Perfect imperfection

I wish this was a perfect blog post about a perfect dress I made for my Little Monkey accompanied by perfect photos... But it is not.

This is not even a post about a new dress I am proud of. Because I am not.

This is a story about a girl, a little girl, who feels like a fairy in her new less than perfect dress and a lesson she taught her mother.

Rewind a few weeks back. Willow & Co released their patterns, and I instantly fall in love with a few of them. Fawn Lily tunic and dress pattern designed by Rebecca of Rock the Stitch got my attention straight away. I loved the lines, loved the 'vintage meets modern' look, loved the options... I just looooved it. So I decided Little Monkey needed one.

I shortlisted a few fabric options for this dress and let Little Monkey choose the combination she liked best. Her choice did not come as a surprise. You see, purple has always been her favourite colour. Well, apart from a few weeks when she favoured pink. When she saw these fabrics spread out on the floor in my sewing room she pointed at them straight away. She specifically requested 'flower pockets'.

So, we had fabric picked, decided on the yoke and the skirt options, my daughter got super excited, and then...

... I am not even sure what happened. First I made piping, and it ended up twisted. I was planning to add piping along the curved sides of the yoke, but it felt as if I completely forgot how to sew piping. After unpicking it for the 4th time I gave up. I thought the dress would look too purple and boring without a pop of colour, so I left twisted pink piping at the bottom of the yoke. Gr!

Then the sleeves. I did not pay any attention to how I placed them. You can see the grain of fabric running in different directions. Ouch!

Rebecca suggested light to medium weight fabrics for this dress or tunic. After I split a seam on a sleeve open while trying to pull my corduroy dress through it I understood why she suggested that. Perhaps if I sewed an A line skirt I would have not had to practice slip stitching. Bummer.

Then it came to sewing the sides of the dress. The seams where the sleeves meet the body of the dress did not match up! I was ready to cry by then.

I was very disappointed with myself and went to bed. In the morning I showed the dress to Little Monkey and she practically started jumping with excitement. She loved it!

I thought I would take her to a railway for a photo shoot, but once we came closer to the train tracks she got so scared a loud train might come past while we were taking photos! She covered her little ears with hands. She was ready to cry.

I got so grumpy! Why can't my child just stand still for a couple of minutes so I could take a few photos? Is it such a big thing to ask? By now Little Monkey's eyes were filling with tears and my husband looked somewhat concerned. I don't think he has ever seen me frustrated that much before.

We walked away from the tracks and eventually Little Monkey let us take a few photos. I thought I had a lot of bad photos of a poorly made dress. I got over the whole thing, so we finished the photo shoot and went on with our lives.

Once we all relaxed a little I realised I was a fool. The biggest fool in the crafting world. I was so focused on stitching, pattern placement, overall execution and photography I completely lost sight of what was important - my child was ecstatic about her new dress! She is three years old. She does not care if the sleeves on the dress look somewhat funny, if piping is twisted or if seams are matching perfectly. She finally got a purple dress with a full skirt, 'flower pockets', and she felt like a fairy. To her, this dress was perfect. That is the most important thing. That is why I sew.

I will make another Fawn Lily dress for Little Monkey, but I will wait until it is warm again. In the meantime if you would like to see examples of beautifully sewn garments, visit Renee, Heidi, Tasha, Meg or Suz.