The first things that I sewed when I was at Sewjourn way back in May were for my daughters.  This dress was intended to be Stella’s birthday dress.

As is often the case, she decided to wear a different dress on her actual birthday. Oh well. That’s how it goes! Fortunately, since then she has decided to wear this one as well – and still refers to it as her birthday dress.

The pattern is the Playhouse Dress by Fishsticks. I’ve sewn it before, in a short sleeved summer version. Stella loves the twirly-ness of the skirt. I love the ease of construction.

This is pretty much all sewn on the overlocker. I did use the machine to baste the purple stretch elastic used as piping to the front and back bodice seams and zig-zag it in place to secure it, and I zig-zagged around the neckband to secure it too, but that was about it. The cuffs are stretched to fit, and provide a nice belled shape to the sleeve.

The fabric is stretch velour from Darn Cheap Fabrics. I was pretty sure that Stella would love the variety of colour. And she does!  It is also highly stroke-able, which suits my tactile girl right down to the ground.