The Charlotte Dress

I came across Mama Stellato's blog a couple of weeks ago. She has some really cute patterns for girl's dresses and tops, and sells them on her Etsy page. Each pattern is $6.00 or 2 for $10.00. Your purchase is emailed to you as a PDF file. You get sizes 6M-5T all in one pattern and can print the pattern pieces for each size you want to cut. How awesome to get a pattern you can use over and over for 4-5 years!

I fell in love with the Charlotte Dress, and knew I wanted to make it for Annelise (13M). I had some adorable corduroy from Hobby Lobby that I bought a few weeks ago. At the time, I didn't have a pattern in mind, but bought it anyway (on sale, of course!) The pattern was simple to cut out, and the instructions are very clear and easy to follow. I made the dress in about 2 hours (only slightly interrupted by my daughter). Now you should know I learned to sew from patterns about 20 years ago (yikes, I'm old!) and consider myself an experienced sewer. I would consider this pattern "easy", and a beginner with some basic sewing skills should be able to make it.

Here are a couple of pics of Annelise's dress:

FRONT:

BACK:

I plan for Annelise to wear the dress this Sunday to church, so I'll try to get a pic of her wearing it then.

I can't wait to make more dresses with this pattern. I can imagine changing it up a bit for each dress to give them each a different look. You could use ribbon for the sash instead of fabric. Shorten the sleeves (I think elbow-length sleeves with a ruffle would be adorable). Shorten the dress to make a shirt/tunic. Add a contrast fabric band to the end of the sleeves and skirt. Sew some decorative buttons onto the front of the sash or around the neckline. The possibilities are endless.

I also bought the Lovely Dress pattern, and hope to make it soon, as well. When I have a chance, of course!

Happy crafting!
Julie