Simplicity 4243 revisited - Brown & green corduroy baby dress

This is the cutest thing I've ever made for Rachel. Not that I've made her that many things yet, mostly because she's been so tiny and I've not wanted the headache of redrafting patterns. You can see the first dress made from this pattern here. It was pretty wide on her and didn't get worn much. The good thing about being so slim is that most of her dresses can be worn again the following year as tunics with stretch pants underneath. I made this dress in the same x-small size, but added 4" for length, and you can see it hits right below the knee. I also carved out 1/2" from the underarm to make it wearable as a jumper over other shirts.

I just love non-traditional colors for girls. When I can find something that's not pink, I get excited, and I thought this brown and green combo was really fun. The main fabric is a small wale corduroy purchased recently at JoAnn's; the brown band also is a thin wale corduroy but was purchased at Hancock's. The ric-rack is the prepackaged kind in x-large.

I paid special attention to lining up the trees on the sides and back. It wasn't difficult, just took a little extra effort during cut out.

I chose to put in a lapped zipper at the back. The first dress had an invisible zipper and I thought it was a bit stiff for a baby dress. Also, as I hand basted it in first, the trees were easier to align.

If you look closely, you can see where the ric-rack joins at the side. It's kind of like bias tape in the sense that it can be stretched or condensed without causing ripples, so joining at a continuing spot is possible. The bottom band was machine stitched to the ric-rack, and then folded up and invisibly stitched on the inside.

The armholes and neckline are finished with green bias tape, per the pattern instructions. Doing it around the armholes isn't too easy, especially since I sewed the side seams before finishing the armholes. I wanted french seams on the shoulders and sides, though, so did it that way despite the fiddly nature of such a small opening.

Here is the pattern picture. I can't take credit for the ric-rack idea, but I think it's pretty brilliant. I still want to make the red & white gingham dress, perhaps next summer.

Now that she's finally fitting into patterns, expect to see a bunch more sewing for her. (Especially pants and overalls this fall/winter as they are impossible to find for such a skinny-minnie.)