Comfy Christmas Dress with Leggings

The Comfy Christmas Dress

If you remember, I won a gift certificate to Pink Chalk Fabrics this past summer. I chose the fabrics with clothing plans in mind.

The pearl bracelets have already become a stripey skirt, but I just haven't had a good time to take pictures of Evelyn in it. I have, however, had a few chances to take pictures of Evelyn's "comfy Christmas dress" made with the Riley Blake knits - red chevron and solid. She had a few other "nice" Christmas dresses purchased at second hand stores and garage sales last summer, but I wanted her to have a comfortable dress to wear throughout Christmas festivities.

I used the Janey Jump Around Pattern, which is a free download to newsletter subscribers from the Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop. http://www.peekaboopatternshop.com/product/janey-jump-around-dress

I didn't follow the pattern exactly (the main change being that I didn't add the buttons because I didn't want to have buttons where her inquisitive, strong fingers could find them... I will however add them to any more dresses I make with the pattern when she's a little bit older. You can't see it in the pictures very well, but the faux wrap part of the dress really does need the buttons to help it from not folding out). It really was a perfect dress for Evelyn to wear during the Holidays!

I used a double needle for the first time, and I was impressed by how easy it was to set-up and use. I do think I'll need another double needle - one that has a wider space - as I thought that mine was a bit too narrow. This was the first time I've worked with knits in several, several years. My machine had some trouble getting started on the seams, so I used some paper to help out. The stretch zigzag worked really well for the seams. I look forward to making a Skipper top for Evelyn with the leftover chevron fabric.  I already have the pattern (Sew Much Ado).

There are umpteen hundreds of tutorials - written and video - around the internet for turning lady's knee high socks into baby and toddler leggings. These socks were from JoAnns, and a few quick cuts and one line of stretchy-zig-zag stitching made for the perfect leggings to go under Evelyn's dress.

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Now, let's see the dress in action!

Evelyn really likes paper. After a brief second of her being on the floor which led to a few stolen bows, we put her in the old walker. Hmmm... she still found ways to chew on paper!

Overall, she had a very nice Christmas. Lots of toys and books from lots of friends and family. She sure is loved!  I'll post again with a few more Christmasy pictures later.... for now, I need to go put a little girly down for a nap :)