Dress Up This Town

I'm back with another "Sewing with Ti" blog tour.

This month's theme is "Dress up this Town" and you don't want to miss it! Not only will there be a whole month filled with inspiration for fun and pretty dresses, but there are PRIZES! Each week has new prizes up for grabs. I'm here for week 2, where one lucky winner will receive:

$20 store credit to Made For Mermaids

3 Patterns from Peekaboo Pattern Shop
2 Patterns from Seamingly Smitten
3 Patterns from Sew House 7
$15 store credit to Tie Dye Diva

I'm a little jealous of whoever will win. That's a lot of patterns! To enter, simply fill out the rafflecopter which can be found at the end of the blog post.

I'm also equally excited to share the dress I made for this blog tour. Our youngest baby just turned two and I thought she needed a new dress to celebrate the occasion. Honestly, she really didn't need a new dress and I didn't even make it in time for her birthday, but I'm happy I had the excuse to sew for her.

The dress details

• Pattern: Flutterby Dress and Top by Peekaboo Pattern Shop (aff. Link)
• Fabric: Liverpool print and solid both from Pretty Posh Prints
• Size: 2T, shortened by 2" for my short little girl. After four kids, Mabel is the first one I have had to shorten anything for. It feels like I'm making a huge mistake. No other mods, except for a small detail in how I applied the binding, details below.

When I gave Mabel the dress and told her I made it, she said "Oh thank you mommy! Oh flowers!"

My heart melted, I should sew for her more often. Then when her dad came home, I told her to go show her dad and she said "No, it's my dress! No!" She's so funny.

I do have to agree with her that I love the dress. It's a very sweet and simple design. The pattern includes a top and a dress in size 3 months all the way up to size 12.

The sleeves are gathered and feature a double ruffle. I love how it keeps the sun off the shoulders, but is still light and airy and not a full sleeve, perfect for hot weather.

She's our beautiful green eyed girl!

The neckline is finished with binding. Since I used liverpool, which is heavy weight, I wanted to reduce the bulk of the neckline, so I did not double fold the binding to tuck the raw edges on the inside.  I simply turned the binding to the wrong side without tucking in the raw edges. I simply cut off the excess binding on the inside as close to the seam as possible.

Of course if I hadn't been using liverpool or a similar weighted fabric, I would have tucked in the raw edges in the inside as the pattern instructs.

Although liverpool is not considered an ideal fabric for binding, I have been able to get a lovely finish this way many times.

This is not my first time making this pattern, though it is my first time blogging about it. I actually tested this pattern back when Mabel was a much smaller baby.

Awww... baby.

This was the top view, in cotton lycra for the sleeves and binding and two way stretch cotton jersey for the body.

And now here she is, two years old.

She's little miss personality and she continues to make us laugh every day.

Taking pictures of her in her new dress, I was able to catch her signature mischevious look. She gives me this look all the time:

And then when she has my attention with the first look, she will close her eyes and give the tiniest smile. I think she does this because it made me laugh once, so now she thinks she needs to do it constantly to make me laugh again. It works.

That's my girl! Those looks are so her!

And now my girl is ready to "Dress up this Town" and take on the world.

I hope she is always this happy to have her mom sew a dress for her.

Be sure to enter the giveaway to win some patterns so you can make lots of dresses for yourself too! Sign up using the rafflecopter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And don't forget to check out the other bloggers on the tour for more inspiration and weekly prizes:

Week 1: July 1st-8th
1- Sewing By Ti (Intro) and Stitching At Night
2- Me Made
3- Tenille's Thread
4- Sewing By Ti
5- Seams Sew Lo
6- Anne Mari Sews
7- Sea of Estrogen
8- Lulu and Celeste

Week 2: July 9th-15th
9- Living in Twinado Valley
10- Ma Moose
11- My Heart Will Sew On
12- Seams Sew Lo
13- Kate Will Knit
14- Creative Counselor
15- Sewing With Sarah

Week 3: July 16th-22nd
16- Stitching and Making
17- That's Sew Lily
18- Sprouting Jube Jube
19- Auschick Sews
20- Anne Mari Sews
21- Lulu and Celeste
22- On Wednesdays We Sew

Week 4: July 23rd-31st
23- Stitching At Night
24- Sewing Curves
25- My Heart Will Sew On
26- Indulging Mum
27- That's Sew Lily
28- Adventures With Bubba and Bug
29- Capture, Craft Cook
30- Sewing By Ti
31- Sew Like a Sloth