Summer sewing

I've been cheating on the blog a bit lately with instagram (@juliastaite) but here is a look at some summer dresses I made for the girls recently.  The pattern is the madeline dress by sew sweet patterns on etsy.  Its a lovely classic dress with a great collar - very cute!

The pattern was simple and came with clear instructions.  Its quite a quick dress to whip up apart from the dreaded buttonholes (my worst part of sewing!)

I did however have major sizing issues -  Bea is pretty tall so I cut out the age 5 for her (shes three and a half) but after partially sewing the dress together it was very clear it was way too small.  So as not to waste the fabric I cut it down to fit Nell.  Shes 9 months old so I cut out age 2 after the first came out so small and as you can see below its fits - but probably won't for long!

I made Bea a bigger one (age 7!) and it fits well for length but still comes up a bit snug in the width.  Its a shame as its such a sweet little dress.  Maybe it was just me but I would recommend going up at least two sizes if you're making your own.