The last item that I managed to get sewn at Sewjourn was a New Look 6960 dress for Stella.  I was frantically sewing right up to our departure deadline to get this one completely finished – I really wanted to be able to give it to her when I got home!

I had great difficulty in getting Stella to pose “prettily” for photos in this dress. Most of the ones that I took were along these lines:

For my skinny girl I cut the dress out in size 5 length with size 3 width. I do find that most commercial children’s patterns are rather wide, and even cutting this at size 3 leaves it with plenty of room. This pattern comes in three main variations; sleeveless, with a little flutter sleeve – as I made for Stella – and with a larger but still short sleeve. I really like the round yoke and soft gathers.

Stella was particularly keen to have this dress made with the heart applique, as in the drawings on the pattern envelope. It closes with a zip in the centre back. I was extremely fortunate to have Nikki handy to remind me about the groovy way that she inserts invisible zips to get a lovely clean finish with the top facing. This photo is a little deceptive – the yoke seams and the neckline on each side of the back actually line up much more nicely in real life than the photo suggests – the print changes the way that it appears in the photo.

The fabric is a light cotton twill that I picked up from a local op-shop. Stella is quite happy with it. I really do like New Look patterns for little girl’s dresses. This one is now out of print but I think that it can be found on etsy/ebay etc relatively easily.

We’re just back from a relaxing overnight camping trip to Korumburra with relatives. The girls were SO excited that we were staying in a tent. They roamed around the campgrounds and enjoyed the playgrounds, chatted to random campers, and even got to watch a wedding that was taking place in an adjoining area. Both girls are at such delightful ages.  It was well worth the effort involved in going away, even for such a short break, and especially good to take the time to relax and regroup before heading into the pre-Christmas rush.