StraightGrain Bubble Dress

I don't even know where to start. I haven't posted anything in over two months! Not that I haven't been busy making things... I have, and I hope to show you over the next few weeks. We had a wonderful Christmas, a great start to the new year, and just got hit with 19 inches of snow and no power for 48 hours courtesy of Nemo. My oldest lost two teeth and my youngest turned three. That sums up our last couple of months in a nutshell.

Speaking of my youngest turning three... when I asked what she wanted for her birthday, she told me that she wanted me to make her a dress and a bag. And she was very specific about the dress... she wanted a "bubble dress". I had shown her a picture of this particular dress back in August, and she remembered it! I couldn't believe it! This adorable bubble dress is a free pattern and tutorial (Yes, you read that right... free!) from An of StraightGrain. It is fully lined, and it went together so unbelievably easily.

After lots of fabric deliberations, she chose a pink cotton gauze covered in little bears. (It's from Kokka, and I bought it here.) The pattern is available in sizes 2, 4, 6, and 8. My daughter just moved into a 3T, but I decided to make a size 4 because the size 2 pattern looked a little small when I held it up on her. I'm so glad that I went with the 4 because it's a near perfect fit with a little room to grow.

The tutorial calls for an elastic/button closure at the back of the neck, but I ended up going with a little hook and eye clasp.

The bodice is split down the back almost all the way to the skirt. Shes been wearing the dress with a long sleeve shirt and leggings underneath.

I used my "ultimate ruffler" foot on my machine for the first time. I'm so glad I made that purchase last spring. It made this project go together so smoothly.

The secret to getting the "bubble" at the bottom of the skirt is that the exterior skirt is larger than the lining skirt. So genius. It looks so cute!

I don't love sewing garments. I'd much rather sew other things. So I had some anxiety when the dress request was put forth, but this pattern/tutorial resulted in one of the smoothest sewing projects I've ever made (read that as very few visits from the seam ripper).

So... I give this bubble dress pattern from StraightGrain very high marks. It's adorable, my daughter loves it, and it's a relatively quick and easy sew that looks like a million bucks. You can't go wrong with that.

As usual, my oldest now wants one, too, so you'll probably see another one of these around here in the near future. I mentioned that my little one also asked me to make her a bag... More on that soon :)