The Anywhere Dress

My children have a habit of climbing in their closet to get to the higher shelves. Unfortunately, the shelving brackets were not drilled into a stud but just the drywall. Needless to say, the shelf finally gave way. The bottom shelf fell...again. But, this time there was no climbing being done, no pulling or digging being done. It just fell while no one was in there.

So, my dear husband took it all down and drilled the brackets to the studs.

Now I have a very sturdy shelf unit in there, and the kids have been warned that they must NOT climb on the shelves to get their clothes.

 

But, all their clothes had to be removed and I used the opportunity to go through their clothes and see what was too small or too stained or torn to be used anymore.

They all need some new spring clothes.

 

So, when Andrea from Go-To Patterns emailed me with her Anywhere DressI could not resist testing it.

 

I added an inch to the pattern's length to make it a bit longer for my little girl. I like keeping their bums covered when they play in a not-so-modest fashion!

 

 

I thought it was still a bit short so I added a layer of contrasting fabric to the bottom. Next time I'll just add 3 inches or so to the pattern before I cut!

 

 

She's pretty thrilled.

When I asked her to smile for the picture this is what I got--a smirk:

 

 

'Can you open your eyes while you smile?'

And, she points to her eyes, 'these my eyes.'

'Yes, those are your eyes my dear, can you open them?'

Sigh....

 

 

It's a basic pattern but it's so nice to just cut around a pattern piece and not have to figure out how much length or width I'll need to make it a dress.

I really like the cap sleeves with the little ribbed edges.

 

 And, the facing makes it easy to add a quick 'tag' in the back to differentiate between the front and back for little minds.

 

The fabric I used for the main part of the dress is from Girl Charlee. It's their retro botanical jersey knit. It is so soft and pretty! (They still have some left!) I think I'm going to have to really stash up with their fabrics one of these days!

And, the ribbing is from Fabric.com. It's a baby ribbed sweater knit in turquoise that I bought a couple of years back, I believe. Quite soft as well and super stretchy.

Anyway, that is part one of a who-knows-how-many-part series on spring clothes for the kids.

 

If you want to buy this pattern for yourself, visit Go-To Patterns or buy the actual pattern here: Anywhere Dress

Use the code ANYWHERE to get $1 off thru Monday the 8th!