My very first dress project - Anna dress

[earthmonkey]

Hello. This is my first post of a completed project ... it's actually my first ever dress project! My little girl is 8 months old and can't even crawl yet (she prefers rolling as the primary means of moving about in a room!!) but I was really taken by the Anna dress posted by Quiltersblock and wanted to try my hand at it. I was encouraged by the fact that this dress is simple and has no fiddly stuff like buttonholes and zips or sleeves or darts! I mostly sew wee pouches and the odd bag or two. Never made an item of clothing before! Hopefully, this little success will lead to more items being made!

I bought the Farbenmix pattern from an online store here in the UK and found it fairly easy to understand - even with my extremely limited sewing experience!

DD was not in the mood to do anything so I didn't push my luck and try to dress her in this for an action shot. My 5 year old DS refused point blank to assist as an alternative model! So I'm afraid I only have shots of the dress! Maybe if DD is in a better mood later, I might be able to get a shot of her in the dress and can update this topic later!

The one side is 100% cotton print and the other side is a cotton flannel. I am really pleased with how this turned out and am already planning to make a few more. I can now see why fellow Crafters have referred to this dress pattern as 'addictive'!!

Here is the first side ...

And then the back ...


Here is the flannel side as the front.


Thanks for looking!
Earthmonkey

[ErikaW]

Nice work, Earthmonkey!  It sounds like a great pattern for a first dress with no tricky stuff - nice fabric...is the print actually individual quilted squares or is that the print on the material?  Post of pic of DD when you get a chance - she's a very lucky girl!
-Erika

[QuiltersBlock]

Cute!! I like the fabrics you've used and I love the pockets! Can't wait to see action shots.

Welcome to the addiction! 

QB

[norahkate]

very cute!  i like the idea of using flannel, nice and soft for your little one

[vegbee]

everytime I see one of these I fall a little bit more in love with the design.  You've done a great job, particularly if its your first garment (I wish my first attempts had turned out so lovely!)

[earthmonkey]

Thank you all for your lovely positive comments!

Erika - the patchwork is printed on the fabric. I did so love the colours.

Vegbee - haha, you oughta see the awful hemming! I had to hem up quite a bit because the dress was pretty long. There's a fair amount of tucks and puckering going on behind the front!!

Norahkate - the flannel was on sale at a store I visited recently - it is lovely and soft.

QB - I'm going to try to add pockets to everything I make as dd likes her pacifier and I need a pocket to attach the pacifier ribbon clip to!

Finally managed some action shots this morning! Here is my 8 month old dd with her dress on. It looks a bit big on her but hey - growing room! Yay!!





Thank you all for your inspiring projects and many tutes. I'm off to get the kids ready for a morning out at the local garden center.
Have a great Sunday!
Earthmonkey