Rosie Assoulin for Miss Six

When I make clothes for my girls, I usually like to switch off, follow a pattern or only make small, undemanding modifications (usually with a glass of wine in hand!). Patternmaking is hard work! I love the challenge, but it sometimes it makes my brain bleed.

I never make muslins for my girls either. Being blessed with three of them (less than two years apart), I've always been of the mind that if it doesn't fit one girl, it will fit the next. This is my eldest child's glum face because somehow the middle child ends up with a wardrobe double that of anyone else in this house. 

Middle child won't be getting this dress though (well not immediately anyway!). I stepped outside of my kid-sewing box. I took the time to measure my child and rather than my usual slap-dashery, I spent time drafting a basic dress block that was in line with her exact measurements. I even made it up in a muslin. It didn't take long, which makes me wonder why I've never done it before. Kids are basically straight up and down without any curves to throw you off kilter. 

 

I'm not going to claim that this dress was born completely of my imaginings. It's way too cute for that. I took some inspiration from the details I saw recently in a Rosie Assoulin dress. As you can see from the photo below, the front bodice is genius in it's pretty simplicity. I block fused the entire front bodice piece (with a lightweight, shirt-making fusible) to ensure that the top had enough structure to maintain it's shape above the bow. I didn't want to risk it flopping over. 

The fabric I used was leftover cotton sateen from my recent drop waist dress and I secured the back with some pretty vintage, gold-toned buttons. I recycle as many buttons as I can. These ones came from a retired Kanerva hack.

I'm really happy with this dress, but more importantly, Miss Six thinks it's the absolute goods. I wasn't entirely sure what she would think of having a big bow on the front of the dress, but it turned out to be quite the winner.