jennanddave.com

A couple of months ago I came across these instructions for a peasant style dress for toddlers. I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to make one for Holly. The only problem was, my understanding of why you do things a certain way to have specific results are completely lacking, and while I can follow a detailed pattern if it's accompanied by detailed photos, if it doesn't, I'm completely lost. So all of the bits in the instructions having to do with, say measurements and sizing, were about five miles over my head. So I bookmarked the page and asked my mom if she'd help me out some time.

Enter a few days after Christmas. The week before we left for Boston, I headed out to a local and amazing fabric store I wish I'd known about five years ago in search of fabric. I came home, laundered it, then sprang it on my mom the day before we were going to leave to come home. She read the instructions, understood them because she's smart and talented, and we got to work. She explained the sizing, the measuring, the putting together, and the general "why" of it all. While she pinned and ironed, I worked the sewing machine, while Henry either sat next to me or sat under the table and worked the sewing machine pedal. In a couple of hours, Holly was toddling around in a brand-spanking new dress.

For this go-around, after much discussion we decided not to add the elastic, mainly because we thought it would be a bit irritating to Holly to have rubbing against her skin all day long. Next time I make one, my mom suggesting I wrap the elastic in casing before I sew it in so it's a bit softer.

I don't think anyone is more proud of being a part of putting the dress together than Henry. Holly came down in it a couple of days ago and Dave said "What a pretty dress, Holly!" Henry came over to check it out and when he saw what she was wearing, he said "That's the dress Mom, Grammy, and I made!"