The girl needed one more everyday dress for school. I had made her a couple out of featherwale corduroy but since winter is proceeding apace, I wanted to make one in a little lighter weight. So I made this dress in pique with 3/4 length sleeves. With a sweater she's warm enough even for January.
The inspiration for this dress came from Townmouse. The Townmouse dress is a little different, with a looser shape, a full-button front and shorter sleeves, but it's what got me thinking about ruffles. The girl loves bright colors and patterns, but I was in the mood to sew a more somber, almost French uniform kind of dress. The dress looks a little dull on the hanger but when worn the skirts swings, the ruffles fan out -- and I think it's lovely.
I used the Pascale pattern from Sew Beautiful #114 as the base and just lengthened the sleeves to 3/4 length and added the ruffles (in blue and white tattersall leftover from this dress). This whole project went together lickety split.
But the dress would never have gotten done without the kind help of the ladies at the Children's Corner. I got the gorgeous pique from them and when there was an accidental error with my order they went to all ends to make it better for me. They actually found what I needed at another store and shipped it to me with no hassle or cost for me. They were so sweet and helpful that they endeared themselves to me forever.
