more "Weelee Dresses" - and one with Polka Dots

Numbers 14-16...

I promised myself I'd make a few more "Weelee Dresses".  Our favorite niece's daughter just turned 5 so it was time for her and her younger cousins to get their dresses.  They were not all supposed to be just alike, but the first one was too short, so I made a bigger one, then I made the baby cousin one from the scraps.  The middle-sized one is for the in-between cousin. They all have the double row of stitching on the pockets.  This "coral sateen" fabric is so soft it would be overwhelmed if I used heavy stitching. M's is awfully long, in my opinion, so tomorrow I get an chance to try it on (and run home to shorten it, I think).  I truly love the 23-1/2-inch pattern repeat and the flowers which look like they've been "flung" across a big sky.  (Sure enough; I had to shorten it by 1-1/2 inches.  It messed up my "placement" of the flowers at the hem a little, but it is still nice.  I do not have a photo of the final dress.  You just have to imagine a part of that pretty gray flower is now missing.) . In each size it works beautifully.  I did not "center" flower arrangements; in fact I made sure at least some of them were off-center.  B's also works nicely. Until I started working with this beautiful fabric (and also studied some "big flower" dresses for little girls online this summer), it would NEVER have occurred to me to make a baby dress out of a pattern as huge as this, but look--it's really sweet! Great-niece M not only loves big flowers, she also loves huge polka dots.  I could not find any quite so widely spaced as those I have seen online, but this turned out really cute, and I think she's really going to like it.  (More to the point, I think her mommie is going to like it!  I have found that if mommie's don't like things they don't put them on their children.)  [This one had to have about 2-inches removed today.] The polkadots is made from the same pattern as this hand-beaded top:  http://nanabs-sewing-fun.blogspot.com/2011/06/posh-pooch.html .  The two dress pattern pieces (and the pockets in this case) are also the ones from which I derived the "Weelee Dresses". A good few days' work... fun, fun, fun. [This makes 16 of the "Weelee Dresses" now, plus I have remembered the two cuties in Sweden, but theirs will wait until next year because it will soon get very cold there.]

Another one of those "Weelee Dresses" (i.e., formerly known as NOT-a-Pillowcase Dresses)

Number 13...


These cute critters are for little Miss V.  Right after she received it, her mommie sent me three photos.  I think she took three trying to get one without her hands in her pockets, but no, she had her little hands crammed in those pockets every time!  I am SO glad I made her this style.  (They all have pockets, but not all are like these, which take more time.)

        

Now on to a set in gorgeous Asian print...

Change of Name for the Sun Dresses

Someone who received one of my Not-a-Pillowcase dresses (see previous post below) is an adorable 2-1/2 year old.  She named her dress the "Weelee Dress" and I like it!

Henceforth they shall be called "Weelee Dresses".

NOT-a-Pillowcase Dresses (now known as "Weelee Dresses")

You may remember the ladybugs for my wadybug post:  http://nanabs-sewing-fun.blogspot.com/2011/06/ladybugs-for-my-wadybug.html

I needed to make some simple gifts for what turned out to be a BUNCH of little girls, so I went to my "stash" and started picking out fabrics.  I had purchased an awful lot of pink varieties in the hopes of matching things to her quilt princesses.  Most of them did not work, so it was fertile ground for the picking.

This is just PART of the ones I made - detailed photos to follow.  

 

For A in Tennessee, and her little sister O

I used a variety of pocket details, so will only include a photo of one of each type.  Double stitches on left, then the fancy pocket I designed previously.

     

For cousin B, in NY and her little sister cousin T

Of course I could not leave out their cousin (my granddaughter), just in case they took a photo while they are all together this week.

For S and her little sister M

Their pockets have emphasized stitching

For S and her little sister N

After the photo of the group was made, I also made these for E and her little sister R.

Counting the "ladybugs", I have now made 12 of these and I am not finished.  I was holding this post until they were all complete, but I keep coming up with more people who need one, so I'll post this and do some more in a separate post.