For Amanda and Jonathan

I am the proud godmother to the daughter of one of my best friends. Amanda's mother and I somehow survived junior high together, in the midst of tape recorders, grunge style, Beverly Hills 90210, and other early 90's phenomena.

My friend knows all about my sewing hobby, because every time she calls and asks what I'm doing, I'm ironing, sewing, cutting... So she approached me to ask if I could make a vintage-style dress for Amanda, similar to what her own grandmother had made for her as a child. The style we were going for is best described by the Astrid Lindgren character Madicken or the Swedish painter Carl Larsson: early 20th century, rustic, and comfortable. I don't know what this style would be called in the English-speaking world, the only thing that comes to mind is 'amish' but I haven't heard that used in a positive sense when talking about fashion.

Here is the result:

The pattern comes from Ottobre Design 1/2013, the Mariken dress in size 104. I followed the instructions, the only modification was to put in a regular zipper instead on an invisible one. I didn't have an invisible zipper in the right size and color, and I'm happy with the result: the zipper adds a bit of interest to the back of the dress.

The fabric is a navy-and-white gingham cotton seersucker. I think it suits the style perfectly. After my last project in silk, it was nice to work with a more straightforward fabric! I added a small bow at the neckline, and a label at the front pocket. I recently bought myself a fantastic new sewing machine, a Brother Innovis 550. It has awesome features such as automatic threading of the needle, thread cutting, and alphabet stitches. I did not expect I would use the latter very much, a little cutesy for my taste. Here, I couldn't resist trying it out, and for a four-year-old I think cutesy is ok: 

Amanda has a six-month old brother, Jonathan. I wouldn't want to make him jealous, so after finishing the dress I pulled together these red corduroy pants:

This is another Ottobre design pattern, the 6/2012 Veijari pants in size 80. I skipped a couple of details: the back belt loops and the front pockets, to make them less bulky and more comfortable. 

I started sewing the waist elastic to the pants according to the instructions, but it turned out very loose. It would be a shame if the pants couldn't be worn because they were falling off. I decided to put in an adjustable elastic, like you find on a lot of ready-to-wear children's clothes.

This looks advanced, but with the right type of elastic, all you need to sew is a button and a buttonhole!

Making baby clothes is really one of my favorite type of sewing projects! You spend minimum time on the less inspiring parts of sewing such as trying to fit a large piece of fabric on the floor for cutting, and a proportionally larger part of the project on the fun stuff such as nice pockets and top-stitching. 

This back pocket with the Jonathan label is one of my favorite sewing details so far! I was contemplating which color to use for top-stitching and finally settled on this mustard color to fit the jeans-style design of the pants. I love the result, and I hope Jonathan will too!