A Petal Dress with Pixie Hood

I fell in love with Twig and Tale patterns this summer and bought their Animal Coat pattern to make coats for the younger children. Last week I finished up their Halloween costumes using that pattern and I will be sharing those shortly! I LOVE how they came out!

  But my first project using a Twig and Tale pattern was a little Petal Dress that I made for Rose right before fall started. I didn't intend to make her another dress right now (good heavens, that girl has more dresses than she can ever possibly wear. . .) but when I was at the fabric store getting denim for my upcoming jeans project (still not started yet) Rosie picked out a beautiful blue floral cotton and brought it up to the fabric counter and plopped it on top, so, of course, I had to get it! I helped her select a nicely coordinating print and knew right away that it would become a Petal Dress.

I love the fabric Rose picked out. I could not have improved upon the selection! It is so her, and the butterflies, flowers and floating dandelion seeds are exactly right for her sparkly, sensitive-to-beauty, nature-loving personality.

I admit, I wondered if the work of printing out and taping together this pattern would be worth it. The design is deceptively simple and is a pattern even necessary for such a garment? Well, all my doubts were soon put to rest as this pattern is carefully and superbly drafted with a wonderful, roomy fit and a beautiful drape that comes from the buttons anchoring the fronts on the chest.

Since we were going into cool weather I added a hood - the delightful Pixie hood that is included with the Animal Coat. This is another beautifully drafted piece with subtle curves producing a really fantastic shape that fits and flatters and frames the face.

I lined the dress in some very soft cotton from my stash, bought earlier this year to make a sundress for myself that, obviously, never was made. 😉 I made the hood in the yellow feather print and added some lace trim around the edges per Rosie's request. To accentuate the pretty curves of the fronts I piped with the yellow all around the edges of the dress.

I closed the inside with a plastic button and for the visible button, Rose chose a silver button from my button drawer that is molded with a Scottish thistle.

One of the best features is the big, conveniently placed pocket! She gathered quite a collection of little shells from the creek and acorns from the grass that came home with her.

Oh! And I added sleeves. I traced sleeves from one of her hoodies and used that to make a pattern. I made them up in a knit ribbing from my stash and stitched them into the armholes instead of leaving them plain or finishing them with a short ruffled sleeve. This way she can wear it all autumn without having to wear a long sleeved shirt underneath.

She has already worn this dress a lot and thanks to the sizing, I think it will fit her for a long time. I can't wait to show you the Animal Coats we made and look forward to trying out the brand-new Wings pattern very soon. The Wings bundle of all sizes and styles is on sale til midnight tonight!

Love,
Sarah