Sew Classic Clothes for Girls

For Christmas, I received The Cottage Mama's beautiful new book Sew Classic Clothes For Girls from my mother in law (Thank you Jan!). The pictures of the clothes alone are just gorgeous and the patterns are all so cute and very versatile. You can create different variations of the same pattern for a unique look each time. I love when patterns are like that!

I decided to make Erin the Classic A-line dress with long sleeves. I used the ruffle option on the sleeves and also added a ruffle to the collar - not an option in the book but I'll tell you how I did it in a bit. I am reeeeallly trying to use fabric from my stash and not purchase any new fabric until I use what I have. (Okay, I already broke my own resolution last week with some new fabric. But hey, I had gift cards and coupons so it was really free so it doesn't count) So both fabrics are from my stash and I didn't save any of the smaller scraps just pieces that were big enough to use again. I also need to purge my scrap fabric. I have been holding on to the smallest pieces thinking I will use them again and I don't. Some of the scraps are almost 3 years old...it's time to say good-bye. Anyway, tangent girl that I am, Erin really likes her new dress and even wore it to school yesterday. I love the look of it but realize that I should have made her an even smaller size. I traced the 4 width but used the 6 length. I really should of traced the 2 width for this petite pumpkin. The dress is noticeable too big but luckily, only from the side and back as you can see in the pics below.

She still loves it and says she doesn't care but it irks me. Not so much that I will take it apart and redo it, oh no, I already took the neckline apart once and really don't want to do it again. You see, I had a vision of this cute ruffle collar and that vision did not work the first time so I had to rip out my stitches and start over. No big deal usually except I had already took pinking sheers to the seam allowance so I had very little seam allowance to work with when I put it back together again *sigh*. The second ruffle collar is the one you see here and it came out just the way I wanted. I used the size 4 ruffle pattern piece from the oliver & S School Photo Dress and followed the instructions on how to attach the collar from that pattern. I like how the collar matches the sleeves and combined with the fabric, it kind of has a little retro vibe to it.

The Details:
The Pattern: Classic A-line dress with ruffle sleeve option from Sew Classic Clothes for Girls size 4 width size 6 length. oliver & S School Photo dress ruffle collar pattern
The Fabric: paisley corduroy from Joann clearance section for main dress. white Kona cotton for ruffles. Nicey Jane Hop Dots in cherry for the lining (purchased from Fabric.com but I don't see it there or on the Heather Bailey site either)
Trims/Notions: white button from my stash


I have plans to sew another variation of the Classic A-line for KCW next week. And I will definitely make the necessary modifications to get a proper fit on my little peanut ;)

Thanks for stopping by!
Meghan