Mamie by Children's Corner

This is such a classic dress.  I have seen and helped so many people make it that I had to make it myself.  I made the 12 month size so my daughter could wear it for family photos.
I chose to use Art Gallery fabric. You will start to notice I am a sucker for Art Gallery fabric. I just love the way it feels and I love all of the bright exciting colors. I will say,  it is sometimes hard to coordinate Art Gallery fabric if you are a matchy matchy type of person. Luckily I am not, so Art Gallery is perfect for me!

http://www.fiveeighthseams.com/product-p/ag-su-804.htm

Although it was hard to match I'm happy with the dress.  I went with a butter twill for the yoke and a blue piping. I also chose to use snaps instead of buttons. I don't mind making buttons or sewing them on I just hate getting the dress on and off my crawling daughter. Non of the colors are exact but I think they all complement each other well.

 

The dress was not hard itself but the instructions were a little hard to follow. The "little tips" throughout the instructions were helpful but they used a lot of sewing terminology that some people may not be familiar with.  I would This would not be a good project for a new sewer or someone who has not had formal instruction.

I love that patterned called for french seams. I think it makes it look much more professional Braelyn loves pulling her dress up so french seams look much better then a zig zag or a serge.

I do hate hand sewing and because I usually refuse to do it I am not very good at it. You are required to hand sew in the yoke lining, the bias strips under the arms, and the hem. I machine stitched the bias strips under the arm holes and the hem. I don't think anyone noticed:)  I did however hand sew on the yoke lining. In the future I will not use twill on such a small yoke. I have to iron it to make it lay flat (I'm sure my hand sewing did not help).

Also, the hem was very long. Brealyn is a long baby in the 95 percentile for length and it was still too long on her. I cut almost 2" off the bottom before a 1/2" double folded hem and she still had problems crawling in it (could be a good thing).

We attended my sister-in-law's MUSC graduation and had family pictures taken in the dress. Everyone loved it. Most people did not think it was hand-made. The piping gives it a very professional look and the classic silhouette looks great on any baby. I would love to make it for 4 or 5 year old to see if I still love it, I'm sure I would. 

If I were going to make it for an older child I would add ric rac to the sleeve seams (there are directions in the pattern) and sew up most of the back only putting in a few buttons at the top. I know when I was little I hated sitting on buttons.

Here are some of the family pictures we took.
 Please feel free to post pictures of your Mamie dress!

All professional pictures were taken by My Lily Rose Photography.