The Firecracker Dress (test)

I was one of Chelsea's lucky testers for her latest pattern The Firecracker Dress/Tunic. I was assigned the dress lenght, in size 2, because, you know, this is a little skinny girl I have here. Can't believe she'll be 3 next month.

This was a pattern I had to try first to find out that I love it. I liked it when I first saw it, of course, and that's why I wanted to test it for Chelsea in the first place. But not until I finished my own, and be closely aware of the details, and the possibilities, that I've actually fell in love with it. In fact, I have started another one already, in a bigger size.

Anyway, I was so happy to test such a quick dress to make. Three pattern pages only, no piecing or anything... that felt great for a change. I'll admit that patterns with too many pages to assemble together, make me a little annoyed. Of course, when the final garment is done, most of those times I just forget about how boring and time consuming putting them together was in the first place. And, of course (too), we only have to tape pieces together once. 

When I started sewing my dress, I had already seen a few tunic lenght options poping in the testers group, and because the tunic is a long one, I thought it would turn out a little too long as a dress, but NO, the dress is the prefect lenght for my little girl. She loved it so much, but I just might have to make her another one, in a different fabric because I made this as a gift for her little cousin - who's actually turning two next month too. 

Pattern calls for contrasting fabric in the bodice, since it is made of 3 separate pieces sewn together. So, sides and center should be in a different fabric, but I had this fabric I was given in a blog swap, and I wanted to use it, and I used it for the entire piece. I really liked to see my one-only-fabric-version, and I also thought maybe someone else was curious to see how it'd look like this. In the original pattern, the dress ties on the back with two bows, also in the pattern you will find different ways to tie it. I also did mine differently from any of the exemples. Here's how I did it...

And because my niece (who the dress will go to) is still on diapers, I also made a matching cover up. I am not so satisfied with it. I used a pattern I self drafted when my own daughter was 18 months, but it has no front or back, it is the same pattern piece for both, and it looks a bit weird. Not too mention I think this will be too tight on her legs... we'll see.

Oh, this is such a little dancer approved dress. She loved to move and swing and twirl in it. All in all, she was excited the day we shoot the photos (daddy did), and most of them are just too cute.