Tag: dresses

The Whim of a 2 Year Old

Marie HaighLeave a comment

For the past few months, all Elly wanted to wear was dresses. The fancier the dress, the more fun it was to wear. Rather than argue with her every morning, I let her wear her special occasion dresses.


When I went shopping for winter clothes for Elly, I bought mostly dresses.

For the past week, Elly has refused to wear dresses. She wants to wear a shirt over leggings.

She looks very fashionable especially with her black boots (which she picked out).

I can’t believe that at this age she would not only be aware of fashion but actually care. Maybe my best friend was right; I’m in trouble.

Dress Update, Final Days

Marie HaighLeave a comment

A small celebration, by way of a trip to Friendlys, took place this weekend in honor of Elly’s dress being completed.


No sooner had it been completed, I turned my attention to my own dress. Thankfully, it’s a much easier dress to construct.

Or rather, all the fiddly details, like the steel boning, have already been completed. All that is left to be done is add a zipper, install the bodice lining and hem the dress.

Unfortunately, sickness is slowing down my progress. Elly hasn’t been sleeping well and the night is when I usually get most of my sewing work done.

Tomorrow Elly will go play at a friend’s house and I will get 3 hours of uninterrupted time. Here’s hoping it’s all I need.

(Full details of Elly’s dress as well as my own will be published after the wedding).

Hand Sewing Replaces Knitting

Marie HaighLeave a comment

It’s been 2 weeks since I finished Elly’s skirt. I haven’t knit a single thing since then. Despite reminding myself repeatedly that I need to rummage through my yarn to find something that will compliment the brown wool I plan to knit into a skirt for myself, I haven’t done that either.

All my once free time that I used to sneak in a little knitting has been used to hand sew the underlining to the purple taffeta fabric.

It’s also been used to hand stitch accessories to Elly’s dress.

There is only 1 month left before my sister-in-law’s wedding. It’s officially crunch time.

All knitting and home decorator projects have been placed on hold. Sewing Elly’s dress as well as my own has taken front and center stage. Though right now we are eating home-cooked meals, that may change as the day of the wedding draws near. I’m determined to finish these dresses. Bound and determined.

Excited and Nervous

Marie Haigh2 Comments

My sister-in-law just announced that she is getting married in September. Her fiance is a good man. I’m so happy for her.

I’m giddy for me!

Within minutes of Dan relaying the news to me, I had dress ideas spinning in my head. Two days later, the ideas have been cemented, patterns decided upon, stash rooted through and missing fabric and notions purchased. Would you like to see?

I’m so excited!

Elly’s dress pattern was taken from Sewing Clothes Kids Love.

It’s the Manhattan Special Occasion Dress.

I just love the twirly skirt, ribbon lacing and sweet collar.

My dress pattern is Simplicity 1910.

You’ll notice that it has some of the same elements, like the ribbon lacing and the full skirt.

Here’s where the nervousness comes in. The fanciest dress I ever sewn was made a few years ago. I wore it recently on our Disney cruise.

Here is a better picture of the dress.

It’s fully lined, but other than that it’s a very simple design.

The dress patterns I have chosen have 4 skirts. 4! They have an overskirt (lace), the main skirt, an underskirt (tulle) and a lining. OK. So the patterns don’t call for all those skirts, but I think they’re essential in creating a fun party dress. The bodice of Simplicity 1910 uses boning. I’ve never used boning. The Manhattan dress has enough pieces to make your head spin. Ack!

But, I think I’m more excited than nervous. I would love any advice you have on dressmaking. I already picked up Couture Sewing from Amazon to guide me through all the rough patches because I know there are going to be several.