Paint Roses Geranium Dress

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Isn't Rora sweet in her new Geranium dress?  She's already deliciously soft and squishy, but that buttery rayon fabric really puts her over the top. 

Rora is almost 11 months old, weighs about 20 lbs and fills out size 6-12 months in all of her clothing.  She has a 6-12 month Geranium that's getting tight, so I chose size 12-18 months for this one.  It's roomy in all the right places for wearing throughout the cool weather ahead.


The Details

Pattern:  Geranium Dress and Expansion Pack by Made by Rae

Size:  12-18 months

Fabric:  Paint Roses Black by Rifle Paper from Crosscut Sewing Co. and Anna Maria Horner Pastry Voile

I only had enough leftover fabric to make her a top-length garment, so I added a hem band to stretch it toward a dress. The hem fabric is a voile I had on hand, which may be a bit bold for this garment?  I have a hard time adjusting from the wild freedom of patchwork fabric choices to my taste in clothing, which is considerably more restrained.  But I had the voile and it did coordinate color-wise, plus I like the effect of the vertical stripes... so here we are.  Do you like it?

I made Rae's Geranium dress with the 3/4 fitted sleeve and hem band elements from the Expansion pack.  The pattern skill rating made me nervous about the fitted sleeve, but sewing it into the bodice is a lot like sewing patchwork curves such as the drunkard path block.  I just used lots of pins and it came out right both times.  Yay!

When I took Rora outside for photographs, Aria came along to help with baby.  Aria is a skilled tree-climber, a feat awarded squeals of approval from Rora.  Care to join us?

I just love her victorious smile whenever she stands up!  Oh, and she wasn't sure about the bark, so she went ahead and tasted it.  It wasn't food...

Now at last I understand where that matching mother-daughter outfit concept came from.  It's only practical to put one's garment scraps to use in a dress for baby.  Though I'm wondering if I also dare save my rayon scraps for an all-rayon patchwork quilt someday?  Oh, the drape and softness it would have!  Hmm....