the tiniest baby dress

Isn't this darling? I think this is the smallest baby garment I've ever made. It's a size  0-3 mos. dress. Thank goodness my friends are both rather on the short side; if they were tall, I might worry that their baby would be too big for the dress from the get-go.

I've always liked sewing little clothes; when I was a child, I'd sew things for dolls and teddy bears. I am a meticulous person; I enjoy the precision required to churn out miniaturized things, and I love the fact that making smaller versions of things makes it possible to indulge in more ornamentation (like this embroidery) because there is less space to cover.

Anyway, a note on this pattern. It's a vintage 1950s pattern that Simplicity has reissued, Simplicity 2392. I picked it up on a day when my local fabric store happened to be having a great sale on all Simplicity patterns, knowing that eventually I would have an opportunity to make this darling dress with its Peter Pan collar. It's a nice pattern; the collar and collar facing are particularly ingenious. I used french seams on the skirt and picked up some hem tape to bind the seam where the yoke meets the skirt, just to give everything an extra bit of polish and finish.

I made my dress of cotton and tencel: cotton brocade for the yoke, a tencel crepe in gingham for the sleeves and skirt (it was sheer, so I decided to do a double-layered skirt), and cotton eyelet for the collar (though I wish the eyelet pattern was a bit denser so it would be more obvious). I used little yellow flower buttons on the back and trimmed the collar and yoke edges with rows of palestrina stitch in a dark slate grey cotton thread (the colors reflect the palette in the parents' registry).

I've decided that I need some hand work to fill my evenings. I don't draw or paint at night; I'm usually too tired to give proper attention to that kind of work. So for now, while I'm still unemployed and have my daylit hours to devote to painting, I'm going to try and "bust my stash" of fabric by making some more baby clothes, and then post them on etsy for a song. I'll probably wait until I have a half dozen or so pieces, and post them together. No rush here; I'm going to take my time. Each piece will be completely unique (so I won't do any "runs" of sizes - because that would get boring and the whole point is to enjoy my evenings more while also using up some of my fabric AND hopefully making some pocket change to boot), and I plan to take my time embroidering and adding special trims and details. I've already registered an etsy shop and set up an email account just for this purpose - and I'll be sure and post here when I have my first items up for sale. 

I think it'll be fun, a nice way to reduce my possessions and spread some special heirloom-quality items around to a wider community. =) I've already cut the pattern pieces for my first item: I'm sewing this dress up again, also in the tiny 0-3 mos size, but this time I'm making it from mauvey-pink silk herringbone with a deeper plum collar. It's going to be lovely!!