it worked, but I got some skipped stitches which doesn't look too fab.

Oh well, overall it's totally wearable and I'm happy my first experiment with a knit garment wasn't a disaster!